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ORANGE COUNTY WEEKLY OC Weekly: Cover: 59 Reasons Why Bush Sucks: Why you'd have to be a freaking idiot to vote for this guy

by Greg Stacy

There are so many reasons to oppose four more years of George W. Bush it can be hard to keep them all straight. And so we provide you with this handy guide, listing 60 reasons (in no particular order) why this administration sucks major butt.


1. Despite Bush’s endless assurances that "Americans are safer," he’s done astonishingly little to protect the continental U.S. from terrorist attacks. His administration spends more in Iraq in four days than they’ve spent protecting our ports in four years, and Bush has blocked mandatory safety and security requirements at nuclear/chemical facilities (such requirements are unpopular with his corporate buds), leaving these facilities perilously vulnerable.

2. While there’s no established connection between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11, there are established connections between Sept. 11 and Saudi-government officials, who not only provided funds to the hijackers (15 out of 19 of which were Saudis), but also supported front groups that funneled millions in aid to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Say what you will about Michael Moore sometimes getting screwy with the facts, but his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 does raise serious questions that the major media should have at least asked about the special treatment given numerous Saudis—including Bush’s longtime family friends the bin Ladens—to fly out of the U.S. in the days after Sept. 11.

3. Bush often reminds us we should be grateful to our soldiers, but in 2003, he proposed closing seven veterans hospitals, cutting combat bonus pay 33 percent, cutting assistance to soldiers’ families by 60 percent and cutting $1.3 billion in veterans’ health care. So far, Bush has not attended the funeral of a single soldier killed in Iraq.

4. Native Alaskan villages are being destroyed as sea ice melts and huge waves pound the coastline. El Niño caused China’s Yangtze River to overflow, killing more than 3,000 people and leaving 230 million homeless. Despite this and substantial evidence that global warming is real and man-made, for four years, Bush has misrepresented science in order to avoid passing measures that could annoy his campaign supporters in the fossil-fuel and auto industries. Bush has allowed companies to set their own targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and surprise, they set themselves very unchallenging goals.

5. Bush has his sights set on eliminating Social Security and is pushing for a system in which individuals’ contributions go into private accounts. This is a fine way to prepare for your dotage . . . as long as you’re not, y’know, one of those yucky poor people.

6. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have elevated conflict of interest to an art form. Before he joined the administration, Cheney was CEO of the giant energy company Halliburton, and he still receives deferred payments from the company. Halliburton’s a major contributor to the Bush administration, and Bush has paid them back in many sweet, sexy ways. In January, he announced we’re going to Mars, and an industry official told the Washington Post, "Halliburton would benefit considerably." Bush allowed hydraulic fracturing--an oil-and-gas-exploration technique pioneered and primarily used by Halliburton--even though studies showed the technique could leave toxic chemicals in drinking water. And then there’s Iraq. The Energy Task Force Cheney headed to develop a long-range plan to meet U.S. energy requirements naturally ignored ideas for reducing oil consumption and in March 2001 submitted a report containing a map of Iraqi oilfields, refineries, pipelines and terminals, along with two charts outlining Iraqi oil and gas projects. In 2003, without competitive bidding, the Pentagon hired Halliburton to rebuild Iraq and restore the Iraqi oil industry. After the company overcharged the government $61 million, the White House removed a provision from the $87 billion Iraq spending bill that would’ve held Halliburton accountable.

7. In Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, you can see for yourself what a useless lump Bush was on the morning of Sept. 11 as he sat in that classroom, staring into space while kids read My Pet Goat. This time, Moore’s actually hired some decent factcheckers, and for a line-by-line, factual backup of many of the film’s most damning claims against Bush, citing a variety of sources, visit www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/f911notes/.

8. Even now, Bush laughably points to Afghanistan as one of the successes of his administration. Although military and intelligence officials believe we had bin Laden surrounded in the caves of Tora Bora, Bush pulled out our troops, sent them to Iraq and left the bin Laden hunt to Afghan warlords. Bin Laden’s still at large, and since August 2003, more than 1,000 people have been killed in violence linked to a resurgent Taliban.

9. Fossil fuels will be gone within your lifetime, and while Bush’s administration has been touting hydrogen as a potential replacement for oil, it takes more energy to create hydrogen than we’ll ever get from the stuff. Unless we get serious about alternative fuels--and pronto--expect ever-skyrocketing oil costs, bloody wars over resources and economic collapse.

10. Bush’s campaign has cleverly turned many of Democratic nominee John Kerry’s seemingly irrefutable virtues against him. Problem: Bush supported the Vietnam War but stayed home and partied, while Kerry, who was against the war, went off to fight courageously, won medals and came home to tell America of the horrors he’d witnessed. Solution: Swift Boat with a dash of ribbon-gate. Problem: Bush is an inarticulate ignoramus, while Kerry is well-spoken and sophisticated. Solution: portray Kerry as a French-talking, out-of-touch egghead (and make lots of jokes about him being rich, even if your guy comes from big money, too). Problem: Bush is small and graceless, while Kerry is imposing and athletic. Solution: use the footage of Kerry snowboarding and windsurfing to make ads about him "changing direction," impugn his masculinity wherever possible, and joke about his tan. Problem: Bush is mindlessly set on a suicidal, unpopular course in Iraq, while Kerry’s position evolved, like most Americans, from pro to a firm con. Solution: flip-flopper! Hey, this stuff writes itself. Well, actually, horrid little men write it in darkened rooms, and Bush sneakily benefits while publicly deploring the sorry state of modern campaigning.

11. Last March, members of Congress hosted a peculiar ritual for South Korean cult leader/ex-con/multibillionaire Sun Myung Moon, who was given a jeweled crown and pronounced the "King of Peace." Moon has declared that gays are "dung-eating dogs," American women are "prostitutes" and Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves by betraying Jesus. He did time in the 1980s for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice, and there are extensive reports he’s allowed followers to be tortured. Nevertheless, he’s enjoyed a long relationship with the Bushes, and a Bush Sr. spokesman told the Washington Post, "[Moon’s] group is about strengthening the family and that’s what President and Mrs. Bush are deeply focused on." Various Moon VIPs have scored peachy government gigs, and under W’s Faith Based Initiative, the federal government has given Moon grants supporting school programs focused on Moon’s anti-sex teachings. Makes you long for Jerry Falwell.

12. In the 2000 debates, Bush promised he’d create millions of new jobs through his tax cuts. He promised he’d support allowing Americans to buy less expensive prescription drugs from Canada. He promised to end Washington’s partisan squabbling. He promised that if he sent American troops into combat, "the force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategy needs to be well-defined." If you want to predict the next four years, just assume Bush will do the exact opposite of what he promises in the 2004 debates.

13. On Aug. 24, a high-level, independent Pentagon panel found Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff failed to effectively oversee detention policies at U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba, leading to the infamous rape and torture of men, women and children at Abu Ghraib. This torture was not simply a few hillbillies gone out of control; it was the direct result of this administration willfully flouting the Geneva Convention. Rumsfeld’s resignation is expected shortly after hell freezes over.

14. Bush’s Medicare Modernization Act is actually a devious way to gradually kill off Medicare altogether, splitting seniors into warring camps by adding a new, private Preferred Provider Organization option. More affluent seniors will pounce on this option, poorer seniors will stay with traditional Medicare, and the private competition will drive premiums ever higher as benefits for basic Medicare become ever worse. And as Medicare is dying, the healthier, wealthier seniors will have little incentive to fight for it. As taxpayers, we’re going to pay a hell of a lot for Medicare in our lives, but by the time we’re old enough for it, it won’t be there anymore.

15. The Patriot Act does little to defend you from terrorists but greatly increases the government’s power to get all up in your mess. Phone and Internet records can now be searched without warrants; police can see what books you’ve checked out of the library, but libraries are prohibited from informing you about the inquiry; your religious and political activities can be scrutinized even if the government doesn’t suspect criminal activity; you may be jailed without being charged, denied a lawyer or the chance to confront witnesses against you, and held indefinitely without a trial. Bush’s boys apparently still don’t feel they’ve dismantled civil liberties enough: they’re reportedly at work on the Patriot Act II.

16. On Sept. 24, The New York Times reported the Republican National Committee sent mass mailings to West Virginia and Arkansas warning that "liberals" seek to ban the Bible. The mailings featured images of the Bible labeled "banned" and a gay-marriage proposal labeled "allowed." RNC spokescreature Christine Iverson was unapologetic: "When the Massachusetts Supreme Court sanctioned same-sex marriage and people in other states realized they could be compelled to recognize those laws, same-sex marriage became an issue. . . . These same activist judges also want to remove the words ‘under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance."

17. You know those tax cuts you’ve been getting during W’s term, the ones that didn’t quite take the sting out of getting laid off? On Sept. 23, Congress approved a $145.9 billion package to extend three cuts, despite an expected record $422 billion deficit this year. Democrats and moderate Republicans argued to extend the cuts one year and pay for them by closing corporate tax loopholes, but Bush held out for a plan extending the cuts five years while keeping his beloved corporate cats as fat as ever. Bush’s fiscal policy is not unlike his energy policy: we’ll relentlessly draw from a finite, diminishing pool, and by the time it runs dry, we’ll be dead and somebody else can clean up the mess.

18. During a commercial break on a 2000 Late Night With David Letterman appearance, the cameras caught Bush cleaning his glasses using the shirttails of Maria Pope, one of the show’s producers. Our president used a stranger as his Kleenex. (See the clip at www.bushflash.com/unb.html.)

19. With nuclear tensions escalating with Iran and North Korea, Bush is touting a $100 billion missile-defense program that wouldn’t stop a tetchy mosquito. On Oct. 3, the Associated Press quoted Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute think tank in Washington: "In terms of operational realities, it is a very rudimentary system that requires much further testing and could not stop a substantial attack against the nation."

20. Bush’s administration is steadily chipping away at reproductive rights. Bush has appointed a host of anti-choice federal judges. He slashed funds to the United Nations Population Fund, a program supporting groups that educate the women of poor nations about their reproductive options. He signed a bill banning a late-term abortion procedure, a bill two federal judges found unconstitutional. Although laws already cover crimes against pregnant women, Bush signed the redundant Unborn Victims of Violence Act as a shout-out to pro-lifers. He’s suggested doubling the federal funds for abstinence-only sex-ed programs, even though graduates of such programs are statistically more likely to engage in unprotected sex. Sure, the majority of America is pro-choice, but since when has Bush let the will of the people affect his decisions?

21. "Sanctity of Marriage": pure crap.

22. Remember the recent headlines when Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was deported after his name was spotted on a U.S. security "watch list"? Turns out the whole thing was due to a spelling error. Nice to know our government is devoting the proper resources to persecuting singer/songwriters of the 1970s.

23. Although Bush hardly spent his youth (or middle age) in a state of monk-like sobriety, his administration will bust you hard if you party like he did. His Justice Department has invoked the War on Terror to crack down on minor drug users, running hysterical ads equating marijuana use with supporting terrorism. Last year, Cheech and Chong’s Tommy Chong did nine months of hard time for selling glassware that could be used to smoke pot. Chong wasn’t dealing drugs; he was a glassware pusher. The day Chong was arrested, Ashcroft declared in a press conference, "The illegal-drug-paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge." Jesus . . . Tommy Chong? Cat Stevens? Is Bush working his way through Nixon’s old enemies list? Watch out, Hanoi Jane!

24. Bush’s administration doesn’t just invoke the War on Terror to justify busting folksingers and pothead comedians. They invoke it to bust unions, too. On Jan. 7, 2002, Bush issued an executive order to de-unionize 500 government positions (mostly support staffers like secretaries, paralegals and clerks) because the presence of unionized workers would not be "consistent with national security requirements and considerations."

25. During his 2000 campaign, Bush pledged that if elected, he’d support the continuation of the assault weapons ban. Bush lied, of course, and AK-47s will soon make a legal return to the streets.

26. Pseudonymous bloggers Julius Civitatus and Biltud compiled a chart showing the Bush administration announces new terror alerts (alerts often discredited later) whenever the headlines look bad for W and that Bush’s approval ratings typically rise as a result. Following some rough weeks for Bush this summer, on Aug. 2, the Department of Homeland Security raised the terror alert at several large financial institutions in New York City and Washington . . . based on info later revealed to be three or four years old. That same day, Bush’s daughters visited New York’s Citicorp Building, one of the buildings supposedly in grave danger. See the chart at juliusblog.blogspot.com/2004_08_01_juliusblog_archive.html.

27. At this writing, the headlines are full of the "Rathergate" fiasco, so much so that nobody mentions that while the memo itself was a rather obvious forgery, all the evidence suggests Bush did skate on his National Guard service. A chastened CBS has shelved a long-planned 60 Minutes piece investigating how the Bush administration justified the Iraq invasion by using forged documents claiming Iraq attempted to purchase uranium from Niger. CBS now says it would be "inappropriate" to run it this close to the election. Some might say the Rather memo came along at the perfect moment for the Bushies.

28. "In the CIA’s core, U.S.-based bin Laden operations unit today there are fewer Directorate of Operations officers with substantive expertise on al-Qaeda than there were on Sept. 11, 2001. There has been no systematic effort to groom al-Qaeda expertise among . . . officers since Sept. 11. Today, the unit is greatly understaffed, [and] the excellent management team now running operations against al-Qaeda has made repeated, detailed and on-paper pleas for more officers to work against al-Qaeda . . . but have been ignored." (Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden unit)

29. While Bush’s camp has tried to convince America the terrorists want Kerry to win, Bush is actually a superb recruiting tool for al-Qaeda: he is despised by the rest of the world, and he’s overseeing a disastrous occupation of Iraq that brings more people to the terrorist cause every day.

30. After Sept. 11, there was an outpouring of goodwill toward the U.S. from the nations of the world, something Bush has squandered with his macho posturing.

31. This administration treats America’s workers with shocking contempt. On Oct. 2, Congress voted to oppose Bush’s efforts to rewrite overtime pay rules so an estimated 6 million workers would lose overtime benefits. In a May visit to an Arkansas Wal-Mart, Cheney said, "The story of Wal-Mart exemplifies some of the very best qualities in our country." Do America’s best qualities include paying workers poverty-level wages, providing such crappy health benefits many employees rely on public assistance, and locking employees inside stores overnight? Referring to workers who’ve dared to take Wal-Mart to court over such labor practices, Cheney snarled, "America’s entrepreneurs should be able to hire productive workers, instead of hiring lawyers."

32. Millions of jobs have been lost in the past four years, yours perhaps among them. But don’t worry; as Cheney has helpfully pointed out, you can get by just fine selling your possessions on eBay!

33. On Jan. 8, 2002, Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act with much fanfare. The program was to have provided American schools with critical resources while holding them to strict new standards. And then Bush mercilessly cut the program’s funding, leaving millions of children behind. For the 2004-2005 school year, NCLB will be underfunded by $9.4 billion, affecting nearly every district in the U.S. Bush once famously asked, "Is our children learning?" No, Mr. Bush, thanks to you, they unfortunately is not.

34. No Child Left Behind also included a provision whereby public school districts—to qualify for the federal funds--have to provide personal information on high school students to military recruiters.

35. At a White House press conference on Sept. 23, Bush giggled as he said, "I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track [polling] in Iraq was better than here in America. It’s pretty darn strong. I mean, the people [of Iraq] see a better future." Well, no wonder! Bush is hell-bent on bringing decent schools, universal health care and free elections to Iraq . . . and apparently just as hell-bent on preventing us from getting that stuff here.

36. Flashback to May 2003: Bush in a flight suit on the deck of an aircraft carrier bearing a "Mission Accomplished" sign.

37. The National Guard exists to protect the continental U.S. from invasion, domestic terrorists, etc. Bush has sent almost the entire National Guard overseas. What happens if an armed militia mounts a major attack on, say, New York City?

38. On Sept. 24, the Washington Post quoted Bush on Kerry’s promise he’d increase taxes only on Americans earning more than $200,000 per year: "[Kerry] says he’s going to tax the rich. Rich hire lawyers and accountants for a reason--to stick you with the bill. We’re not going to let him tax you because we’re going to win in November." Just like that, Bush--who’s worked tirelessly on behalf of the grossly affluent--takes Kerry’s promise to tax only the wealthy and twists it around. Anyone else smell Karl Rove in the room?

39. While Bush maintains he has no plans to revive the draft, the military is facing a critical personnel crisis. There’s no end in sight to the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, our allies are pulling out their troops, thousands of U.S. soldiers who were due for discharge instead had their service extended (in violation of the contracts they originally signed), hundreds have gone AWOL, and more than 1,000 have been killed with more causalities on a daily basis. Bush will not pull us out, and he can’t afford to lose. If you want to lose some sleep tonight, visit www.blatanttruth.org/draft.php and read their biased but not easily dismissed arguments for why a draft is looking increasingly likely.

40. The Plame Affair should have been a scandal so big it had a "gate" at the end, but sadly it petered out at Affair. In the summer of 2003, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote a New York Times opinion piece in which he revealed that in 2002 he traveled to Niger on a CIA assignment to investigate claims Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium. Wilson said he’d reported back the allegations were probably bogus, yet Bush still mentioned the uranium plot in that year’s State of the Union address. One week after Wilson’s Times piece, conservative columnist Robert Novak wrote an article defending the White House, in which he argued Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, "an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction," arranged Wilson’s Niger trip. Plame had been a covert operative before this, and revealing covert operatives is crazy illegal. The Washington Post later reported that over that summer, two administration aides had contacted six separate journalists to reveal Plame’s identity. Wilson contends the White House leak was intended as a grim warning to the intelligence community, cautioning them against publicly questioning the administration.

41. "A reliable source who has just returned after assessing the facts on the ground for U.S. intelligence services told me that in Iraq, U.S. commanders have plans for this week and the next, but that there is ‘no overarching strategy.’"--Sidney Blumenthal, writing in The Guardian of London in September.

42. According to the Supreme Court, the FCC is required to protect the American public’s right to a "wide diversity of viewpoints from a multiplicity of sources." But a diversity of viewpoints is the last thing Bush’s boys want. In the past four years, the FCC has been handing control of the entire media to a few conservative conglomerates, thereby enriching Bush’s corporate pals and squashing critical voices in one masterstroke. Last year, FCC Chairman Michael Powell—son of Colin--approved relaxed media-ownership rules that would let a single company (like, say, Fox) own a daily newspaper, three TV stations, eight radio stations and a cable system in the same city. This June, a U.S. appeals court blocked implementation of the rules, ordering the FCC to review them further, but it’s only a temporary reprieve. In the meantime, the FCC’s trying to stamp out what remains of free speech, making a big show of going after smut (Janet Jackson’s boobie) and dissent (Howard Stern). For years, Stern supported Bush, but this year, Stern came out strongly against the administration. The FCC promptly hit Stern with an unprecedented, $500,000 indecency fine . . . for material that aired a year before. In this repressive climate, broadcasters aren’t taking risks. The Bush-friendly Clear Channel dropped Stern’s syndicated show from its stations, Disney dumped Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, CBS canned The Reagans, etc., etc.

43. "I don’t think that you can kill the insurgency [in Iraq]," W. Andrew Terrill, professor at the Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, told Salon.com on Sept. 16. "We see larger and more coordinated military attacks. . . . The insurgency has shown an ability to regenerate itself because there are people willing to fill the ranks of those who are killed."

44. Most arguments against stem-cell research are based on confusion between embryos and fetuses. Stem cells aren’t harvested from aborted fetuses; they’re harvested from embryos, which are babies the same way acorns are trees. Bush certainly knows the difference, but he doesn’t want to tell America the truth and risk alienating pro-lifers. And so he allows millions of people to die or suffer horribly from diseases (like Alzheimer’s) scientists believe could be cured via stem cells.

45. Since Sept. 11, the Justice Department has detained more than 5,000 foreign nationals in anti-terrorism sweeps. In all this time, the Justice Department obtained exactly one jury conviction, and on Sept. 2, 2004, a Detroit federal judge threw it out. While W’s goon squads have been expending massive resources to round up and hold thousands of innocent people on flimsy evidence, how many real terrorists have they let slip by?

46. Campaigning in 2000, Bush warned that Al Gore would "throw the budget out of balance." In the past four years, Bush and a GOP Congress blew a 10-year budget surplus once estimated at $5.6 trillion, leaving us with an estimated $5 trillion deficit. According to the Office of Management and Budget, this year’s deficit will run about $445 billion.

47. Before Bush was inaugurated in January 2001, Bill Clinton told him that bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban would most occupy the new president’s time. That message was reiterated in a Jan. 25, 2001, memo from the White House’s counterterrorism expert, Richard Clarke, who asked on several occasions for early Principals Committee meetings. Clarke, who was frustrated that no early meeting was scheduled, wanted principals to accept that al-Qaeda was a "first-order threat" and not a routine problem being exaggerated by "chicken little" alarmists. In July 2001, an FBI agent in Arizona sent a memo to headquarters warning of the "possibility of a coordinated effort by Usama [sic] bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation schools." That memo and the Clarke memo were ignored for months. According to the 9/11 Commission’s official website (www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_8.pdf), no Principals Committee meetings on al-Qaeda were held until Sept. 4, 2001.

48. By his own admission, Bush is not a reader. Among the things he apparently doesn’t read are his Presidential Daily Briefs. The infamous brief for Aug. 6, 2001, headlined "Bin Ladin [sic] Determined to Strike Inside U.S." stated, "Al-Qa’ida [sic] members--including some who are U.S. citizens--have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. . . . FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York." The same day that brief arrived, the Associated Press reported that Bush, vacationing on his ranch, enjoyed a fishing trip and a leisurely morning jog.

49. Showing just how concerned W’s administration was about terrorism leading up to Sept. 11, on Sept. 10, 2001, brand-new Attorney General John Ashcroft cut the FBI’s request for new counterterrorism money by 12 percent . . . a decision he presumably regretted somewhat the following morning.

50. On March 23, 2004, Bush actually had the plums to declare, "Had my administration had any information that terrorists were going to attack New York City on Sept. 11, we would have acted."

51. Bush’s health plan is so awful it makes Kerry’s awful health plan look . . . well . . . less awful. No worries: just don’t get sick. Ever.

52. On Aug. 10, 2001, the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer noted that "if you add up all his weekends at Camp David, layovers at Kennebunkport and assorted to-ing and fro-ing, W. will have spent 42 percent of his presidency at vacation spots or en route." After Sept. 11 Bush’s vacation time decreased . . . by a whopping 2 percent. In an April 11, 2004, story headlined "Bush Retreats to a Favorite Getaway: Crawford Ranch," the Houston Chronicle noted that with 33 trips to Crawford; 78 trips to Camp David; and five to his family’s compound at Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush spent all or part of 500 days--or about 40 percent of his presidency--at one of his three retreats.

53. We don’t have space to detail the whole 2000 election debacle, so we’re assuming you know about the sleazy doings of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris in Florida and how thousands of Florida’s African-Americans were falsely (and deliberately) classed as felons and thus barred from voting. If not, go get crazy with Google. Anyhow, after Bush finally declared himself the winner, he pledged to modernize America’s voting systems by 2004. Well, surprise, it’s still a mess . . . something Republicans will take advantage of again this election. They’ve been pushing "e-voting," using machines leaving nothing behind for a recount, machines made by Bush’s buddies. In the highly contested state of Ohio, Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has been trying to bar thousands of newly registered Democratic voters based on a paper-stock technicality. There are even accusations that Jeb Bush is resorting to horrifying new methods to scare blacks away from the polls: armed agents recently visited Florida’s elderly black people in their homes, told them they were part of a criminal investigation, asked confusing questions about their voting records and waved guns around. (The facts are at paleblue.us/archives/000912.html.) Jeb doesn’t deny armed agents visited the homes of old black people, but he denies the agents deliberately intimidated anybody. Every vote counts—except the ones never counted.

54. That Swift Boat horse shit. If you were dumb enough to buy any of it, you deserve whatever freakin’ president you get. Bush has made half-hearted denials that he had advanced knowledge about the ads, but on a Sept. 28, 2004, appearance on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, he was non-committal about whether Karl Rove knew about them, saying, "I don’t think so." When asked if his campaign people would give him a "heads up" if they’d coordinated the ads, Bush replied, "Not to my knowledge."

55. "[Iraq] is far graver than Vietnam," retired General William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, told Salon.com on Sept. 16. "There wasn’t as much at stake strategically, though in both cases we mindlessly went ahead with a war that was not constructive for U.S. aims. But now we’re in a region far more volatile and we’re in much worse shape with our allies." Odom also said he’s never observed so much tension between a presidential administration and senior military officials, not even during Vietnam: "There’s a significant [military] majority believing this is a disaster. The two parties whose interests have been advanced have been the Iranians and al-Qaeda."

56. In a Nov. 28, 2002, Toronto Star interview, New York University professor of culture and communications Mark Crispin Miller explained there could be something sinister behind Bush’s notorious verbal gaffes. "I think that Bush is a sociopathic personality," Miller said. "I think he’s incapable of empathy. . . . He has no trouble speaking off the cuff when he’s speaking punitively, when he’s talking about violence, when he’s talking about revenge. When he struts and thumps his chest, his syntax and grammar are fine; it’s only when he leaps into the wild blue yonder of compassion, or idealism, or altruism that he makes these hilarious mistakes." Miller cited an example from early in Bush’s presidential tenure: "I know how hard it is to put food on your family." Miller: "That wasn’t because he’s so stupid that he doesn’t know how to say, ‘Put food on your family’s table’—it’s because he doesn’t care about people who can’t put food on the table. When he tries to talk about what this country stands for or about democracy, he can’t do it."

57. In a Sept. 14, 2004, Boston Globe article, Michigan physician Joseph Price told columnist Alex Beam that Bush’s mangled syntax could well be the result of "presenile dementia." Price noticed telltale signs of the disorder when his kids gave him a daily tear-off calendar of "Bushisms" for Christmas. "They are horrible," Price told the Globe, "but they are also diagnostic." Price’s suspicions were also piqued by a long article about Bush in The Atlantic that reported Bush had been articulate through his 40s, which would rule out diseases like dyslexia that typically develop in childhood. In a letter published this month in The Atlantic, Price describes presenile dementia as "a fairly typical Alzheimer’s situation that develops significantly earlier in life. . . . President Bush’s ‘mangled’ words are a demonstration of what physicians call ‘confabulation’ and are almost specific to the diagnosis of a true dementia."

58. The idea that the leader of the free world is either a sociopath or suffers from a degenerative brain disease is too terrifying to contemplate. Best-case scenario: he’s just a plain old dumbass. Keep your fingers crossed, kids.

