Archives 07/17/2004 - 10/19/2004

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: October Surprise
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/17/2004 04:36:56 PM
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BODY:
Jeanne at Body and Soul had a post today on Seymour Hersh and his speech to the ACLU about crimes at Abu Ghraib that have still not seen the light.

Her post brings me directly to what I was fantasizing about -- a true October Surprise:

/ fantasy on / "Good Evening, and welcome to 60 Minutes II. If there are children or young adults under the age of 18 watching with you, please send them to view a video. The following material is not fit viewing for children, but it is necessary viewing for the adults of America. I urge you to record this program so it can be shared with citizens who are not watching. The content will also be available on the Internet after this broadcast.

The following videos and stills were taken at the Abu Ghraib prison from August of 2003 through June 28, 2004. Some of the pictures were taken in Afghanistan, and some in Cuba. The sources will be shown across the bottom of your screen during the hour to come. There will be no audio except that which was recorded with the pictures. There will be no commercials. There will be one legally required station identification.

These films were shown to Congress. They were shown to Secretary Rumsfeld, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Their silence has been deafening. Their silence has brought you this viewing tonight. Thank you. / fantasy off /

Now really, wouldn't that be a surprise?


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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 07/17/2004 09:38:04 PM
I think it would be stupefyingly educational. Not that it will have any effect on the worshipers and in-duh-viduals. I have a deep seated fear that too many of the electorate are working on the theory that 'I don't make a difference, it will be decided for me." Me I vote every chance it's afforded to me (I have missed a couple of small issues that seem to happen in KCMO involving city issues... but that's all).
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: A New Money Mill
CATEGORY: Current Affairs

DATE: 07/18/2004 09:30:18 PM
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BODY:
Obesity has been declared a condition with costs that can be paid by Medicare.

Whoopee.

This means that when you step on a scale at the doctor's, your weight is automatically going to become a "health issue".

With the constant lowering of the bar for what constitutes "obesity", it will be easier and easier for both the medical establishment and the government to define a person as "obese". It will mean money, checkups, drugs, surgery, supplements, nutrient drinks ....

Last week the medical establishment also proposed lowering the amount of "permissible" bad cholesterol to 70. With Lipitor and its cousins making the pharmaceutical companies wealthy while the old definition was in place, this number will open a whole new mine of drug-prescription vulnerable suckers.

Let me emphasize to you -- YES, Lipitor causes joint and muscle aches, no matter what your lying drug insert (or the internet, for that matter) declares. And it isn't cheap.

Someone is going to be coining money.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Campaign Reporting
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Remembering

DATE: 07/19/2004 08:53:03 PM
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BODY:
According to the Daily Howler, The New York Times is hard at work writing things that they are going to have to apologize for:

From the Statehouse in Des Moines to an ornate ballroom in Chicago to a modest front porch in New Orleans to a gathering of Hispanics here, Mr. Edwards has been talking up Senator Kerry this week like a used-car salesman urging his customers to look past the dents. While vice-presidential candidates have traditionally been assigned to tear down the opposition, Mr. Edwards, in a kind of role reversal, has been deployed to build Mr. Kerry up.

Meanwhile, they are out there recording every bit of Cheney tearing down, without discussing the fact that this year the administration doesn't even have a positive record from the last three years on which to campaign.

Meanwhile, Digby at Hullabaloo directs us to a campaign ad. I'd make a remark about the truth being an ineffective campaign tool, but I don't want to sound too cynical here.

So. No positive campaigning for Democrats! Of course, negative campaigning also draws negative remarks from the NYT. There is no pleasing some people, is there? Perhaps they want only one party to campaign -- there would be so much less dictation to take that way!

Perhaps the Democrats could go with recycled ads -- for it looks like Bush Baby is a repeat of Bush Daddy in some ways -- we can only hope that is true with regard to term length, as well.



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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Tomorrow --
CATEGORY: Current Affairs

DATE: 07/20/2004 09:50:41 PM
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BODY:
I intended to tackle the subject of television/radio interviews today, but it's not going to happen. I'll try tomorrow.

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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Jeff
EMAIL: sidesalad@gmail.com
IP: 12.5.1.207
URL: http://www.sidesalad.net
DATE: 07/21/2004 11:57:34 AM
Is that a promise or a warning? :)
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Scorpio
EMAIL: eccentric_00@hotmail.com
IP: 172.16.58.52
URL:
DATE: 07/21/2004 01:24:18 PM
Oh definitely a promise. I wouldn't make threats! Of course, some people are terribly unhappy when they realize that those statements *are* promises ;)
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Interviews
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/21/2004 01:17:41 PM
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BODY:
On Tuesday, Natasha at Pacific Views had a wonderful post about an interview on Crossfire.

Natasha quotes quite a bit of the exchange. I want to take up quoting about where she left off:

CARLSON: If you don't want to answer the question

(CROSSTALK)

SULLIVAN: What is kite-surfing, is that your question?

CARLSON: Yes. I just want to know.

SULLIVAN: You know what, Tucker?

CARLSON: So many rich people do it. I just want to know what it is.

SULLIVAN: It's really sad. It is so sad that you -- that you have a real opportunity as a Washington -- respected Washington analyst to talk about the issues...

CARLSON: I'm trying to get you to help me, Kathy, but you're not.

SULLIVAN: To talk about the issues that affect the ordinary American person. And, instead, you're going to sit there, very cleverly, oh, let's talk about kite-surfing. Oh, let's do this. Let's do that. That's an embarrassment to yourself and to the people of this country, who want to talk about the issues.

If every Democratic interviewee challenged the fatuous and mind-bendingly trivial threads in interviews, perhaps people who say they don't know about Kerry's policies might just find out.

Do we care what his daughters wear? Does it matter to us what sports he pursues? What he drinks? Where he drinks it? Do we really care, likewise, about Bush's daughters, or do we see them for the diversions they are? After all, they are only there because they love their dad -- or so they say. They have no interest in policy -- just ask them.

People who are being interviewed, especially by those whose reputations preceed them, need to study up and take charge when they are asked something both irrelevant and potentially a topic of ridicule. Right then, it is time to confront the dereliction of those who should be asking important question, but are instead filling the air with RNC talking points and snickering insinuations.

News-by-innuendo is a disgrace. Watching people who are complicit in this process is sick. It's time and past time to see more than one set of rascals sent out to seek gainful employment or brush-cutting experience.


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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: spocko
EMAIL: pigeye@noSPAMARAMemail.com
IP: 66.92.250.101
URL: http://s88172659.onlinehome.us/
DATE: 08/13/2004 07:59:37 PM
Excellent point. I just read your post on Atrios and came here. You are right. One issue is that the spokesmen feel that they have to make use of their limited time to get their own messages across.

On the other hand, you can't dismiss the power of the "trivial" people make decisions on "character" because they are used to those sorts of snap judgements things. If it is about policy they feel that they have to study and it would take too much time to understand it. What the left also needs is good emotional stories about why Bush's policies are bad for people. Why the war isn't good for America. To decouple the war from Saftey and security. To decouple the war from terriorism.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: The Flippest Flop
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/22/2004 04:23:26 PM
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BODY:
"War President"

"Peace President"

Oh yeah.

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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Same Ol', Same Ol'
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/22/2004 07:08:26 PM
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BODY:
CNN has a story "President Defends Security Record":

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Facing a new critique on intelligence failures that led to the September 11 attacks, President Bush is defending his record in the war on terrorism, saying his administration is successfully restructuring the nation's defenses.

Hours after he receives the final report of the 9/11 commission, the president outlines a strategy to protect the country and details what he regards as the accomplishments in making America safer.

Bush will lay out his strategy in Glenview, Illinois, where he speaks to an audience of first responders and local leaders at a center that trains police officers, firefighters and public works personnel.

So! He is "successfully restructuring the nation's defenses" but will be laying out his strategy later in Illinois. Right. Unfunded. Unlegislated. I feel safer already.

And then the last paragraph harks back to my previous post:

The government is coupling the new measures to what Bush says is the most important lesson of the September 11 terrorist attacks: Confronting the enemy overseas so that America doesn't have to face more attacks at home.

Doesn't sound much like a "peace President" to me. Exactly how many places does he feel a need to be "confronting the enemy overseas", anyway? And peacefully, or consistent with his behavior so far? Or is he going to flip flop between "war President" and "peace President" depending on just how behind he is in polls coming down to an election?

Look, the Republicans have the temerity to tell a Congresswoman to "get over it" when referring to the 2000 election and its unorthodoxies. The people who say that still haven't gotten over Clinton, and maybe never will.

I suggest that getting over a bungled count in a state where the laws mandate recounts; and failing, then, to do that recount -- that takes a whole lot more getting over than the existence of Mr. Clinton ever will.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: If At First You Don't Succeed
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Religion

DATE: 07/24/2004 10:36:38 AM
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BODY:
Try the Catholics.

It seems that the Bush campaign machine can't resist the lure of already-organized groups. After getting full-blown indignation from the Baptists when the GOP tried to get their church directories, Republicans have now turned their eyes to the Catholics.

If I were Catholic, I'd be pretty offended. Heck, I've been one of those Methodists, and I still find it pretty offensive.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Making Democrats look like Republicans
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/24/2004 05:21:21 PM
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BODY:
This picture.

[via Talk Left]

I suppose this is what happens when the Federal Government takes over security preparations. It's disgraceful.

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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Literary Allusions
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Remembering

DATE: 07/25/2004 11:50:16 AM
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BODY:
This morning I woke to remember that last week, someone referred to John Kerry as the "Knight of the Woeful Countenance." This isn't a Bad Thing.

It occurred to me that, of all the titles Dubya has given himself, the one that fits best, and that he would never use, is "The Walter Mitty President".

Yah -- See the Fighter Pilot! The Outdoorsman! The War Leader!

W -- The Walter Mitty President.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Sharing the Wealth
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Television

DATE: 07/25/2004 09:06:20 PM
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BODY:
I follow four or five web logs whose writers are in Boston now. And on all the sites that take ads, there are brand new ads for MSNBC's convention coverage in the corners.

I even clicked on one of them and read the convention web log -- especially since it has Joe Trippi as a correspondent. The Tom Jones article was icky, but other than that, the MSNBC web site is pretty interesting. I will probably link to it for the next few days, just because they are paying some of my favorites. :)

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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: IG BS
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/26/2004 04:24:35 PM
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BODY:
The report on torture from the Army's Inspector General was so disingenuous that I personally wonder if they questioned anyone in the military who worked in any of the prisons with problems, whether they talked to prisoners, or, indeed, whether they talked to General Karpinski, late of Abu Ghraib.

Abuses an aberration, report says
94 cases confirmed or called possible -- individuals blamed

Josh White, Scott Higham, Washington Post
Friday, July 23, 2004
San Francisco Chronicle
Chronicle Sections

Washington -- The Army's Inspector General reported Thursday that 94 incidents of confirmed or possible detainee abuse had occurred in U.S. prison facilities throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, but it added that the incidents did not result from "systemic" problems, even though a months-long inspection found soldiers were inadequately trained and lacked proper supervision and clear orders.

The report by Lt. Gen. Paul Mikolashek, presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hastily scheduled hearing, concluded that the abuses such as those at Abu Ghraib prison were aberrations that did not result from flawed Army doctrine.

So. A lack of supervision and clear orders doesn't constitute a systemic problem.

What, pray, is this person's definition of "systemic"?

And then there is the defense --

"We found numerous examples of military professionalism, ingrained Army values and moral courage in both leaders and soldiers."

Well I should effen hope so! That statement is even more revolting than Mikaloshek's inability to diagnose problems and suggest solutions. It implies that people expect the worst of our troops, which we certainly do not, and that, with such an idea dismissed, we can dismiss the possibility of crimes in all by a few lowly GI's as well.

Sorry, General.

You flunk Investigation and Report-Writing 101. I do believe that General Taguba should be promoted over you so that the job he started can be continued.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: The Prairie Dog Strikes
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/27/2004 04:52:06 PM
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BODY:
Today at work someone was having a *loud* political discussion/rant only two cubes down. I stuck my nose in briefly and then went back to my work. 40 minutes later, the louder guy was still going on and on.

Soooo -- I got out two pieces of paper. Across the top of one I printed "WAR PRESIDENT", and across the top of the other, "PEACE PRESIDENT". I went into the cube the loud guy was facing. I then prairie-dogged the signs over the wall one after the other until the hysterical giggles started.