59. Because this schmuck makes Nixon look good.

"But you've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I'm for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord." - Jerry Falwell, Oct. 24, 2004, CNN

Do you sometime wonder what DICK cheney does when he is in his undisclosed bunker??? Read on... Peak Oil, Stolen Elections, Energy Wars: "Peak Oil, Stolen Elections, Energy Wars "

Media lies to you...learn how by reading and clicking next at the bottom of the page...Media Lies

Spend some time with the Global Free Press

you can like bush...but you will have to ignore reality...

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr Helen Caldicott fears US President George Bush's re-election will lead to Armageddon and she isn't sure if mankind would survive another four years.

"This is the most serious election that has ever occurred in the history of the human race, without a scrag of doubt," she told smh.com.au.

"I don't know if we'll survive the next four years ... I don't think the Americans have, on the whole, the faintest idea - and I have to say also I don't think most Australians do either. But it's not just the threat from nuclear war. It's the threat of what's happening to the environment, the global warming which is occurring rapidly now, to ozone depletion, to species extinction, to deforestation - it's the whole thing."

Speaking from her son Will's Boston home, the Australian paediatrician, who runs the Nuclear Policy Research Institute in Washington, has just spent a frantic two-and-a-half months criss-crossing America to deliver her anti-nuclear and anti-Bush message. She discovered the country was more divided than at any time since she first stepped onto American soil in 1966.

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

"4 more years America...

If you voted for Bush, didn't vote, or voted no on gay marriage, I hope you get drafted.
I hope they stick you in my unit, and you go with me to Iraq when my unit goes back in September. I will laugh when you see what soldiers in that country face on a daily basis. I hope you work with gay soldiers too. I did. One of them saved my life. Think he shouldn't have the right to get married? Fuck you. He fought just as hard as I did and on most days, did his job better than me. Don't tell me gays don't have the same rights you do.
Think the war in Iraq is a good thing? I'll donate my M-16 to you and you can go in my place."

Take a look and see how you, too can hack the vote...prety simple...Hack The Vote

In your re-election, God has graciously granted America--though she doesn't deserve it--a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly.
Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.

Had your opponent won, I would have still given thanks, because the Bible says I must (I Thessalonians 5:18). It would have been hard, but because the Lord lifts up whom He will and pulls down whom He will, I would have done it. It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years--a brief time only--to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/302632.shtml

Former candidate Felber, flanked by his family and supporters, steps up to the podium in the bright autumn sunlight. Cheers and applause are heard.] My fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken, and spoken with a clear voice. So I am here to offer my concession. I concede that I overestimated the intelligence of the American people. Though the people disagree with the President on almost every issue, you saw fit to vote for him. I never saw that coming. That's really special. And I mean "special" in the sense that we use it to describe those kids who ride the short school bus and find ways to injure themselves while eating pudding with rubber spoons. That kind of special.

I concede that I misjudged the power of hate. That's pretty powerful stuff, and I didn't see it. So let me take a moment to congratulate the President's strategists: Putting the gay marriage amendments on the ballot in various swing states like Ohio... well, that was just genius. Genius. It got people, a certain kind of people, to the polls. The unprecedented number of folks who showed up and cited "moral values" as their biggest issue, those people changed history. The folks who consider same sex marriage a more important issue than war, or terrorism, or the economy... Who'd have thought the election would belong to them? Well, Karl Rove did. Gotta give it up to him for that. Now, now. Credit where it's due.

I concede that I put too much faith in America's youth. With 8 out of 10 of you opposing the President, with your friends and classmates dying daily in a war you disapprove of, with your future being mortgaged to pay for rich old peoples' tax breaks, you somehow managed to sit on your asses and watch the Cartoon Network while aging homophobic hillbillies carried the day. You voted with the exact same anemic percentage that you did in 2000. You suck. Seriously, y'do. Thank you. Thank you very much.

There are some who would say that I sound bitter, that now is the time for healing, to bring the nation together. Let me tell you a little story. Last night, I watched the returns come in with some friends here in Los Angeles. As the night progressed, people began to talk half-seriously about secession, a red state / blue state split. The reasoning was this: We in blue states produce the vast majority of the wealth in this country and pay the most taxes, and you in the red states receive the majority of the money from those taxes while complaining about 'em. We in the blue states are the only ones who've been attacked by foreign terrorists, yet you in the red states are gung ho to fight a war in our name. We in the blue states produce the entertainment that you consume so greedily each day, while you in the red states show open disdain for us and our values. Blue state civilians are the actual victims and targets of the war on terror, while red state civilians are the ones standing behind us and yelling "Oh, yeah!? Bring it on!"

More than 40% of you Bush voters still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. I'm impressed by that, truly I am. Your sons and daughters who might die in this war know it's not true, the people in the urban centers where al Qaeda wants to attack know it's not true, but those of you who are at practically no risk believe this easy lie because you can. As part of my concession speech, let me say that I really envy that luxury. I concede that.

Healing? We, the people at risk from terrorists, the people who subsidize you, the people who speak in glowing and respectful terms about the heartland of America while that heartland insults and excoriates us... we wanted some healing. We spoke loud and clear. And you refused to give it to us, largely because of your high moral values. You knew better: America doesn't need its allies, doesn't need to share the burden, doesn't need to unite the world, doesn't need to provide for its future. Hell no. Not when it's got a human shield of pointy-headed, atheistic, unconfrontational breadwinners who are willing to pay the bills and play nice in the vain hope of winning a vote that we can never have. Because we're "morally inferior," I suppose, we are supposed to respect your values while you insult ours. And the big joke here is that for 20 years, we've done just that.

It's not a "ha-ha" funny joke, I realize, but it's a joke all the same.

Being an independent candidate gives me one luxury - as well as conceding the election today, I am also announcing my candidacy for President in 2008.
So that's why I'm asking for your vote in 2008, America. I'm talking to you, you ignorant, slack-jawed yokels, you bible-thumping, inbred drones, you redneck, racist, chest-thumping, perennially duped grade-school grads. Vote for me, because I know better, and I truly believe that I can help your smug, sorry asses. Vote Felber in '08! Thank you, and may God, if he does in fact exist, bless each and every one of you.

Here ya go for an interesting election protest song MP3 - Nation of Assholes...

Worldpress.org - World Press Wire

Did Bush fix the elections?
11/09/2004 10:54
Why did Kerry throw in the towel so soon?

The appearance of Osama bin Laden bang on cue was suspicious, to say the least, as is now the increasing evidence pointing toward election fraud in the United States of America on November 2nd. Exit polls in sensitive districts just don't add up to the official figures. Did Bush fix it?

In Ohio, for instance, the sensitive state which gave Bush the 20 electoral college votes he needed, CNN exit polls among women awarded Kerry the vote by 53 to 47% and among men by 51 to 49%. The question was "Who did you vote for" but the point is were the votes counted?

Let us examine the various complaints against the official result on November 2nd and let us see in how many ways the Bush regime could have influenced the vote, through ballot tricks.

Absence of Control

Russian observer Aleksei Ostrovsky declared that he was shocked by what he saw. "It is enough to say 'I am Mr. Smith' and (the person) is allowed to vote. The same person can exit one polling station and vote again using the same procedure".

Spoilage

These votes belong principally to African Americans, Hispanics or ethnic minorities, who have not been properly instructed how to vote and more interestingly, would be more inclined to vote for the Democratic Party. On average, these votes account for 3% of the total and can be excluded from the count arbitrarily, or included, depending on the whim of the Secretary of State in the State concerned.

For example, in 2000, Secretary of State Kate Harris in Florida decided to arbitrarily exclude the counting of 179,855 votes, the so-called hanging chads. It was worthwhile: Ms. Harris got a seat in Congress and Bush won the state.

In Ohio, 2000 the spoiled vote accounted for 1,96% of the total, 110.000 votes. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell stated shortly before the 2004 election, "the possibility of a close election with punch cards as the state's primary voting device invites a Florida-like calamity". The Ultra-right Blackwell would therefore have been well prepared for what was going to ensue.

In New Mexico, uncounted spoiled votes in 2000 accounted for 2,68% of the total, translated into 18.000 votes. Bush won the state by 11.620.

The Challenge

In some states, including Ohio, the Republicans adopted the Challenge, in which Republican watchdogs manned the doors of the polling stations and challenged those they thought might be ineligible to vote - mostly African Americans and Hispanics, who would be more likely to vote Democrat. The idea is to block the line, forcing people to lose patience and go away.

Provisional votes

Provisional ballots are often handed to African Americans and Hispanics, rather than the type of vote that will be counted. Provisional and absentee ballots are not always counted and it is the decision of the Secretary of State of the State concerned to decide whether to count them or not. Bush won Ohio by 136,483 votes. There were between 175,000 and 250,000 uncounted votes.

Turning away voters

Santiago Juarez, of the "Faithful Citizens' Program" in New Mexico, stated that voters were turned away from some polling stations. In Ohio, at the Glenwood Elementary station in Toledo, over 200 people left the station because it opened late and then ran out of pencils - this being in a primarily Democratic district.

Voter Suppression

Before the election, the Baltimore Chronicle reported, "Through a combination of sophisticated vote rustling, ethnic cleansing of voter rolls, absentee ballots gone AWOL, machines that 'spoil' votes, John Kerry begins with a nationwide deficit that could easily reach one million votes".

In Ohio, Ken Blackwell tried to force through legislation requiring that registration applications not posted on the correct weight of paper should be discounted, then he sought to suppress the provisional ballots, challenging the validity of 35.000 new voter applications.

Manipulation of votes and results

In Florida, 13 counties reported more votes than voters, these accounting for 39.4% of the vote. In Ohio, at the Gahana 1 Precinct, Bush received 6,253 votes, Kerry 1,916 votes, and the others, 23. This totals 8,192 votes, which is strange, since only 4,346 people voted.

At another Precinct in Gahana, Ohio, 4,258 votes were cast for Bush and only 260 for Kerry, while only 638 people were registered as having voted.

Electronic vote and rigged machines

Hernando Country recorded 0 votes. In Ohio, 14,6% of votes cast were by e-voting machines, which are susceptible to hacking and fraudulent manipulation and the Republicans had worked hard to exclude the possibility of there being a paper trail to provide any proof.

In Florida, electronic scan machines registered a gain of 128.45% for Bush and a decrease of 21% for Kerry, whereas in some places a gain of 400% was recorded for the Republicans and in Liverty County, 700%. Strange.

Ohio purchased e-voting machines from the Diebold Corporation, whose CEO Wally O'Dell is a Bush fundraiser, who promised "to help Ohio deliver its votes to the President". What a good professional he appears to have been.

Fewer machines were placed in Democrat areas in many Precincts, causing long queues to form and people to turn away, frustrated. In Ohio, Blackwell held back the distribution of 2000 machines.

Electoral fraud

In Franklin County, Ohio, Ron O"Brien, County prosecutor declared to 10TV that "people are being paid to register new voters". One man who died in February was registered to vote and in another case, 25 applications belonged to the same person.

In Chaves County, New Mexico, which has an enormous Hispanic, African American and Native American population (who traditionally vote Democrat), Bush won by 68% to 31%. ??

Lost votes

In a county in North Carolina, 4.500 votes went missing due to software problems - the computer had run out of memory.

Not very impressive, especially for a country that likes to stick its unwanted nose into the electoral affairs of other nations and then to make snide remarks. On the basis of this evidence, the USA had better not ever again make any statement whatsoever about fair voting procedures, anywhere.

In conclusion, does this surprise anyone? Not really, since Bush and his regime have spent four long years telling lies and cooking up tall stories. The question remains, why did John Kerry throw in the towel so soon, since all this was taking place. Didn't he know? Wasn't he informed? Or did something more sinister happen?

Or, could something else be behind both Messrs. Bush and Kerry, such as the neo-conservative clique orchestrated by Cheney, a form of supra-political party eminence grise which really pulls the strings in the USA and dictates Washington's foreign and domestic policy?

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

from Democratic Underground Forums - Voting in the USA: A Tale of Two Brothers

Once upon a time there were two brothers: Bob and Todd Urosevich. In the 1980's, with the financial backing of the right-wing extremist Christian billionaire Howard Ahmanson, Bob and Todd founded a company called American Information Systems (AIS) that built voting machines. They were also certified to count votes. It is interesting to note that back then there was no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. Even more interesting is the fact that this is still true today. Not even the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has a complete list of all the companies that count votes in U.S. elections.


Voting Fraud in the USA: Did you know....

80% of all votes in America are counted by o­nly two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

35% of ES&S is owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who became Senator based o­n votes counted by ES&S machines.

Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

Diebold is based in Ohio and supplies almost all the voting machines there.

None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

30% of all U.S. votes are carried out o­n unverifiable touch screen voting machines.

Bush's Help America Vote Act of 2002 has as its goal to replace all machines with the new electronic touch screen systems.

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel owns 35% of ES&S and was caught lying about it

ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

Exit polls for the 2004 elections were accurate within 1% or less in areas where ballot machines were used.

Major exit poll data discrepancies were noted in counties where touch screen machines were used, especially in Ohio and Florida.

Eyeballing the Fallujah Kill Zone - take a look at the city being wiped off the face of the earth in your name and for FREEDOM!!!

1. Jesus loves you and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
2. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
3. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
4. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
5. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
6. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
7. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
8. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
9. HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but Creationism should be taught in schools.
11. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense.
12. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is a solid defense policy.
13. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internets.
14. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
15. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
16. You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to adopt.
17. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest (smoke pot), but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant (snort coke and become an alcoholic).

Friends don't let friends vote Republican.

from the democratic underground...part of the internets...

Don't come crying to me when YOUR job is outsourced. I tried to warn you, you preferred to answer the rallying call of Guns, Abortion, Gays, God (hereafter referred to as GAGG.)

Don't come crying to me when you have no health insurance, and a catastrophic illness or injury bankrupts YOUR family, eats away at the nest egg YOU spent a life building, and leaves you with nothing. I tried to warn you...you preferred to answer the call of GAGG.

Don't come crying to me when you have less and less time to do the things YOU enjoy, because you have to work longer and longer hours to make ends meet...and without the benefit of overtime pay. I tried to warn you, but you heard only GAGG.

Don't come crying to me when your son, or your daughter, or even YOU...or someone YOU love is drafted to go to Iraq. I tried to warn you, you didn't hear me, you were too enthralled by the siren song of GAGG.

Here are my words to you now - "Fuck the red VOTERS!!"

I TRIED to warn you, to tell you...and you didn't listen. So don't cry later on, because the first thing I'm gonna ask, when you do come crying is...Who did YOU vote for? And if the answer is Bush...you get zero sympathy from me. I tried to warn you. You preferred, instead, to service your holier-than-thou self image, and project your hatred bigotry and prejudice onto others, by hearing only GAGG.

Gods, the lack of intelligence on your part, Red Voter, is ab-so-fucking-lutely breathtaking!!

How could ANYONE vote for economic serfdom, and against their own best interests...all in the name of shit that DOESN'T REALLY MATTER...like GAGG?

WTF??

Let me make this perfectly clear for you:

1. NO ONE is gonna take your guns away, America...wake the fuck up!!

2. NO ONE wants to stop you from worhipping your god, whoever he may be...IN YOUR OWN HOUSE OF WORSHIP...we only want to stop you from forcing YOUR god on US!!

3. NO ONE wants you to be gay, or like gays or approve of what gays do...but, really, how the FUCK does it hurt you, what they do? Why the FUCK can't you just leave them alone? So it's not your cup of tea?? Fine! Have some fuckin' coffee! And let them drink their tea. Quit trying to force them to drink coffee, they are not trying to force YOU to drink their tea!

4. NO ONE advocates abortions. It's a hard, horrible choice, and my heart goes out to any woman who is forced into making that painful choice. But, until there are enough funds to care for these children...enough potential adoptive parents for ALL of them...and until you crack the fuck down on deadbeat dads (many of whom are Red Voters)...until you take away the economic conditions that force a woman to that awful choice, abortions will happen, legal or not. They did before, and they will again. Only difference is, if they are not legal, then many women will die horrible deaths at the hands of quack "doctors" with unsterile equipment and dirty hands. What if she was someone YOU loved? Wouldn't you feel so wonderful that YOU had forced her into the position that put her life in jeopardy? Wouldn't you want her to have the best medical treatment available? It is a hard enough thing to have to do in the first place, the least we can do is make it safe and legal for her to do if she is left with no other choice!

Y'all Red Voter stupid fucks scream about the sanctity of life...yeah, until it costs YOU something!! You're all in favor of life IN the womb, but give a giant middle finger to that same life, once it is OUT of the womb!!

You cut needy children from Medicaid and Head Start programs...you cut funding for education and school lunches...and you give big tax breaks to huge corporate polluters who will cause or children to grow up unhealthy, many with fucking asthma...all in the name of the God-Almighty Fucking Buck! And how do YOU do this? YOU VOTE RED!! The blood that is on their hands is also on yours, because YOU put them in power! I blame YOU, Red Voter!

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=miv

AUSTIN, Texas -- Do you know how to cure a chicken-killin' dog? Now, you know you cannot keep a dog that kills chickens, no matter how fine a dog it is otherwise.

Some people think you cannot break a dog that has got in the habit of killin' chickens, but my friend John Henry always claimed you could. He said the way to do it is to take one of the chickens the dog has killed and wire the thing around the dog's neck, good and strong. And leave it there until that dead chicken stinks so bad that no other dog or person will even go near that poor beast. Thing'll smell so bad the dog won't be able to stand himself. You leave it on there until the last little bit of flesh rots and falls off, and that dog won't kill chickens again.

The Bush administration is going to be wired around the neck of the American people for four more years, long enough for the stench to sicken everybody. It should cure the country of electing Republicans.

And at least Democrats won't have to clean up after him until it is real clear to everyone who made the mess.

In some circles, that will be seen as sour grapes. But in Texas, we've been losing elections to the demagogic triad of God, gays and guns long enough to be pretty cynical about how it works out. I'm sure millions of Americans voted for George W. under the honest impression that he stands for moral values -- family, patriotism, faith in God. I'm sure it's the Democrats' fault that such a silly ruse is allowed to stand. What Bush actually does stand for is nicely summed up by a rather common news story that got stuck on the business pages lately.

In September, Merck & Co., the huge drug manufacturer, pulled Vioxx off the market. Vioxx was a popular pain-killing, anti-arthritis drug, but Merck said it was putting patients' safety first. A new study from the Federal Drug Administration showed high doses of Vioxx triple the risk of heart attack and sudden cardiac death.

From there, the story bifurcates -- it takes two directions. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa revealed that the FDA had tried to silence the author of the study, Dr. David Graham, associate director of science in the Office of Drug Safety. Grassley said the FDA first sat on Graham's study and that then he was "ostracized" and "subjected to veiled threats and intimidation."

The Wall Street Journal followed the other fork, finding internal memos from Merck showing that company officials may have been aware of the dangers of Vioxx as long ago as 1996, including a memo apparently instructing its sales reps to "dodge" the question when doctors asked about the cardiac record of Vioxx.

In short, we have a toothless regulatory agency in the pocket of the industry it is supposed to patrol. We have an administration-wide contempt for science and plain facts. And the allegation against the folks at Merck is that they were making such enormous profits on a drug that killed people that when they knew or suspected it was killing people, they kept right on selling it. When the information that Merck had known for a long time about Vioxx and heart attacks became public, the company's stock fell by 9.6 percent.

That's the system George W. Bush stands for: where a corporation can knowingly kill people for profit and, when it finally comes out, everyone knows the penalties will be so light the company doesn't even lose a tenth of its worth. Hey, just a little bump in the road.

We sure don't want any of that terrible, burdensome government regulation to control that kind of behavior, do we? We sure don't want an FDA that listens to its own scientists and acts promptly, do we? We sure don't want anyone to sue these monster corporations, do we? I bet if it were possible to compare the odds of an American getting killed by a negligent regulatory agency and rapacious corporate behavior versus an American getting killed by a terrorist, it would turn out we need to be a lot more scared of rank greed and its enablers than we do of terrorists. And that's not counting what the corps. (pronounced corpse) steal and mess up.

So, fellow progressives, stop thinking about suicide or moving abroad. Want to feel better? Eat a sour grape, then do something immediately, now, today. Figure out what you can do to help rescue the country -- join something, send a little money to some group, call somewhere and offer to volunteer, find a politician you like at the local level and start helping him or her to move up.

Think about how you can lend a hand to the amazing myriad efforts that will promptly break out to help the country recover from what it has done to itself. Now is the time. Don't mourn, organize.

To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

I'm posting it verbatim:
**********************************************************************
Message xxx of 169 Subject 6 of 50
Subject: Re: Liberals Don't get it
Date: 11/4/2004 8:20 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MsgId: 547788:4741

Take note: Bush didn't really win where it mattered. Not one major state elected him except Florida where his brother is governor (that and a nickel cup of coffee can be bought anywhere in town). NYC didn't vote Bush, LA didn't vote Bush, San Diego didn't vote Bush, Chicago didn't, San Francisco didn't, none of New England voted for Bush, Pennsylvania didn't vote Bush, Washington, DC didn't vote Bush it was 90% Kerry. Not one state that makes a "difference" and is worthy of mentioning "honor" voted for Bush. Who did then?

It took all the "loser states." State's with no money or full of retiree's, empty ports of call, homes that are $18,000.00, cars parked on the lawn, truck beds used as swimming pools. People who go "tubing" down at the creek, quilting bee people. States full of uneducated, ignorant fools who aren't living in "cutting edge" places of which are high education and cosmopolitan. It also took Texas, where Bush is from. A place full of $20,000 homes and plenty of poverty. All these states wonder why they are so broke and cant get anywhere. As a fact: Texas industry has stolen California blind and stolen gas money from the whole nation. Oh yes, gas is back up to $2.50 a gallon, remember you DESERVE it, you WANTED it. If Texas was a name in the Bible its name would be Cain; understand? Look up the name "Cain" in the Bible. Do something that is truly "Christian" for a change. Since you just voted for a man who alleges to be antiabortion when his woman has had one.

Bush did not win, it took states full of ignorance to keep Bush in the White House and black box voting. What many call "lowlife's," country hee haws, "kin" (lol), toothless beer drinkers and squealing pigs like in the movie "deliverance," trailer park BBQ people, "southern hospitality" phonies all "sweet talking you" as they drive a knife in your back, Mary Kay cosmetics Cadillac drivers with a backcomb. And lets not forget; an old lady and man with a hearing aid on here and there. You know the ones, they are in church every Sunday and still live in a $5,000.00 house they bought in 1950. The saddest day of their lives was the day Jim and Tammy Bakker stole $8,000.00 of their money for Heritage USA while he was out by the pool skinny dipping with other men. They watch wheel of fortune on rabbit ear antenna TV every night and listen to fear tactics on FOX and are predominantly clueless. You'll find them gossiping and judging plenty then running back and asking forgiveness in prayer for all the sin they have done. Its an endless cycle, it started when they were children for these people, its all they know.

On Black Tuesday, all these people woke up at 5 am and "fired up" their 1987 Ford Taurus and drove like a bat out of Hell in a hurry to the voting polls. Worried that a terrorist was going to bomb their car all the way their and all the way back home. Completely without a clue, that they had just committed the worse voter atrocity in 226 years of American history. Not one state that counted and was cosmopolitan, wealthy and "cutting edge" as well as an industry empire, went red for Bush. Those states that DO COUNT because they have MINDS and are the backbone of this country didn't vote Bush. Who was part of what voted for Bush of the states that really matter and make this country "rock n roll" so these fools can live? Not one. In other words, the rest of you states who voted Bush failed the rest of this nation and who really DOES matter when it comes to running this country.

As a fact Lily Mae and Jethro, see how long you can keep Walmart stocked without California and New York. As yes, Saturday at Walmart is the "high light" of your human existence. Why, those sales on Palmolive and Tide detergent and those dollar days are like a trip to Saks Fifth Avenue for you. Why, the rest of us should imagine you have your radios on the car set on the Federal Disaster warning station (just in case there might be a terrorist threat). Since, you need to know "right now" about any bombings so that you can run and tell Pastor Williams on isle 17 as he's buying toilet paper and pray on the floor at Walmart or the Piggly Wiggly and then run to Sonic Burger for a soda with your valium pill. You have to live with this now.

As a fact: If you voted for Bush? You are directly responsible for every dead trooper in Iraq. You are responsible for every maimed trooper, every blind trooper, every wheelchair for life trooper, every orphan, every man, woman or civilian child in Iraq who is dead. The world watched as you voted for a man who declared a war on a nation based on lies. Your ignorance kept America divided as people as well. Your ignorance with lies directly to your face, knowing that Bush flew the Bin Laden family out of the U.S.A. a few days after 9/11, your ignorance when you had viable proof of corruption? Makes you directly, undeniably responsible.

When you take that trip of a lifetime to Rome, Greece or France and they spit on you and make fun of you? Remember: you wanted it, you asked for it. Also, if I were you Bush states I wouldn't expect cooperation from any state with this President from any place in the USA that truly matters. Those who follow corruption and ignorance; will live in corruption and ignorance. Because to those states that count? They didn't vote for Bush, who did? The cast from the movie "deliverance" did, ever seen that movie? Go rent it, you'll see a lot you can relate to...to the cosmopolitan "classy, intellectual and dignified" people of this nation; that's you! And now be sure and remember: You get now what you deserve. All the Hell, and misery, and migraines that Bush gives you. All the pain, all the strife, all the setbacks, all the struggles, all the bloodshed, all the deaths, all the corruption and the crime. All the abuse dignified nations give you, all the prejudice, all the hate, all the murder, all the poverty, all the taxes when Bush is gone. All the bankruptcy, any and all of it. You voted for it, you wanted it, you asked for it, you rooted it on...now you will live it, you DESERVE it.

We, who are of the "justification for a good education" crowd: Who live in palaces and on the beaches and in the Trump Towers and travel the world. The ones who will be the ones paying taxes for the war in Iraq eventually because our incomes are well over $200,000 a year (while your out driving around in a station wagon with a rebel flag all torn up blowing off the back). Do not want to read one damn word of your sobbing over the next 10 years of Hell Bush brings to this nation and the world. You in fact only a "part" of America, of which will pay dearly for your actions. You refused to listen to sound doctrine. As such, you soon will wallow and squeal in the misery you chose. You were warned all over the place about all of the corruption. You were warned for years, by motion picture, by news, by media. And now you shall pay dearly for your ignorance. For those of you who are on top of things please read the below link and take it into serious consideration. See the average IQ of people in the United States by State, it will shock you. "Forgive them; for they know not what they do." http://chrisevans3d.com/files/iq.htm God has Blessed those of whom the Lord has opened their eyes. However the AntiChrist "will convince and deceive the very elect. http://www.bushisantichrist.com And remember without a liberal, you wouldn't have any Social Security Bubba. Without a liberal, you wouldn't have safe air. Without a liberal, you'd be one homeless, bag carrying hobo!

Dear Friends,

Ok, it sucks. Really sucks. But before you go and cash it all in, let's, in the words of Monty Python, “always look on the bright side of life!” There IS some good news from Tuesday's election.

Here are 17 reasons not to slit your wrists:

1. It is against the law for George W. Bush to run for president again.

2. Bush's victory was the NARROWEST win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

3. The only age group in which the majority voted for Kerry was young adults (Kerry: 54%, Bush: 44%), proving once again that your parents are always wrong and you should never listen to them.

4. In spite of Bush's win, the majority of the Americans still think the country is headed in the wrong direction (56%), thinks the war is a mistake (51%), and doesn’t approve of the job George W. Bush is doing (52%). (Note to foreigners: Don't try to figure this one out. It's an American thing, like Pop Tarts.)

5. The Republicans will not have a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate. If the Democrats do their job, Bush won't be able to pack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues. Did I say "if the Democrats do their job?" Um, maybe better to scratch this one.

6. Michigan voted for Kerry! So did the entire Northeast, the birthplace of our democracy. So did 6 of the 8 Great Lakes States. And the whole West Coast! Plus Hawaii. Ok, that's a start. We've got most of the fresh water, all of Broadway, and Mt. St. Helens. We can dehydrate them or bury them in lava. And no more show tunes!

7. Once again we are reminded that the buckeye is a nut, and not just any old nut -- a poisonous nut. A great nation was felled by a poisonous nut. May Ohio State pay dearly this Saturday when it faces Michigan.

8. 88% of Bush's support came from white voters. In 50 years, America will no longer have a white majority. Hey, 50 years isn't such a long time! If you're ten years old and reading this, your golden years will be truly golden and you will be well cared for in your old age.

9. Gays, thanks to the ballot measures passed on Tuesday, cannot get married in 11 new states. Thank God. Just think of all those wedding gifts we won't have to buy now.

10. Five more African Americans were elected as members of Congress, including the return of Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. It's always good to have more blacks in there fighting for us and doing the job our candidates can't.

11. The CEO of Coors was defeated for Senate in Colorado. Drink up!

12. Admit it: We like the Bush twins and we don't want them to go away.

13. At the state legislative level, Democrats picked up a net of at least 3 chambers in Tuesday's elections. Of the 98 partisan-controlled state legislative chambers (house/assembly and senate), Democrats went into the 2004 elections in control of 44 chambers, Republicans controlled 53 chambers, and 1 chamber was tied. After Tuesday, Democrats now control 47 chambers, Republicans control 49 chambers, 1 chamber is tied and 1 chamber (Montana House) is still undecided.

14. Bush is now a lame duck president. He will have no greater moment than the one he's having this week. It's all downhill for him from here on out -- and, more significantly, he's just not going to want to do all the hard work that will be expected of him. It'll be like everyone's last month in 12th grade -- you've already made it, so it's party time! Perhaps he'll treat the next four years like a permanent Friday, spending even more time at the ranch or in Kennebunkport. And why shouldn't he? He's already proved his point, avenged his father and kicked our ass.

15. Should Bush decide to show up to work and take this country down a very dark road, it is also just as likely that either of the following two scenarios will happen: a) Now that he doesn't ever need to pander to the Christian conservatives again to get elected, someone may whisper in his ear that he should spend these last four years building "a legacy" so that history will render a kinder verdict on him and thus he will not push for too aggressive a right-wing agenda; or b) He will become so cocky and arrogant -- and thus, reckless -- that he will commit a blunder of such major proportions that even his own party will have to remove him from office.

16. There are nearly 300 million Americans -- 200 million of them of voting age. We only lost by three and a half million! That's not a landslide -- it means we're almost there. Imagine losing by 20 million. If you had 58 yards to go before you reached the goal line and then you barreled down 55 of those yards, would you stop on the three yard line, pick up the ball and go home crying -- especially when you get to start the next down on the three yard line? Of course not! Buck up! Have hope! More sports analogies are coming!!!

17. Finally and most importantly, over 55 million Americans voted for the candidate dubbed "The #1 Liberal in the Senate." That's more than the total number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Gore. Again, more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media are looking for a trend it should be this -- that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The country has always been filled with evangelicals -- that is not news. What IS news is that so many people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In fact, that's BIG news. Which means, don't expect the mainstream media, the ones who brought you the Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2, 2004. In fact, it's better that they don't. We'll need the element of surprise in 2008.

Feeling better? I hope so. As my friend Mort wrote me yesterday, "My Romanian grandfather used to say to me, 'Remember, Morton, this is such a wonderful country -- it doesn't even need a president!'"

But it needs us. Rest up, I'll write you again tomorrow.

Yours,

Michael Moore

Here's the part of John Kerry's concession speech that made my jaw drop:

"In the days ahead, we must find common cause, we must join in common effort, without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor."

ARE YOU FUCKIN' KIDDING ME, SENATOR?!

You want me to find common cause with people who openly and gleefully hate and piss on everything I believe in?

You want me to find common cause with people who think doctors that perform abortions should get the death penalty?

You want me to find common cause with people who think gay and lesbian schoolteachers should be fired BECAUSE they're gay or lesbian?

You want me to find common cause with people who thought it was funny to disrespect America's veterans by wearing Band-Aids with purple hearts drawn on them?

LIKE. FUCKING. HELL.

I hate those maggots with every fiber of my being. They're lower than the microscopic bacteria that exists in human feces. They are nothing more than brainwashed, bigoted perverters of true Christianity.

You wanted four more years of Bush? Well, you got what you wanted.

When your job is outsourced to India and you become one of the homeless people you think are lazy bums who refuse to work: well, you got what you wanted.

When you're ready to retire but there's nothing left in your privatized Social Security account because the stock market crashed: well, you got what you wanted.

When Bush gets us into wars with Iran and Syria and finds the military stretched so thin he has to reinstate the draft; when your kid is drafted and comes home in a flag-draped casket: well, you got what you wanted.

When your taxes keep going up because somebody has to foot the bill for Bush's tax cuts to the wealthiest 1% of Americans: well, you got what you wanted.

If your daughter accidentally becomes pregnant and can't consider terminating it because Roe v. Wade has been overturned: well, you got what you wanted.

When somebody you know gets a visit from Homeland Security because he made an off-the-cuff remark that got him pegged as a "potential terrorist threat": well, you got what you wanted.

When the next 9/11 happens (and trust me, it will), violently killing thousands more people on American soil: well, you got what you wanted.

I hope every one of you motherfuckers gets your job outsourced and loses somebody you love in one of Bush's wars. And when you find yourself in desperate need of compassion, don't even think about coming to me. Because I'll just laugh in your fuckin' face, and I'll say:

"You didn't give a damn about your job on Election Day. All you cared about was voting for a man who'd keep the goddamned faggots from gettin' married!

"You didn't give a damn about your dead relative on Election Day. All you cared about was voting for a man who'll racially profile those fuckin' towelhead Ay-rabs."

Where's my liberal compassion, you ask? I save that for people who deserve it, i.e. the 98% of Americans that you hate because they aren't exactly the same as you are. You have no compassion for ethnic minorities, no compassion for sexual minorities, no compassion for religious minorities, no compassion for those who've been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay without actually being charged with a crime, and you sure as fuck have no compassion for people with my political views. If you had your way, I and my kind would be in jail, or even dead.

I got your liberal compassion right here, you fascist cocksuckers. Fuck you and the Panzer you rode in on!

Ein volk. Ein Reich. Ein Party.

The Republican Moral Compass

Serial killer/rapist Ted Bundy campaigned for the Republican Party

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with a juvenile and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks, an advisor to a California assemblyman, was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White was arrested after allegedly offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews of Houston was indicted for indecency with a child, including exposing his genitals to a girl under the age of 17.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling confessed to molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram of Thurston County, Washington, pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican St. Louis Election Board official Kevin Coan was arrested and charged with trying to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr, former committeeman for Hadley Township Missouri, was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland, a Tennessee state representative, was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to minors under 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15 year old girl.

Republican legislator, Richard Gardner, a Nevada state representative, admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Check it out, and let people know how you feel

from www.dailykos.com:

I work at a domestic violence shelter in a rural conservative district in Mich. that is has had its economy gutted by NAFTA and where Christianity dominates the culture.
Yesterday while reflecting about 4 more years of Bush I was talking with a woman staying in the shelter. I will give her a fake name, lets call her Laura B. Laura is 28, pregnant, (never considered an abortion). She finished highschool and did a year of college before dropping out to have a couple of kids with her military husband. Living in Virginia on base with her autocratic mate (he doesn't allow the boys 3 and 4 to say "yeap" they have to answer "yes sir") drove her crazy and she was hospitalized for suicidal thoughts. Military dude divorced her and has custody.

She came home to Mom in Mich and ended up at our shelter to try and sort out her life. (Mom has no money either and her own problems.) We, like all secular agencies, have seen a steady erosion of funds.

Laura B. has found a job working in the kitchen at a local faith based Christian College. She makes $6/hour. She drives a dying Ford Escort wagon pays $2.15/gallon for gas. Her latest crisis is her insurance expired on Oct. 9 (her ex-partner cancelled policy). She needs to come up with $211 to get insurance for one month or face a $1,000 fine if she gets caught driving with no insurance. We have some public transportation, Dial-a Ride, minibus runs between 7 am and 6 p.m., M-F $1.50 one-way. She has to be at work at 6am.

She has been walking to work lately but it is about 2 miles she is 5 months pregnant, it is dark at 5 am, and winter is coming. Solution? Go begging at the churches who seem to have money for these things. They will give her the money if she attends bible school. So last night she was at bible school until 9 p.m.

She has never attended our domestic violence support groups as she is too tired at night and goes to bed early but the bible study was not optional.

She was excited about "God's message" when she came back.

This week she moves into low income subsidized housing. Her newest crisis is she has found out when the college is closed for the Christmas holiday (one month) she has no employment. She is hoping to find temporary employment as a seasonal retail worker if the Christmas sales are brisk to tide her over. She doesn't know what she will do when the baby is born, hopes she can work up till the last week (she is on her feet all day with this job). She will be eligible for subsidized daycare.

She voted for Bush because of his "family values."

With the Democratic Party splattered at his feet in little blue puddles, John Kerry told the crushed crowd at Faneuil Hall in Boston about his concession call to President Bush.

"We had a good conversation," the senator said. "And we talked about the danger of division in our country and the need, the desperate need, for unity, for finding the common ground, coming together. Today I hope that we can begin the healing."

Democrat: Heal thyself.

W. doesn't see division as a danger. He sees it as a wingman.

The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.

W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq - drawing a devoted flock of evangelicals, or "values voters," as they call themselves, to the polls by opposing abortion, suffocating stem cell research and supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

Mr. Bush, whose administration drummed up fake evidence to trick us into war with Iraq, sticking our troops in an immoral position with no exit strategy, won on "moral issues."

The president says he's "humbled" and wants to reach out to the whole country. What humbug. The Bushes are always gracious until they don't get their way. If W. didn't reach out after the last election, which he barely grabbed, why would he reach out now that he has what Dick Cheney calls a "broad, nationwide victory"?

While Mr. Bush was making his little speech about reaching out, Republicans said they had "the green light" to pursue their conservative agenda, like drilling in Alaska's wilderness and rewriting the tax code.

"He'll be a lot more aggressive in Iraq now," one Bush insider predicts. "He'll raze Falluja if he has to. He feels that the election results endorsed his version of the war." Never mind that the more insurgents American troops kill, the more they create.

Just listen to Dick (Oh, lordy, is this cuckoo clock still vice president?) Cheney, introducing the Man for his victory speech: "This has been a consequential presidency which has revitalized our economy and reasserted a confident American role in the world." Well, it has revitalized the Halliburton segment of the economy, anyhow. And "confident" is not the first word that comes to mind for the foreign policy of a country that has alienated everyone except Fiji.

Vice continued, "Now we move forward to serve and to guard the country we love." Only Dick Cheney can make "to serve and to guard" sound like "to rape and to pillage."

He's creating the sort of "democracy" he likes. One party controls all power in the country. One network serves as state TV. One nation dominates the world as a hyperpower. One firm controls contracts in Iraq.

Just as Zell Miller was so over the top at the G.O.P. convention that he made Mr. Cheney seem reasonable, so several new members of Congress will make W. seem moderate.

Tom Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma, has advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and warned that "the gay agenda" would undermine the country. He also characterized his race as a choice between "good and evil" and said he had heard there was "rampant lesbianism" in Oklahoma schools.

Jim DeMint, the new senator from South Carolina, said during his campaign that he supported a state G.O.P. platform plank banning gays from teaching in public schools. He explained, "I would have given the same answer when asked if a single woman who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend should be hired to teach my third-grade children."

John Thune, who toppled Tom Daschle, is an anti-abortion Christian conservative - or "servant leader," as he was hailed in a campaign ad - who supports constitutional amendments banning flag burning and gay marriage.

Seeing the exit polls, the Democrats immediately started talking about values and religion. Their sudden passion for wooing Southern white Christian soldiers may put a crimp in Hillary's 2008 campaign (nothing but a wooden stake would stop it). Meanwhile, the blue puddle is comforting itself with the expectation that this loony bunch will fatally overreach, just as Newt Gingrich did in the 90's.

But with this crowd, it's hard to imagine what would constitute overreaching.

Invading France?

Yes its true...God Wanted GWB to win the election!

Can I have an AMEN?

God wanted George Bush to win because he wants him to have to answer for Haliburton...Can I get a hallelujah!

God wants him to feel the publics wrath for sending young Americans off to die in a pointless war based on lies..


Oh Yes I feel it...I feel the Holy Spirit rising up in me..

The Holy ghost iza telling me that God wants GW Bush to be president so he can answer to the evil deficit Satan to which he has sold his soul!

Oh Lord can I get an AMEN!

The sins of the father will also be the sins of the son.

God want's GW Bush to be President when the evil Saddam is put on trial and he testifies that Ronnie Reagan and George Bush Sr sent Donald Rummsfeild to Iraq and gave Saddam the chemical weapons which he unleashed upon those poor Kurdish people...

I say brothers and sisters can I get an Amen!

God shines the light of truth upon those who hide in the darkness and show them for what they truly are.

The Lord works in mysterious ways but fear not my children for he has a grand plan of redemption for all of you. You will see the Lord strike down the false prophet, the heretic, the blasphemer who goes by the name of George W. Bush. He has used the name of the Lord thy God to further his reign of lies and deceit and judgment day is drawing near for him.

I feel the power of the baby Jesus jast a' tingling in my toes.

Can I have an AMEN!

Kerry, How Dare You!

John Kerry gave a lousy, reprehensible concession speech.

Oh, it had its poignant moments, especially when he said, choking up a little, "I wish I could just wrap you up in my arms and embrace each and every one of you individually all across this nation."

But he soon began to ramble, and halfway through, when he should have been done, he mistakenly hit the "play" button on his stump speech. Off he went talking about the little boys who helped raise money for him on the campaign trail, and then he dove into issue after issue, draining every drop of pathos from the occasion.

He never could give a decent speech.

But what was reprehensible about it was Kerry's insistence that his supporters cave.

And I'm not even talking about the question of whether to challenge the Ohio tally.

I'm referring to Kerry's command that we act like good little boys and girls and eat our spinach and work with George Bush.

Amazingly and nonsensically, Kerry said, "In an American election, there are no losers, because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning we all wake up as Americans."

What does that mean?

You lost, John. We all lost. Huge. And your fatuousness cannot hide that fact.

Kerry continued his lecture. As Americans, he said, his supporters have an "obligation. We are required now to work together for the good of our country. In the days ahead, we must find common cause, we must join in the common effort, without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor."

Hell no!

Common cause with George W. Bush?

Common cause with Dick Cheney?

Common cause with Karl Rove?

Common cause with Donald Rumsfeld?

Common cause with Paul Wolfowitz?

Common cause with John Ashcroft?

We have nothing in common with them. Their cause is not our cause.

For the good of the country, we must resist them.

Kerry said, "We must stand together and succeed in Iraq."

No way!

We will resist this war in Iraq with every nonviolent bone in our bodies.

So don't talk to us about the need "to bridge the partisan divide."

We don't want to bridge it.

And don't be naïve. Neither does Bush.

We lost, this time. But we refuse to lay down our principles and sleep with snakes.

Instead, we will regroup and live to fight another day, and one of these days we will win, not by making common cause with reactionary Republicans, but by convincing a majority of Americans that ours is a better way.

How dare you demand that we join up with Bush!

How dare you demand that we support his war in Iraq!

-- Matthew Rothschild

To believe that Bush won the election, you must also believe:

1- That the exit polls were WRONG...

2- That Zogby's 5pm election day calls for Kerry winning OH, FL were WRONG. He was exactly RIGHT in his 2000 final poll.

3- That Harris last minute polling for Kerry was WRONG. He was exactly RIGHT in his 2000 final poll.

4- The Incumbent Rule I (that undecideds break for the challenger)was WRONG.

5- The 50% Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent doesn't do better than his final polling)

6- The Approval Rating Rule was WRONG (that an incumbent with less than 50% approval will most likely lose the election)

7- That Greg Palast was WRONG when he said that even before the election, 1 million votes were stolen from Kerry. He was the ONLY reporter to break the fact that 90,000 Florida blacks were disnfranchised in 2000.

8- That it was just a COINCIDENCE that the exit polls were CORRECT where there WAS a PAPER TRAIL and INCORRECT (+5% for Bush) where there was NO PAPER TRAIL.

9- That the surge in new young voters had NO positive effect for Kerry.

10- That Bush BEAT 99-1 mathematical odds in winning the election.

11- That Kerry did WORSE than Gore agains an opponent who LOST the support of SCORES of Republican newspapers who were for Bush in 2000.

12- That Bush did better than an 18 national poll average which showed him tied with Kerry at 47. In other words, Bush got 80% of the undecided vote to end up with a 51-48 majority - when ALL professional pollsters agree that the undecided vote ALWAYS goes to the challenger.

13- That Voting machines made by Republicans with no paper trail and with no software publication, which have been proven by thousands of computer scientists to be vulnerable in scores of ways, were NOT tampered with in this election.

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN..

THEY say that in life you get what you deserve. Well, today America has deservedly got a lawless cowboy to lead them further into carnage and isolation and the unreserved contempt of most of the rest of the world.

This once-great country has pulled up its drawbridge for another four years and stuck a finger up to the billions of us forced to share the same air. And in doing so, it has shown itself to be a fearful, backward-looking and very small nation.

This should have been the day when Americans finally answered their critics by raising their eyes from their own sidewalks and looking outward towards the rest of humanity.

And for a few hours early yesterday, when the exit polls predicted a John Kerry victory, it seemed they had.

But then the horrible, inevitable truth hit home. They had somehow managed to re-elect the most devious, blinkered and reckless leader ever put before them. The Yellow Rogue of Texas. More here.

Good luck, Mr. Bush you are going to need it!

snippet from Democratic Underground

While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, "Does the sun rise in the North?"

When another person jumped in and explained that the sun rises in the east (and has for some time), she shook her head and said, "Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff."

And then she voted. ---------

I used to work in technical support for a 24/7 call center. One day I got a call from an InDUHvidual who asked what hours the call center was open.

I told him, "The number you dialed is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." He responded, "Is that Eastern or Pacific time?" Wanting to end the call quickly, I said, "Pacific.."

And then he voted. ---------

So my colleague and I were eating our lunch in our cafeteria when we overheard one of the administrative assistants talking about the sunburn she got on her weekend drive to the shore. She drove down in a convertible, but "didn't think she'd get sunburned because the car was moving."

And then she voted. ---------

I was in a high school advanced physics class and the teacher was talking about a new military weapon that uses sonic waves on the battlefield to burst enemy soldier's chests. One InDUHvidual in the class spoke up and said,
"Well that's stupid! Why don't they just wear headphones?"

And a few years later, he voted. ---------

My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car. It's designed to cut through a seatbelt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the trunk.

And then she voted. ---------

My friends and I were on a beer run and noticed that the cases were discounted 10%. Since it was a big party, we bought two cases. The cashier multiplied two times 10% and gave us a 20% discount.

And then they all voted. ---------

I was hanging out with a real conservative friend of mine when we saw a woman walk by us with a nose ring attached to an earring by a chain. My friend said, "Wouldn't the chain rip out every time she turned her head?" I had to explain to her that a person's nose and ear remain the same distance apart no matter which way the head is turned.

And then she voted. ---------

I couldn't find my luggage at the airport baggage area. So I went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that my bags never showed up. She smiled and told me not to worry because they were trained professionals and I was in good hands. "Now," she asked me, "has your plane arrived yet?"

And then she voted.

From www.democraticunderground.com

By now we're all sick of the campaign. But hear me out. What's 5 minutes when it comes to the future of our nation and your family? We both know this election may be the most important in our lifetime. Can we afford to make a mistake? What are the broad issues in play?

WAR ON TERROR: Forget the sound bites about the war. Common sense tells us any war must focus on the existing enemy and not create new ones. After 911 the enemy was obvious.... it was Bin Laden, his radical jihadists and the Taliban who sheltered them. Suddenly we're fighting Ba'athists, Sunnis, Shiites, Iraqi nationalists opposed to occupation, new Al Quida recruits, and anyone else driven by Iraq's culture of revenge. When we should have ratcheted down tensions with Arab world, trying to ally with moderates against those few jihadists... the whole Islamic world is now inflamed. How did things go so terribly wrong? Here's the thumbnail history of the past four years.

Leaving aside the question of whether 911 could have been prevented as the Chair of 911 Commission believes.... we now know that even before 911 Bush and his neo-conservatives wanted to invade Iraq. 911 provided that excuse. But what shaped their policy? Several titanic forces clashed in the Bush administration. The first were those neo-cons like Cheney and Wolfowitz. They believed in a radical new doctrine to use the military to impose a Pax Americana on the world. They were unconcerned about legalities or alienating old allies. Quite the flip-flop for Cheney who in 1991 predicted invading Iraq invasion would be a "quagmire". The second force was Rumsfeld. He had a radical agenda to make the Pentagon meaner and leaner. The result was an ill-conceived war plan to be done on the cheap. It reversed the long-standing Powell Doctrine: to insure there's a vital national interest, to use overwhelming force, and to have a clear exit strategy. The neo-cons also rejected Powell's Future of Iraq project. It predicted chaos after an invasion. Oops.

Bush spent 2002 building support for invading of Iraq, knowing it would divert resources from fighting Al Quida. It was a scare campaign of dire warnings... mushroom clouds and WMDs. With NO evidence they claimed Saddam was linked to 911. It was so often repeated that even today over 40% of Americans believe it. Also in 2002 the military had drawn up plans to attack al-Zarqawi's terrorist base in Kurdish-controlled Iraq. Bush refused three times thinking it would weaken the political support for the war. Now al-Zarqawi leads the terrorist war in Iraq. Oops.

Fall 2002: many in Congress opposed a second war when Afghanistan was not yet secure. Bush promised Congress he wasn't a cowboy. He'd go the UN route to get Inspectors back into Iraq. But first he wanted Congress's backing to show Saddam the US meant business. It seemed logical. What other language did such murderous thugs understand? Bush got his war resolution and most everything he wanted from the UN.... except a resolution giving the US permission to act alone in behalf of the UN. Why did Bush even want this language if he truly intended to work with our allies?

January 2003: Saddam had caved in to every demand and in February 2003 UN Inspectors were finding evidence that Saddam had destroyed his WMDs back in 1991. None the less, Bush began the war that March ending the work of the UN Inspectors... work which we now know would have proved the war unnecessary. If that isn't a "rush to war", what is? There were no WMDs, no connections to 911 or Al Quida, and Saddam was a toothless tiger. So much for Bush's "gathering threat". Letting Bin Laden get away at Tora Bora was bad enough. The Iraq diversion gave Bin Laden two more years to rebuild his terror network and hatch new plots. Now he's back. Oops.

Bush claimed he had a broad coalition. But only THREE allies actually provided troops for the invasion. After the UK those contributions were a paltry 2200 troops. In the Gulf War allies other than the UK sent 300,000 troops. Bush tried to buy off nations offering $15 Billion in aid to Turkey alone. They turned it down. Other nations were bullied to support the war or Bush would block trade deals. THIS is why Bush's coalition was dubbed "coerced and bribed". Only in May 2003 after the UN recognized the US/UK as occupying powers did other nations send troops. Bush constantly blurs the two coalitions. Why?

But where there OTHER good reasons for the war? Surely spreading democracy was a laudable goal. But why not pressure our friends in the region to institute democratic reforms? Why rush to war? Why alienate allies? Why risk inflaming the Arab world? Why risk the Arab world thinking the US was making an oil grab or a Christian president was on a new Holy Crusade? Did Bush really believe his invasion would NOT create more anti-US hatred? Apparently. He listened to those like Ahmad Chalabi, convicted as an embezzler in Jordan but beloved by those neo-cons. Chalabi promised US troops would be greeted with flowers. Oops.

AXIS OF EVIL: Before Iraq our ace in the hole was our military might. Bush played that card in Iraq and our enemies learned to trump it. Surely the troops weren't to blame. Rumsfeld's doctrine of war on the cheap was. But, worst, the invasion made the "rogue" nations like Iran and North Korea realize their best deterrent to a US invasion was to accelerate WMD programs. Didn't Bush claim the Iraq invasion would get them to stop? Oops.

In deferring to the radicals in his administration, Bush has shown appalling judgment. I fear he's made the US and the world LESS safe for perhaps decades to come.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: Once the Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility. What happened? In 2000 Bush ran on protecting the Clinton surplus to strengthen Social Security and pay down the debt. He broke his word. Where it took 205 years for the US to run up the first 1700 billion in debt, Bush managed the same in less than 4 years. Politicians hide behind the abstract numbers. Here's how much we're talking about. In tightly packed $1 bills, Bush's debt would cover a regulation football field with a skyscraper of cash nearly 1300 FEET tall. The FY04 deficit alone was 568 BILLION... not the 415 Billion you may have heard. We can't even fund our own military without borrowing money from nations like China! We may like those tax cuts, but at what point are they irresponsible? Remember, ALL of Bush's debt will be repaid by our children. The average family of 4's share of the debt is over $100,000. As for Social Security, Bush now claims only he can fix what he spent four years undermining. He simply has no credibility.