"Hey wait a minute! I'm not a Republican! I just don't like Michael Moore"

Yeah, and after that he was quieter, too. As a matter of fact, he finally discovered he had work to do.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mark H
EMAIL: biomes_@cox.net
IP: 68.9.18.71
URL: http://biomesblog.typepad.com/the_biomes_blog/
DATE: 07/29/2004 02:43:22 PM
Thanks for the heads-up. :-)
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: President Obama
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/27/2004 08:59:48 PM
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BODY:
If the United States has a future, you'd best believe that Barack Obama has a place at the point. He's going places.

A tremendous convention speech -- he understands what the people of this country are about.

Here is some of the text from CNN.

***
Afterword: the transcript.

And the video.

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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Moe
EMAIL: thequest@gmail.com
IP: 205.240.200.104
URL: http://revolution.typepad.com
DATE: 07/30/2004 09:41:57 PM
I believe Obama has a bright future in politics, and I will be following his career. President? probably.


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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Trust the Machines
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Rants

DATE: 07/28/2004 05:20:37 PM
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BODY:
Trust the nice machines, and the Florida election apparatus.

You don't think they would do anything *wrong*, do you? What a cynic! Why, Jeb is just doing the Best Thing for All of You. And, why, 2000 was just a fluke!

And so were the crashes of May and November 2003. Just a little old error. Of course, the data is all gone now, but gee, no one warned them that there was a power issue. No one *told* them to do backups!

Oh I believe that.

Bet they will surely sell me real beachfront property, too!

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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Bush Bashing
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/28/2004 07:20:11 PM
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BODY:
I listened to almost all the speeches last night, and can come to only one conclusion.

If disagreeing with a Bush policy is "Bush Bashing", then it is time and past time for vigorous, loud, repeated, pointed bashing. None of it needs to be personal, and there are plenty of side boys and girls to take some of the heat. But the policies of division, denigration, dogpacks of spinmeisters, and a redistribution of wealth to those least deserving are reason enough to bash and continue bashing until Republican policies are flat and down for the count.

Some people are saying that the sentiments Barak Obama expressed were Republican sentiments. To characterize them as such is really part of the Republican problem -- you see, they were decent American sentiments, ideals held by all those people who sang on September 12 in a show of unity, by people who bring Christmas presents to families whose houses have burned down of Christmas Eve, by folks who rally around when someone needs help or support. To characterize those feelings as "Republican" is a grave error -- and possibly the biggest fallacy in the thinking of the current administration and its supporters.

Until Republicans give full credence to the fact that his words were sincerely spoken by a Democrat, and applauded enthusiastically by thousands -- or by now, millions -- of other Democrats, they won't be fit to vote for.

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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.154.51
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 07/29/2004 04:41:03 PM
Bush bashing.

When you say it like that it sounds right on soo many levels.

I mean being against bashing the occasional bush is downright unAmerican.

Kind of like the dreams and aspirations of the Bush regime. Downright unAmerican.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Kerry is Speaking
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/29/2004 10:10:36 PM
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BODY:
The convention will be winding down shortly.

It will be interesting to see if the Republican convention gets the same media treatment as the Democrats did -- the same hours, the same squad of spinners given a public venue. [awww, don't be silly. They will be full of lobster canapes and fine wine, and in no mood to bite the hand that bribes them.] It will be interesting to see if the Republicans behave civilly, themselves, or whether they will be relentlessly negative.

Let's face it. The Republican tone has mockery and no hope. It has braggadocio in place of competence. It has slime in place of ideas. The entire spin machine is dedicated to tearing down something that it cannot build.

Look how far they have to go -- labelling the best of the Democratic speeches as "sounding Republican" -- what a joke! Republicans have not been uplifting for a long time -- not quite back to Abraham Lincoln, certainly. But since Nixon, the Republicans have had little of inclusiveness, hope and dreams.

Who will you vote for? The liars, or the people of the united dreams?

Tomorrow, we clean up the sidebar. I can't wait!

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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Moe
EMAIL: thequest@gmail.com
IP: 205.240.200.114
URL: http://revolution.typepad.com
DATE: 07/30/2004 09:47:43 PM
I'll vote for Kerry, but that doesn't mean he's the best candidate for the democrats, just better than that helium head of a President we have.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Today's Funniest
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 07/29/2004 10:30:01 PM
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BODY:
Billmon wins the prize:

I, Republican

The three laws:

1. A Republican may not injure a corporation, or, through inaction, allow a corporation to come to harm.

2. A Republican must obey the orders given it by corporations except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A Republican must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Wooooo!

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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Welcome To My Sidebar
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 07/30/2004 05:46:22 PM
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BODY:
I cleaned up the sidebar. There were a couple of right side blogs that used to be on it, but when each repeated a spin/lie without checking, I finally had to give up and boot them. There are still a couple, but I have to say that I prefer it when quotes do not stop a crucial word short of the whole truth. Picky of me, I know.

Meanwhile, welcome to Mark A. Kleinman, Corrente, Event Horizon, Faffblog, Hullaballoo, Suburban Guerilla; Sadly, No; The Agitator and A Brooklyn Bridge. If you are not familiar with some of them, give them a click.

And this week, we can congratulate Skippy on having had his fabulous 15 minutes of fame on CNN. His quote problem was a whole lot bigger than one word; I wonder what it is about being on television that leaches the ability to quote right out of the talking heads.

Ah, sweet mysteries.


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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Joel
EMAIL: joeld@u.arizona.edu
IP: 128.196.23.200
URL: http://eventhorizon.typepad.com/
DATE: 08/02/2004 04:08:53 PM
Thank you for adding Event Horizon to your sidebar. I like the name of your blog, I've always felt that eccentricity should be more widely appreciated.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: If I Had a Hammer
CATEGORY: Frames

DATE: 07/30/2004 10:09:39 PM
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BODY:
I would gleefully hammer home the message "George W. Bush, multi-millionaire and President of the US ..." as well as "Dick Cheney, with a net worth in the tens of millions of dollars, Vice-President and the former CEO of Halliburton, who still collects deferred income from that no-bid Iraq contracting company ..."

And I woud repeat and repeat the millionaire/multi/millionaire fact until everyone wanted to barf.

It would only be justice.


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PING:
TITLE: I hope this meme catches on
URL: http://john.hoke.org/archive/2004/07/i_hope_this_mem.php
IP: 69.57.134.35
BLOG NAME: John P. Hoke's Asylum
DATE: 07/31/2004 07:51:24 PM
Scorpio over at Eccentricity brings up a good point. Whenever we write about Resident Shrub and Vice Potty-mouth Cheney President Bush and Vice President Cheney, we should remember to also point out they are multi-millionaire extremists who need their ...
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Outsourcing
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 07/31/2004 02:33:10 PM
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BODY:
Legal Fiction triggered some interesting thoughts last night:

[Update: Some quick comments on the reaction so far. Matt Yglesias was unimpressed, but he did explain later on that the speech might have been good politically speaking, even though he personally disagreed with it. Drezner makes a similar complaint - they're both upset about the demagoguing of outsourcing, and the lack of specifics about Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

I've said it once and I'll say it a million more times before November - this election is about winning swing voters in eight or nine states with a lot of rural, blue-collar religious patriotic white voters. Matt concedes as much in his later post, but it's worth stressing.

Nice thought, but I believe that outsourcing is touching many more citizens and their jobs than just blue collar swing voters. Right now, too many companies have moved their help lines offshore. For my DSL I used to get an intelligent person who could solve my problems in minutes. I understand that if I call today, the Indian gentleman will be deferential and he will want to help, he just won't have a clue how to solve my problem. That is a case of outsourcing that affects too many people -- it is bad to buy an expensive machine but be unable to communicate with the people who are supposed to offer help, as happens now to all individual buyers of Dell computers. Corporate help was moved back to the US when Dell got a lot of high dollar customer complaints, but you and I, buying one machine at a time, don't have that leverage.

I understand that the US sold its only native source of mercury to a Japanese company. OK, a mine cannot be moved, and in the case of a war, the materiel is still here. Nevertheless, that was a move that was not right bright.

More seriously, the entire steel industry has now been moved offshore. If we need more armored vehicles or tanks or whatever, and those who produce steel disagree with us, will we have to fight a war to get at the supplies? Moving it all out was an act of insanity -- steel is a critical war material. I don't want to have to fight a war, but it seems to me that retaining the ability is crucial to national security, and someone has let that slip away.

Maybe we need to pass an "Expatriate Industries" bill that distinguishes between a company that starts elsewhere and moves here from one that starts here and then runs to a tax shelter. Perhaps those latter companies should be forbidden from getting government contracts or from supplying services to any public purpose.

It is not just hard industry that is moving out -- it is also as large a part of the service sector as can be lured by a vision of dollar signs over utility.

Programming, customer records, bank records -- many things are moving, and some of them could ultimately be very damaging. The US needs to keep data here, as well as hard manufacturing. Companies that send your records out of the country are making you vulnerable to fraud in places where investigating such is outside the linguistic capability of most native law enforcement. You know how hard it is to fix a screwed up record when something happens to your bills here. Imagine how fine it's gonna be when the billing clerk has English for a second or third language.

So I don't really think that the topic of outsourcing is there for demagoguing. It is there because some real issues have arisen, and coping with those issues really should be somewhere in our collective priorities.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Boots
EMAIL: jbetty1@san.rr.com
IP: 66.91.228.207
URL:
DATE: 07/31/2004 10:04:25 PM
Absolutely agree with you. And am pleased that you also watched the Dem Conv online.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Steve Cohen
EMAIL: stevecoh1@yahoo.com
IP: 24.13.84.170
URL:
DATE: 08/01/2004 05:45:29 PM
Hear, hear! As a 51-year old programmer who has a hard time landing jobs in the field anymore, but also who, whenever someone DOES hire me, invariably pleases the employer with my expertise born of experience, I am fucking sick and tired of young know-it-alls like Matthew who think their Harvard educations equip them to know everything there is to be known about outsourcing and are unwilling to listen to anyone about the issue who might be in a position to know more about it than they do.

The primary motivation behind outsourcing (and its insidious twin, in-sourcing, the importation of labor by US businesses) is to drive down costs. Led by bottom-line-oriented managements who know nothing about the industries they are allowed to run but costs, outsourcing has become "the rage", enforced by Wall Street as the solution to any business problem. Totally off the map are any engineering-oriented concerns about quality. And yet, many businesses are finding that outsourced globally managed projects are orders of magnitude harder to manage effectively, with the result that they take longer to get done and are done with poorer quality.

My point is not the racist point that Americans are better than anyone else. Clearly that is not true. India and other countries have produced a lot of programmers and engineers who run the gamut from excellent to inferior, just as the Americans have. My point is that the people who have arrogated unto themselves the right and duty to make these decisions have no ability to judge which of these factors will predominate in any given situation.

Most galling to anyone in my position is the bromide-like mantra of "education" as the solution to this problem, the "easy way out" taken by far too many Democrats, some of whom may be on the receiving end of campaign largesse by outsourcing firms. When you start laying off highly trained and educated people, and declaring their skills worthless, why would more education be considered a solution to the problem??

Although I support John Kerry for other reasons, frankly, I regard his stated policies on this issue as inadequate, lip service at best. But, at least, he's raising the issue, which badly needs to be raised whether the smart kids like Yglesias think so or not.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Steve Cohen
EMAIL: stevecoh1@yahoo.com
IP: 24.13.84.170
URL:
DATE: 08/01/2004 06:05:46 PM
Oh, and by the way, people in my demographic are probably a fairly rich, if small, vein of "undecided" votes. They don't like Bush, but don't see Kerry as offering more than lip service. Coming out with some specifics (say, opposing lifting the ceiling on H1B's, since there is no longer a labor shortage) would help with this bunch.

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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: hkmacs
EMAIL: info@hkmacs.homeunix.com
IP: 203.99.171.119
URL: http://hkmacs.homeunix.com
DATE: 08/02/2004 08:10:09 AM
Outsoucing is one heck of a problem even in places like Hong Kong. Our bank Hang Seng Bank has outsourced its back office to China. The people there know nothing about the geography of Hong Kong. Therefore they think we live in Yung Shue Wan, Lantau Island. We don't, we live in Yung Shue Wan, LAMMA ISLAND. No big deal you might think. You're wrong. To open accounts for phone companies etc you have to show proof ofd residence - in other words you're totally screwed because some poor sap in China doesn't know Hong Kong. Changing this information is a nightmare.
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--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Homeland Security Photo Ops
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/01/2004 12:42:46 PM
-----
BODY:
Remember a few months ago, the administration of millionaire President George Bush asked personnel of Homeland Security to be on the lookout for photo ops to highlight his policies?