Clearly Bush can not run on his record so he never fails to exploit 911. He glosses over the mess he's made with great sound bites like we're fighting terrorists there so we don't have to fight them here. It sounds like a plan. But none of the 911 hijackers were Iraqi... and many became jihadists in EUROPE. Bush has increased anti-American hatred and invaded a nation which did not tolerate Islamic extremists. Now Bush, himself, has unleashed it. In doing so world terrorism is way up, not down. Bush also bogged down our military... while diverting resources away hunting for Bin Laden. Forget the election sound-bites and slogans... does this REALLY sound like an effective war on terrorism?

Yes, we are in a war. We're told it's unwise to switch horses in mid-stream. But what if while crossing the Mississippi you realize your horse is blind and is in way over its head? Ya, it's time to switch. Our nation MUST have more competent leadership.

Kerry has some warts but none of Bush's fatal flaws. Kerry's positions have not always seemed clear. But how much of our perceptions are because Bush spent some $100 million misrepresenting his positions? Remember that infamous 87 Billion vote. Of COURSE Kerry voted to support the troops. He just favored the bill that was fiscally responsible.

If you're leaning Bush, please reconsider.

Watch remember and vote.....http://www.hategun.com/features/mistaken/index.html

How far will bush go to meets its ends? http://www.knife-party.net/flash/barry.html

Check out the job of our Minister of Fear...

Come gather arond the fire kids....let me tell the scary story of the republican party ad its false Messiah George W. Bush...

You can go to Media for a Better World...and read more or watch the films....

it is just a joke...but a funny one...

President Bush visits a primary school classroom. They are in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings. The teacher asks the President if he would like to lead the discussion of the word “tragedy.” So the illustrious leader asks the class for an example of a tragedy.

One little boy stands up and offers: “If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs him over and kills him, that would be a ‘tragedy’.”

“No,” says Bush, “that would be an ‘accident.’

A little girl raises her hand: “If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a ‘tragedy.’”

“I’m afraid not,” explains the President. “That’s what we would call a ‘great loss.’”

The room goes silent. No other children volunteered. Bush searches the room."Isn’t there someone here who can give me an example of a ‘tragedy’?”

Finally at the back of the room a small boy raises his hand. In a quiet voice he says: “If Air Force One, carrying you, Mr. President, were struck by a ‘friendly fire’ missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a ‘tragedy.’”

“Fantastic!” exclaims Bush. “That’s right. And can you tell me why that would be a ‘tragedy’?”

“Well,” says the boy, “because it certainly wouldn’t be a ‘great loss’ and it probably wouldn’t be an ‘accident’ either.”

This will make you sick, but remind you of why we need to vote Bush out of office and restore constitutional right back to America

http://members.cox.net/ducati996sp/unconstitutional.wmv

From a patriot (aeschylus ) on Democratic Underground Forums - Paygo internets is hard work...

Paygo internets is hard work
Loyalty oaths are a bitch
Filtered questions are like cigarettes
Spreading a new cancer through our nation
Which internets is you on?
Where you can see the soldiers’ coffins
Or hear the wounded cry
Is it the internets where America is united?
Can you tell me how to log on?
My internets shows a guy standing on a box
Hooded, with electrodes wired
Being told, “If you slip you die”
Just like you tell me everyday
Paygo internets is hard work
Payback elections are sweet
For hell hath no fury
Like a democracy scorned

Can America Afford Four More Years? from the AFL-CIO....

Visit the flash info and participate in saving YOUR forests!

you might like this...

The Associated Press - http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBIMNYHS0E.html
Published: Oct 26, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) - A look at some of the shifting explanations President Bush and his spokesmen have given for events in Bush's Texas Air National Guard service:
THE QUESTION

Why did Bush skip a required yearly medical examination in 1972?

THE EXPLANATIONS

July 1999: Campaign spokeswoman Karen Hughes tells reporters Bush missed his physical because he was working on a political campaign in Alabama and had no access to the "special" doctors who perform the examinations.

July 2000: Campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett tells the Boston Globe that Bush doesn't remember being grounded.

October 2000: Bartlett tells the Boston Globe he can state unequivocally that Bush was never grounded.

November 2000: Bartlett tells reporters Bush had no reason to take the exam because he was transferring to Alabama and his Texas unit was phasing out use of the F-102A fighter. Bartlett says Bush chose not to take the exam.

Feb. 12: White House spokesman Scott McClellan tells reporters: "He moved to Alabama for a civilian job and he was on non-flying status while in Alabama. There was no need for a flight exam."

Sept. 9: Bartlett, now White House communications director, tells CBS: "The records have been clear for years that President Bush did not take a physical because he did not need to take a physical because, obviously, the choice was that he was going to be performing in a different capacity."

Sept. 29: White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan, in response to an Associated Press question about why Bush did not retake his medical exam after returning to Texas in 1973: "When he returned to Texas, the F-102 (the plane he was trained to fly) was being phased out and pilot slots were limited. Since the president was then planning to go to the Harvard business school, it would not have made sense to allocate one of the F-102 slots or to spend the financial resources to train him to fly a new plane."

THE FACTS

National Guard doctors perform medical examinations. Bush could have gotten an exam either at his base in Texas or at any of several Alabama Air National Guard installations in and around Montgomery.

Bush was required to take his medical exam by his birthday, July 6, 1972, which was more than a month before he won final approval for temporary training with an Alabama unit. Bush's Texas commanders ordered him grounded Sept. 5, 1972, the same day Bush wrote to them asking to train with the 187th Fighter Interceptor Squadron in Montgomery. That unit did not use the F-102A jets Bush was trained to fly.

Bush's home unit, the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, was beginning to shift to F-101 jets in 1973. But the unit continued to fly the F-102A until 1974 and trained F-102A pilots for other Air National Guard units during that time. Records released this month show the 111th added two F-102A pilots from a Vermont National Guard unit to its roster in 1973, the year Bush claimed the unit was eliminating F-102A pilot slots.

Bush has said he decided to go to Harvard in the summer of 1973, months after his return to Texas from Alabama. He formally asked to be released from the Texas guard in July 1973, a request granted that October.

THE QUESTION

When did Bush train in Alabama, and what did he do?

THE EXPLANATIONS

During the 2000 campaign, Bush spokesmen said he trained with the 187th from May to October 1972.

May 2000: Bartlett said Bush remembered performing some duty in Alabama and "recalls coming back to Houston and doing (Guard) duty, though he does not recall if it was on a consistent basis."

May 23, 2000: At the request of the Bush campaign, retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd Jr., the former personnel director of the Texas Air National Guard, tells reporters Bush returned to his Texas unit in November 1972.

June 1, 2000: Campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer, asked if Bush temporarily left his Texas unit, responded: "Of course he did, with the permission of the Guard, which is not unusual."

June 23, 2000: At a campaign appearance in Alabama, Bush says of his service there: "I was there on a temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time... I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because they didn't have the same airplanes."

June 24, 2000: Fleischer tells reporters Bush remembered doing "paper shuffling" in Montgomery.

June 26, 2000: Bartlett tells the Dallas Morning News that Bush showed up several times for training in Alabama but said the president does not remember how many times. Bartlett says Bush returned to his Texas unit in December 1972 and made up for missed drills then. In Alabama, "most of his work was paperwork related," Bartlett says.

October 2000: Bartlett tells The New York Times that Bush was too busy with the campaign in mid-1972 to report to guard duty, but he made up the training later.

Feb. 3, 2004: Bush says on NBC's "Meet the Press": "There may be no evidence, but I did report (for duty in Alabama)."

Feb. 10, 2004: McClellan acknowledges that documents released by the White House do not prove Bush served in Alabama.

Feb. 12, 2004: The White House releases an incomplete dental examination form dated in January 1973 saying it was performed in Montgomery. McClellan says: "This document further demonstrates the president fulfilling his duties and serving while in Alabama."

Sept. 9, 2004: The White House tells CBS Bush "met his drills then when he came back" from Alabama "and that's why he received an honorable discharge."

Sept. 29, 2004: Buchan tells AP that Bush did "administrative duties" in Alabama. "The records demonstrate that he followed the proper procedures and worked through the chain of command to receive approval to perform equivalent duty in Alabama."

THE FACTS

Payroll records show Bush did not show up for any guard service between mid-April and late October 1972. At the time he was in Alabama working on the unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign of a family friend.

Air Force officials rejected Bush's first request to train with an Air Force Reserve unit in Alabama because the unit did not fit Bush's training requirements. In September 1972, Bush asked for and received permission to train for three months with the 187th.

Payroll records show Bush was paid for guard service twice in October 1972 and four times the next month. The pay records do not say where Bush served.

The dental record says Bush got his teeth examined at the 187th base in January 1973, a month in which he was paid for six days of duty. Bush was next paid for two days in April 1973.

A performance evaluation by Bush's Texas commanders in May 1973 said Bush had not appeared at the Texas base for an entire year.

No Alabama Air National Guard records have surfaced showing Bush did any duty there. Former commanders and other members of the 187th in 1972 and 1973 say they don't remember ever seeing Bush there.

One former member of the unit, retired Lt. Col. John Calhoun, has said he remembers Bush showing up for weekend training drills with the 187th during the summer and fall of 1972. Bush's records, however, show he was never paid for any dates in 1972 when the 187th performed its weekend drills.

Get the MP3 or better watch the video:

Windows Media Player

Real Player

Quicktime #1 or Quicktime #2

Click, sit back and watch....

go read about it here on www.dailykos.com

Go see it here: www.thecanoodle.com

yeah...right wing family values!

A chart will be up tonight....but here is some info on the vast right wing conspiracy....more info here on www.democraticunderground.com

Here is a great video that sums up the campaign for new leadership in a world gone mad...if may be large (5MB)...but it is good.

Check out the second installment of Bubbie...classic Cheney impersonation.....

The New Yorker backs Kerry,in its first political endorsement of its history.

The New Yorker (circulation: 958,179) has made the first political endorsement in its 80-year history, backing Sen. John Kerry in next week's presidential election. The five-page editorial in the Nov. 1 issue criticizes President Bush's tax cuts, his environmental policies, his execution of the war in Iraq and his Justice Department's record of "secrecy and arrogance."

Meanwhile, news editors throughout the land, continue to pound bushinc with more Kerry endorsements

Newspapers switched to Kerry from Bush in 2000

State..... Newspaper............ Circulation
IA Des Moines Register ( 152885 )
IA Press Citizen (Iowa City) ( 14803 )
WA Walla Walla Union Bulletin ( 14409 )
CO Daily Camera (Boulder) ( 33031 )
NY Star-Gazette (Elmira) ( 28834 )
FL Bradenton Herald ( 52163 )
IL Arlington Heights Daily Herald ( 150364 )
MO Columbia Daily Tribune ( 18411 )
NM Albuquerque (NM) Tribune ( 14373 )
OR Oregonian (Portland) ( 342040 )
CT The Day (New London) ( 41113 )
TX Crawford (TX) Lone Star Iconoclast (Weekly) ( 500 )
WA The Sun (Bremerton) ( 30370 )
MI Muskegon Chronicle ( 46769 )
FL Orlando Sentinel ( 257191 )
ME Bangor Daily News ( 63611 )
MO Columbia Daily Tribune ( 18411 )
WA Seattle Times ( 237303 )
IL Chicago Sun-Times ( 410000 )
WA The Star (Grand Coulee) ( 3577 )
WI Wausau Daily Herald ( 22840 )
TN Memphis Commercial Appeal ( 157820 )
CA Los Angeles Daily News ( 178360 )
MT Billings Gazette ( 46980 )
CT Stamford Advocate ( 38558 )
MA Worchester Telegram ( 102592 )
CA Contra Costa Times ( 182541 )
CA Ventura County Star ( 99425 )
CA Santa Cruz Sentinel ( 26063 )
IL Rockford Register-Star ( 66249 )
IA Quad City Times (Davenport) ( 51876 )
MI Flint Journal ( 84897 )
PA Allentown Morning-Call ( 111594 )
WA Tri-City Herald (Kennewick) ( 41246 )
Defections to Kerry ( 3,141,199 )


1 Million join the ABB club...


Newspapers who endorsed Bush in 2000, who refuse to endorse anyone this year

NC Winston-Salem Journal ( 85266 )
FL Tampa Tribune ( 224220 )
MI Detroit News ( 227392 )
TX Wichita Falls Times Record News ( 32005 )
PA Harrisburg Patriot-News ( 101322 )
VA Clinch Valley Times ( 2100 )
LA Times-Picayune ( 253610 )
We ain't with ya this year George .... ( 925,915 )


In contrast, Bush picks up a measly:
PA York Daily Record ( 43108 )
MA Sun (lowell) ( 48571 )
CO The Dever Post ( 361317 )
Total Bush pickup from Gore in 2000 (452996)


The Final Tally

Total Papers endorsing Bush: 82
Total Papers endorsing Kerry: 155
Total Circulation endorsing Kerry:19,888,686
Total Circulation endorsing Bush: 9,811,636
Defections from the Bush Camp to The Kerry Camp:
.... 34 newspapers either moved from the Bush camp 2000 to the Kerry camp 2004
.... 7 newspapers who supported Bush in 2000, now refuse to endorse anyone.

(as of Oct 25,2004 1:00 pm)

A good collection of Sinclair Boycott info here.

click and watch and then hit replay:

Visualize Winning

More republicans who won't vote for Bush

Vote REB (Republican Except For Bush)

great flash...check it out...

(didn't know I was) unamerican

Democrats have seized on the vaccine shortage to accuse the administration of being unable to protect Americans - from either illness or terrorism. "If you can't get flu vaccines to Americans, how are you going to protect them against bioterrorism?'' Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, asked in an interview with National Public Radio. "If you can't get flu vaccines to Americans, what kind of health care program are you running?"...

Mr. Thompson said that more had been done to fight the flu by this administration than by any previous one. Echoing comments made in recent days by Vice President Dick Cheney, he said that tort reforms proposed by the administration were needed to help vaccine manufacturers even more.

But Congress in 1986 passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act that largely shields vaccine manufacturers from serious legal liability. Congress voted this year to add flu vaccines to the program, a bill that only awaits President Bush's signature, according to a spokesman for the program.

So to summarize:

- seniors vote

- the two largest senior states are FL and PA

- Bush policies are involved with the flu shortage

- Bush has added the issue to his stump speech and visit to Florida

- conclusion: this is an issue with legs, one that breaks against the President.

Not only seniors, but children with asthma and other chronic medical conditions will have trouble finding the vaccine this year. For many families, women are the health care deciders in the family, taking care of children and their parents, and determining for them where health care is obtained. How this demographic may vote their interests will be a fascinating dynamic.

From www.dailykos.com

Check out what the American Conservative has to say about John Kerry.......seems their editorial board can't come to grips with supporting Bush...

Robert Scheer
The 9/11 secret in the CIA's back pocket
http://www.workingforchange.com/
Agency withholds damning report that points at senior officials

It is shocking: The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the election, and this one names names. Although the report by the inspector general's office of the CIA was completed in June, it has not been made available to the congressional intelligence committees that mandated the study almost two years ago.

"It is infuriating that a report which shows that high-level people were not doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being suppressed," an intelligence official who has read the report told me, adding that "the report is potentially very embarrassing for the administration, because it makes it look like they weren't interested in terrorism before 9/11, or in holding people in the government responsible afterward."



The official stressed that the report was more blunt and more specific than the earlier bipartisan reports produced by the Bush-appointed Sept. 11 commission and Congress.

"What all the other reports on 9/11 did not do is point the finger at individuals, and give the how and what of their responsibility. This report does that," said the intelligence official. "The report found very senior-level officials responsible."

# posted by nostalgic about my future @ 10/19/2004 0 comments

spend some time here....a great collection video clips and xomment:

undergroundclips

everything you wanted to know about the bulge but were afraid to ask....

Link to the Kerry newspaper endorsements.

Military Dicatatorship USA

By Norman Livergood, former Dept Head, US Army War College.

We usually think of a nation being controlled by a military dictatorship when a military leader seizes control through a putsch, as in the case of General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan or Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The previous government is overthrown and a military strong man places himself in power with few if any constraints from judicial or legislative oversight.

But we must look for the essence of a military dictatorship, those features which are present whenever this form of oppression occurs. In essence, a military dictatorship is a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in a repressive ruler or a small clique who use military and police power to dominate the people mentally and physically.

Taking this definition as our touchstone, in the United States we know we're living under a military dictatorship when we see:

* a leader put into power through a coup d\'etat, not through democratic elections

* the military used to control the civilian population in violation of the U.S. Constitution

* the president ordering a US citizen held indefinitely by the military

* a shadow government being set up consisting entirely of executive branch officials in violation of the Constitution

* government informants spying on fellow citizens

www.hermes-press.com/militarismindex.htm

The 14 Defining Characteristics Of Fascism by Dr. Lawrence Britt

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14-defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. TOP

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. TOP

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc. TOP

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. TOP

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution. TOP

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. TOP

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. TOP

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite. TOP

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed. TOP

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked. TOP

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders. TOP

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Funny website:

Yes, Bush Can website

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. This week there was an issue that hit home with voters and forced the candidates to rethink their scripts. It even walked off with the political play of the week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SCHNEIDER (voice-over): They're standing in line in Florida and Michigan, in New Jersey. The line goes around the block. Eager swing state residents lining up to vote? Not exactly. They're lining up for flu shots.

DR. CHARLES GONZALEZ, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: It's incredibly serious. We have half as much vaccine as we should have.

SCHNEIDER: How did that happen?

BUSH: We relied upon a company out of England to provide about half of the flu vaccines for the United States citizens.

SCHNEIDER: Uh-oh. Sounds like outsourcing. The president had a solution.

BUSH: We're working with Canada, hopefully they will produce a -- help us realize the vaccine necessary.

SCHNEIDER: But hasn't Bush expressed problems with drug imports from Canada?

BUSH: My worry is, it looks like it's from Canada, it might be from a third world. We have to make sure before somebody thinks they're buying a product, that it works.

SCHNEIDER: President Bush made a plea to the public.

BUSH: If you're healthy, if you're younger, don't get a flu shot this year.

SCHNEIDER: Sounds like rationing, something the president said would result from Kerry's health care plan.

BUSH: Government sponsored health care would lead to rationing.

SCHNEIDER: The government has the situation under control the president says.

BUSH: The CDC responsible for health in the United States is setting those priorities and allocating the flu vaccine accordingly.

SCHNEIDER: Isn't that government control?

BUSH: My opponent wants the government to run the health care.

SCHNEIDER: Maybe the answer is legal reform.

BUSH: Vaccine manufacturers are worried about getting sued, and so therefore they have backed off from providing this kind of vaccine.

SCHNEIDER: Kerry says the issue is the whole health care system.

KERRY: There still aren't enough flu vaccinations. What's the president's solution? He says, don't get one if you're healthy. That sounds just like his health care plan to me, hope and pray you don't get sick.

SCHNEIDER: The flu bug has infected the campaign. The side effect was the political play of the week.

And then this:

WOODRUFF: You know it's serious when you read that some states will fine or jail doctors and nurses who give flu shots to people who are not at high risk.

SCHNEIDER: Right, and that sounds a lot like rationing.

ROTFL!!! WAY TO GO, CNN!!!

The Atlantic Online | November 2004 | Karl Rove in a Corner | Joshua Green

great comment from www.democraticunderground.com on the real contest...

John Kerry is running against Bush and Bush's media. Note the following media manipulations occuring right before our very noses:

1. Bush's outright lie that he did not say what has been evidenced that he did say about OBL is getting minimal play in the media.

2. Kerry's true, reasonable and compassionate reference to Cheney's daughter in the debate is getting much more negative spin and play than Bush's lies......

Cheney can tell a senate member to go "F*ck himself", and not apologize.....yet Kerry can speak compassionately about Cheney's Grown ass daughter and get smeared nevertheless. The fact that Bush said that he needed to keep his daughters on leashes is not even an issue. We won't mention the smears that the Bushies perpetuated on McCain's "black" daughter.....or the Chelsea Clinton attacks of years passed.

3. The Nightline report of last night that Kerry's Silver Medal story is backed up by the Vietnamese villagers witnesses who were in the village the day of the firefight, and the complete meltdown of Liar O'neil on the air have not been picked up by the Media mafia Cable empire.

4. Please notice that Zogby is turning the screws on us, once again...by having his poll come out first showing Bush gaining. Also the ABC polls that showed a near debate tie was heralded on all of the cable channels with one important fact missing....the 30% Dems vs. 38% Republican bias gap. They are reporting the "tie"....and not reporting the flaw in the poll.

5. Online polls where Kerry beat Bush stressed as "very unscientifical" by cable stations.

6. Headlines about Bush or Kerry demonstrate a recurring theme.....Kerry is always passive...while Bush is always active, e.g., "Bush rips into Kerry" vs. "Kerry tries to sway undecideds".

7. The Flip/Flop Kerry meme is now reported as a fact. Bush being strong in the area of fighting terror is now reported as an unquestionable fact.

8. The fact that women have swung to kerry is being underreported....while the fact that they were swinging to Bush pre-debate was loudly heralded.

9. The GOP hanky panky with Dem voter registration forms in Nevada and other states being played down. It should be a big news story.....but is being basically ignored.

IT'S THE MEDIA STUPID....THAT WILL LOSE US THIS RACE. They have been manipulating the news....and will continue to do so. We must keep writing and giving them the facts. I don't know if we can beat them, unfortunately. They hold our future in their hands.......

The Media Mafia Presstitutes are doing a hell of a job on our Democracy!

for folks that whine about not nowing what John Kerry's plans are show then the following (.jpg image .pdf file):

spend some time at this page and learn what this war costs you (yes you....you are paying for this war!)....

This section of mykeru.com has gotten a lot of attention, even above better and more eloquent pages on the Iraq war on other sites. When first written in early July of 2003, following the major portion of the "conventional war" in Iraq it's purpose was simply to present a visual aid to help people understand the scope and tragedy of this ill-thought and cynical adventure, particularly when considering civilian deaths.

When done scrolling through this, please leave your comments.

Not only is the number of civilian deaths morally indefensible but this sort of body count has always been strategically stupid, creating far more opposition than can be countered with even heartfelt humanitarian aims.

Many conservatives and supporters of the Iraq War --the mass of Americans who shrug off civilian deaths when they are not American civilian deaths--obviously have a pronounced problem with visualizing numbers and applying moral standards. Or they just don't care.

In other words, they are stupid and evil.

snipped from Americablog:

Yep, George and Dick can't stop doing favors for Halliburton. Here's a good LA Times story about their latest favor: distorting science to approve a technique for drilling owned by Halliburton that might contaminate our drinking water. Who cares if kids drinking dirty water and get sick if it can help Halliburton?

My favorite detail is about the panel that oversaw an EPA study that its own employees have raised serious doubts over. Who was on the panel, you wonder?

"The EPA report was reviewed by a seven-person panel: a senior technical advisor at Halliburton, a manager from an industry-funded research institute who previously worked for Halliburton, a senior engineer with BP Amoco and two academics who had worked for the energy industry. A sixth member, a state regulator with an engineering background, also had worked for Amoco. The final member was an expert on hydraulic fracturing from Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico."

Wow, talk about a balanced, independent panel. Will they be available to oversee that Florida post-election fracas?

94 REASONS NOT TO VOTE FOR GEORGE W. BUSH
By Bob Whitby
Published 10/14/04

It doesn't matter who you are or what you believe, George W. Bush has betrayed you, specifically and repeatedly.

Are you a law-and-order type? Then you should probably know that Bush has an arrest record (see reason No. 24). Are you a devout Christian? Millions of people just like you think Bush is defiling God's creation with his ruinous environmental policies (reason 20); and God's man on earth himself calls Bush's war wrong and immoral (reason 21). Perhaps you voted for Bush because you fondly recall the days when Republicans stood for fiscally conservative government? Those days are gone, friend (see reasons 64 to 71). Do you think of yourself as an intelligent, rational adult capable of making your own decisions about the world around you? Bush doesn't (No. 28). Maybe you're scared that the terrorists are coming, and think W. is the one who will stop them. Read reasons 1 through 16.

Unless you are the CEO of a large corporation (that donated heavily to Bush's campaign), Bush does not have your best interests at heart. Those are the facts.

Consider the material below a primer, the Reader's Digest version of why you shouldn't vote for Bush. There are thousands – perhaps tens of thousands – of similar facts not included here for space reasons. Whole topics had to be cut; there's no mention of Bush's assault on civil liberties via the USA PATRIOT Act, for example, and no mention of the fact that he cannot explain why he didn't fulfill his commitment in the National Guard.

So pick a reason, any reason, and don't vote for Bush Nov. 2.

FEEL SECURE?

1. Former President Bill Clinton briefing President-elect Bush on security issues in December 2000: "I think you will find that by far your biggest threat is Bin Ladin and the al Qaeda. One of the great regrets of my presidency is that I didn't get him [Bin Ladin] for you, because I tried to." Source: Testimony by Clinton, published in the 9/11 Commission Report

2. Upon taking office, Bush proposed cutting more than $500 million in counterterrorism funding from the Justice Department. Source: "Condi gets a reality check," Center for American Progress, April 8, 2004

3. On Sept. 10, 2001, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected an appeal from the FBI for more money to fight terrorism in the 2002 budget. Source: Toronto Star, April 13, 2004

4. On Sept. 11, 2001, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice planned to deliver a speech about national security that made no mention of Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda or Islamic fundamentalists. Source: CNN.com, April 1, 2004

5. National security advisor Condoleezza Rice: "The title of the [Aug. 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing] was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." Source: Testimony before the 9/11 Commission, April 8, 2004

More...

A Republican declares his independence
By Robert L. Black
Guest Columnist

When in the course of a lifetime, it becomes necessary for a born Republican to refuse to support the re-election of the party's incumbent president, to exercise his discretion, and in all good conscience, to vote for an opponent (even a Democrat), a decent respect to the opinions of his fellows requires that he declare the causes that impel him to switch.

I am grateful to the Republican Party for the support it gave me on each of three elections as judge. I respect many of the party leaders in Ohio. Nevertheless, my loyalty to the party must give way to my love of this country. I consider it a patriotic duty to speak up when the future of our democracy is at stake.

It is self-evident that everyone has certain unalienable rights endowed by the Creator, and that among these are the right to his/her own conscience and the right to pursue his/her sense of justice. Whenever in the field of politics the party to which he has belonged, and that party's president, become destructive of his vision of what is not only right and fair but also good for our future, it is his duty to call the tune as he hears it. When that future is endangered by the present policies of the administration, it is time to act. The record of this incumbent president is a history not only of repeated violations of the key principles underlying our democracy, but of the core values of the Christian faith to which he claims commitment. Let his actions be stated candidly.
More...

snipped from www.democraticunderground.com:

This is what I just wrote addressed to everyone I know who is too "left" to vote for Kerry, i.e. says there is no difference between the candidates and won't look past the fact that both candidates are part of the Empire.