Well, let's take a look at some of the suggestions that we won't see on the news any time soon:

Bush Stands Downwind of an Unhardened Nuclear Reactor, Somewhere USA.

Bush Vists a Port Where 90% of Ships Are Uninspected.

Bush Motorcade Follows Truck Convoy Taking Nuclear Waste to Nevada.

Bush Visits Nuclear Waste Site.

Bush Rides Cargo Plane With Uninspected Load.

Bush Visits VX Gas Stockpile, Says "Dump Safely Deactivated VX In Potomac."

Bush Visits Refinery in the Face of Terrorist Chatter.

Ah yes. Photo ops. Bring 'em on!
-----
---
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Outsourcing Link
CATEGORY: Current Affairs

DATE: 08/01/2004 09:15:01 PM
-----
BODY:

Lou Dobbs of CNN has a list of companies that outsource.  Click the link and the list is on the right under FROM THE SHOW, labelled Exporting America.  Tech Central Station is infuriated with him, so it is probably The Real Goods.

-----

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimber@atbates.dotedu
IP: 66.231.200.117
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 08/02/2004 03:11:56 PM
Hey Scorpio,

Do you think someone could cross check Lou's list with campaign donation records?

Pudentilla
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: How to Win Friends
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/02/2004 06:10:44 PM
-----
BODY:
The Kerry blog site has removed all blogs from the sidebar.

Here is a Google cache from when he still had a blogroll [via LGF, but I'm darned if I'll send you there].

LGF is amused because Democratic Underground has lost a link, and they are entertained that Kerry has disassociated from the DU. Me, I'm annoyed because you'd think the Kerry campaign really should know better than to dump its blogroll.

Are they going to link only when it will do them financial good? I thought that was a Republican value!



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: What Was Partisan
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/02/2004 06:48:35 PM
-----
BODY:
Tom Ridge announced that the alert level for New York, Washington, and parts of New Jersey was being raised to "high" yesterday.

Since then there have been polls asking whether these alerts were "partisan" .

They shouldn't be.

And this one was not until Ridge hit this paragraph:

But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the Presidentâ€(tm)s leadership in the war against terror. The reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan. Such operations and partnerships give us insight into the enemy so we can better target our defensive measures here and away from home.

That is absolutely partisan. The administration turned the screws on Pakistan to get them to try to trump the Democratic Convention, which is not exactly "leadership" in the traditional sense. The new Pakistani captive, announced about 3PM of the day Kerry was expected to accept the Democratic nomination, has evidently provided intelligence that has stirred up the Homeland Security department.

If anyone is planning a bombing, I, like every decent citizen, hope it is prevented. But it will be thwarted through the hard work of people on the ground, not by millionaire President Bush's alleged leadership. Tossing that sentence into this speech made Ridge into a strictly partisan mouthpiece, and made the alert announcement into a campaign commercial. Ridge should be ashamed, and Kerry or his representative should get equal time to discuss homeland security.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 08/02/2004 10:29:45 PM
Like I've said before. they'll terrorize the populace into not having the election. then declare themselves the mandate. and then the DemTheocracy. It's all playacting. I'm guessing if anything LESS than something like 9-11 happens it will be a deliberate actiom of their (republican's) operatives. But then I'm a suspicious git.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pere Ubu
EMAIL: tog23@sc.rr.com
IP: 24.211.54.207
URL: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/fc/US/terrorism/latest_developments/*http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040803/ap_on_go_pr_wh/terror_threats_intelligence_6
DATE: 08/03/2004 09:39:38 AM
The intelligence that sparked this particular alert was three years old, f'crissakes. And we're supposed to think BUSH deserves another four years? Pfaugh!

-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Big Lie of the Week
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/03/2004 10:32:53 PM
-----
BODY:
Millionaire President Bush and multi-millionaire Vice President Cheney have a Big Lie for this week.

In each speech they allege that Kerry and Edwards want to "negotiate with terrorists." Once they build this straw man, they bravely knock it down.

It isn't just a lie, it's a Big Lie.

Lairs and draft dodgers -- your Republicant leadership.

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Silly
STATUS: Draft
CATEGORY: Games

DATE: 08/04/2004 08:50:28 PM
-----
BODY:

Doctor Unheimlich has diagnosed me with Scorpio's Syndrome
Cause:	genetic mutation
Symptoms:	mildly high blood-alcohol level, French accent, vegetarianism, being able to fire webs from wrists
Cure:	pass it on to someone else within seven days
Enter your name, for your own diagnosis:

-- via Diane Duane's Out of Ambit.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Humor and Calculated Derision
CATEGORY: Games
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/04/2004 09:42:29 PM
-----
BODY:
OK, everyone! It's time to start working on your entries for the week of the RNC -- we shall have a counter-contest of Humor and Calculated Derision that will run in parallel to the Republican Fun-Fest.

I know, I know -- our job will be pretty difficult. When reality is already parody and burlesque, it becomes difficult to write something that is more absurd or clownish than reality.

Nevertheless, we must soldier on. I plan to specialize in limericks, since my scansion is OK. Double dactyls also are a good form for poking fun. And then there is the JibJab way -- writing songs that skewer the people who need hot air let out -- or the methane of lies.

So let's hear it for Millionaire President Bush and Multi-Millionaire Vice President Cheney, noted defender of Halliburton. Rhyme it or sing it, if there's poo they will fling it. Rah! Rah! Rahpublican!


-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimber@atbates.dotedu
IP: 66.231.200.117
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 08/05/2004 08:42:40 AM
It's Chuckles, the Cheney Clown
The man who's always joking around,
He says things that aren't true
To confuse me and you
Or funnier still he believes
what he says.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Joel
EMAIL: joeld@u.arizona.edu
IP: 128.196.23.200
URL: http://eventhorizon.typepad.com/
DATE: 08/05/2004 04:06:10 PM
The rich shall rule and win the day
It's what they do not what they say
It's clear to me and to you,
that George and John will make us pay.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: My My!
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/05/2004 10:38:56 AM
-----
BODY:
Something we should see more often:

ABC News Corrects Report on Big Democratic Donor

Yes, this is listed as headline news today.

This sort of retraction should *not* be a thing of amazement, and yet it is.
-----



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Fraud Watch
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/06/2004 10:16:00 AM
-----
BODY:
There are more ways for people to make it hard for others to vote -- a fraud methode that started during the 2000 election and that continued into 2002 is described in this web log article:

Apparently there are groups out there who buy copies of the voter registration rolls, then send in new registrations for registered voters giving them a new address. It's really a more sophisticated version of the whole thing with the felony lists in Florida in the last election - however, people aren't being REMOVED from the voting rolls, and hence there's no red flag being raised. After all, people DO move and send in change of address, so there's no reason for them to suspect voter fraud. And there's really no way to trace this, so there's really no way to detect this. But in effect what it means is voters are removed from the rolls - after all, if you're unknowingly registered in another precinct, how can you vote at yours? I was lucky...I have the job flexibility and transportation to go down to the election board and find out the problems, but I'm betting a lot of the other people with the same problems don't. And there are a lot - at my precinct, during the period we were at the polls, which was pretty slow, there were only about five or six people in and out, including us. And of those, me and one other guy found ourselves off the rolls, and one woman said she'd had the same thing happen to her during the 2000 presidential election and had to spend the entire day down at the election board.

Carry your registration card.

Vote early -- because voting after 5 might cost you. And just because this one ended up being a problem of someone with the same name changing address doesn't mean that the other half dozen that happened at the same time were so innocent. And good luck.



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Real, or Hoax?
CATEGORY: Books

DATE: 08/06/2004 05:42:35 PM
-----
BODY:

The General pointed me to Amazon.com, where he said he reviewed Lynne Cheney's Sisters.

     A review notes that Sisters is partially online.

     Has anyone read it?  Is the web site a joke, or is it real?

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Parody
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/07/2004 04:20:29 PM
-----
BODY:
[to Clementine]

Halliburton, Halliburton,
Halliburton is the one
Cheney pimps for Halliburton
In Iraq they're havin fun.

Stole a billion, stole a billion
Stole a billion bucks or two
Halliburton pimps for Cheney
And they're screwin' me and you.

Halliburton's got some contracts
for ten billion bucks and more
Cheney made sure they were no-bid
Hauling sailboat fuel galore!

There's a spy in Al Quaeda
Who gave info to our side
'Til a poll showed Kerry winning
Khan's now toast for Bush's pride.

Chorus:
Bush or Cheney, Bush or Cheney
Bush or Cheney, either one --
If you vote for Bush or Cheney
Our democracy's undone.

-- Simon Jester *<};)

No doubt there will be more verses -- Simon just can't resist.

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: My Country
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/08/2004 02:52:17 PM
-----
BODY:
Yesterday someone referred to a mutual acquaintance as a "my country right or wrong" sort.

This gave me pause.

I guess I believe that this is my country, right or wrong, but when it is wrong it is my duty to do the best I can to move it in the right direction and make up for its wrongs. To attempt to justify wrongs rather than rectify them is the mark of the brainless jingoist, or the mark of someone who is completely corrupt.

It will always be my country. I am proud of it for its ideals and hope and optimism. I am ashamed that it is knowingly harboring an administration that investigated how far it could torment prisoners without the torment crossing the actual line into torture. Moreover, I disagree strongly with where the disgraceful ones drew the line. Torture comes long before permanent organ damage. Getting rid of an administration that would do such a thing is one of my strong priorities becuase this *is* my country, and it is wrong.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 08/08/2004 04:19:54 PM
And the duty of any real American would be to be ever vigilant for those who would seek to usurp power or rewrite our constitution so as to steal away the rights of the people.

or in another famous persons words...

"Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us." "Jerry Garcia"
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Nail on the Head
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/09/2004 01:19:07 PM
-----
BODY:
When Silence is Golden by Avedon Carol at The Sideshow is one fine piece of writing on why the Bush Administration should not even be mentioning terrorism, no less politicizing it with announcements that do far more harm to our security than good.

Of course, the Bush administration has a very narrow view of "good" -- bringing down the definition to grabbing the election and promoting themselves.

I enjoyed the put-down by British Intelligence last week -- the "I'm not Tom Ridge" standing in stark contrast to -- why, Tom Ridge!

I used to think that Ridge was the only member of the administration who was reasonably competent and honest, but the last few unpaid political announcements have made me very aware of the fact that he is one more partisan flack who has no idea how to do his job and keep his mouth shut.

And that's too bad.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Ken Houghton
EMAIL: klh@technologist.com
IP: unknown
URL: http://klh.blogspot.com
DATE: 08/10/2004 04:43:20 PM
It does not appear to be possible in the Bush administration to both "do your job" and "keep [one's] mouth shut."

And being able to swallow better than Monica IS required.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Real Question
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Rants

DATE: 08/10/2004 05:44:03 PM
-----
BODY:
"Real journalism, fair & balanced" -- Newshounds reports daily on the doings of Fox, and today they report on Banners for Bozos.

Yes, but what has that motto -- "Real journalism, fair & balanced" -- to do with Fox news and Fox pundits?

Is Fox using "fair" in the medieval sense, as in "fair yolks of egges", which means "minus the bits of straw and chicken guano", i.e. "clean"? Honestly, I suspect that chicken guano is not as bad a contaminant as some of the opinions that Fox airs.

Newshounds reports daily on Fox fare.

They save us from a lot of ugly tallying of sins.

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Republicans and Race
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/11/2004 06:16:25 PM
-----
BODY:
Orcinus has a post about James L. Hart, the disgrace of the Republican Party -- so disgraceful that the Republicans have disavowed him. Orcinus includes this quote:

"The poverty gene of less-favored races, which are spread by welfare and immigration, are destroying our cities no less than if they were hit by a nuclear bomb . . . unless we stop welfare and immigration polices, the U.S. will look like one big Detroit. I will save our cities . . . If an individual demonstrates the ability to produce and contribute to society, he or she would be encouraged to have more children. People on welfare would not."

Hart refers to "less-favored races of sub-Saharan Africa, which Hollywood continues to call black."

Orcinus also notes:

Of course, mainstream Republicans are shocked -- Shocked! -- to find that racism is going on in here.

State GOP officials have denounced Hart and urged voters to support his Democratic opponent. So far, we've heard nothing from national Republicans, but it'd be safe to assume they would maintain the same pose. A few conservative commentators in the blogosphere have also weighed in, claiming that "Hart is no more a Republican than Lyndon LaRouche is a Democrat."

And yet, despite the number of minority speakers the Republican Party will have at their convention, and despite the number who are presently holding positions in the administration, the Republicans seem to have acquired the Southern element that is still fighting the Civil War.

Yes, that is ironic. Lincoln was the first Republican President, and so when the South lost the war, most of those still fighting it on their porches and at their Klan meetings, became staunch Democrats.

Starting in the 1960's, politicians began shifting parties; probably the civil rights legislation pushed by Democrats was the initial impetus; and a large number in favor of a weakened Federal presence moved to the Republican party, as did others who preferred total non-regulation of firearms. Slowly the Republicans transformed into the party of the South -- or Southerners transformed into Republicans as they realized that the issues they favored were defended by the Republicans. Unfortunately, a lot of the misbegotten racism that used to belong to Southern Democrats now belonged to Southern Republicans.

Was it the Civil Rights Act that made the Republican party the refuge of racists? I am not sure, although it seems likely. In any case, they have acquired a burden which won't be put away by a few speakers or a few appointments. Some are saying "watch the delegates, not the platform. The delegates are the party." And it will be interesting to see if they are heavily white, or whether your neighborhood Republicans are of many colors.



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Pakistan Gets Wise
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/12/2004 11:32:55 AM
-----
BODY:
According to ABC News, Pakistan captured five more terrorist suspects:

The official would not name the suspects or give their nationalities, and it wasn't clear if any were on the FBI list of most-wanted terrorists. Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed the arrests, but refused to share any further details.

"Refused to share any further details" -- that is the nut of the story. It just goes to prove that they have learned from their previous error. If you give names to the US, when Bush's poll numbers go down, the names go out as "proof" that something is being done.

OK, it is being done by Pakistan, but Bush will take credit for that and then blow a double-agent resource to "prove" it. And so the Pakistan government shows it is more intelligent than certain high members of the US government. But we knew that, didn't we?



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: RCIA
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/13/2004 04:30:18 PM
-----
BODY:
Rank Covers Its Ass

Army report faults intelligence troops in prison abuse

Officials: Document to be released at end of month portrays more incidents

By TOM BOWMAN
The Baltimore Sun
August 12. 2004 8:32AM

WASHINGTON - A long-awaited report on the role of the Army's military intelligence troops in the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison will recommend that more than two dozen soldiers be disciplined, but no one above the colonel who commanded them at the infamous facility outside Baghdad, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

That conclusion is so cowardly and so disgraceful that the author of the Army report should be drummed out of the service.

Were I on active duty, this conclusion would telegraph to me that my superiors were outlaws, conniving at the breach of the Geneva Conventions.

I hope this entire administration is held accountable, and all their dogs and nut-sniffers as well.

[via Cursor]
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Whose President
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/14/2004 03:03:14 PM
-----
BODY:
The current campaign is being conducted in a way that should bother almost everyone -- even those who are basking in the current climate.

When the President of the United States and the Vice President do not appear before anyone who has not declared loyalty to their candidacy for the next election, they prove that they are not serving on behalf of all citizens. They are not interested in hearts and minds, but in blind loyalty. See Suburban Guerilla for one of the finer horror stories of this season, and bear in mind there are several others that I have not linked to, including the widely-publicized story of non-violent, non-demonstrative citizens who were arrested and led away in cuffs for wearing Kerry shirts to an event they had tickets for.

Most of the outbreaks of police-state behavior are occurring when people approach a Republican event without kowtowing. Are Republicans making a bed that they, too, will have to lie in? Or are Democrats more freedom-loving and protective of citizen rights and concerns? Tune in next administration -- if it is the same one we have now, things will inevitably get worse.

Or perhaps -- help is on the way.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 08/14/2004 11:54:20 PM
The photo of Bush 'speaking to farmers' in Iowa was very telling. Except for various photographers / news bunnies who were probably part of his campaign crew, everyone else (what few there were) were behind a 6' tall board fence. At least 15 feet away from the podium. Wow. What a coward.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: In His Own Words
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/14/2004 07:36:21 PM
-----
BODY:
Porter Goss, on his CIA qualifications.

So now you know what millionaire President Bush's nominee thinks of his own ability to work for the CIA.

[Via King of Zembla]
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Augean Stables
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/15/2004 04:32:06 PM
-----
BODY:
Millionaire President Bush is piling up fewmets in the Augean Stables of Federal regulations.

The Kerry Administration is going to be faced with many things that will need doing in the first few weeks --

Putting the Equal Opportunity clauses back into all Federal web sites and hiring and distruibution guidelines. These have been removed by Bushies in a stealthy manner.

Putting health and welfare clauses back into regulations on mining, energy, and other areas of business and resource management.

Sigh -- perhaps the instruction Kerry gives should just be to move all regulations back to the version of December 2000 and be done with it -- a wholesale wiping out of the Bush vandalism would be a Good Thing. That would get rid of all the faith-based nonsense and anti-contraceptive regulations.

Then what? Raise the number of troops so that contractors are no longer used? It will take a couple of years to take effect, but it surely is preferrable to hiring Wackenhut to stand guard duty on US bases here at home. Reinstate Head Start and kill No Child Left Behind? Get a decent drug plan that permits collective buying and importation of approved drugs from outside the US if our pharmacy companies insist on gouging? If Goss is head of the CIA, oust him?

Bush has given his successor so much to do -- not to mention repairing foreign relations and finding an exit strategy and voter strategy for Iraq. It is amazing that Kerry even *wants* the job. He and Edwards are in remarkably cheerful spirits considering what Bush has piled up that needs to be shovelled.

And that doesn't start to mend the worst economic damage that the millionaire has done -- millionaire Bush, who claims that all the rich evade taxes. The new president will have to fix that. He will have to put the IRS back to auditing large corporate returns instead of its current middle-class harrassment. And perhaps one rich person with low taxes could be audited for every poor person who is dragged in. He will have to work on the kinds of tax breaks that companies are given, and stop rewarding behavior that damages the economy.

Ah me -- eight years is going to be a short time.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Face Terrorists?
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/15/2004 08:39:34 PM
-----
BODY:
Bush can't even face a crowd of average Americans!

Billed as informal question-and-answer opportunities for curious voters to quiz the most powerful man in the world, the carefully choreographed campaign events usually recycle the central points from his stump speech.

"We're going to call on some of your citizens to help me make some points," he said at the Ohio event.

...

But would-be Bush hecklers face daunting obstacles: Loyalists handle giving out tickets to the event; home-made signs and banners are often forbidden; and in some cases access hinges on signing a loyalty oath.

"First priority goes to volunteers and supporters and then we reach out to people who are undecided and want to hear what the president has to say," according Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel.

The result is a friendly crowd eager to see the candidate they hope will win the November 2 election, while authorities banish protesters to heavily policed sidewalks blocks away.

You know, demanding that the 'undecided' sign a loyalty oath is a good way to drive them off. No wonder Bush is sliding in the polls.

[via Eschaton]

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: John Hoke
EMAIL: john.hoke@gmail.com
IP: 12.42.226.34
URL: http://john.hoke.org
DATE: 08/15/2004 10:41:07 PM
Its getting insane. I posted http://john.hoke.org/archive/2004/08/lemmings_only_n.php about a man who was denied entry to a Bush event because the security team didn't like his pin. He took his daughters to see democracy in action, then was denied entry because he wore a Kerry/Edwards pin.

he was humiliated in front of his friends and his family.

Why is Bush afraid of Americans? (to paraphrase David Bowie)
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: John Hoke
EMAIL: john.hoke@gmail.com
IP: 12.42.226.34
URL: http://john.hoke.org
DATE: 08/15/2004 10:41:44 PM
ack, the url above got fubar'd by MovableType it should be:

http://john.hoke.org/archive/2004/08/lemmings_only_n.php

sorry :(

[fixed it -- for some reason Typepad comments don't do HTML -- S.]
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 08/16/2004 09:43:49 AM
Here's another photo (link courtesy Electrolite).

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040804/ids_photos_ts/r2887925495.jpg
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Good Blogging
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 08/16/2004 04:09:11 PM
-----
BODY:
Bob Herbert's Op-Ed on "Suppress the Vote" is worth a look, and worth more than that. That Jeb's Goons are "investigating" elderly black voters is just one more symptom of facist intimidation. Is there no depths to which Bushes won't stoop?

[via Mrs Atrios]

I have to say here, in a most admiring way, that Mrs. Atrios is a fine web logger in her own right. Her critique of the contents of the Sunday Times was a masterpiece, demonstrating that but for a few columnists, calling the New York Times "liberal" is like calling Iraq "chilly". There are snide phrases platered throughout stories that are blatantly unedited political digs. The Times is a disgrace, and Mrs. Atrios is requesting that readers suggest a bettter way to spend Sunday mornings. She is one bright lady who knows how to write a blog. Way to go!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: A Very Personal Measure
CATEGORY: Economics

DATE: 08/16/2004 11:08:08 PM
-----
BODY:
Q.: Am I doing better than I was in 2000?**

I am now making 85% of what I made in 2000, and I work for the same company doing the same thing. The decline in special project pay, bonuses, and profit-sharing has cost me some $11,000 compared to what I got in 2000.

A big thank-you to the Social Security Administration for sending the cold facts to me in their recent mailing discussing retirement.

A big fart to the Bush administration, whose idea of economic stimulus includes giving their contributors no-bid contracts and plummy Federal appointments.

******************
**A.: Not only no, but hell no!

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Kevin Hayden
EMAIL: kahlil@despammed.com
IP: 67.171.208.255
URL: http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/
DATE: 08/21/2004 03:16:01 PM
Scorpio, as I'm busy organizing my links page, can you email me and indicate what state you're in?

Thx;

-Kevin
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: How Did He Graduate High School?
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/18/2004 03:49:39 PM
-----
BODY:

Mayor suggests free assembly a 'privilege'

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, already under fire for his tough stance against anti-GOP protest groups, Monday suggested that First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly are "privileges" that could be lost if abused.

And this person is mayor of New York? This political and historical illiterate? I'm aghast.

[via Hammerdown]
-----



PING:
TITLE: Holy Mother of God!
URL: http://www.punningpundit.com/archives/2004_08.html#000807
IP: 64.94.227.1
BLOG NAME: Punning Pundit
DATE: 08/18/2004 09:36:08 PM
Mayor suggests free assembly a 'privilege' Don't know what to say......
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Ewwww
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/19/2004 08:24:10 PM
-----
BODY:
Zell Miller is due to nominate Bush at this year's Republican convention. Both Athenae at First Draft and Digby at Hullabaloo have noted this today.

All it does is make me want to gag.

I remember way back when Strom Thurmond ditched the Democrats and changed to the Republican party. I actually thought that was a principled stand. Miller, on the other hand, wouldn't recognize a principled stand from way down there where he is slithering on his unprincipled belly.

I wish Bush the best of him. I guess this guy was the only person who was low enough to want to take on nominating Bush for an office he is maximally unfit to fill. Since Zell can't tell the difference between principle and prostitution, that makes him just perfect to do the deed.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: How Many Lies Balance One Truth?
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/20/2004 05:05:34 PM
-----
BODY:
When did it happen?

When did our idiot news organizations decide that "presenting both sides" meant giving equal weight to both lies and truth? When did equality start to mean repeating lies for "balance"?

I have, like many of you, read quite a bit that the Swift Boat Liars have put out.

I get an amazing sense of them thinking to themselves, "Well, if this accusation doesn't work, then I'll accuse him of eating babies next." Things that have written documentation to disprove them are still being floated as speculative. "What they say" instead of "what they alleged, but that was contradicted both by other testimony and by documents written at the time of the incident" just reinforces the notion that what they say has weight. And that is both unfair and unbalanced when their sayings have been refuted.

The Swifties are now lashing about, trying to discredit all battle reports, just for the purpose of smearing Kerry. That is a pitiful and disgraceful tactic, guaranteed to smear all real heroes, up to and including the ones currently at war. Good job, Swift-wits.

Talk about haters! These individuals have turned their anger into a thrity year vendetta, and they seem to want to replay the homecoming of Vietnam vets in a new climate, and with a renewed hatred for those who witnessed against a policy that many came to protest. They should not want to go there, but they seem determined to try "with us or against us" -- even when the evidence points to their mental disarray and many lies.

Perhaps it is time for the networks to stop selling the Swifties air time -- time to remove their lies from public display. Perhaps some brave group will sue the Swifties for lying, and the networks for perpetuating lies. That would be interesting.

One can hope.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Immoral, Illegal, And Fattening
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/20/2004 07:24:43 PM
-----
BODY:
(I was kidding about the fattening part.)