ONE GOOD REASON TO VOTE FOR KERRY

After watching the debate last night, it must be obvious even to the people who missed the secret-Dred-Scott-code of the second debate that Bush is out to reverse Roe v. Wade, recriminalize abortion, send those women who didn't keep their legs crossed to Christian Group Mothers' Homes and in general bring The Handmaid's Tale to life.

So here is what I have to say to the people who are still wanking that there is no difference between the two candidates, people who are so far left that to them both candidates spell Empire in neon letters, people who are still not convinced that Kerry is the lesser of the two evils, people who refuse to vote for Kerry for some amalgam of the reasons I just listed.

You are creating a false binary between voting and ideology/activism. You are acting as if casting a vote for Kerry somehow compromises your ideas or your activist cred. Well, here is a newsflash, activism is about what you do. As far as I can tell going to the polls on election day does not and should not interfere with whatever activist work you will and should continue to do, regardless of who gets elected, be it grassroots organizing, independent media, or civil disobedience or anything else.
One of those two people, Bush or Kerry is going to be inagurated at the White House Lawn in January. One of them is going to win (or steal) the election in three weeks. 14 out of the 20 borderline states have counties or districts where Diebold electronic machines installed, machines that will be counting our votes without a paper trail, machines manufactured by a company whose president pledged in an open letter to his shareholders to "deliver the state of Ohio to George W. Bush." Activists who have been involved in this issue are working with international election monitoring groups. We can do our part by casting so many votes that the margin cannot be disputed, machines or no machines.

But back to abortion. And the people who don't want to vote for Kerry for ideological reasons, because they are so left, so involved in Really Changing The System. Hopefully you are Changing The System through real activism, not through arrogantly refusing to go to the polls on election day, because if THAT is your version of changing the system, that is pretty pathetic. And before you jump all over me telling me how not voting for Kerry is a logical extension of all your other platforms and actions, I repeat: you are creating a false binary. Whatever good work you do, whatever left position you identify is, you will hopefully continue to do that work regardless of who is in office. If you are involved in the antiglobalization struggle, your work will be cut out for you regardless of whether Bush or Kerry is elected. But if there is at least one clearcut difference between them (and we could argue about the others) it's that Bush will appoint judges who will reverse Roe v. Wade. Bush will impose his fundamentalist Christian values on me and on every single woman who may find herself in need of an abortion in his country. Bush has already started on his march of criminalizing abortion by banning partial birth abortion without providing an exception for the life or the health of the mother (ironically most partial birth abortions are performed as medical procedures when the life or the health of the mother are at risk). He has signed into law the Laci and Connor bill, which is a backdoor attack on abortion rights, because it grants personhood and legal status to a fetus. He has made it legal for pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception if it is against their morals or ethics to do so. The Bush Administration threatened to cut funds from the CDC if they didn't remove all links to AIDS prevention except abstinence from their website (they did). The Bush Administration denies aid to third world countries whose family planning includes options other than abstinence. He WILL promote his Orwellian Culture of Life which for women, especially women who can't afford or aren't able to travel out of the country to get a safe abortion, will mean a return to butchered abortions in back alleys and hot baths with coathangers.

So, if there is no other difference between Kerry and Bush, here's one that matters. If you refuse to vote for Kerry for ideological reasons, that means, to me, that you put your ideology ahead of my right to get a safe and legal abortion. That means your ideology does not include me or millions of other women. This is not the time for ideological arrogance. True activists are judged by actions, not by posturing. Organize that group, go to that protest, drop that banner, make that video, help the NLG, participate in campaign finance reform, do that die-in, go as a human rights witness to Guatemala or go on the ISM program, make your dad read Howard Zinn, stand in solidarity with the women of Code Pink, continue your work against CAFTA and the FTAA, protest the Patriot Act and the Miami Model, do whatever it is you do, none of those activities should be impeded by you taking a half an hour to go and vote on election day. And then we will all go back to whatever modes of activism we choose to engage in, regardless of who is in the White House. Except in one case myself and millions of other women will have our right to get a safe and legal abortion preserved. In the other case should we need an abortion we will have to pursue illegally, like criminals in the night, some shady operation which may or may not kill us, or opt to do it ourselves, with coat hangers or knitting needles.

Any questions?

i good blog with links to online LTR feeds.

LA Times Editorial:

President Bush's handlers tried to minimize the significance of his three debates with Sen. John F. Kerry, exaggerating Bush's lack of debating skills while insisting that he is the stronger leader. The trouble with this spin is that tens of millions of Americans watching the debates didn't feel they were watching a mere academic exercise. Stitched together, these three extraordinary exchanges amounted to a powerful indictment of the president's leadership.

Even on foreign policy and national security, supposedly the president's strong suit, Kerry had Bush on the defensive in the first debate, attacking him for fighting an unnecessary war in Iraq while failing to capture Osama bin Laden and to prevent the acceleration of nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea.

more on this editorial...

Snagged from www.democraticunderground.com

Ceci Connolly: “You know, I gave Sen. Kerry a bit of an edge on substance, an A-, in part because he showed both depth and breadth on so many different issues.” (Fox, 10/14/04)

ABC Poll Who Won? Kerry 42%, Bush 41%, Tie 14%(Party affiliation: Republicans 38, Democrats 30, Independents 28%)

CBS POLL: Kerry has clear positions on issues: Before: 29%, After: 60%

Aaron Brown: “Bill Schneider, the polls are out and this one wasn’t close in the poll.”

Bill Schneider: “Nope, hat trick for Kerry, three games, three goals.” (CNN, 10/14/04)

James Bennet: "Yet even (Bush's) smile was askew for about half the debate, marred by a glistening light dot at the right corner of his mouth. Viewers could be forgiven for losing track of his answers and imagining Laura Bush in the front row in frantic semaphore, wiping furiously at the corner of her own mouth." (New York Times, 10/14/04)

John Roberts: “I would probably have to give it to John Kerry. He seemed a little bit more poised…” (CBS, 10/13/04)

Mark Shields: “I think Kerry is far more factual.” (PBS, 10/13/14)

Tom Fielder: “I think tonight was tough territory for President Bush to even be playing in. And the odds were tough for him. Frankly I don’t, again speculation, but I don’t think that he was able to do anything that either hurt John Kerry badly enough to change the dynamic or that helped him enough to push John Kerry off of the game right now.” (CNN, 10/14/04)

Ron Reagan: “John Kerry may win the day after. George Bush made a mistake. Kerry quoted him accurately as it turns out in saying he’s not really worried about Osama bin Laden and Bush came back and said, well I don’t recall ever saying anything like that, we’ll you’ll see the clip of him saying exactly that tomorrow.” (MSNBC 10/13/04)

Andrea Mitchell: “John Kerry was strong on minimum wage.” (MSNBC 10/13/04)

Carlos Watson: “And when all is said and done I think Kerry will be proclaimed the winner, which I think will be significant because I think he will be viewed as having won all three debates.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

George Stephanopoulos: “I thought Senator Kerry was most effective on talking about jobs, minimum wage, healthcare and social security” (ABC, 10/13/04)

Pat Buchanan: “Kerry was, I thought, very much at the top of his game and I thought toward the end, when you saw Kerry, you saw more of the humanity of the man in some of those questions, which was very helpful to them; talking about the daughters and things.” (MSNBC, 10/13/14)

Joe Scarborough: “I have no doubt that every Ivy League, Yale debate coach in America is going to say that John Kerry won on points.” (MSNBC, 10/13/04)

Chris Wallace: "I thought perhaps, because of the subject matter, that John Kerry did better in the second half on subjects like minimum wage which the president seemed somewhat uncomfortable on and really ducked, and started talking about his education plan. On assault weapons which he pretty much ducked." (Fox News, 10/13/04)

Chris Matthews: “Senator Kerry tonight was able to score on the class issue. He relentlessly went back on the fact that the tax cut passed in 2001 was directed at the top 3%.” (MSNBC 10/13/04)

Jeff Greenfield: “I think to the extent that the Republicans were looking for the president to lay the heavy lumber on John Kerry, that did not happen. And so if we’ve gone this last ten days with Kerry slowly moving up on Bush, I don’t see anything in this debate that will change that.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

Judy Woodruff: “The Bush people are answering questions, Wolf, I’ll tell you, about what the president had to say about flu shots. It’s interesting, there seems to be a lot of discussion about whether that was the best answer to give.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

Anthony Mason: “Dan, the uncommitted voters in our survey have given the edge in this debate, to this final debate, to John Kerry.” (CBS,10/13/04)

Peter Jennings: “President Bush said on John Kerry’s vote on Homeland Security Bill that he voted against the Homeland Security Bill. Right or wrong?”

Jake Tapper: “Wrong.” (ABC, 10/13/04)

Tavis Smiley: “I think, Peter, that you have to shore up your bases…I think Mr. Kerry did that with people of color on the left.” (ABC, 10/13/04)

Chris Jansing: “He painted the president as some one who led us to a misguided war, who has put Americans at risk because they don't have health insurance, who has lost more jobs than any president.” (MSNBC, 10/13/04)

Dean Reynolds: “I think the candidate whose numbers have been moving in the right direction for the last 10 days has been Senator John Kerry, this debate did nothing to stop that, and I think from the Kerry point of view they’ll be happy about the results tonight.” (ABC, 10/13/04)

Tom Brokaw: “I think that they were seeing on the war issue that John Kerry had tapped into something out there in America. That there were doubts even among the president’s supporters on the Republican side of the agenda and especially in a lot of those traditionally red states where they have a lot of people overseas and beginning to wonder if this was going well or not.” (MSNBC, 10/13/04)

Bill Schneider: “This was a decisive win for John Kerry. It was just about as decisive as his win in the first debate, which everyone agreed was a blow out.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

Richard Wolfe: “John Kerry, I thought, took this one by points. The president really needed to get a big victory tonight and he fell short of that. You know, he beat himself in the previous debates, but that really wasn’t good enough. And John Kerry has looked more presidential and more personable as these debates have gone on.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

Perry Bacon: “Senator Kerry probably still won on points.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

Sen. George Mitchell "When President Bush gets sick, he goes to a government doctor, he's treated at a government hospital, he's cared for a by a government nurse, so is every Republican Senator and every Republican Congressman. If government care is so bad for the rest of the American people, why is it that the President gets government care. I don't favor a government program but the sheer effrontery of receiving government care from government employees and saying its bad for the American people, it, it's offensive." (PBS, 10/13/04)

Chris Matthews: “I think the president had sort of an unhappy look but it was a very controlled and disciplined look. He was obviously told ‘they’re looking at you, don’t put on a show.’ But he didn’t look happy. He wasn’t used to this kind of brow-beating.” (MSNBC, 10/13/04)

Bill Schneider: “The viewers of the debate, we interviewed them beforehand. They were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. But they were not split on this debate. Their verdict? Kerry, by a decisive margin.” (CNN, 10/14/04)

Liz Marlantes: “Kerry was, in many ways, very consistent from debate, to debate, to debate.” (MSNBC, 10/14/04)

David Gergen: "The debates have changed the dynamics of the race. Most importantly, among women, and let me come back to that. Before the first debate, if you looked at the CNN-Gallup poll for example, a week before the first debate, the President was not only ahead substantially among men, but he was ahead 10 points ahead among women, 10 points ahead among women. Coming into this debate, John Kerry enjoyed an 8 point lead among women, there was an 18 point swing among women. That's what's tightened up this race and I thought what we heard tonight was John Kerry very directly appealing to women. It's the first time he's done that. I thought it was a very shrewd move on his part." (PBS, 10/13/04)

Mark Halperin: "The President has lost ground since the first poll, since the first debate rather. Nothing occurred in the second debate to reverse that process." (PBS, 10/13/04)

Bill Schneider: “But in the end, Kerry was perceived to be the winner by viewers of all three debates.” (CNN, 10/14/04)

George Stephanopoulos: “If you look at the sweep of the 3 debates he’s made this a dead heat and may even begin to have momentum going on his side.” (ABC, 10/13/04)

Mike Barnicle: “The amazing thing about John Kerry… he has achieved, I would think, what any candidate running against an incumbent president would want to achieve. He appears to be his physical equal on the stage. He appears to be presidential alongside the president.” (MSNBC 10/14/04)

John Harwood: “Aaron, I think this was a night when President Bush needed to change the dynamic. If you look at the situation we were in before these debates began, John Kerry was clearly behind the President. Now we're in a situation where slowly the polls are sliding toward John Kerry and it did not appear that anything happened to really shake that fundamental dynamic tonight in which John Kerry goes before millions and millions of Americans and presents a reassuring picture.” (CNN, 10/14/04)

Larry King: “We asked tonight who did the better job in this debate? Kerry 52%, Bush 39%.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

Candy Crowley: “If what you’re looking for in a candidate is the best debater, I mean, that is definitely John Kerry. He has a quick command of the facts, he is very articulate, and I think the poll reflects that.” (CNN, 10/13/04)

Jon Meacham: “John Kerry took the populist war straight to the President.” (MSNBC, 10/13/04)
Brian Williams: “The problem here is the word nuisance. It was first used publicly in this context by a trusted Bush family friend, advisor and ally, Ret. General Brent Scowcroft, the National Security Advisor, as you know, in the first Bush White House.” (NBC, 10/13/04)

David Gergen: "CNN/Gallup's yesterday was saying by 15 percentage points Americans thought John Kerry won the second debate. So you've got him winning the first, you've got him with the perception that he won the second, whatever the immediate polls may have said, we can disagree on that. If the perception now takes hold that he won the third debate, if there are two or three polls..ok, if that takes hold, I think that gives John Kerry an enormous lift, to win three debates against the sitting President of the United States, I think gives him a big lift." (PBS, 10/13/04)

John Harwood: “Not sure (Bush) changed the race in a way that some of his strategists had hoped he would.” (CNN, 10/14/04)

Melinda Henneberger: “Overall in the three debates, you really have to say that Kerry came across as more commanding and that the president… did not always even seem in command of himself.” (MSNBC 10/14/04)

Melinda Henneberger: “Kerry undercut the idea of him(self) as inconsistent by presenting himself as very consistent.” (MSNBC 10/14/04)

Melinda Henneberger: “I think that tonight, Bush did himself some real harm…he just seems so perpetually surprised… it really undercut his credibility I thought.” (MSNBC 10/14/04)

“Mr. Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts, repeatedly portrayed himself as a fiscally responsible leader running against a spendthrift president who had cut taxes for the wealthy and tolerated a profound decline for the American middle class. All the while, Mr. Bush watched with impatience.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“...at times, the strain of correcting the angry, defensive impression of the first two debates wore through. On a question about health care costs, he stopped midway through an antimedia joke - ‘In all due respect, I'm not so sure it's credible to quote leading news organizations about’ - with the words, ‘oh, never mind.’ And then he laughed, a ‘heh heh heh’ that was not echoed in the room.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“Mr. Bush, however, tends to regard even policy choices as matters of faith. The numbers on his Social Security plan may never add up; last night, when asked about the $2 trillion hole in the proposal, he simply ignored the question. But to the president, all of his initiatives are success stories, and the devil take the details.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“Mr. Bush, faced with the challenge of a debate that was supposed to be focused entirely on domestic issues - after building his re-election campaign on national security - cited a litany of events outside his control as he sought to rebut the battery of economic statistics Mr. Kerry used against him.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“Mr. Kerry, though, seemed calm and in command as he talked evenly into the cameras on subjects that his aides have long viewed as his strong suits.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“Yet even (Bush’s) smile was askew for about half the debate, marred by a glistening light dot at the right corner of his mouth. Viewers could be forgiven for losing track of his answers and imagining Laura Bush in the front row in frantic semaphore, wiping furiously at the corner of her own mouth. Mr. Bush's face slipped into a frown late in the debate, as he struggled with a question on why the nation was so divided under his leadership. He began thumping one hand flat onto his lectern, knitting his brows as he segued to a defense of his management of the Iraq war.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“If Mr. Bush loses the election, he will have to blame, at least in part, his own debate performance.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“They were a rough passage for Mr. Bush, who saw his September lead over Mr. Kerry slip away as the Democratic nominee established himself as a plausible presidential alternative. In a crucible where voters measure the self-confidence, authority and steadiness of the candidates, Mr. Kerry delivered a consistent set of assertive, collected performances.” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“For Mr. Kerry, one of the best pieces of news was his strong performance on social issues.” (Editorial, New York Times, 10/14/04)

“The president refused to accept any responsibility for the lapse of the ban on assault weapons and completely dodged the question of whether he wanted to see the Supreme Court reverse Roe v. Wade, while Mr. Kerry gave strong responses to both questions. ‘I believe that the right of choice is a constitutional right,’ he said. ‘So I don't intend to see it undone.’” (New York Times, 10/14/04)

“Kerry, as unruffled as he has been throughout his personal confrontations with the president, did nothing to damage his prospects. Neutral observers -- including some who gave Bush a narrow edge -- predicted that Kerry would maintain the momentum that has brought him from an underdog's position at the beginning of September to rough parity with the incumbent.” (Washington Post, 10/14/04)

“An essentially dignified and thoughtful performance by John Kerry, contrasted with an oddly giggly turn by George W. Bush, combined to give the last debate of the presidential campaign to the challenger last night, but very narrowly.” (Washington Post, 10/14/04)

“Bush looked as smiley as Clarabell the Clown.” (Washington Post, 10/14/04)

“In a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll of 511 debate watchers, Kerry was seen as the winner by 52 percent to 39 percent. An ABC News poll had Bush and Kerry tied among a sample of debate watchers that tended to be more Republican.” (Associated Press, 10/14/04)

“President Bush overlooked a flip-flop of his own when he boasted Wednesday about launching the Homeland Security Department: He was against it before he was for it.” (Associated Press, 10/14/04)

“For Kerry, simply being on the same stage with Bush on three evenings was a plus because it took some of the sheen off the wartime aura the president has developed as commander-in-chief in the war on terror. But Kerry did better than that, raising questions about Bush's performance as leader of a troubled war in Iraq and establishing his own command of a wide swath of issues. He hit Bush particularly hard Wednesday night on the nation's growing health care problems, noting the increase in uninsured and fast-rising costs. ‘The president has turned his back,’ he said.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10/14/04)

“The two-week period shaped by the debates appears to have drastically changed the nature of the race, leaving Mr. Kerry in a much stronger position for the endgame than appeared possible just after Labor Day. The Massachusetts Democrat ended the summer weakened by the Republican convention and attacks on his Vietnam War record. The challenger effectively used the nationally televised platform -- more so than he did during his nominating convention in July -- to make voters feel more comfortable with him. Mr. Bush's shaky performance in the first debate, by contrast, gave voters new doubts that he didn't seem able to dispel in the second round, despite what was widely seen as a better performance.” (Wall Street Journal, 10/14/04)

“A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken after the debate found most viewers thought Kerry won, 52%-39%, giving him an unbeaten streak in the three debates. Kerry had an advantage on health care, the economy and education and expressed himself more clearly, the poll found.” (USA Today, 10/14/04)

“Again, Kerry showed himself to be an articulate, thoughtful master of detail who weighs issues carefully, ultimately arriving at cohesive policy positions.” (Editorial, USA Today, 10/14/04)

“Kerry, who critics say often meanders, spoke in commanding tones.” (USA Today, 10/14/04)

“By double-digit margins, those surveyed gave Kerry higher marks than Bush for expressing himself clearly, understanding issues and caring about the needs of people like them. Kerry was more believable, they said.” (USA Today, 10/14/04)

“John Kerry, the four-term senator from Massachusetts, won the third and final debate against President George W. Bush, according to polls by CBS and CNN/USA Today/Gallup. An ABC New survey said Bush and Kerry battled to a statistical tie.” (Bloomberg, 10/14/04)

“Kerry gained the most ground. The lone undecided voter before the debate concluded that if the election were held today, the Massachusetts senator would get his vote.” (Denver Post, 10/14/04)

“For a third, and final, presidential debate Wednesday night, Sen. John Kerry matched or bettered the president of the United States before a national television audience.” (Denver Post, 10/14/04)

“Kerry delivered a steadier and more confident performance than in last week's debate, the second face-off. From the outset, he sought to portray himself as a tribune of the middle class, promising to defend American workers and repeatedly charging that Bush's economic policies had favored the affluent” (Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04)

“President Bush's handlers tried to minimize the significance of his three debates with Sen. John F. Kerry, exaggerating Bush's lack of debating skills while insisting that he is the stronger leader. The trouble with this spin is that tens of millions of Americans watching the debates didn't feel they were watching a mere academic exercise. Stitched together, these three extraordinary exchanges amounted to a powerful indictment of the president's leadership. Even on foreign policy and national security, supposedly the president's strong suit, Kerry had Bush on the defensive in the first debate, attacking him for fighting an unnecessary war in Iraq while failing to capture Osama bin Laden and to prevent the acceleration of nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea. That the president was on the defensive again Wednesday night, in a debate devoted to domestic policy, is less surprising. Again, Kerry made a compelling case that, for all his plain-talkin' West Texas bravado, Bush had failed to lead.” (Editorial, Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04)

“Bush's weakness as a leader was also manifest in his response to a question about why he failed to renew the ban on assault weapons, which he professed to support. He basically said he didn't have the votes on Capitol Hill, even though the ban would have passed had GOP leaders allowed a vote, something Bush should have ordered” (Editorial, Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04)

“It's no wonder the Bush team, hobbled by such a record, acts as if it can win only if voters treat this election as a referendum on Kerry's fitness for office. It should be clear by now that Kerry is not for some Stalinist government healthcare system, that he won't give Paris a veto over U.S. foreign policy and that he doesn't think terrorism is merely a nuisance. He was thoughtful and firm in all three debates, despite his enduring stiffness. The shrillness of the Bush camp's attacks on Kerry betrays an unbecoming desperation, and adds to the sense that the challenger came out the convincing winner.” (Editorial, Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04)

“It's hard to dispute that the debates have been kinder to Kerry than to Bush.” (Mike Littwin, Column, Rocky Mountain News, 10/14/04)

“Kerry looked very much like he did in the first two debates. Why not? He appears to have won the debate over debates.” (Mike Littwin, Column, Rocky Mountain News, 10/14/04)

“Democrat John F. Kerry came away from last night's final presidential debate having staked his claim for the White House with aggressiveness in the first encounter, likability in the second, and command of policy in the third, seeming to grow in credibility as a prospective president with each performance” (Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“Kerry seemed to score well with health care, both in explaining his plan to allow people to buy into the same health services as members of the House and Senate and in blaming Bush for increased numbers of uninsured people on his watch.” (Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“For Kerry, who entered the debates skittering on the edge of derision, a man seemingly lacking convictions, the force of his commitment probably resonated more than any particular issue.” (Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“The president is the hotter, more emotive candidate; the senator is the cooler, more cerebral one…television is broadly considered a medium more receptive to cool performers,” (Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“Part way through a response to one of John Kerry's statements about healthcare needs in this country, President Bush ran out of gas and simply stopped talking.” (Thomas Oliphant, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“This was, by contrast, John Kerry's third opportunity to increase his standing with the American people, and he once again took full advantage of it. Challengers who have a chance to talk unfiltered and unchallenged before a mass audience about the future, who can joke about their wealth as well as make a clear and specific commitment to raising the minimum wage by 40 percent, are on the way to being called incumbents.” (Thomas Oliphant, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“The polls have already indicated that Americans think Kerry would be better than Bush on handling the domestic issues that came up last night. Kerry lived up to that billing, displaying far more command of the issues than Bush. Kerry talked as a hunter against assault weapons. He talked about women's unequal pay and unemployment among African-American and Latino males. He was very clear in saying that America still has separate but unequal educations. Most important, Kerry was far more forthright than Bush about key issues in the culture wars. Kerry flat out said that he would appoint judges who would protect the Roe v. Wade decision affirming a woman's right to choose. Meanwhile, Bush hid behind his patented rhetoric of appointing judges who would strictly interpret the law. Everyone knows that means an intolerant court full of Antonin Scalias and Clarence Thomases.” (Derrick Z. Jackson, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“Voters know that the Massachusetts senator has a brain. They want to know he has heart, and he revealed a little more of it last night.” (Joan Vennochi, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“This wasn't the lopsided win of the first presidential debate, but John Kerry nevertheless scored a solid victory last night.” (Scot Lehigh, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“…it was Kerry, playing the prosecutor he once was, who kept the president on the defensive for much of the evening, using an impressive array of facts and figures to explain the effect the administration's policies have had on average Americans. That helped root Kerry solidly in middle-class values.” (Scot Lehigh, Op-Ed, Boston Globe, 10/14/04)

“Kerry scored big gains, as 42 percent of respondents said they had a more favorable opinion of him after the debate. Bush only increased with 27 percent of those polled.” (CNN.com, 10/14/04)

“On the economy and jobs, Kerry said Bush was the first president in 72 years to preside over a net loss of jobs.” (Steven Thomma and James Kuhnhenn, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/14/04)

“In a recent private meeting with supporters, President Bush reportedly predicted that, in this race, he would "keep my foot on John Kerry's throat." Last night, he was true to his word. But it didn't appear that Kerry was suffering much pain.” (Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/14/04)

“But Bush was fact-challenged on health care last night.” (Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/14/04)

“On the other hand, Bush is the incumbent whose record is on the line, and he may not have helped his cause last night when Schieffer invited him to talk about hiking the minimum wage, and he quickly changed the subject to improving the schools.” (Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/14/04)

“Bush stumbled on a question not raised before, about the U.S. flu vaccine shortage… Also, he blamed lawsuits for the shortage. In fact, according to the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, the frequent vaccine shortages result from two factors: Vaccines aren't profitable, and drug companies keep merging.” (Matt Sterns, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/14/04)

“Bush said the economy is growing and more jobs are being created. But they are being created at a far slower rate than the 150,000 jobs a month that economists consider healthy for the economy.” (Matt Sterns, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/14/04)

“Bush said Kerry voted to raise taxes 98 times… the 98 number includes 16 votes on President Clinton's 1993 proposal to raise taxes and cut spending.” (Matt Sterns, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/14/04)

“But Kerry did better than that, raising questions about Bush's performance as leader of a troubled war in Iraq and establishing his own command of a wide swath of issues.” (David Westphal, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10/14/04)

“Otis was the first person to ask a question at last Friday's presidential debate at Washington University. She asked Kerry if he had a response for people who thought he was ‘wishy-washy.’ Now, Otis said, she has pretty much dismissed that label for Kerry. ‘Kerry seems to be more straightforward,’ she said. Otis saw Bush as being on the defensive during much of Wednesday's debate. ‘If I had to go vote tonight, I'd be for Senator Kerry,’ she said.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10/14/04)

“Kerry's answers ‘make me believe he is smarter, that things aren't as black and white as Bush would have you believe,’ Barrow said. ‘Kerry is a bright guy. I trust him.’” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10/14/04)

“Network news polls named Kerry the winner of Wednesday night's exchange, as they had in the first two faceoffs.” (John Aloysius Farrell, Denver Post, 10/14/04)

“Network news polls named Kerry the winner of Wednesday night's exchange, as they had in the first two faceoffs. A CNN sample had Kerry winning 52 percent to 39 percent, while CBS had the Democrat winning 39-25 and ABC had a tighter margin, with Kerry the victor 42-41… Kerry ‘won’ the debates by calling upon skills learned long ago when, as a prosecutor striving to persuade judges and juries in Middlesex County, Mass., he had to take complex facts and weave them into digestible arguments.” (John Aloysius Farrell, Denver Post, 10/14/04)

“But over the course of the three debates, Kerry better exploited his opportunity to show undecided voters that he has presidential stature and a set of firm convictions.” (John Aloysius Farrell, Denver Post, 10/14/04)

“’Most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans,’ Bush said, in an assertion vigorously and repeatedly challenged by Kerry. The tax cuts, though, are heavily weighted toward the wealthy Americans who pay the greatest share of federal taxes to begin with. That has meant that two-thirds of the benefits of the Bush tax cuts have gone to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans, according to an analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice, an independent Washington think tank that bases its calculations on Treasury Department data.” (Bob Deans, Denver Post, 10/14/04)

“Bush accused Kerry of wanting ‘government-run health care’ that would lead to poor quality and rationing. According to factcheck.org, 97 percent of Americans would keep the private insurance they now have.” (Kansas City Star, 10/14/04)

youth vote debate...