[via Atrios]

“Bush Campaign Caught Promoting "Swift Boat Vets for Truth"

While National Campaign Denies Coordination, Campaign in Florida Promotes Rally

Tallahassee -- On the same day that the Bush-Cheney campaign repeatedly denied coordinating attacks with the anti-Kerry group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," the Bush-Cheney campaign in Florida was caught promoting a rally in Gainesville for the group.

A flyer being distributed at the Alachua County Republican party headquarters, which doubles as the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters for the county, promotes a weekend rally sponsored by "Swift Boat Vets for Truth, Veterans for Bush, Alachua Bush/Cheney Committee," and others.

It is quite illegal for campaigns to coordinate with 527's. It is delightful to see these slime implicated in illegalities. Just because they have been angry for 30 years is no reason to violate the law. Of course, they lie as easily as they breathe, so it is just as well that this trespass will be documented so well that they can be sued.

Good.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 08/20/2004 07:51:37 PM
This raised my blood pressure this morning in NPR when I took Jim to work. He got his bronze star because his commander and the guy he saved said they were under fire. Then these bozos say , "well we were just getting ready to mosy over and save that guy, there was not trouble there, really." ??? Did they do too much heroin in Viet Nam? For example, I would not take my brother's word on anything that happened there because 1) he suffered/suffers from PTS and 2) he used drugs (VA approved prescriptions, mind you) so long that it made him schizophrenic for a while until he ended up somewhere (forcefully incarcerated by a court order) that cleared him of the addiction. But his memory is weird and subject to saying whatever who's asking him about it thinks he wants to say.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 08/21/2004 03:42:40 PM
All these groups are really doing nothing but preaching to their own choirs. Few people are going to be swayed one way or another by either Swifters, or Moveon. The ones remaining will probably be more swayed by which group seems less slimy after the whole nasty mud slinging affair.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Crimes Then and Now
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/21/2004 06:28:38 PM
-----
BODY:
Today at Suburban Guerilla Susan quoted from the Washington Post story "Some Veterans Still Bitter at Talk of Crimes" and then said:

You know what I find odd? That they're all so upset about Kerry testifying about atrocities, yet as far as I can recall, had no problem with the stream of Vietnam movies that portrayed soldiers doing things like killing their own officers and raping civilians, or capable of casual brutality: Apocalypse Now. Born on the Fourth of July. Full Metal Jacket. The Boys in Company C. Platoon.

Casualties of War, which is probably most applicable to the present uproar. After all, Michael J. Fox plays the "hero" who turns in a fellow soldier who raped and killed a civilian - and is shunned for it.

And we don't have to look any further than the real-life case of Michael Darby, who reported the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison, and is now in protective custody because of death threats to him and his family.

Lynndie English, the female soldier is so many of the atrocity photos, is being treated as a hometown hero.

Looks like John Kerry's problem is, he told the truth. And now they want him to pay for it.

Indeed, I wonder what these gents think of Abu Ghraib? Are they in the Rush Limbaugh "fraternity prank" group, or do they realize that the breaking of the Geneva Conventions was a wrongful act that must be uprooted up the line to the top? Do they stand with Wes Clarke? Do they stand with the many fine and courageous military people, active and retired, who have spoken out on this subject? Or are they coverup queens who minimize torture and death as long as the abused are "gooks and ragheads"? Lynndie groupies and Stivits-suckers?

Anyone want to place bets?

Anyone in the media have the guts to ask them to take a stand on today's war, since they know so damned much about things they didn't see in the last long war?

Is our October Surprise going to be the release of the rest of the Abu Ghraib material? Do we really want to revisit VietNam with these liars, whose own citations contradict their current delusions?



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Graphical Connections
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/21/2004 07:15:11 PM
-----
BODY:
Here is the chart that links the Swifty organization to Bush friends and advisors, particularly Karl Rove.

Below the chart is a second chart of flip-flopping quotes from many of the Swifties, showing that at other times they made positive statements about Kerry's service.

Makes you wonder about what pressures can be brought to bear on people, doesn't it?

Thanks to Punning Pundit for the link.

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: What Kind of Man
CATEGORY: Books
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/22/2004 08:20:18 AM
-----
BODY:
John Edwards said that we shall see what kind of man and what kind of leader we have.

The president has other people throw mud for him, and make charges against his opponents. People who operate this way are usually called "cowards". When they do it and pretend to be above the fray in public, they are also called "hypocrites".

And as for leadership, millionaire Bush claims that he does not read newspapers or watch television (though on the latter, he has been outed by his own admission that he tends to fall asleep while watching); he says that all his information comes from advisors who are so above the rest of humanity that they manage to give him only facts after they have heroically gone throught the drudgery of doing all the reading he can't be bothered with. One usually calls that sort of person "gullible", "easily led", and "sucker-bait". One cannot exercise leadership when someone else is doing all the evaluation of what information shall pass to the alleged decision-maker. One fourth of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift deals with people who are cut off from normal communications by layers of flunkeys, and the picture wasn't any prettier then than it is now.

In Larry Niven's Ringworld, there were ailens called Puppeteers, who had a reputation for utmost cowardice. Their leader was called The Hindmost, since his position was at the back of the pack, the most cowardly at all.

And so the Hindmost Republican has his smear squads out.

You know, Gary Trudeau offered a $10,000 prize to anyone who would come forward and swear that they served with Bush in Alabama. So far the money has had no takers. Does anyone wonder why?

The Hindmost Republican has no supporters who saw that service -- not even fake supporters who claim they saw him and knew him like the liar Swifties who are claiming such about Kerry. Mysterious, isn't it?

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: More Illegality
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/22/2004 08:31:03 AM
-----
BODY:
Is resigning after the fact good enough? According to CNN:

ROANOKE, Virginia (CNN) -- A volunteer adviser has quit President Bush's re-election campaign after appearing in a veterans group's television commercial blasting Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's involvement in the Vietnam-era antiwar movement.

A Bush campaign statement said it did not know that retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier had appeared in an ad by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Kerry campaign has accused the group of illegally working with the Bush campaign.

I want to know how anyone who works a campaign can possibly claim ignorance of the law about 527's -- especially someone who is or was a Colonel. Moreover, I want to know why he thinks that resigning is good enough when he broke the law. I am sure he gave an awful lot of troops Article 15's and did not excuse their ignorance. Ignorance is not supposed to even be an excuse.

The Bush campaign also claimed ignorance -- but then, the whole Bush administration has been about ignorance, hasn't it?

When will it stop? When will they be held accountable for their actions? It is time and past time.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: The First Six Months
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 08/22/2004 12:44:55 PM
-----
BODY:
The first six months of this blog ends tonight -- 224 posts and not quite 7500 hits.

I have certainly found it interesting and much better than shouting at a screen.

Sometimes I regret that this is more political than personal. Sometimes I wonder if I should have three web logs -- political, personal, and rowdy -- but that would be too much.

I won't promise to be here every day of the next six months, but I plan to do my part in commenting on the state of the country and the way of the world. After giving money and talking to people in person, the next best thing someone can do is get on the web and stir around.




-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: John Hoke
EMAIL: john.hoke@gmail.com
IP: 69.112.229.215
URL: http://john.hoke.org/
DATE: 08/22/2004 01:06:18 PM
Scorpio,

I for one hope you stick around and post alot!

My blog started out as an experiment years ago, and has morphed into new and wonderful things a couple of times... now its political, once it was techie, before that personal ... maybe it will balance out, or morph again, its the beauty of realizing a blog is a living thing :)

-jh
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 08/24/2004 02:22:30 PM
Don't stop, pleeeease! Except for occasional side excursions into the blogs you list to the left or Electrolite and the blogs it lists, this is the only political blog I read. Because it makes me get mad instead of just depressing me.

Keep up the good work!
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: There Is Still a First Amendment
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/23/2004 05:41:47 PM
-----
BODY:
Mark Kleiman has it exactly right.

Shorter George W. Bush

I'll ask my friends to stop lying about John Kerry, if he will ask his friends to stop telling the truth about me.

See news story, courtesy of atrios here.

And it's a standoff.

Of course, Bush cannot tell the Swifties to stop. There is still freedom of speech here. Neither can Kerry tell MoveOn to stop. They are also separate from his campaign, and free to speak.

Bush did not specifically condemn the Swifties ad -- take note of that. He said he did not like any advertising by 527s, and his McClellan Dummy has repeated this over and over, like a talkie doll with its string stuck.

But as Mark said on his blog -- I will tell them to stop telling lies if you will get your folks to stop telling the truth.

Perhaps, especially for 527 ads, there should be a way to get an injunction to stop airing it if any part is found to be untrue. Of course, I can think of plenty of evil things to say that *are* true -- and I am sure that the Bushie character-manglers are busy compiling lists of those things.

A way to smear that has nothing to do with either truth or lies is the kind that just asks questions -- like "What was the alcohol content of his blood when he climbed into that cockpit? How big a hole does a crashing jet make?" and other insinuations that have nothing to do with how the world actually went. Yes, a similar set will probably be made about Kerry before you can say boo.

Now what good will it do for either candidate to rail about 527's? Unless one condemns personal attacks, the candidate can be seen to tacitly accept them, of course. But no matter how the candidates feel, all commercial stations will inevitably be way more attracted by advertising money and the smell of scandal. That is what television, after all, is about.

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Simbaud
EMAIL: simbaud@att.net
IP: 67.101.150.84
URL: http://simbaud.blogspot.com
DATE: 08/26/2004 12:08:14 AM
Mark A.R.K.'s line is a paraphrase of Adlai Stevenson's "I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them."

Adlai, in his turn, swiped the gag from songwriter Vaughan Horton, whose "You'd Better Stop Tellin' Lies About Me (or I'm Gonna Tell the Truth About You)" was a minor hit for Ralph Marterie and Eddy Arnold, among others.

-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Kudos to Quiddity
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/23/2004 06:17:58 PM
-----
BODY:
Uggabugga hits a homer.

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Doomed to Repeat
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/25/2004 12:22:07 PM
-----
BODY:
When the Swiftes say that there were no war crimes in VietNam, who in their age range do they think they are fooling? Do they also think that our kids did not go to school? Do they not remember My Lai? Lt. Calley?

John Kerry passed on stories others told him. Unlike Swifties, he did not claim to see things that did not happen in front of him. But Swifties hate him for knowing the difference and for passing on stories. Why, just like families of current criminals hate and have threatened Darby for outing war crimes in Iraq.

Amazing about that.

With Abu Ghraib investigations bringing home the news that things like this do happen, the Swifties look pretty shifty, as if they feel a need to cover up similar happenings 30 years ago. There were no digital cameras and phonecams to document what happened -- but there were witnesses, and they spoke up to much the same anger and hatred as Darby is reaping.

Anger and hatred -- hallmark of those who want to defend war crimes. And so as the Abu Ghraib guards have friends and family, the Swifties will be the families and friends of the Boomer's war criminals -- fraternity pranksters all, with lying "brothers" to say it ain't so.

Are you fooled yet?

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimber@atbates.dotedu
IP: 69.49.138.88
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 08/25/2004 06:16:39 PM
Well I'm no fan of the Swift Boat liars, but... We have been talking about this at length in our home, and the better half had some astute observations. 1. Civilians can and should distinguish between support for the war and support for the troops. 2. The latter requires a willingness to be very skeptical of the pol/mil leaders who send the troops to war - a job duty we have not been so hot at fulfilling. 3. It is probably psychologically impossible for a soldier to be for the troops and against the war - he/she's watching friends die and his/her own body at any moment can be maimed. If a soldier in the field takes that position, what you basically get is Achilles - a hero incapable of fighting. When Kerry took the radical position (which he was only capable of doing away from the front) he was forcing those guys to consider the possibility that everything they had believed in and suffered for was a joke.

I'm not surprised that they are still enraged. Kerry took what had to be the most challenging, formative experience of their life and revealed it to be a fraud. It's easier for them to hate him than admit they were duped. I love calling them out when they get caught in lies - but the visceral hatred they have of Kerry, I try to understand.

The thing with Abu Ghraib is that it doesn't have to be history repeating itself, although I know what with whitewash reports and the shunning of the soldier who turned the photos in, one should not be too optimistic. Presumably, this generation can learn from the the paralzying mistakes and paralyzing consequences of Vietnam. If so, Abu Ghraib, might in the end, acquire a significance quite different than Mai Lai.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Najaf
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/26/2004 11:26:54 AM
-----
BODY:
This morning I was impressed all over again with a lack of clear policy in Iraq. I wondered why, specifically, US troops were fighting Al-Sadr.

Is he too fundamentalist to suit the US? Is it because he has power, and none but a puppet is allowed to pretend to that? Does his faction really look that powerful?