A funny thing happened on the way to 'The Truth'

By Karl W. B. Schwarz
Online Journal Guest Writer

September 24, 2004—I am a conservative Republican who has come to the conclusion over the past 12 months that I would not vote for Bush Cheney 2004 under bribe, duress or at gunpoint. I have come to that conclusion for many reasons that are well documented and in some instances is information that is known only to myself and several executives that I work with.

I have written a book about my experiences with the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Bush Cheney, and bring forth facts that I found stunning and disgusting to the point that I am convinced that both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and RNC, and our political system, are in need a serious house cleaning. America needs leadership, not an endless stream of talking heads and game show hosts to keep us entertained. That is my opinion and I am sticking to it.

It would also help if Americans had The Truth but that seems to be something that Washington, DC fears these days.

I read the recent analysis written by Sibel D. Edmonds regarding the 9-11 Commission findings and recommendations. That article was posted on Antiwar.com for those readers that missed it. For those that do not know who Sibel Edmonds is, she is the FBI translator that Bush, Cheney and Ashcroft have gone to great lengths to silence.

From www.democraticunderground.com poster: This was written by Charley Reese of the Orlando Sentinel. If you know the writer and his strongly conservative reputation, you should find it eye-opening. He is no friend of the Democrats. Americans should realize that if they vote for President Bush's re-election, they are really voting for the architects of war -- Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that cabal of neoconservative ideologues and their corporate backers.

"Vote for a Man, not a Puppet"
Charley Reese
May 17, 2004

I have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a frontman, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his administration. Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president in my memory.

It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague.Take away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be embarrassed that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently and articulately in English than our own president at their joint press conference recently.

John Kerry is at least an educated man, well-read, who knows how to think and who knows that the world is a great deal more complex than Bush's comic-book world of American heroes and foreign evildoers. It's unfortunate that in our poorly educated country, Kerry's very intelligence and refusal to adopt simplistic slogans might doom his presidential election efforts.

But Thomas Jefferson said it well, as he did so often, when he observed that people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and never will be.

People who think of themselves as conservatives will really display their stupidity, as I did in the last election, by voting for Bush. Bush is as far from being a conservative as you can get. Well, he fooled me once, but he won't fool me twice.

It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending, to vastly increase the power of government, to show contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law, or to tell people that foreign outsourcing of American jobs is good for them, that giant fiscal and trade deficits don't matter, and that people should not know what their government is doing. Bush is the most prone-to-classify, the most secretive president in the 20th century.

His administration leans dangerously toward the authoritarian.

It's no wonder that the Justice Department has convicted a few Arab-Americans of supporting terrorism. What would you do if you found yourself arrested and a federal prosecutor whispers in your ear that either you can plea-bargain this or the president will designate you an enemy combatant and you'll be held incommunicado for the duration?

This election really is important, not only for domestic reasons, but because Bush's foreign policy has been a dangerous disaster. He's almost restarted the Cold War with Russia and the nuclear arms race. America is not only hated in the Middle East, but it has few friends anywhere in the world thanks to the arrogance and ineptness of the Bush administration. Don't forget, a scientific poll of Europeans found us, Israel, North Korea and Iran as the greatest threats to world peace.

I will swallow a lot of petty policy differences with Kerry to get a man in the White House with brains enough not to blow up the world and us with it. Go to Kerry's Web site (http://www.johnkerry.com and read some of the magazine profiles on him. You'll find that there is a great deal more to Kerry than the GOP attack dogs would have you believe.
Besides, it would be fun to have a president who plays hockey, windsurfs, rides motorcycles, plays the guitar, writes poetry and speaks French. It would be good to have a man in the White House who has killed people face to face. Killing people has a sobering effect on a man and dispels all illusions about war.

Read and watch the video...

Here is where you can find your own earplug....just like the president!

how will you be defeated once again...let me count the ways....60 so far

There are so many reasons to oppose four more years of George W. Bush it can be hard to keep them all straight. And so we provide you with this handy guide, listing 60 reasons (in no particular order) why this administration sucks major butt.


1. Despite Bush’s endless assurances that "Americans are safer," he’s done astonishingly little to protect the continental U.S. from terrorist attacks. His administration spends more in Iraq in four days than they’ve spent protecting our ports in four years, and Bush has blocked mandatory safety and security requirements at nuclear/chemical facilities (such requirements are unpopular with his corporate buds), leaving these facilities perilously vulnerable.

2. While there’s no established connection between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11, there are established connections between Sept. 11 and Saudi-government officials, who not only provided funds to the hijackers (15 out of 19 of which were Saudis), but also supported front groups that funneled millions in aid to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Say what you will about Michael Moore sometimes getting screwy with the facts, but his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 does raise serious questions that the major media should have at least asked about the special treatment given numerous Saudis—including Bush’s longtime family friends the bin Ladens—to fly out of the U.S. in the days after Sept. 11.

3. Bush often reminds us we should be grateful to our soldiers, but in 2003, he proposed closing seven veterans hospitals, cutting combat bonus pay 33 percent, cutting assistance to soldiers’ families by 60 percent and cutting $1.3 billion in veterans’ health care. So far, Bush has not attended the funeral of a single soldier killed in Iraq.

4. Native Alaskan villages are being destroyed as sea ice melts and huge waves pound the coastline. El Niño caused China’s Yangtze River to overflow, killing more than 3,000 people and leaving 230 million homeless. Despite this and substantial evidence that global warming is real and man-made, for four years, Bush has misrepresented science in order to avoid passing measures that could annoy his campaign supporters in the fossil-fuel and auto industries. Bush has allowed companies to set their own targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and surprise, they set themselves very unchallenging goals.

Going Upriver - The Long War of John Kerry

Check it out....Take Back The Media - Flash Animation: Boycott Sinclair Broadcast Group - Here's How

they will simply stop at nothing...from www.dailykos.com:

watch the new video

Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.

Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected.

The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.

The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.

Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.

"We caught her taking Democrats out of my pile, handed them to her assistant and he ripped them up right in front of us. I grabbed some of them out of the garbage and she tells her assisatnt to get those from me," said Eric Russell, former Voters Outreach employee.

Eric Russell managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law.

Commissioner Michael J. Copps reacted to reports that Sinclair Broadcast Group will preempt more than 60 local stations across the country to air an overtly political program in the days prior to the Presidential election:

“This is an abuse of the public trust. And it is proof positive of media consolidation run amok when one owner can use the public airwaves to blanket the country with its political ideology -- whether liberal or conservative. Some will undoubtedly question if this is appropriate stewardship of the public airwaves. This is the same corporation that refused to air Nightline’s reading of our war dead in Iraq. It is the same corporation that short-shrifts local communities and local jobs by distance-casting news and weather from hundreds of miles away. It is a sad fact that the explicit public interest protections we once had to ensure balance continue to be weakened by the Federal Communications Commission while it allows media conglomerates to get even bigger. Sinclair, and the FCC, are taking us down a dangerous road.”

Interesting stufff...spend some time there....

The Truth Seeker - Behind The "News"

take a look at the donors to the Dems and republicans...it might surprise you...

Top All-Time Donor Profiles

a good read...check the blog out...

A Tiny Revolution

Sy Hersch at his 10/8 talk in Berkely:

HERSH: I got a call last week from a soldier -- it's different now, a lot of communication, 800 numbers. He's an American officer and he was in a unit halfway between Baghdad and the Syrian border. It's a place where we claim we've done great work at cleaning out the insurgency. He was a platoon commander. First lieutenant, ROTC guy.

It was a call about this. He had been bivouacing outside of town with his platoon. It was near, it was an agricultural area, and there was a granary around. And the guys that owned the granary, the Iraqis that owned the granary... It was an area that the insurgency had some control, but it was very quiet, it was not Fallujah. It was a town that was off the mainstream. Not much violence there. And his guys, the guys that owned the granary, had hired, my guess is from his language, I wasn't explicit -- we're talking not more than three dozen, thirty or so guards. Any kind of work people were dying to do. So Iraqis were guarding the granary. His troops were bivouaced, they were stationed there, they got to know everybody...

They were a couple weeks together, they knew each other. So orders came down from the generals in Baghdad, we want to clear the village, like in Samarra. And as he told the story, another platoon from his company came and executed all the guards, as his people were screaming, stop. And he said they just shot them one by one. He went nuts, and his soldiers went nuts. And he's hysterical. He's totally hysterical. And he went to the captain. He was a lieutenant, he went to the company captain. And the company captain said, "No, you don't understand. That's a kill. We got thirty-six insurgents."

You read those stories where the Americans, we take a city, we had a combat, a hundred and fifteen insurgents are killed. You read those stories. It's shades of Vietnam again, folks, body counts...

You know what I told him? I said, fella, I said: you've complained to the captain. He knows you think they committed murder. Your troops know their fellow soldiers committed murder. Shut up. Just shut up. Get through your tour and just shut up. You're going to get a bullet in the back. You don't need that. And that's where we are with this war.

Few Americans would have voted for George W. Bush four years ago if he had promised that, as President, he would:

• Empty the Social Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security benefits.
• Cut Medicare by 17 percent and reduce veterans’ benefits and military pay.
• Eliminate overtime pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50 percent.
• Give tax cuts to businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by policy encourage their departure.
• Give away billions of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive bids.
• Involve this country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
• Take a budget surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of the United States, creating a debt in just four years that will take generations to repay.

These were elements of a hidden agenda that surfaced only after he took office.

The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda.

Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry, based not only on the things that Bush has delivered, but also on the vision of a return to normality that Kerry says our country needs.

Four items trouble us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives to disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of the American economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding terrorism and Iraq.

President Bush has announced plans to change the Social Security system as we know it by privatizing it, which when considering all the tangents related to such a change, would put the entire economy in a dramatic tailspin.

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

Privatization is problematic in that it would subject Social Security to the ups, downs, and outright crashes of the Stock Market. It would take millions in brokerage fees and commissions out of the system, and, unless we have assurance that the Ivan Boeskys and Ken Lays of the world will be caught and punished as a deterrent, subject both the Market and the Social Security Fund to fraud and market manipulation, not to mention devastate and ruin multitudes of American families that would find their lives lost to starvation, shame, and isolation.

Kerry wants to keep Social Security, which each of us already owns. He says that the program is manageable, since it is projected to be solvent through 2042, with use of its trust funds. This would give ample time to strengthen the economy, reduce the budget deficit the Bush administration has created, and, therefore, bolster the program as needed to fit ever-changing demographics.

Our senior citizens depend upon Social Security. Bush’s answer is radical and uncalled for, and would result in chaos as Americans have never experienced. Do we really want to risk the future of Social Security on Bush by spinning the wheel of uncertainty?

In those dark hours after the World Trade Center attacks, Americans rallied together with a new sense of patriotism. We were ready to follow Bush’s lead through any travail.
He let us down.

more

good reading from an underground republican...

RollingStone.com: Politics - Bush Like Me

Take a look at the following video of bush and chirac in a joint press conference...notice the following....bush does not use the same words in the propting and the actual speach...bush adjusts his earpiece when he is completed with his speech....chirac has a puzzled look on his face....even the press questions are prestaged...he is a sick, sick man....america deserves better:

the damming video of bush and his earpiece...

from your friends at the National Jewish Democratic Council....good stuff:

NJDC Victory Fund

i especially like the parts about the non-professional press corp:

.......Unlike the 2000 Bush plane, which became notorious for its party atmosphere -- margaritas flowed at the end of the day and affairs among the press corps were widely rumored -- the feeling on the Kerry plane is professional and businesslike. It soon became apparent that many members of Kerry's traveling press make no attempt to hide their open dislike of the candidate. The morning after Kerry had addressed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala on the evening of September 15th, two members of the press corps were talking on a campaign bus. "That event was stupid," one said, referring to the previous night's occasion -- one of the largest Hispanic galas of its type. "A waste of time," the other said.

Other reporters were just as dismissive. Kerry had gotten a series of impassioned standing ovations during his speech. But when Elisabeth Bumiller described the event in the New York Times, she said, referring to a moment when Kerry spoke an entire paragraph in flawless Spanish, "Kerry's audience . . . listened in startled silence, then broke out into cheers and applause when he made his way through ."

But to report on these events accurately would mean you had to say something unqualified and positive about Kerry. This is something his traveling press corps has been -- and still is -- loath to do. On the evening of September 21st, outside an auditorium in Orlando, where inside more than 7,500 people were screaming wildly as Kerry spoke, Candy Crowley stood next to the venue and reported on CNN that Kerry was "trying . . . to rev up the crowd." The implication was unmistakable: Kerry's supporters in Florida were resistant, even standoffish. Just to make sure Crowley was able to get away with downplaying the event as she was, CNN never showed a wide shot of the large, cheering crowd.

RollingStone.com: Politics - Kerry Fights Back

More groups of folks asking for a change in American policy..

Although we applaud the Bush Administration for its initial focus on destroying al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan, its failure to engage sufficient U.S. troops to capture or kill the mass of al-Qaida fighters in the later stages of that war was a great blunder. It is a fact that the early shift of U.S. focus to Iraq diverted U.S. resources, including special operations forces and intelligence capabilities, away from direct pursuit of the fight against the terrorists.

Security Scholars for a Sensible Foreign Policy - Open Letter

By Henri E. Cauvin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 1, 2004; Page B01

Jonathan Magbie, a 27-year-old Mitchellville man, was sent to jail in the District last week for 10 days for marijuana possession.

Details about Magbie's death were first reported by WJLA-TV (Channel 7). Magbie was struck by a drunk driver when he was 4 years old; he was paralyzed from the neck down, and his growth was stunted. Barely five feet tall and 120 pounds, he moved around on a motorized wheelchair that he operated with his chin.

For most everything else, from scratching an itch on his head to flushing his lungs of accumulated fluid, he had to rely on others. Along with his family, he had nursing care 20 hours a day. "I'm not saying that he shouldn't have been punished, because he did smoke the marijuana," his mother, Mary Scott, said yesterday, a day after burying her son. "I just don't think it should have cost him his life."

Apparently resigned to having him stay on at the jail annex, the medical staff decided after a couple of days of back-and-forth with Magbie's mother and attorney to allow Magbie's mother to bring his ventilator. Told to bring the device down Friday morning, she did, showing up about 10 a.m. A half-hour earlier, she would later learn, her son had been taken by ambulance back to Greater Southeast.

That night, she received a call from a warden telling her that her son was dead.

go to the site and learn more about your president....

A Second-term for President George W. Bush ?!

Read it....get mad....and vote....

WOULD John Kerry or George Bush do a better job stewarding America's economy? Judging by the polls, voters are not sure. Within the past couple of months both candidates have had narrow leads on the issue. Ask economics professors, however, and you get a clearer answer.

In an informal poll of 100 academics, conducted by The Economist, Mr Bush's policies win low marks. More than 70% of the 56 professors who responded to our survey rate Mr Bush's first-term economic policies as bad or very bad. Fewer than 20% give positive marks to Mr Bush's second-term economic agenda, and almost six out of ten disapproved. Mr Kerry hardly got rave reviews either, but his economic plan still fared better than the president's did. In all, four out of ten professors rated Mr Kerry's economic plan as good or very good, but 27% gave it negative scores. (The complete numbers are available at www.economist.com/economistspoll. )

...more...

SCRANTON - For a Nobel Prize-winning economist who regularly expounds on 'information assymetries,' 'Pareto inefficiencies' and 'sovereign debt,' Joseph Stiglitz has a surprisingly concise and blunt take on the state of the U.S. economy.

'Bush is to blame,' the Columbia University professor concluded in an interview Friday at the University of Scranton.

Stiglitz, a former member of President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors and former chief economist for the World Bank, was scheduled to speak at the university Friday on the competing economic visions of the two candidates for president. Stiglitz has given similar talks at other universities, driven by what he called the Bush administration's 'phenomenally bad' stewardship of the U.S. economy.

Stiglitz said Bush had 'squandered' the surpluses left by the Clinton administration.

'It has been one of the worst performances of an economic administration ever.'

more.....

RESUME
George W. Bush The White House, USA

LAW ENFORCEMENT:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976, for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days.

My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

MILITARY:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use (wink, wink). By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

COLLEGE:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.

I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a deal that used taxpayer money to buy the land.

With the help of my father and friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:
I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

I cut taxes, and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.

With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

I entered office with the strongest economy in U.S. history, and, in less than 2 years, turned every single economic category heading straight down.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for most mortgage foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I am the first president in U.S. history to have all 50 states of the union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.

In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.

I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in U.S. history.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by any president in U.S. history. I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History - Enron. My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision. I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any country in the history of the world.

I am the first U.S. president in history to run and hide when the U.S. came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1).

I am the first U.S. president to establish a secret shadow government.

I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts. I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any President in U.S. history.

I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other U.S. president in history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

I made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I am the first president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Elections Monitoring Board.

I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant, when I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. "prisoners of war" and by default to no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).

I set the record for fewest number of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history.

After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, most U.S. citizens, and the vast majority of the international community.

I cut health care benefits for war veterans and supported a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families -- in war time.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq, then blamed the lies on our British friends. I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.

I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated U.S. law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.

I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in U.S. history.

I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.

I am supporting the development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed, in secrecy, and unavailable for public view.

All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

from a poster on ww.democraticunderground.com:

If you take the time to inform yourself you would now know:

There was no LEGITIMATE reason for the United States to have invaded Iraq.

Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11.
Saddam had NO ties to Al Qaeda nor did he directly sponsor terrorism.
SADDAM HAD NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

The Bush Administration LIED to the American people. They took flimsy evidence and exaggerated it. They discarded information that they didn't like. They opened the Office of Special Plans (OSP for short) to INVENT intelligence when it was necessary. Google it... it's the simple truth.

The Bush Administration is now sending our troops to Iraq without adequate armorment.

The BILLIONS of dollars appropriated for the War Reconstruction in Iraq are NOT BEING SPENT except to line the pockets of military contractors.

The Bush Administration is cutting funding for the VETERANS ADMINISTRATION. Veterans who are coming home wounded are NOT BEING SUPPORTED.
www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/998.php

Leave it to the GOP to support billion dollar military contractors but to stiff the actual troops.

In the first Presidential Debate Bush mentioned POLAND as one of our "allies" in Iraq. WELL GUESS WHAT! Poland just announced they are leaving Iraq too... along with all the other countries who are getting out of that quagmire.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6172854/

If you have children, you can count on them getting drafted if Bush is re-elected. We are currently building FOURTEEN military bases in Iraq.

Bush WILL invade Iran and Syria. That has been their plan from the get-go. Here's a link to the their manifesto- it's written by THEM with their own signatures. "Project For A New American Century" or PNAC.
www.newamericancentury.org/

This Admistration is not comprised of Republicans. They are Neo-Conservatives who bascially want to rule the world by force. They are throw backs to times when Colonialism and White Man's Burden held sway.

The saddest part of the Bush Campaign is the way they USE RELIGION. How DARE they suggest they embody American Values much less Christian Values.

When did the Holy Spirit direct ANYONE to put the profit margin of multi-national corporations over the good of people?

And finally let's talk about Patriotism.

Why hasn't the GOP, who now controls ALL arms of the Federal Govt. tightened our borders, stiffened Airline Security secured our ports?


Did you know that the Bush Admistration had not one but TWO spies? Chalabi was spying for Iran... he's the one who helped provide lies about Iraq.
www.cbsnews.com/stories/ 2004/05/20/iraq/main618637.shtml - 53k - Oct 6, 2004

Then there is Larry Franklin (works in Pentagon) who was spying for Israel.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ articles/A45287-2004Aug29.html

Did you know Bush outed not one but TWO CIA Assets?

Valerie Plame had her cover blown as revenge. She was working on tracking weapons of mass destruction.
www.sptimes.com/2003/08/ 10/Perspective/Blown_cover.shtml

Also, there was Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan described by US intelligence as "a one-man al-Qaida communications hub,".
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/bc04_blown_cover_2004.php

Why did Bush ignore Clinton's warnings and his Report about Terrorism? (Because he has issues?)
Why did Ashcroft cut funding for Anti-Terrorism before 9/11?
Why did Bush ignore Intelligence Report entitled "Usama Determined to Attack US in August preceeding 9/11?(or any other indications that there was terrorist activity?)
Why didn't Bush want an investigation into the attacks of 9/11?
Why did he sit in a school room full of children for 10 minutes when he knew we were under attack on 9/11 and then spend ANOTHER 20 minutes shaking teacher's hands and having his picture taken?
Why hasn't Saudi Arabia been held accountable for THEIR involvement in 9/11? (15 of 19 highjackers came from there)
Why doesn't Bush mention Usama any more? (He killed almost 3000 americans)

an interesting website in support of the film on John Kerry....going Upriver:

Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry

good video going into the debates....

Asshole filmstrip....

"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Kerry"

(My sincerest apologies to Johnny Mathis and "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas")

It's beginning to look a lot like Kerry
Everywhere you go;
Take a look at the recent trends, Georgie now sports Depends
With transmitters and two-way mikes below.

It's beginning to look a lot like Kerry
Wins in every state;
But the prettiest sight to see is the sense of victory
From tonight’s debate.

Some fake cowboy boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Dickie and Ed;
For those who have hope we all wish that the dope
Is destroyed and left thinking he’s dead;
And Jen and Barb can hardly wait for drinks to start again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Kerry
Everywhere you go;
There's a man with a Boston flair, another with perfect hair
Between them they will get us in the know.

It's beginning to look a lot like Kerry;
Soon the joy will start;
And the thing that makes it sing is the smile that you bring
From within your heart.

Theodore Roosevelt, that most virile of presidents, insisted that, "To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people." With that in mind, I say: George W. Bush is no conservative, and his unprincipled abandonment of conservatism under the pressure of events is no statesmanship. The Republic would be well served by his defeat this November.

William F. Buckley's recent retirement from the National Review, nearly half a century after he founded it, led me to reflect on American conservatism's first principles, which Buckley helped define for our time. Beneath Buckley's scintillating phrases and rapier wit lay, as Churchill wrote of Lord Birkenhead, "settled and somewhat somber conclusions upon... questions about which many people are content to remain in placid suspense": that political and economic liberty were indivisible; that government's purpose was protecting those liberties; that the Constitution empowered government to fulfill its proper role while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power; and that its genius lay in the Tenth Amendment, which makes explicit that the powers not delegated to government are reserved to the states or to the people.

More generally, American conservatives seek what Lord Acton called the highest political good: to secure liberty, which is the freedom to obey one's own will and conscience rather than the will and conscience of others. Any government, of any political shade, that erodes personal liberty in the name of social and economic progress must face a conservative's reasoned dissent, for allowing one to choose between right and wrong, between wisdom and foolishness, is the essential condition of human progress. Although sometimes the State has a duty to impose restrictions, such curbs on the liberty of the individual are analogous to a brace, crutch or bandage: However necessary in the moment, as they tend to weaken and to cramp, they are best removed as soon as possible. Thus American conservative politics championed private property, an institution sacred in itself and vital to the well being of society. It favored limited government, balanced budgets, fiscal prudence and avoidance of foreign entanglements.

The Daily Reckoning

a comparison of tax cuts between the Kerry and Bush plans

tax cut comparioson

take the quiz and learn who shares your views...

AOL Elections 2004

The one thing the undecideds relate to is there pocketbook. While discussing the expense of rushing into an unnecessary war please mention the following (in your own words of course):

America is paying for the Iraq war with more than just tax dollars.

Headline: 'Crude Oil reaches $53 a barrel'

Headline: 'Unease with Iraq war causing Crude Oil prices to skyrocket'

Knowing that the US uses about 18 million barrels of crude or approx. 700 million gallons of gasoline a day. This is what we can expect to pay as a country if .50 cents additional per gallon of gasoline due to the war:

128 Billion American Dollars a year

10 Billion, 667 Million American Dollars a month

2 Billion, 450 Million American Dollars a week

350 Million American Dollars a Day

You decide...is it worth it?

Open Letter to President George W. Bush

October 4, 2004

Dear Mr. President:

As professors of economics and business, we are concerned that U.S. economic policy has taken a dangerous turn under your stewardship. Nearly every major economic indicator has deteriorated since you took office in January 2001. Real GDP growth during your term is the lowest of any presidential term in recent memory. Total non-farm employment has contracted and the unemployment rate has increased. Bankruptcies are up sharply, as is our dependence on foreign capital to finance an exploding current account deficit. All three major stock indexes are lower now than at the time of your inauguration. The percentage of Americans in poverty has increased, real median income has declined, and income inequality has grown.


The data make clear that your policy of slashing taxes – primarily for those at the upper reaches of the income distribution – has not worked. The fiscal reversal that has taken place under your leadership is so extreme that it would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. The federal budget surplus of over $200 billion that we enjoyed in the year 2000 has disappeared, and we are now facing a massive annual deficit of over $400 billion. In fact, if transfers from the Social Security trust fund are excluded, the federal deficit is even worse – well in excess of a half a trillion dollars this year alone. Although some members of your administration have suggested that the mountain of new debt accumulated on your watch is mainly the consequence of 9-11 and the war on terror, budget experts know that this is simply false. Your economic policies have played a significant role in driving this fiscal collapse. And the economic proposals you have suggested for a potential second term – from diverting Social Security contributions into private accounts to making the recent tax cuts permanent – only promise to exacerbate the crisis by further narrowing the federal revenue base.

These sorts of deficits crowd out private investment and are politically addictive. They also place a heavy burden on monetary policy – and create additional pressure for higher interest rates – by stoking inflationary expectations. If your economic advisers are telling you that these deficits can be defeated through further reductions in tax rates, then you need new advisers. More robust economic growth could certainly help, but nearly every one of your administration’s economic forecasts – both before and after 9-11 – has proved overly optimistic. Expenditure cuts could be part of the answer, but your record so far has been one of increasing expenditures, not reducing them.

What is called for, we believe, is a dramatic reorientation of fiscal policy, including substantial reversals of your tax policy. Running a budget deficit in response to a short bout of recession is one thing. But running large structural deficits over a long period is something else entirely. We therefore urge you to consider the fiscal realities we now face and the substantial burden they are placing on our economy.

--snipped--- business school profs tell bush his policies stink!

Cheney quote that surfaced today:

"Once we had rounded up Saddam, then the question is what do you
do. . . . You’d have to put some kind of a government in place, and
then the question comes is it going to be a Shia government or a
Kurdish government. Or maybe a Sunni government, or maybe it
ought to be based on the old Baathist party regime or some combination
thereof. How long is that government going to be able to
stay in power without U.S. military support to keep it there. . . . I
would guess if we’d have gone to Baghdad I’d still have forces in
Iraq today. I don’t know how we would have let go of that tar baby
once we grabbed hold of it.

-- Richard Cheney, Address to a National Press Club Luncheon, transcript,
Washington, D.C., Reuters, May 20, 1992. Cited in Stephen T. Hosmer,
Operations Against Enemy Leaders, RAND, MR-1385-AF, 2001.

A powerful website. be sure to see the flash part.

Purple Hearts: Photojournalism by Nina Berman: U.S. Soldiers Injured in Iraq

All eyes are on Cleveland, Ohio, tonight, when Vice President Dick Cheney will square off against Sen. John Edwards in the 2004 campaign's Vice Presidential debate. The Boston Globe this morning offers questions for the Vice President, saying, "Because of the widespread perception that the war in Iraq is at least as much Cheney's war as President Bush's, both debaters tonight must come to grips with Cheney's performance as the official who steered Bush toward the invasion of Iraq and infuriated intelligence professionals by ignoring assessments that did not suit his policy aims and spotlighting others that did." Paul Krugman of the New York Times agrees, saying Edwards should ask tough questions of the man who "played a central role in leading us to war on false pretenses." After the invasion, Cheney also took the lead in perpetuating the myth that al Qaeda was somehow tied to Saddam, a claim which he continues to make even thought it has been disproved by all known intelligence. For more on what Cheney will likely say and what you should know, read this American Progress debate backgrounder. Here's what to watch for:

KEY CHENEY CLAIM BLOWN APART: Vice President Cheney still asserts, " had a relationship with al Qaeda," in an ongoing attempt to plant "the idea that Hussein was allied with the group responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." As his primary evidence, the vice president repeatedly has said terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi was an associate of bin Laden and received safe haven from Hussein, stating that Zarqawi "is an al Qaeda associate who took refuge in Baghdad, found sanctuary and safe harbor there before we ever launched into Iraq." Today, a new CIA assessment — which Cheney himself requested months ago – blew apart this claim. The report stated, "there is no conclusive evidence that the regime harbored terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi." One U.S. official said, "The evidence is that Saddam never gave Zarqawi anything."

INTELLIGENCE DEBUNKS CHENEY: It's the latest in a long line of intelligence that shows Cheney's claim is false. Previously, the Sept. 11 Commission found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda. CIA interrogators found "Osama bin Laden had rejected entreaties from some of his lieutenants to work jointly with Saddam." The chairman of the monitoring group appointed by the United Nations Security Council to track al Qaeda found "no evidence linking Al Qaeda to Saddam Hussein."

RUMSFELD'S MOMENT OF TRUTH: Further damaging Cheney's unsupported claims of a link between Saddam and Osama, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told an audience yesterday at the Council on Foreign Relations that he knew of no "strong, hard evidence" linking Iraq and al Qaeda. Immediately after his candid comments to the group, however, Rumsfeld furiously backtracked and tried to get back on message, saying he'd been "misunderstood."

'WE NEVER HAD ENOUGH TROOPS ON THE GROUND': Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. official in charge of Iraq after the invasion, said yesterday that the U.S. effort in Iraq was handicapped from the beginning by a lack of adequate forces, flatly stating, "We never had enough troops on the ground." An insufficient number of U.S. troops to keep the peace early on "established an atmosphere of lawlessness," he said in a speech yesterday. The White House didn't adequately plan for the peace in Iraq, badly misjudging the situation and relying instead on falsely rosy predictions. A prime example: On 3/16/03, the week the invasion took place, Vice President Cheney said, "We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators" and "I think it will go relatively quickly... (in) weeks rather than months."

THE ULTIMATE FLIP-FLOP: The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports Cheney opposed invading Baghdad before he supported it. In 1991, then-Secretary of Defense Cheney cautioned against U.S. troops advancing into the city, "telling a Seattle audience that capturing Saddam wouldn't be worth additional U.S. casualties or the risk of getting 'bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.'" He added, "And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is not very damned many." About 146 Americans died in the first Gulf War. This time, more than 1,000 U.S. troops have been killed in the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.

IN BED WITH THE AXIS OF EVIL: In recent stump speeches, Cheney has tried to defend the invasion of Iraq by saying, "Iraq for years was listed by the U.S. State Department as a state sponsor of terror." What he doesn't say: Although the U.S. "concluded that Iraq, Libya and Iran supported terrorism and had imposed strict sanctions on them," during Cheney's tenure at Halliburton, he ignored that and "the company did business in all three countries." For example, with Cheney at the helm, Halliburton signed contracts with Iraq worth $73 million through two subsidiaries while that country was on the terrorism list. And Halliburton is being investigated for doing business while Cheney was CEO with Iran, a country also listed as a "state sponsor of terror" by the State Department. "The grand jury has subpoenaed various documents covering Halliburton's Iranian operations, a sign some evidence has surfaced indicating the company "knowingly violated" U.S. anti-terror sanctions.

CHENEY'S DAYS IN COURT: Cheney, under the guise of "legal reform," has attacked his rivals for being too cozy with lawyers. Watch those stones you're throwing from your glass house, Mr. Vice President. A watchdog site, HalliburtonWatch.org, has found that, with Cheney in charge, Halliburton filed 151 claims in 15 states around the nation, petitioning America's legal system an average of 30 times a year; most actions were filed against other corporations. (Halliburton currently is suing former employees who complained when the giant corporation sliced retiree health care benefits.)

sign up for this EXCELLENT daily briefing!

www.americanprogress.org

(clipped from www.democraticunderground.com)

Or rather, you forgot what Poland so recently said to the entire world;

1. "We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies to finally have access to sources of commodities,"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3043330.stm

Gee that does explain why the polish government was willing to send 200-250 troops into Iraq. It's the OIL, stupid.

2. "They deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride."said Poland's president.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1069242.htm

By the way, bushler, in the recent world poll, only 3 nations support you in any way over Kerry; Nigeria, Philippines, and Poland.

http://www.iht.com/articles/537873.html

And only 32% of those polled in Poland (and Nigeria) preferred you, bushie. And even then, Kerry was only 5 points behind you in these 3 "powerhouse coalition nations".

EVEN THE BRITS PREFER KERRY.

47% of those interviewed said they would choose Kerry, compared with only 16% for you, bushie.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0927-02.htm

october surprise would be that america discovers that bush is an asshole.....

CNN.com - Campaigns worry about last-minute surprise - Oct 2, 2004

a compilation of the bush responces that needs to be seen to be believed...

The DNC gives us Bush's faces of frustration. The RNC only has audio (hmmm...). The BC04 site still hasn't been updated. They can't figure out the spin.
Drudge last night floated one spin attempt -- that Bush was emotionally drained because he had spent the day meeting with hurricane victims. So in other words, Bush can't handle his job.

But it wasn't just the eye rolling, nor the petulance, nor the fact he clearly hadn't prepped for the debate. It was also the content, and Bush gave our side plenty of material.

At one point, Kerry's asserted that 90 percent of cargo in Florida ports wasn't inspected, nor was cargo loaded in commercial flights, and that he would do better. Bush gave this amazing answer:

I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises.
In other words, your safety takes a back seat to Bush's tax cuts and his unecessary war in Iraq.
Or how about all the times Bush talked about "hard work"? If being president is such hard work, why has Bush spent a third of his presidency on vacation?

Now the Bush team needs to regroup and figure out how to recuperate from this disaster. They have to trot their guy back out on a stage a week from today, and do so under less friendly territory (foreign policy was supposed to be Bush's strong suit). Maybe they'll even be able to talk Bush into preparing. This isn't college. "C"-grade slacking won't cut it anymore.

Meanwhile, we're jazzed, Kerry is jazzed, and the instant numbers confirmed our guy's smashing success. Kerry dispelled many of the worries created by the Republican smear machine in a short 90 minutes, and helped create new doubts about Bush.

check out the following pre and post debate spin but on by the mainstream media...first they say that that Kerry had to win the debate...and now that he has...guess what? it doesn't matter!

Media Matters Pre/Post Spin Evaluation

Respected conservatives agree with 'clueless lefties'

My Sept. 16 column, "Bush's ideological blinders led to ill-advised war in Iraq," attracted numerous e-mails from as far away as Missouri, Texas, Maryland, Colorado and even Canada. The responses ran 2-to-1 negative.

I was informed that I am part of "the pacifist, ivy-covered world of academia," which produces "lies and half-truths" and "corrupts students' minds with politics instead of objectively teaching fact." I learned that I am "treasonously stupid" and am "yet another clueless leftie sheltered from the real world by the walls of academia who rants how Bush made a mistake."

Most respondents assumed that because I and other academics have criticized Bush policies, we must all be left-wing radicals who hate America (or in other words, "Democrats"). A typical letter read: "Strength is all the terrorists understand, not anti-American mutterings by a few so-called intellectuals. The Democrats have lost the House, the Senate, soon the White House, and soon the Supreme Court. Wake up, you're out of touch with the country."

take a look and let people know...this is so republican...

Democratic Underground Forums - See a problem with the Michigan Absentee Ballot???

Orgies are the way to ease social tensions, claims Justice Scalia

Oliver Burkeman in New York
The Guardian

He is the conservative bastion of the US supreme court, a favourite of President Bush, and a hunting partner of the vice-president. He has argued vociferously against abortion rights, and in favour of anti-sodomy laws.
But it turns out that there is another side to Justice Antonin Scalia: he thinks Americans ought to be having more orgies.

Challenged about his views on sexual morality, Justice Scalia surprised his audience at Harvard University, telling them: "I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged."

It seems unlikely that this is what President Bush meant when he promised to appoint more judges like Scalia to the court, should the opportunity arise. Crucially, Justice Scalia is one of the judges in favour of overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark judgment protecting abortion as a constitutional right.

One audience member also asked the judge "whether you have any gay friends, and, if not, whether you'd like to be my friend," the Harvard Crimson newspaper reported.

"I probably do have some gay friends, but I have never pressed the point," Justice Scalia responded. He offered no clue to the logic behind his claim that orgies eliminate social tensions.

Nobody asked him whether he was familiar with Rick Moody's novel The Ice Storm, turned into a movie by Ang Lee, which appeared to suggest the exact opposite.

from various places on the net and other blogs...

Afterward, only the Bush supporters seemed concerned that their candidate had lost ground. They should be. Watching Bush last night, I saw a president who sometimes didn't seem in control of his job, a man who couldn't and didn't defend the conduct of the war except to say that it was "hard work," who seemed defensive, tired, and occasionally rattled. He had some strong points; and I agree with him on the basic matter of whether we should have gone to war. But the argument that we might be better changing horses in the middle of a troubled river gained traction last night.

In some ways, this might turn out to be a version of the 1980 Carter-Reagan match, when Reagan was able to convince people, by his persona and presence, that he was up to the job. Yes, Bush is not as bad as Carter and Kerry is, of course, no Reagan. But the dynamic was somewhat similar. In other words, Kerry gets back in the game, reassures some doubters, buoys his supporters, and edges up a little. Oh, and one young man in the audience had just returned from serving his country in Iraq. Yes, he'd seen the war upfront. He knows what were doing over there first-hand. And he's voting for Kerry.

murdoch's NY Post:

Kerry seemed far better prepared than Bush, ready to counter the president's points while Bush often repeated himself and at times seemed at a loss for words or defensive. The president even audibly sighed at times.

By the time the debate was over, it seemed clear that Kerry had given himself a new lease on life and guaranteed that the campaign has a long way to run.

Kerry was rated the clear winner in a CNN/Gallup poll immediately after the debate. It found that 53 percent said Kerry won the debate, compared with 37 percent who gave the nod to Bush.

business week:

Debating the topic thought to be Bush's strength, foreign policy, the senator did more than hold his ground. Will it matter?

After slip-sliding through the late summer of Campaign '04, John Kerry finally regained solid footing in the first Presidential debate. In the Sept. 30 foreign policy clash at the University of Miami, the Massachusetts senator scored some points with his repeated attacks on President Bush's Iraq policy and played pretty good defense when it came to explaining his various positions on the invasion and its aftermath.

republican weighed gallop poll:
Kerry wins debate 53-37.

Conservative bloggers:

PoliPundit says:

"I think most people's first impression, is that Kerry was strong and forceful, while Bush was less effective, more hesitant."

"I've been watching the debate for five minutes now. Despite my partisan inclinations, I have to admit that Kerry has won this debate. And not just in the high-school debate-coach sense of the word.Kerry comes off as the prosecutor accusing Bush of incompetence. Bush comes off as his Meet-The-Press, press-conference version - dogged, arrogant and unlikable. Kerry will get a significant bounce in the head-to-head poll numbers from this debate."

Powerline Blog says:

"But, candidly, I don't think it went that well for the President. I think Kerry helped himself tonight. He came across as a credible candidate, and he was usually on the offensive...I think Kerry made headway, and there is plenty of material there for the mainstream media to proclaim the beginning of Kerry's comeback...On the whole, though, I think Kerry helped himself tonight."

Freepers say:

Kerry is making Bush look like a boob - stupid and incompetent.
Bush has to get TOUGH. BE SPECIFC. SHOW people what a lying opportunist he is. The average joe won't get it unless BUSH SAYS IT !
--
This whole mess is arranged to make GWB look like he's on the defensive. My blood pressure is sky high, and I just can't watch any more.
Praying for President Bush.... Kerry ... he's a monster if ever I saw one.
--
OK, memo for Bush's debate prep team: No more programmed talking points. Let Bush be Bush.
--
Bush has won this debate and the DU trolls know it, ignore them.
--
>Phhhhhht!!!! Go back to DU.
Please get over it and show some respect. rwfromkansas has been here for 4 years and you've been here a month. Not everybody is agreeing here tonght.
--
I see W as the Winner.. He just knocked Kerry out of the park. W is stable... he does not flip-flop. He puts American first!
----
This debate sickens me, maybe because I care so much.
---
What is wrong with people here? Why is everyone sounding so defeated? Just imagine what the MSM would say if tomorrow all the conservative talk shows - Laura, Rush, Dennis, Michael, Hugh, ect. were talking like some people here are. We know the MSM will give Kerry a win, but conservatives shouldn't. People, please stay positive!
--
I feel like I'm reading the D.U. tonight. SO much negativity about Pres. Bush.
-
This sure has become a negative thread though. Rather hard to believe these are Bush supporters.
--
GOOD GOD, SOME OF YOU SOUND LIKE THE RATS OVER AT DU! IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BUT EMOTION, NOTHING AT ALL, STFU! THIS IS FREE REPUBLIC, NOT FREE CARS FROM OPRAH!
---
To me it seems like Bush has forgotten all the things Saddam did too! WHY DOESN'T HE MENTION ANY OF THEM?!!!
GOD HELP HIM....PLEASE!
--
The problem is Kerry is spewing certain lies that are taking Bush off his game, and he is stumbling around a bit. This may be his weakest debate performance to date.
--
There are millions of Americans who (wrongfully) think Bush is shallow, dumb, airhead, an idiot.
I don't think Bush has changed a single mind.
There are countless millions who belive the Dem lies that Bush lied time and again...
Not only did Bush not change any minds, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that he's added millions more to the ranks by NOT CHALLENGING SKUMBAG SKERRY.
--
Did you hear when Kerry caught Bush in the Saddam did not attack us on 9/11 moment?
What was Bush's response....."of course I know OBL attacked us."
THAT was his response? THAT!!!!!!!!!!
THAT WAS INCREDIBLY WEAK. THAT ONE LINE HAS COST US MANY VOTES TONIGHT.
--
Bush is like Reagen in that first debate. He sounds beleaguered, and his plaintive tone is unpresidential.
He is on the defensive, and is the LOSER in the debate. He invokes the extra reburral when he has lost the point, and doesn't know enough to let it go when he has little more to say.
--
I went in thinking Bush would be the powerful victor. but Kerry owns Bush in this debate.
I hope no intelligent undecided voters are watching.

"While we were all hoping that Bush would defeat Kerry handidly tonight and put the election out of reach, we can't be that upset with tonight. Kerry may have even had a slight win..."

"Yeah, Hitler used to swoon the masses, too. Doesn't mean either one of them, Kerry or Hitler, told the truth. Just hypnotic speakers to the unwashed. Bush is a real man. I prefer a real Texas man like George."

"Kerry didn't win. All he did was NOT embarrass himself too badly. His "hand jive" made it almost impossible to follow what he was saying."

"Kerry's responses were riddled with non-truths, inconsistancies, and at least 2 gaffes(1 being a major one, IMO). BUT, it all came off very elloquently. Bush on the otherhand, made excellent points but stammered around them. Not pretty. We'll see what the public has to say about it. Wednesday latest we should know. My guess is that the race will tighten slightly but by mid Oct, it will be Bush with 6-8pnt lead again."

"I was stuck watching the debates on cnn, I noticed at the end of the debate, cnn would not show footage of the the president with his family.
the only clips they showed where when the first lady kind of put her arm around teraaaaza and when John Kerry shook hands with the pres.
The remaining shots where of Kerry and his sugarmama, is the M.S.M afraid of showing bush standing next to his family?"

Oxblog:

"ONE LINE ON THE DEBATE: Kerry won. Hands down. By a lot. That's all for now."

Winds of Change:

"Kerry did well in terms of his persona; I went in expecting a pompous windbag and he wasn't one. Bush did less well in persona; fragmented, repetitive..."

New Republicans:

"Well, if I'm generous, then Bush stuck to his talking points. As a former debater, however, I am tempted to say that Bush missed many, many, many chances to really make key points against Kerry...I'm not certain that Kerry won more than a few swing votes in this, but I don't know if Bush can win those votes back. He simply didn't deliver as well as Kerry."

More Powerline:

"I've taken more than an hour to try to talk myself out of concluding that John Kerry won tonight's debate. I haven't succeeded. Senator Kerry, I think, edged President Bush on substance and, surprisingly, looked better throughout."

VodkaPundit:

"Kerry won on points, which probably was enough to shore up his weakened support in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania."

Dean's World

"My gut's telling me it's a win for Kerry because, frankly, he scared me less than I expected him to."

pundits

“As far as the debate goes, I don't see how anybody could look at this debate and not score this a very clear win on points for John Kerry." -- Joe Scarborough

"I thought the President was repetitive and reactive." - Kate O'Beirne

"It was John Kerry's best performance ever." - Joe Scarborough

“The president was remarkably angry seeming" —Mark Halperin

"Bush appeared perturbed when Kerry leveled some of his charges, scowling at times and looking away in apparent disgust at others." Milbank and VandeHei

ABC POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE:
Kerry: 45
Bush 36:
Tie: 17

CNN / GALLUP POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE

Kerry: 53 Bush: 37

CBS POLL ON WHO WON DEBATE:

Kerry: 44 Bush: 26 Tie: 30

Mort Kondracke: “This is the President's turf, this is the place that the President is supposed to dominate, terror and the war in Iraq. I don't think he really dominated tonight. I think Kerry looked like a commander-in-chief.”

Kate O'Beirne, National Review Online’s the Corner: "I thought the President was repetitive and reactive."

Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online's the Corner: "The Bush campaign miscalculated on having the first night be foreign policy night."

Bob Schieffer: “The President was somewhat defensive in the beginning”

Mark Shields: "The President showed a few times obvious anger"

Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard: “I think Kerry did pretty well tonight, he was forceful and articulate.”

Bob Schieffer: “Kerry got off to a very good start.”

Joe Scarborough: “It was John Kerry’s best performance ever…As far as the debate goes, I don’t see how anybody could look at this debate and not score this a very clear win on points for John Kerry.” (MSNBC)

Andrea Mitchell: “This is the toughest we’ve ever seen John Kerry. He attacked the very core of the President’s popularity. He’s basically saying, who do you believe?” (MSNBC)

Tim Russert: “Tonight he seemed to find his voice for the Democratic view of the world.”

Fred Barnes on FNC: "Kerry did very well and we will have a Presidential race from here on out."

Don’t Shoot the Messenger . . .. . . ’cause this assessment’s grim.

Don't shoot the messenger.


I thought Kerry did very, very well; and I thought Bush did poorly — much worse than he is capable of doing. Listen: If I were just a normal guy — not Joe Political Junkie — I would vote for Kerry. On the basis of that debate, I would. If I were just a normal, fairly conservative, war-supporting guy: I would vote for Kerry. On the basis of that debate.

And I promise you that no one wants this president reelected more than I. I think that he may want it less.

Let me phrase one more time what I wish to say: If I didn't know anything — were a political naïf, being introduced to the two candidates for the first time — I would vote for Kerry. Based on that infernal debate.

George W. Bush - The Christian Apprentice
09/30/2004 12:30

George Bush II has encouraged the world to consider him as a Born Again Christian and we should respect that and encourage him to become a better person for it. In time, he may even realize that his savior Jesus Christ may help him to grasp the meaning of truth.

Hopefully he will pursue the reading of the Bible, and eventually enter the revealing world of the New Testament. Currently, he appears to have stalled at an ancient law of Babylonian retributive justice:"lex talionis" commonly referred to today as "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth".

It is possible that his busy schedule has not allowed him the leisure of delving more deeply into this area, and discover that the interpretation of this law according to the Torah is to minimize retribution as in: "no more than an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", in effect, a limitation of response. This would have been refined in further readings of the Oral law of Judaism in the Hebrew Bible, as a "retribution of a financial kind".

Perhaps this whole question may be put to rest with a quote from none other than a humble truthful man, Mahatma Gandhi: "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind". How did he know that Bush's war in Iraq would be such a mess?

Had George Bush ll persisted in his efforts to understand Jesus Christ, he would have stumbled on some fairly well known quotes from his savior in the New Testament, " If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" and "Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you."

George W. Bush - The Christian Apprentice - PRAVDA.Ru

posted at 2:30ish MDT....several hours before the debate....notice the tense used in the article.....

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040930_1184.htm...

CORAL GABLES, Fla. Sept. 30, 2004 — After a deluge of campaign speeches and hostile television ads, President Bush and challenger John Kerry got their chance to face each other directly Thursday night before an audience of tens of millions of voters in a high-stakes debate about terrorism, the Iraq war and the bloody aftermath.

The 90-minute encounter was particularly crucial for Kerry, trailing slightly in the polls and struggling for momentum less than five weeks before the election. The Democratic candidate faced the challenge of presenting himself as a credible commander in chief after a torrent of Republican criticism that he was prone to changing his positions.

Bush was expected to confront questions about leading the nation into war on the still-unproven premise that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He also has faced accusations that he lacked a strategy to deal with the violence and chaos that have left more than 1,000 Americans dead and that the Iraq war has diverted U.S. attention from al-Qaida and other terrorists.

With a record of four years in office to defend, Bush had a debate strategy of being optimistic about Iraq but acknowledging that times were tough. His stance is that Americans know he is a decisive leader even if they don't always agree with his decisions and that Kerry has taken conflicting positions on Iraq and can't be trusted to lead the nation.

Although Kerry voted to give Bush authority to invade Iraq, he says he would not have followed Bush's path to war a path that alienated allies and, the Democrat says, left Americans less secure. Kerry argues Bush is out of touch with reality, paints too rosy a picture about Iraq and lacks a strategy to end the crisis.

Kerry also says Bush has neglected other major problems like North Korea and Iran, two nations suspected of pursing nuclear weapons.

Kerry, in a taped interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday, said, "George Bush is scaring America. He's talking terror every day, and people see terrible images of what's happening in the world, and they're real."

Bush spent the morning comforting hurricane victims on his fifth survey of Florida areas hit by storms. At the Martin County, Fla., Red Cross center, Bush thanked volunteers for showing "the true heart of America. We long to help somebody when they're hurting."

The debate's focus on Iraq was sharpened by bombings in Baghdad Thursday that killed three dozen children.

Ahead in the polls, Bush could afford to settle for a debate draw while Kerry needed something to break the status quo. Some Democrats saw the debates as the last chance for a Kerry breakout.

Thursday night's meeting at the University of Miami was the first of three Bush-Kerry debates over a two-week period. Neither side was underestimating its importance with a TV audience of 30 million to 40 million expected. Almost a third of people surveyed say the debates will be a deciding factor in how they vote.

The first debate drew the nation's attention to hurricane-battered Florida and its political importance. Florida swung the presidency to Bush in the disputed 2000 election and could determine whether he wins re-election.

The debates were staged under a rigid set of rules negotiated by the candidates' representatives to limit spontaneity and opportunities for back-and-forth exchanges.

you can see it here

The Wall Street Journal's Farnaz Fassihi is the author of an email winging its way around the internet. This first came to my attention via Poynter Online, an online resource for Journalists.

Fassihi subsequently confirmed this actually was from him, and her editor stated "Ms. Fassihi's private opinions have in no way distorted her coverage, which has been a model of intelligent and courageous reporting, and scrupulous accuracy and fairness."

Here is the actual email from WSJ reporter Fassihi's e-mail to friends"

From: [Wall Street Journal reporter] Farnaz Fassihi Subject: From Baghdad
Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under virtual house arrest. Forget about the reasons that lured me to this job: a chance to see the world, explore the exotic, meet new people in far away lands, discover their ways and tell stories that could make a difference.