Meanwhile, the US sent planes into Iranian airspace.

Does Bush *want* them to attack into Iraq? Does he think that will make the world intervene to help him? Just what the heck is going on, anyway?

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Scaramouche
EMAIL: ScaramoucheBlog@netscape.net
IP: 216.175.87.193
URL: http://scaramoucheblog.blogspot.com
DATE: 08/26/2004 09:19:04 PM
Scorpio,

When did we fly into Iranian Space? I just read a great piece by William Pfaff in the International Herald Tribune about how he thinks the October Surprise might be a War with Iran. Here's the link: http://www.iht.com/articles/535719.html

So, the answer is, in a word, Yes!

[here is one link: http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_3464.shtml but I read it on US news headlines first -- just cannot find them! -- Scorpio]


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Blame the Messenger
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/26/2004 01:32:20 PM
-----
BODY:
Bush's bait-and-switch is so obvious right now. He has a talking point. That point is to stop 527's.

He is doing this because he really will not condemn the ad that attacks Kerry with lies.

Look for him to open his mouth and say "527" every time he is asked -- even though 527s are longstanding and Republicans have many of them.

Why, Bush's campaign legal fund in Florida in 2000 was a 527 -- is he promising to do without it? Why no, he wants them banned after he has used them for his own personal good.

Bush is venial and transparent. A jellyfish.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: He Knows
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/27/2004 07:14:22 PM
-----
BODY:
When a group of US government scientists published that power-plant and auto CO2 emissions were large contributors to global warming, an interviewer suggested to Bush that he had changed policy. He replied "I don't think so."

Well, Bush is utterly correct. His previous stance was based on ignoring science and pretending that global warming doesn't exist. That is still his position. Science matters not to him, never did and doesn't now.
-----



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Getting Better
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/28/2004 03:00:00 PM
-----
BODY:
Hoffmania posts Fun on Crossfire.

In this segment, Democratic defenders are getting much better at laying the lies out as soon as they are spoken.

Good job!
-----


AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Disgust
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/29/2004 02:27:18 PM
-----
BODY:
"I've decided I just don't like Kerry," said a guy last night.

Since this was in his home, I didn't say to him what I should have:

"So you like someone who had his counsel recommend how to break the Geneva Accords?"

"So you like someone who has put your grandchildren into debt and wasted a surplus of funds?"

"So you like the man who had the EPA lie after 9/11 and say that NY air was safe?"

"So you like the man who has a lawyer just in case someone asks if he knew that his people were going to expose Valerie Plame?"

"You like the man who is still sending reserves and guardsmen overseas with insufficient armor?"

This like business is the lowest form of decision making. It goes with the mindset that thinks everything should be simple, the mindset that hates and fears nuance.

Now starts the week of speechmaking by all the Republicans whose opinions are actually marginal -- those whom the Bushies can use to draw in the gullible. When they start talking about how they have a plan to curb spending, call them liars. When they talk about funding education or health, call them liars. These things are due for a cut if Bush takes the next election. Yeah, I didn't say win, I said take.
-----

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimber@atbatesdot.edu
IP: 134.181.136.31
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 08/30/2004 07:57:26 AM
Same thing happened to me at a wedding brunch yesterday. I decided not to ruin the lunch and just pointedly switched the subject to the weather. Still felt annoyed and slimed, however.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Cloned Poster
EMAIL: sagit@aol.com
IP: 194.46.88.28
URL:
DATE: 08/30/2004 05:17:49 PM
No Neocons other than The Terminator addressing the love-fest in NYC.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 08/30/2004 09:27:06 PM
Kerry? Who ele are you gonna vote for? Bush? Ha!

yeah even though I feel Kerry the worst of Democratic contenders who else are you going to vote for? Bush?

Ha!
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 08/30/2004 10:46:47 PM
I'd be really unhappy to work with that guy. Fortunatly, i work with a lot of gays and other liberal people who just want BusH OUT! (I THINK over 30% of our employees are gay... as a guess.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 08/30/2004 10:49:34 PM
Excuse Me! Who the Fark brainwashed John McCain? Bush attacked his very credentials and credit. Yikes! When did he get a lobotomy?
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Avedon
EMAIL: avedon@cix.co.uk
IP: 80.229.133.49
URL: http://www.sideshow.idps.co.uk
DATE: 09/05/2004 08:46:08 PM
I'm sorry, if someone said that to me, I would have to ask them why. And then ask why it matters. Like I keep saying, I'm not gonna be hanging out with the guy, I just want him to do a job that both Bush and I are too lazy to take responsibility for.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: That's Interesting
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/31/2004 03:42:04 PM
-----
BODY:
I was listening to C-Span -- kids asking the platform committee questions.

Now we-all know that George Bush was quoted this week as saying that the war on terror is likely not winnable.

Evidently the Platform Committee didn't hear him.

The Republicans are full of -- oddly skewed information. It makes interesting, if inaccurate, listening.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: A Good Day to Throw Money
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 08/31/2004 07:19:48 PM
-----
BODY:
Today is a good day to throw money at the DNC. It will be matched by wealthy donors, so everything you give by midnight will have twice the impact.

Go for it.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: How Odd

CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/01/2004 04:23:19 PM
-----
BODY:
On Monday night, all the speakers -- especially Guiliani and McCain -- were very capable of saying "9/11". But do you know, instead of saying "bin Laden" all those fabulists went on to say "Iraq" instead.

How very peculiar, the absence of the bin Laden name. He is obviously a non-person to Republicans.

It would be an interesting ad, to play each clip back that refers to 9/11 and then point out that the speaker had been incapable of correctly connecting the event to bin Laden.

Of course, telling the truth would be deemed dirty fighting, but I think it is time for some of us to get some of them to eat part of that lifetime's peck of dirt.

Especially, it would be interesting to put the truth out there, loud and clear, and shout the name they dare not whisper. Bush is a failure. Bin Laden is a free man.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Sound
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/01/2004 07:56:46 PM
-----
BODY:
I have been listening to the RNC for about three days on C-Span. No nattering comments, just the pure happenings.

I have been surprised at how hollow the crowd sounds.

I am surprised at how many jingoistic or partisan applause lines have fallen flat, with the pause for expected applause hanging silent..

Even at the crest -- the nomination -- there was not much cheering, and the speaker tried to pump it up to no avail. His chant of "George W. Bush, George W. Bush" was met with a two-repetition echo and then died.

These people don't sound very enthused about what they are doing. Quelle surprise.
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Scaramouche
EMAIL: ScaramoucheBlog@netscape.net
IP: 216.175.111.39
URL: http://scaramoucheblog.blogspot.com
DATE: 09/02/2004 07:39:52 PM
Hollow people make hollow sounds...juz' saying.

What I find interesting is how they keep finding women and minorities for the cut-away shots.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Security
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/02/2004 06:04:02 PM
-----
BODY:
Convention security for the Republicans has been pretty bad, hasn't it? Several groups and individuals have managed to get inside the Garden and make their presence known.

Of course, the Democrats, those lax creatures, didn't have anyone get into their convention and make rude noises.

The Republicans can't even keep their own convention secure, and people trust them with the country?

Unbelievable, isn't it?
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: News Cycles
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/03/2004 06:54:18 PM
-----
BODY:
For two days after the Democratic Convention, Kerry and Edwards led the headlines. A Sunday faux-terror alert finally pushed them off.

Today, between the Russian school hostage crisis, the latest hurricane, and Clinton's hospitalization, the Republican convention was pushed much farther down than normal.

The rain on the Bush parade comes at a high cost to many. Clouds, linings, there must be some appropriate old phrase.


-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Avedon
EMAIL: avedon@cix.co.uk
IP: 80.229.133.49
URL: http://www.sideshow.idps.co.uk
DATE: 09/05/2004 08:41:32 PM
No, having the Bush bash pushed off the front page is a good thing for Bush - people were mostly talkinga about what a hatefest it was and how they didn't mention Osama and how Bush had nothing new, etc.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: From All of Us
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/04/2004 01:39:34 PM
-----
BODY:
Sympathy to the parents, children and staff of the Russian school that was held hostage and terrorized during the last week. Even more, to the families of the dead and the wounded.

This was a new low in terrorist behavior.

It rather makes us wish that our country was really at war with terrorists instead of occupying Iraq.
-----


COMMENT:
AUTHOR: ShadoWing
EMAIL: zem666@gmail.com
IP: 10.1.17.109
URL:
DATE: 09/07/2004 05:12:06 AM
... and sympathies to the families of thousands of children raped, tortured & killed by the Russian 'pacification' of their restless states in the last 10-15 years.
It doesn't justify behaving equally viciously to others, but remember how many 'civilized' people wanted to "turn Afghanistan into glass" or "bomb them back to the Stone Age" almost 3 years ago. Isn't that irrationally vicious revenge close to what's happened here?
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Humor and Derision Redux
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/04/2004 02:06:28 PM
-----
BODY:
Well, now that the Republicans have left New York we can look back at their convention and ask whether it managed to do what it intended.

Humor and calculated derision? Not quite. Red meat for the hardcore? Almost certainly.

The band-aids were not targeted enough to only poke at Kerry -- they poked at every man and woman brave enough to place themselves in danger -- and they were sported by those who probably have never done anything braver than eat a second helping of dessert.

The convention hilighted the fact that the supporters of George W. Bush are afraid to say "Osama bin Laden". They are afraid to mention casualties or injuries. The only funeral mentioned was that of poor old Ronald Reagan, who never served and who died at an advanced age and after a long disintegration; Bush himself has still not seen a single coffin from the wars he has launched. Greeting five of Saddam's victims getting new hands hardly makes up for the 11,000 Iraqi dead and the tens of thousands injured that are a large part of the Bush legacy.

Hoffmania posted that Judy Woodruff was busted when she talked about the infamous Time poll that shows Bush having a double digit lead coming out of the convention:

Well, right before the sign-off, they cut back to Woodruff, who obviously thought she was off camera. And she's talking to someone (unseen), and she says this:

"She said it was an outlier, there's another poll out today that shows them tied."

oops --

They might take away her disunion card if she does it again.

The bitter and the angry will have found the convention much to their liking, as well shall the loudmouthed fratboys who expect others to go fight on their behalf. That's the Bush base, and indeed, they are.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Ownership
CATEGORY: Economics
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/05/2004 06:06:18 PM
-----
BODY:
When Bush speaks of an "ownership" society, it stuns me that anyone who isn't already heavily into investments thinks this is a good idea.

Suppose your average 25 year old got back 10% of his social security, theoretically to invest. Will it be invested or frittered? If he used it to invest, how long would he have to save to afford one share of a blue-chip stock?

For the uninitiated, investment is unusually risky.

If one went the online route, a new investor would need a nest egg of two thousand dollars or more just to begin buying.

Most buying involves fees -- a real surtax on small transactions. And then, the young investor would probably watch while stock volatility wiped out a large amount of the value he used to have.

I had a relative who was doing day trading, and during Bush's time, when the market took a tumble, his investments went from 80K to 20K -- and this is someone who was paying attention.

During that time my own 401(k) only actually lost money one quarter -- but I was one of the lucky ones, and mine didn't do much growing, it just did not tank. My workplace had a two day class on investing, and I took the advice very much to heart. But how many businesses bother to teach their employees the language and facts of investing?

On the whole, I just do not see WalMart workers and busboys doing investment on the side. I think that a president who could propose this is not quite hooked to reality -- the reality of bills and rent and the car that breaks down all the time and that needs the nickles you planned to invest, if you ever got enough together to buy a share of Microsoft or IBM -- or even of WalMart..

Mr. Ownership doesn't have a clue, and I wish he had a year of living poor, really I do.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Simbaud
EMAIL: simbaud@att.net
IP: 67.101.151.227
URL: http://simbaud.blogspot.com
DATE: 09/05/2004 08:49:53 PM
"Most buying involves fees -- a real surtax on small transactions."

Which explains, in a nutshell, why Wall St. wants to get its mitts on the billions that are tied up in Social Security. The value of the individual portfolio rises or falls -- doesn't matter, because the brokers and money managers collect their slice either way.

The question is not how can we best take care of the population -- the question is, how much can we skim off the top?
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Kevin Hayden
EMAIL: kahlil@despammed.com
IP: 67.171.208.255
URL: http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/
DATE: 09/05/2004 09:03:21 PM
Of course. The wealthy, Big Oil, financials and insurance companies have to get their welfare. That's what a compassionate conservative does.