Little by little, day-by-day, being based in Iraq has defied all those reasons. I am house bound. I leave when I have a very good reason to and a scheduled interview. I avoid going to people's homes and never walk in the streets. I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can't and can't. There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive. In Baghdad I am a security personnel first, a reporter second.


It's hard to pinpoint when the 'turning point' exactly began. Was it April when the Fallujah fell out of the grasp of the Americans? Was it when Moqtada and Jish Mahdi declared war on the U.S. military? Was it when Sadr City, home to ten percent of Iraq's population, became a nightly battlefield for the Americans? Or was it when the insurgency began spreading from isolated pockets in the Sunni triangle to include most of Iraq? Despite President Bush's rosy assessments, Iraq remains a disaster. If under Saddam it was a 'potential' threat, under the Americans it has been transformed to 'imminent and active threat,' a foreign policy failure bound to haunt the United States for decades to come.
Iraqis like to call this mess 'the situation.' When asked 'how are thing?' they reply: 'the situation is very bad."

What they mean by situation is this: the Iraqi government doesn't control most Iraqi cities, there are several car bombs going off each day around the country killing and injuring scores of innocent people, the country's roads are becoming impassable and littered by hundreds of landmines and explosive devices aimed to kill American soldiers, there are assassinations, kidnappings and beheadings. The situation, basically, means a raging barbaric guerilla war. In four days, 110 people died and over 300 got injured in Baghdad alone. The numbers are so shocking that the ministry of health -- which was attempting an exercise of public transparency by releasing the numbers -- has now stopped disclosing them.

Insurgents now attack Americans 87 times a day.

A friend drove thru the Shiite slum of Sadr City yesterday. He said young men were openly placing improvised explosive devices into the ground. They melt a shallow hole into the asphalt, dig the explosive, cover it with dirt and put an old tire or plastic can over it to signal to the locals this is booby-trapped. He said on the main roads of Sadr City, there were a dozen landmines per every ten yards. His car snaked and swirled to avoid driving over them. Behind the walls sits an angry Iraqi ready to detonate them as soon as an American convoy gets near. This is in Shiite land, the population that was supposed to love America for liberating Iraq.

For journalists the significant turning point came with the wave of abduction and kidnappings. Only two weeks ago we felt safe around Baghdad because foreigners were being abducted on the roads and highways between towns. Then came a frantic phone call from a journalist female friend at 11 p.m. telling me two Italian women had been abducted from their homes in broad daylight. Then the two Americans, who got beheaded this week and the Brit, were abducted from their homes in a residential neighborhood. They were supplying the entire block with round the clock electricity from their generator to win friends. The abductors grabbed one of them at 6 a.m. when he came out to switch on the generator; his beheaded body was thrown back near the neighborhoods./CONTINUED BELOW

PART II WSJ reporter Fassahi's e-mail to friends /2 9/29/2004 2:47:12 PM

The insurgency, we are told, is rampant with no signs of calming down. If any thing, it is growing stronger, organized and more sophisticated every day. The various elements within it-baathists, criminals, nationalists and Al Qaeda-are cooperating and coordinating.

I went to an emergency meeting for foreign correspondents with the military and embassy to discuss the kidnappings. We were somberly told our fate would largely depend on where we were in the kidnapping chain once it was determined we were missing. Here is how it goes: criminal gangs grab you and sell you up to Baathists in Fallujah, who will in turn sell you to Al Qaeda. In turn, cash and weapons flow the other way from Al Qaeda to the Baathisst to the criminals. My friend Georges, the French journalist snatched on the road to Najaf, has been missing for a month with no word on release or whether he is still alive.

America's last hope for a quick exit? The Iraqi police and National Guard units we are spending billions of dollars to train. The cops are being murdered by the dozens every day-over 700 to date -- and the insurgents are infiltrating their ranks. The problem is so serious that the U.S. military has allocated $6 million dollars to buy out 30,000 cops they just trained to get rid of them quietly.

As for reconstruction: firstly it's so unsafe for foreigners to operate that almost all projects have come to a halt. After two years, of the $18 billion Congress appropriated for Iraq reconstruction only about $1 billion or so has been spent and a chuck has now been reallocated for improving security, a sign of just how bad things are going here.

Oil dreams? Insurgents disrupt oil flow routinely as a result of sabotage and oil prices have hit record high of $49 a barrel. Who did this war exactly benefit? Was it worth it? Are we safer because Saddam is holed up and Al Qaeda is running around in Iraq?

Iraqis say that thanks to America they got freedom in exchange for insecurity. Guess what? They say they'd take security over freedom any day, even if it means having a dictator ruler.

I heard an educated Iraqi say today that if Saddam Hussein were allowed to run for elections he would get the majority of the vote. This is truly sad.

Then I went to see an Iraqi scholar this week to talk to him about elections here. He has been trying to educate the public on the importance of voting. He said, "President Bush wanted to turn Iraq into a democracy that would be an example for the Middle East. Forget about democracy, forget about being a model for the region, we have to salvage Iraq before all is lost."

One could argue that Iraq is already lost beyond salvation. For those of us on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any thing could salvage it from its violent downward spiral. The genie of terrorism, chaos and mayhem has been unleashed onto this country as a result of American mistakes and it can't be put back into a bottle.

The Iraqi government is talking about having elections in three months while half of the country remains a 'no go zone'-out of the hands of the government and the Americans and out of reach of journalists. In the other half, the disenchanted population is too terrified to show up at polling stations. The Sunnis have already said they'd boycott elections, leaving the stage open for polarized government of Kurds and Shiites that will not be deemed as legitimate and will most certainly lead to civil war.

I asked a 28-year-old engineer if he and his family would participate in the Iraqi elections since it was the first time Iraqis could to some degree elect a leadership. His response summed it all: "Go and vote and risk being blown into pieces or followed by the insurgents and murdered for cooperating with the Americans? For what? To practice democracy? Are you joking?"

-Farnaz

Bush Debate BINGO card

this is sick and the path your govenment is taking....when will they come for you?

Obsidian Wings: Legalizing Torture

1. The Pentagon is wasting taxpayer money to send Iraqi-Americans around the country to convince the news media that everything in Iraq is a-okay (please ignore that dead man behind the curtain). Yes, your tax money is going to a domestic propaganda campaign to influence the election. Gee, how many laws does THAT violate? And you thought Bush had sunk as low as he could go?

2. The US Agency for International Development is now going to restrict information about the security situation in Iraq after the Washington Post got its hands on a not-so-flattering report and published it last week. The report showed that Bush was lying to the American people about the "improving" situation in Iraq. Apparently, AID is no longer solely focused on international development but now is also a political arm of the Bush re-election campaign. That should go over REAL well in developing countries where AID workers already had to watch their back.

3. The US Embassy in Baghdad, the British Foreign Service, and a Bush campaign official helped write Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi's speech to Congress last week. Yes, a Bush campaign official was busy helping write a speech to Congress by a foreign leader. A speech that coincidentally backed up every lie the Bush campaign is trying to spread about Iraq. Where to even begin with that one?

U.S. Effort Aims to Improve Opinions About Iraq Conflict (washingtonpost.com)

grab it print it read it...from george soros, 2-page spread in the WSJ

from Texas Monthly:


WE'RE TOLD REPEATEDLY THAT George W. Bush's leadership style is rooted in Texas values, but what's so Texan about squinty-eyed moral clarity, shoot-from-the-hip decisiveness, and go-it-alone gunslinging?

Not long after he moved into the Eastern White House, George W. Bush let it be known that he could just as easily do the free world's business at the Western White House. "This is a fabulous environment in which to make decisions," Bush said of his Prairie Chapel Ranch, near Crawford, far from the Georgetown chatter and the Foggy Bottom bureaucrats, deep in the heartland of his "Texas values." When Crawford began hosting the state visits that really mattered, the media began to see the ranch as a metaphor for the president's leadership style; Bob Woodward concluded his laudatory account of the Afghanistan campaign, Bush at War, with an elegiac tour of the former hog farm, a literary wide-angle shot to frame the president's declaration: "I'm not a textbook player. I'm a gut player." If the guy who caught Nixon fibbing could believe in Crawford, we all could. Bush's unapologetic cowboy-style leadership became perceived as irrevocably rooted in a Texas as real and timeless as the blackland prairie beneath his battered work boots.

Even amid a polarizing war in Iraq, the idea that American policy bears an indelible made-in-Texas stamp remains a rare point of bipartisan—and international—consensus; whether you are red or blue depends on how you take to the laconic, Bible-toting gunslinger who finally rode down the black hat his Yankee daddy had turned loose. But beyond the Western-themed clichés, there is nothing inherently Texan about the president's leadership style. Indeed, it's arguable that his once-formidable job-approval rating wouldn't be hovering at the margin of reelectability if his decision-making owed more to a Texas history textbook than to his Harvard Business School case studies. You don't have to look further than the most familiar names in the Lone Star pantheon—Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, and Lyndon B. Johnson—to discover a distinctly Texan leadership model as contrary to popular expectations as it is to the president's squinty-eyed moral clarity and shoot-from-the-hip decisiveness. To understand how to really rule like a Texan requires a short course in the leadership habits of the state's most highly effective icons

Look at the dark side. The late El Paso artist Tom Lea wrote that he lived on the east side of the mountain, "the sunrise side . . . the side to see the day that is coming, not the . . . day that is gone. The best day is the day coming." Bush has frequently cited this passage as characteristic of his own, Reaganesque outlook, but his serene, no-doubts optimism really isn't a Texas leadership thing: Our three historical exemplars were world-class brooders who frequently greeted the day with paralyzing fears of inadequacy and failure. Periodically suffering funks that today we would probably treat as clinical depression, Austin relentlessly forecast his own ruin, writing to confidants that although his colonists were thriving as a result of his labors, he could be found in a miserable "log cabin . . . soured with the world." Houston was a legendary lush given to years-long bouts of solitary, almost suicidal despair. LBJ was at times so depressed that staffers had to physically evict him from his bed and pump his arms to get him going. ("I cannot stand Johnson's damn long face," complained chipper Boston aristocrat JFK of his pining VP.) The dark side used to be a familiar place for Texas's desperately poor country folk, oppressed by greedy landlords and malignant nature, who knew that ruin was only a hailstorm away. But a leader who knows that the sky really can fall isn't such a bad thing: Nothing guarantees failure more than blithe expectations of success.

spend some time at the site:

big path

don't listen to democrats...just look to republicans on who to vote for:

buchanan endorses kerry

guess who profits from this war?

Carlyle and Haliburton are on the list...

watch the ad and pass it on....i grieve for this nation....

real voices

Take a look at the Kerry bush timeline and learn a little about their lives.

Timeline Comparing The Lives of Bush and Kerry: Birth - 1998 - Independent Media TV

Again....listen to those who are there....

Why We Cannot Win by Al Lorentz

john eisenhower will be voting kerry....a good read for fence sitters or republicans who might realize that the current republican party is no the real republican party...

John Eisenhower: Why I will vote for John Kerry for President

read and learn...

Condi quotes and facts

a republican pilot no less....

George W. Bush: The Phony Fighter Pilot

too funny...he is, he is the anti-christ....burn him!

whenever you see something written by Molly Ivans, read what she has to say....she was telling everyone who georgie was and what he was up to long before you started asking...

Molly Ivans Archive

enjoy the billionaires for bush video...

Billionaires For Bush:

read the whole article....then try to vote for bush...

TheStar.com - U.S. casualties grim cost of Iraq war

calm yourselves about the '11 point lead' that bush has...it is a false lead due to poor polling methodology...also isn't it interesting that that all corporate polls have bush in a satrong lead, and the independant polls have only a slight lead...learn more about the methodology below...

Zogby International

sign the petition about Ohio's desire to refuse paper voter registration form printed on lightweight stock:

Desperation and 80 Pound Paper Stock in Ohio | America Coming Together (ACT)

the man has been working to get the message out on W...check out his blog once he gets started...pretty common sense arguments to not (re)elect bush...


GeorgeSoros.com

he is a misunderstood genius....and o'lielly is a piece of work himself....transcript from the Bush/O'Lielly interview. I would like to see Maureen Dowd interview him...

FOXNews.com - The O'Reilly Factor - Interview - Transcript: Bush Talks to O'Reilly

"The worst thing we can do is hold ourselves hostage to some grand illusion we’re winning. Right now, we are not winning. Things are getting worse. The fact is, we’re in deep trouble in Iraq."
--Chuck Hagel, Republican Senator from Nebraska

"We made serious mistakes right after the initial successes by not having enough troops there on the ground, by allowing the looting, by not securing the borders. There were a number of things that we did. Most of it can be traced back to not having sufficient numbers of troops there."
--John McCain, Republican Senator from Arizona

"Our committee heard blindly optimistic people from the administration prior to the war and people outside the administration -- what I call the ‘dancing in the street’ crowd -- that we just simply will be greeted with open arms. The nonsense of all that is apparent. The lack of planning is apparent."
--Richard Lugar, Republican Senator from Indiana

George should read his local paper in crawford more....so he can understand why he should be voting for the other guy...

The Lone Star ICONOCLAST - Editorial, Opinion of the Publishers

go check out the freeway blogger for ideas to inform the public...good stuff. If everyone went out and did some of their own freeway blogging the world would be a better place.

georgie can use this to figure out his new look when he retires in January....

build a better bush

Democrats

Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-1953.
Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.
Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; BronzeStar with Combat V.
Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
Chuck Robb: Vietnam
Howell Heflin: Silver Star
George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received 311.
Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

Republicans

Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
Tom Delay: did not serve.
Roy Blunt: did not serve.
Bill Frist: did not serve.
Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
Rick Santorum: did not serve.
Trent Lott: did not serve.
Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
Jeb Bush: did not serve.
Karl Rove: did not serve.
Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked
Cleland's patriotism.
Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
Vin Weber: did not serve.
Richard Perle: did not serve.
Douglas Feith: did not serve.
Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
Richard Shelby: did not serve.
Jon Kyl: did not serve.
Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
Christopher Cox: did not serve.
Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as aviator and flight instructor.
George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got
assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for
U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
Phil Gramm: did not serve.
John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
Bob Dole: an honorable veteran.
Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.
Duke Cunningham: nominated for Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, Silver Stars, Air Medals, Purple Hearts.
Jeff Sessions: Army Reserves, 1973-1986
Colin Powell: Long career in military management.
Don Nickles: National Guard, 1970-1976
Jim Inhofe: Army, 1954-1956
Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
John M. McHugh: did not serve.
JC Watts: did not serve.
Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee," although continued in NFL for 8 years.
Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Ind! iana National Guard.
Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
George Pataki: did not serve.
Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
John Engler: did not serve.
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army ZZZbase.
George H.W. Bush: Pilot in WWII. Shot down by the Japanese.
Tom Ridge: Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam.
Sam Johnson: Combat in Korea and Vietnam, POW in Hanoi.
Ted Stevens: WWII pilot, DFCs, two Air Medals.
John Warner: Served in the Navy during WWII as a RM3
Heather Wilson: Air Force 1978-1989
Gerald Ford: Navy, WWII

Pundits & Preachers

Sean Hannity: did not serve.
Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
Michael Savage: did not serve.
George Will: did not serve.
Chris Matthews: did not serve.
Paul Gigot: did not serve.
Bill Bennett: did not serve.
Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
John Wayne: did not serve.
Bill Kristol: did not serve.
Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
Ralph Reed: did not serve.
Michael Medved: did not serve.
Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
Ted Nugent: did not serve.

this is from the daily show with jon stewart...i finally found it on AmericaBlog:

JON STEWART: Well Stephen, what do you think is going to happen now at CBS News?

STEPHEN COLBERT, Daily Show Senior Media Correspondent: Jon, there's got to be some accountability. Dan Rather is the head, the commander in chief if you will of his organization. He's someone in the ultimate position of power who made a harmful decision based upon questionable evidence. Then, to make things worse, he stubbornly refused to admit his mistake, choosing instead to stay the course and essentially occupy this story for too long. This man has got to go!

STEWART: Uh ... we're talking about Dan Rather...?

COLBERT: Yes Jon, Dan Rather. CBS is in chaos, it's unsafe, riven by internal rivalries. If you ask me, respected, reputable outsiders need to be brought in to help the rebuilding effort.

STEWART: ... at CBS News?

COLBERT: Yeah, at CBS news! What possible other unrelated situation could my words be equally applicable to?! Now people need to be held accountable. The commander in chief, the vice president, the secretary of defense, the national security adviser -- everyone at CBS News needs to go! Jon, I can tell you, Walter Cronkite is rolling over in his grave.

STEWART: Walter Cronkite is still alive.

COLBERT: Not according to my sources ... at CBS News.

yes, even Pravda has something to say about the man in the whitehouse:

read Pravda for once in your life

Ron Reagan is a guy who thinks for himself...obviously....check it out:

Ron vs. Moron

in case you have time to burn, some interesting info...

911 Uncovered - Cognitive Dissonance

a god in collecting info on the web:

Bush Misunderestimated

take a look at some of the propaganda that you'll be seeing in the train stations after the election...

the propaganda remix project

How did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the party of Newt Gingrich’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk?

find the rest at: in these times

Former CIA agent Ray McGovern went over what he considers the failures of the intelligence community and current administration over the past few years. He has 27 years of experience as a CIA analyst to draw upon and has dealt with every administration from Kennedy to Bush Sr.

He criticized the 9/11 Commission's final report, saying the committee was comprised of political extremists who couldn't reach a consensus.

"It wasn't a bipartisan commission; it was more like a bipolar commission," McGovern said. "To say that no one could prevent 9/11 was a bold-faced lie. It basically let the president and everyone responsible off the hook."

from:
the oracle

Janet Linke has been thinking about George W. Bush a lot lately. Thirty-two years ago, her late husband Jan Peter Linke served briefly in the Texas Air National Guard's 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. According to Linke… Bush's flying career was permanently disabled by a crippling fear of flying.

Linke's husband was admitted to the Texas Guard in the summer of 1972 to replace Bush. Bush has said that he stopped flying fighter jets because the Alabama Guard unit didn't have jets, and he wanted to transfer to Alabama in order to work on a political campaign. But Linke says she heard a different story from her husband and Bush's squad commander, the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian. Shortly after her husband joined the Texas unit, Linke says, the couple discussed Bush's service with Killian at a social event. Contrary to some news reports that suggest Killian admired Bush, Linke says the officer didn't have much use for the young Lieutenant. He mentioned that Bush appeared to have a drinking problem, she recalls, but he was most offended by another incapacity: his fear of flying. According to Linke, Killian said Bush was grounded in his fourth year of flying after he became incapable of flying or properly landing a plane. "He was mucking up bad, Killian told us," Linke says. "He just became afraid to fly."

…flight logs released by the White House three weeks ago in response to a lawsuit by the Associated Press (link below) show a strange retraction of Bush's air time around that period. In February and March 1972, Bush switched from flying the F102A fighter jet, which the guard used to patrol U.S. borders, to a two-seat T-33 training jet. His superiors also returned him to flight simulator practice sessions. But records suggest the extra training sessions didn't help. Logs show that in March and April 1972, Bush twice needed multiple tries to land the F102 fighter. Days later, on April 16, Bush piloted a plane for the Texas Air National Guard for the last time. "He just couldn't cut it," says Linke. "I was let to believe he was kind of a coward." (Folio Weekly was able to reach two former Bush squadmates in Texas, but both declined to be interviewed.) In May 1972, Bush left Texas. He headed to Alabama, where he requested assignment with the postal reserve unit. Bush's request was initially denied. Bu in August 1972, Killian stripped Bush of his flying duties for failing to take an annual physical. In September he was ordered to taken an administrative post with the Alabama Guard.

seems rumsfeld isn't sure that we should have a ful election in iraq....kind of like us not having a full election with florida in 2000:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday raised the possibility that some areas of Iraq might be excluded from elections scheduled for January if security could not be guaranteed.
"If there were to be an area where the extremists focused during the election period, and an election was not possible in that area at that time, so be it. You have the rest of the election and you go on. Life's not perfect," Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee...

But the Pentagon chief said there could be a situation where an election could be held in "three-quarters or four-fifths of the country. But in some places you couldn't because the violence was too great."

interesting commentary from ashton kutcher on the bush twins....

USATODAY.com - Did the Bush twins inhale? Kutcher won't say or this:

salon.com

He is a COMBAT VETERAN -- and that ALWAYS shows you a man is a WIMP!

The NAVY gave him MEDALS -- and you CAN'T TRUST THE U.S. NAVY to know ANYTHING about courage or honor, so therefore, he is a WIMP!

He pissed off that paragon of virtue RICHARD NIXON when he came back from Vietnam and fought against the war – and only WIMPS would dare “Speak Truth to Power!”

He was a PROSECUTING ATTORNEY -- and Prosecuting Attorneys ARE ALWAYS WIMPS!

Then he was an ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY -- I've watched Law & Order, and I know THOSE FOLKS are DEFINITELY WIMPY!

He WASTED his time in the Senate going after TERRORISM FUNDING, and HELPING OUT OTHER (WIMPY!) VETERANS, and FIGHTING CORRUPTION, and going after RICH POLLUTERS, and PUTTING POLICE ON OUR STREETS -- what kind of REAL MAN would waste his time doing WIMPY STUFF like that???

The truth is, we just can't trust Kerry to "protect us" when it comes to Terrorism because HE IS A WIMP. And he is spending this entire election telling HIS VERSION OF THE TRUTH which makes EVERYONE HAPPY (NOT), so that just shows you how good he WOULDN'T be at governing THE WHOLE COUNTRY INSTEAD OF JUST THE WIMPY LEFT WING WIMPS!!!

Besides, I would rather trust MY LIFE in the hands of a corrupt businessman whose only goal was profits who was smart enough NOT to get in the way of people shooting guns at him and couldn't figure out how to stop 19 guys with box cutters from killing thousands of my fellow citizens. Picking a COMBAT TESTED MILITARY GUY, EX-PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, ANTI-CORRUPTION SENATOR WHO SPEAKS A BUNCH OF LANGUAGES is JUST STUPID!!!

a letter from a loser in bush's america:

I am a senior citizen. During the Clinton Administration I had an extremely good and well paying job. I took numerous vacations and had several vacation homes.

Since President Bush took office, I have watched my entire life change for the worse. I lost my job. I lost my two sons in that terrible Iraqi War. I lost my homes. I lost my health insurance. As a matter of fact I lost virtually everything and became homeless.

Adding insult to injury, when the authorities found me living like an animal, instead of helping me, they arrested me. I will do anything that Senator Kerry wants to insure that a Democrat is back in the White House come next year. Bush has to go.

Sincerely,
Saddam Hussein

with the collapse of the detroit investigation, john ashcroft's record for terrorism convictions is now zero....three years in jail, then nothing!

ashcroft's complete lack of results

Dan Rather, CBS News Anchor
1) given documents he thought were true
2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
4) when confronted with the facts, apologized and launched an investigation
5) number of Americans dead: 0
6) should be fired as CBS News Anchor

George W. Bush, President of the United States
1) given documents he thought were true
2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
4) when confronted with the facts, continued to report untruth and stonewalled an investigation
5) number of Americans dead: 1100
6) should be given four more years as President of the United States

this site does a great job in breaking down the money associated with politicians, from the president on down...take a look at your congressman if you like.

Opensecrets.org--Money in politics data

dubya had a chance (actually several) to get the terrorist zarqawi and a terrorist chemical lab....but instead opted to start a war....imagine that!

MSNBC - Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind

here is a seymour hersch article in the new yorker about missed opportunities to see the 9/11 attacks coming....dubya says that he is best to fight against the terroists, but do not forget that these attacks occured on his watch, after receiving numorous indications that something was going down:

The New Yorker

read the true majority website, join, and change the world!

do not miss the the true majority cookie analogy!

interesting article on halliburton and new contracts on 9/10....some might say that this is not good news for the company"

Liberty Whistle - Halliburton

take a look at the new hottest game show going! it's the right wing squares! (flash animation)

Media Matters for America: Right Wing Squares

looking for information for posting? take a look and consider these:

bush data sheets for posting

So maybe you are wondering how us catholic bishops point of view compares to kerry and bush? take the quiz at the following site and compare your views with the candidates....it might surprise you how much the bishops are not just mind numb bush backers:

The 2004 Catholic Voter Guide - A Service of the Catholic Voting Project

enjoy a little humor:

George W Bush: warp him! Warp Dubya!

michael moore discussed the finer points of how to win an election....put you nose to the grindstone and get your work done:

Michael Moore.com : Mike's Message : Messages

listen to the republicans themselves provide their insight:

"The fact is a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies is required. We didn't do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to the point where we finally lost," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran who is co-chairman of President Bush's re-election committee in Nebraska.

A major problem, said leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was incompetence by the administration in reconstructing the country's shattered infrastructure.

The chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar, noted that Congress appropriated $18.4 billion a year ago this week for reconstruction. No more than $1 billion has been spent. "This is the incompetence in the administration," Lugar, R-Ind., said on ABC's "This Week."

"We made serious mistakes right after the initial successes by not having enough troops on the ground, by allowing the looting, by not securing the borders," McCain said. "Airstrikes don't do it; artillery doesn't do it. Boots on the ground do it," McCain told "Fox News Sunday." Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Bush had pointed out from the beginning the risks of combat in Iraq.

Yahoo! News - Senators Urge Bush to Assess Iraq Policy

again let's turn to the foreign press for more insight into the abu graib situation:

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | After Abu Ghraib

OK....let's take another look at the foreign press...interesting views on having enough soldiers for the current wars (yes wars...keep in mind the war in iraq id different from the war on terrorism):

New Zealand News - World - US runs low on soldiers

i often hear republicans say that one should get their news from foreign papers because you can't trust the liberal media in america....funny, but i also hear from democrats that you should get your news from the froeign press because you can't trust the corporate media.....well start with this from Ron Reagan:


It may have been the guy in the hood teetering on the stool, electrodes clamped to his genitals. Or smirking Lynndie England and her leash. Maybe it was the smarmy memos tapped out by soft-fingered lawyers itching to justify such barbarism. The grudging, lunatic retreat of the neocons from their long-standing assertion that Saddam was in cahoots with Osama didn’t hurt.

Even the Enron audiotapes and their celebration of craven sociopathy played a part. As a result of all these displays and countless smaller ones, you could feel, a couple of months back, as summer spread across the US, the ground shifting beneath your feet.

Something was in the air, and people were inhaling deeply. I began to get calls from friends whose parents had always voted Republican, “but not this time”.

sundaytimes.co.za : Home of the Sunday Times : South Africa's best selling newspaper

maybe BushCo should spend some time listening to their mothers....instead of arresting them:

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: No Stars, Just Cuffs