PS- emailed sumpin to ya at hotmail
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 09/05/2004 10:53:50 PM
Of course Bush wants to invest Americans money in the stock market. He knows all the big players there. Like Ken Lay. And following the patterns that buisness and every buisness Bush ever ran what that means is we lie to inflate stock prices, then using insider information we sell while the gettings good and let the American public eat the loss.

So he's not an idiot. He's just planning ahead. Kind of like Clinton buying some more cigars I guess. Plan for the screwing to come.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: natasha
EMAIL: natasha.that@gmail.com
IP: 4.5.91.68
URL: http://www.pacificviews.org
DATE: 09/08/2004 01:00:27 PM
You know what always steams me about the 'it's your money' people is that they never complain about businesses overcharging while they whine about any government charge whatsoever. Enron can defraud the whole West, goods can be sold at a several thousand percent markup over manufacturing and shipping costs, inferior goods can be sold as long as no one hears about it, and the privatization crowd doesn't have a damn thing to say.

Makes it clear that their whole agenda is to get 'your' money into their pockets without having to be accountable for providing something useful in exchange.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 09/10/2004 06:26:31 PM
Maybe he's talking about ownership of property. The kind that allows americans to own their houses or land as long as they can pay the taxes on them.

Of course thats the same kind of ownership his brother Jeb is fighting against in Florida using eminent domain and flase condem orders. So maybe he was talking stocks and bonds.

After all there probably will be big dollars made on chains, shackles, and equipment to lock up and cage people not long after Bush is elected in November.
-----

PING:
TITLE: Good Reading
URL: http://www.pacificviews.org/weblog/archives/000424.html
IP: 65.19.165.2
BLOG NAME: Pacific Views
DATE: 09/09/2004 01:51:38 AM
Matt Yglesias notes that the Bush administration has scuttled a treaty that would reduce availability of fissile material so that Israel and Pakistan could continue doing whatever it is that they're doing. Also, someone is very wrong, either the U.S....
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Bush's Resume
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/06/2004 07:17:12 PM
-----
BODY:
Go read Glen's post at A Brooklyn Bridge. It should encourage you to go out and vote.

-----

PING:
TITLE: Bush's Resume, a model of ineptitude
URL: http://john.hoke.org/linklog/archives/2004/09/index.php#000700
IP: 69.57.134.35
BLOG NAME: John Hoke's Asylum - Link Log
DATE: 09/07/2004 06:42:37 PM
http://barbyawp.blogspot.com/2004_09_01_barbyawp_archive.html#109447000243480268...
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: W
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/08/2004 09:13:02 AM
-----
BODY:
Kerry is going for Wrong.

That is more civil than my list:

Warmonger
Witless
Whistleass
Whacked
Wretched
Wimp


And then there is Skippy's aWol.

And coWard.

W.



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: A Crime, Not A Doctrine
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/08/2004 03:21:25 PM
-----
BODY:
Pre-emption.

When you consider that attacking Afghanistan was done because that country was the base from which Al Quaeda primarily operated, that leaves one attack so far that was made under what Bush styles as the "doctrine of pre-emption" -- Iraq.

After all the rationalizations have fallen out, there is very little room left to believe that Saddam had the means to offer a credible threat to the United States.

If Iraq was meant to be a shining example of how pre-emptive war would keep us safer, it has been a miserable failure -- and its architect a worse failure.

If it is an example of how the United States means to compile evidence for possible future attacks, it is my fervent hope that the scoundrels who devised this posture as an excuse become unemployed a couple of months from now. It is time for "pre-emption" as the Bush administration has used it to be abandoned for all time. Defense is good. Attacking others for what they might do is not only bad, it is downright criminal.

-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Bush Does French
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/10/2004 04:25:15 PM
-----
BODY:
It occurred to me today that Bush has a very French attitude toward what he calls "enemy combatants." The two terms that come to mind almost instantly are "oubliette" and "lettre de cachet." The first is very pertinent when military spokesmen discuss "ghost prisoners." The oubliette was a dungeon where French prisoners were dumped and forgotten. Sort of similar. No records. No information.

And a lettre de cachet:

In French history, lettres de cachet were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal, or cachet. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce arbitrary actions and judgements that could not be appealed.

In the case of organized bodies lettres de cachet were issued for the purpose of preventing assembly or to accomplish some other definite act. The provincial estates were convoked in this manner, and it was by a lettre de cachet (in this case, a lettre de jussipri) in which the king ordered a parliament to register a law in the teeth of its own refusal to pass it.

The best-known lettres de cachet, however, were penal, by which a subject was sentenced without trial and without an opportunity of defense to imprisonment in a state prison or an ordinary jail, confinement in a convent or a hospital, transportation to the colonies, or expulsion to another part of the realm. Wealthy people sometimes boughts such lettres to get rid of certain individuals.

Of course, Bush doesn't go through the ritual of sentencing -- he just imprisons people secretly and does not even prefer charges. I guess he's really too lazy to be a proper French king.

Nevertheless, the concept applies -- we are there right up to the last line, substituting George for Louis. And it would not surprise me if the last line came to pass if this goes on.

That Bush is so French it amazes me. But then, every time his campaign throws mud at the opposition, it turns out that the mud came from the ample supply owned by the throwers themselves. Remember this when someone says Kerry is French.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Assessment
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/11/2004 07:26:34 PM
-----
BODY:
Today is September 11, 2004. In three years, the cabinet and Congress of the United States has done more to impoverish us and our posterity, more to make us unsafe, more to destroy freedom of association, freedom of speech, and our standing in the world, than anyone could have imagined three years ago.

If you think things are bad now, just give this smirking "I used to take drugs but then I found the Lord" dry drunk a shot at four years with no prayer of reelection without a constitutional amendment. Then you will see more than a hint of mixing church and state, less freedom, more lettres de cachet, more enemies to invade, more blood, more death.

I wonder how much the coming election's results will be contested. I wonder if Supreme Court justices are hanging on, hoping for a chance to right the wrong they did in 2000 -- for if they did not hang on, appointees would certainly just repeat it.

Enough. This is the anniversary of a grim day that led directly to Bush proclaiming himself a "war president". No other "war president" in our history has been a coward and suggested that he was our only source of safety -- there has never been a whisper of postponing an election until this blighter was installed in the White House. Not during the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, VietNam. It is certainly within the rights of US citizens to throw this bum and all his corrupt cronies out-out-out.

Now if only they DO IT, beyond the ability of his partisans to conceal.
-----


PING:
TITLE: 9/11 Memorial
URL: http://john.hoke.org/archive/2004/09/911_memorial_1.php
IP: 69.57.134.35
BLOG NAME: John P. Hoke's Asylum
DATE: 09/11/2004 07:46:09 PM
When we strip away all the stuff that surrounds what we are as Americans, our one and only civic duty is to vote, yes we have other responsibilities to our neighbors, communities, families and nation, but our first and foremost duty is to cast a vote e...
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Truth
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/12/2004 06:41:18 PM
-----
BODY:
Hoffmania in an article on today's deaths in Iraq:

Do we have to say this? THIS IS AN UTTER FAILURE IN FIGHTING THE PEOPLE WHO ATTACKED US ON 9/11. WE remember 9/11 you pinheads. When are YOU going to do something about it besides bringing death and chaos to non-involved countries and fear in your own people?

Jesus, sorry for the outburst. Apparently some people just don't see the obvious.

And then there was his article on Bush claiming to be for change.

I couldn't resist. I replied in comments:

Sure he's for change -- he put our grandchildren in debt and sent us the change. Of course, those with more money got more change.

Would that John Kerry would take that line and use it.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Promises Promises
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/13/2004 10:29:44 PM
-----
BODY:
Maybe tomorrow I'll have it all together and write a little piece on George Bush, President for Change. After all, there have been so many changes during his tenure that another four years of similar changes -- or even more radical ones -- would certainly be something to consider when voting, now wouldn't it?

:)
-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: It Said Help Fight
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/14/2004 12:22:14 PM
-----
BODY:
Today I was reading one of the cascade of e-mails that I have received since I made campaign contributions.

The words "help fight" and "DNC" were together in this one particular e-mail.

Now don't get me wrong -- there is nothing bad about contributing to the DNC, and I have done so. Nevertheless, it occurred to me that if I want to support a fight on the level that the fight is coming to us, we need to be pouring money into MoveOn.Org and other PACs that will actually, you know, fight.

How Much Will Your Medicare Cost?
That is, if it's there at all.

Do You Want to Work Until You're 90?
Vote Bush!

OOPS! No jobs, even if you wanted to work?
What's trickling down isn't prosperity.

Say it, George --
OH SAH MAH

To me the DNC seems modest in its attacks -- or maybe I never hear them because I live in Zone Red and don't watch TV. I want to support someone who is going to punch and keep punching, especially on the idea that Bush has failed to do things necessary for national safety and security, that the contractors he has allowed to provide services are completely corrupt, and that he is selling the cities of Iraq to fanatics, one by one.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: A Happy Ending
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/14/2004 07:37:55 PM
-----
BODY:
Lynne Gobbell, the lady who was fired for having a Kerry bumper sticker and refusing to remove it at her boss's command, has a new job -- with John Kerry. [via Atrios]

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: The Ball
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/15/2004 06:39:51 PM
-----
BODY:
Even the most fervent warmongers I know, and I know many, seem to agree at this point that Iraq was a mistake. Because just or unjust, the Iraq obsession diverted the US from going after terrorists and completing what we started in Afghanistan.

The minute a Bush supporter tells me that Kerry won't cut it, I point out that their boy has been an abomination -- that he has dropped the ball on terrorism and is doing absolutely nothing to push forward the thing that we need the most. With Iraq as his obsession, Bush has increased the amount of terrorism in the world. Since the day Bush started diverting money and material from terrorism and into adventurism, he has consciously failed in his duty.

Of course, he violated his oath of office as soon as he made defending Saudi citizens and Saudi regimes more important than defending US lives and prosecuting a campaign to bring the 9/11 perpetrators' support structure into the open. It is no wonder that Graham's book is going to make a stink. The smear campaign should start shortly.

Bush has not just dropped the ball, he has dropped it down a septic tank. He is worse than soft on terrorism -- he has actually aided the coverup of information that Senate investigations revealed. A large number of the people in this country are either ignoring the evidence, or ignorant of it. Unfortunately, neither thing will save them.



--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: OK --
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/17/2004 09:35:43 PM
-----
BODY:
He feels a draft, too.

Dave at American Street has some words to say to you if you are under 30. Better listen.


-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: hkmacs
EMAIL: info@hkmacs.homeunix.com
IP: 218.250.0.217
URL: http://hkmacs.homeunix.com
DATE: 09/22/2004 11:16:29 PM
Already started see http://www.concreteutopia.com/mt/archives/000640.html.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Awwww
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/18/2004 11:06:26 AM
-----
BODY:
The Navy has declined to further review Lt. Kerry's military awards, declaring that they were properly issued according to the regulations in force at the time they were given.

Whiners plan to appeal.

:)


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Sunday TV
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/19/2004 10:17:40 AM
-----
BODY:
Every Week The Daily Kos prints a list of who is supposed to appear on the Sunday talk shows.

Today's lineup is so heavily Democratic that I wonder how the dickens that happened. I've been looking at the listings for months and have never seen anything like today's list before. I suspect that this is what a Republican would point at when declaring that the media is biased -- even though it's a fluke.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: I'm Such an Innocent
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/19/2004 10:15:17 PM
-----
BODY:
/tinfoil hat on/
It wouldn't occur to me to discuss this without my tinfoil hat. And perhaps, as King of Zembla remarked, it would be best if you put one on, yourself.

On a web board once I got into an argument with regard to Bush's reaction to 9/11. I had seen somehwere [CNN, actually] a transcript of Bush's remarks. He had said that before he went in the classromm to visit with the children that morning, he had seen the first plane hit a World Trade tower. He also fliply remarked that his thought upon seeing this was "bad piloting." I thought that this reaction was all wrong, uncalled for, and the next best thing to crazy.

["Well, Jordan (ph), you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- actually I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident."]

Stanley Hilton had a different thought when listening to Bush:

The reason why he appeared to be uninterested and nonchalant on September 11th - when those videos showed that Andrew Card whispered in his ear the [garbled] words about this he listened to kids reading the pet goat story, is that he thought this was another rehearsal. These people had dress-rehearsed this many times. He had seen simulated videos of this. In fact, he even made a Freudian slip a few months later at a California press conference when he said he had, quote, "seen on television the first plane attack the first tower." And that could not be possible because there was no video.

Not only no video at all, but certainly there would not have been a video of this at the school.

Text of the lawsuit is at Hilton's web site.

Before the Republican convention, a survey of New Yorkers said that some 63% believed that the US government was behind 9/11. This must be the word that has been circulating ahead of wide exposure. I wondered why people in New York had that idea. Well, here it is. I suppose that frankly, it's no worse than believing that Saddam or anyone in Iraq was responsible, now is it?

OK, let's take the hat off and go read a nice book about murders, shall we?
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Al Quaeda's New Spokesman
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/20/2004 08:22:45 AM
-----
BODY:
According to a CNN headline, Dennis Hastert has become a spokesman for Al Quaeda.

It seems very odd that he doesn't find his new job to be in conflict with his old position of Speaker of the House. Perhaps his constituents will ask him to choose one or the other. If he were my Congressman, I certainly would ask him to do so.

[edited]



PING:
TITLE: When did Hastert become Al- Qaeda's Spokesman?
URL: http://www.punningpundit.com/archives/2004_09.html#000828
IP: 64.94.227.1
BLOG NAME: Punning Pundit
DATE: 09/20/2004 11:56:57 AM
"_blank">CNN.com - Hastert's al Qaeda comment draws fire - Sep 19, 2004 He seems to know their minds awfully well, doesn't he? Perhaps as AlQ's spokesman, he should resign the US Congress.... Via Eccentricity...
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Contractors
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/22/2004 04:36:25 PM
-----
BODY:
Today CNN has one of those useless quizzes posted to the right of their news:

Should U.S. contractors be temporarily pulled out of Iraq?

The only reason I'd be tempted to answer "no" is because I think that most of them should be permanently removed. "Corporate Carpetbaggers" is a better term for many of them than "contractors". Rebuilding should be done by Iraqi people who will be seeing to the running of utilituies and the construction of infrastructure projects. US contractors have less business there than Northerners had in the US South during the Reconstruction.

Contractors should be there long enough to advise locals if they are lacking certain skills -- otherwise, they are merely eating taxpayer money at cost-plus. But of course, that is what this administration is about -- corporate welfare, especially the welfare of Halliburton and its subsidiaries.




--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Today's Best.
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/22/2004 06:27:06 PM
-----
BODY:
[via Hoke's Asylum]

You're a Mean One, Mr Bush











-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 09/22/2004 10:48:41 PM
I'm really glad that I didn't have a mouthful of fluid when I hread that. My keyboard thanks you too.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Even a Monkey Could Do It
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/23/2004 06:40:13 PM
-----
BODY:
Fox News reported that a Chimp was taught to hack the counting software for Diebold voting machines:

"In the minute-long video produced by Black Box Voting (search), Baxter the chimp is shown deleting the audit log that is supposed to keep track of changes in the Diebold central tabulator, the computer and program that keeps track of county vote totals."

Of course, those who favor the machines think that every person who will come near them is above reproach, and are indignant about the possibility of tampering. Nevertheless, two ways were demonstrated, and even described in the Fox article.

When I think of how many tech capable folks I know, it seems like a long shot that all of them, uniformly across the country, will be upright, honest, and mischief-free.

We can't even get that out of the Cabinet!
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 09/25/2004 01:31:32 AM
You know shits really bad when FOX News starts reporting facts.

They've been it more often of late. It's almost scary.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Get a Mirror
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/24/2004 09:47:57 AM
-----
BODY:
Dick Cheney claimed that John Kerry was "disrespectful" to Allawi for criticizing his point of view. Yes, Dick "go fuck yourself" Cheney has the gall to talk about disrespect.

It is to laugh.


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Who Paid For It?
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/24/2004 10:26:01 PM
-----
BODY:
Who paid for Allawi's stump spech for Bush's policies?

Since he expressed doubts only off the record, and off-camera, his public remarks were a stump speech.

Did the RNC pay his plane fare, or did the US taxpayers? For that matter, who pays his salary?

Meanwhile, congratulations to Tony Blair for *not* coming to get a politically-motivated Medal of Honor.

Medals of Honor have never been given to the heads of foreign powers for military alliances, else Churchill and Stalin surely would have had them. But the US Congress is currently more politically motivated than at any time in the last century, and awarding one to Blair was a move designed to maneuver him into coming and making a stump speech. Mr. Blair declined to do so, much to his credit, and pointedly said so.

Using the Medal of Honor as a political trinket is beneath contempt. Congress should be ashamed.
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: HArSH
EMAIL: HArSH4LTK@netscape.net
IP: 81.242.81.167
URL:
DATE: 09/25/2004 03:19:47 PM
Blair is up for re-election soon and trying to distance himself from Bush for political survival. He met with the "Iraqi PM" prior to that laughable speech. Blair missed it because he was basicly grounded for the weekend.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: A Brutally Honest Headline
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/25/2004 08:35:45 AM
-----
BODY:
ABC News online has finally put a brutally honest headline on a story about the presidential campaign: Bush Twists Kerry's Words on Iraq.

Good for them!


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Loudness
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/25/2004 03:03:29 PM
-----
BODY:
The right wing is howling for Dan Rather's head.

Visit CBS and hit the feedback button at the lower left. Tell them that an error is not a hanging offense. And tell them not to act like toads and only praise Bush!

Tell them to keep Rather.

Be as loud as the right wing.

Shout!
-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Sinister
CATEGORY: Current Affairs

DATE: 09/25/2004 04:33:07 PM
-----
BODY:
One of my mailing lists had a post on it Friday. I asked for and received permission to reprint it here:

>
Because Cat Stevens is back in the news,
one of my colleagues at work was reminded that she had not yet replaced one of her old Cat Stevens record albums (which she'd had since she was 10 years old) with the CD version. She went to Hastings here in town last night about 7 p.m. and bought a copy on her credit card. At 9:15 last night, she received a phone call from the "Regional Homeland Security Office" asking why she bought that CD.

No one knows whether this was a particularly nasty hoax, or whether someone really is monitoring sales of things like Stevens albums. Some people plan to buy identical or similar items and see what happens.

Any opinions? Anyone else hear of something similar?

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: John Hoke
EMAIL: john.hoke@gmail.com
IP: 69.112.225.41
URL: http://john.hoke.org/
DATE: 09/25/2004 06:39:08 PM
Personally I think it is bullshit, but then again, if they thing Cat is donating the royalties to Hamas, then buying a record could be construed in a sicko Patriot Act world as supporting terrorism.

Gotta love that act... not!
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Mark Adams
EMAIL: attorneyadams@sbcglobal.net
IP: 68.250.108.19
URL: http://markadams.blogdrive.com
DATE: 09/26/2004 08:43:11 PM
You really need to follow up on this. This is much more than little old ladies with nail clippers at the airport being strip searched, or maybe it is at least as big as that.

Who, What, When and Where? Get as much as you can then a follow up call or visit to the record store.

You got a by-god bona-fide story on your hands dude!
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: TalkLeft
EMAIL: talkleft@aol.com
IP: 198.81.26.47
URL: http://www.talkleft.com
DATE: 09/27/2004 05:21:03 PM
I purchased and downloaded Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens online through Apple's ITunes the night after his plane was diverted . No one's contacted me.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: John Hoke
EMAIL: john.hoke@gmail.com
IP: 12.42.226.34
URL: http://john.hoke.org
DATE: 09/27/2004 07:52:53 PM
I purchased and downloaded Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens

You pinko bastard ;)

heh!
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Answer the RNC
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Religion

DATE: 09/26/2004 12:19:10 PM
-----
BODY:
Pudentilla's Perspective today has a wonderful answer to the lying and inflammatory flyer that the RNC sent to two predominantly rural states claiming that a Democrats want to ban the Bible.

Republican arrogance really should be met with a reasoned counter like this one. Go read it.
-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Update Re: Sinister
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/27/2004 06:39:09 PM
-----
BODY:
Today there is an update on the person who received a phone call from Homeland Security when she bought a Cat Stevens album. I have asked for and received permission to reprint this post as well:

>> Here's additional info about the colleague at work who was questioned by the regional Homeland Security office about her Cat Stevens CD purchase last week.

Her life partner is a tax preparer, and he did some digging around and questioned some of his IRS contacts.

This colleague is, on paper, asset-rich but in reality her income is below average. (Like many of us full-time employees at the bookstore, she has an additional part-time job.) Her elderly parents own a lot of land and have added her and her sibling's names to the ownership papers, apparently to ease the transfer of the estate when they pass on. Her education level is above average for the job she does, as she has a PhD. She doesn't own a house, and she makes few major purchases - in fact, she lives very frugally. Apparently all the above has flagged her to the IRS as a person who must actually have money but is avoiding paying taxes, and she has been audited several times.

Now, because of this incident, her partner discovered through his investigation that her purchases are in fact being monitored by the IRS, and that the "watch list" of what she buys is available to other governmental agencies. So what they are thinking now is that the Homeland Security office flagged her CD purchase from the IRS watch list.

Had she paid cash, it's likely none of this would have ever come up. Ironically, she doesn't use her credit card very often. Bet she uses it even less now.>>

There it is. If you don't spend a lot of money, and if you have a PhD and work in a bookstore making hardly any money, you are obviously a suspicious character.

I had jury duty today. The prosecutor carefully explained that we would see and hear people with different lifestyles. We were cautioned that being poor and having no education was not a crime (!!). I am amazed that IRS thinks that people who have a good education but take retail jobs at low pay are suspicious characters. I am aghast that because one may be monitored by the IRS, Homeland Security might want to know about their purchases -- and might consider the purchase of a record album to be of interest. I can see that neither the IRS nor Homeland Security have been cautioned, over and over for an entire day, that they have to presume that the person they are looking over is innocent.

What kind of country have we become? ::shaking head::

Watch it! Don't get fertilizer for the family farm, or heaven help you.

Has the IRS audited Halliburton in the last two years?

I don't think so. I suspect that the person who works in the bookstore hasn't disappeared over eight billion dollars, and I suspect that the IRS spends more sweat on her than it does on people who more than need watching. I think that until the eight billion is found, they have no business looking at anyone who makes less than $20,000 a year. And I think that until others who were the support structure for the 9/11 hijackers are found, tried and convicted, Homeland Security has no business checking the sales of Cat Stevens albums.

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimberat@batesdot.edu
IP: 134.181.136.14
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 09/28/2004 08:25:48 AM
Oh no. I'm a poorly paid PhD who has managed to acquire a home and who uses a credit card. I am so screwed.

Hey, tell us, not the facts of the case, but about your experience as a juror.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: What?
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/28/2004 10:21:15 PM
-----
BODY:
I'm a




Bet you never would have guessed.
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimberat@batesdot.edu
IP: 134.181.136.21
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 09/29/2004 08:08:42 AM
From the people who think it's "conservative" to run massive fiscal deficits.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Oh, The Horror!
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 09/29/2004 04:43:54 PM
-----
BODY:
One of the funniest parodies I have seen in a long time was reprinted at Making Light, while the original article appeared at Shrillblog:

Professor THIDWICK will not meet his class in "Modern American Politics" this morning, or indeed any morning. In partial explanation we offer this note, written by him in the pre-dawn hours:

I begged the Dean not to make me teach "Modern American Politics" this semester. I knew that in order to teach it properly I would have to delve into the secrets of the Bush administration. I knew that I would learn THINGS THAT HUMANS (as we say in these post-sexist times) ARE NOT MEANT TO KNOW. I feared that this would drive me insane--into shrill unholy madness. And so it has.

If you are a Science Fiction or horror fan, this one is for you.
-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Poisoning Iraq
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/30/2004 04:33:53 PM
-----
BODY:
What ever posessed the US military to use depleted uranium ammunation in the invasion of Iraq?

Both Susan at Suburban Guerilla and Simbaud at King of Zembla have outlined the problems that the leftover shells are causing both Iraqi citizens and members of the US armed services -- we must be the only country whose military people are nutty enough to poison the place they intend to occupy.

Worse, the poisoning tells exactly how much care the US had for the civilians of Iraq.

This war will echo down the generations, and we may not be able to clean up the damage we have caused -- not that there is the least move to attempt it at this time.

Things like this only make me more disgusted with George Bush and his crew of merciless thugs.



-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: I'm Astonished
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 09/30/2004 08:18:10 PM
-----
BODY:
I'm listening to the debates, and Jim Lehrer is actually asking many of the questions that we have wanted to hear out loud and in public. And he is really following up. I'm impressed.

C-Span is my source.

And Bush is wiggling and changing subjects.
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Scorpio
EMAIL: eccentric_00@hotmail.com
IP: 65.66.152.163
URL:
DATE: 09/30/2004 08:31:48 PM
"and you will have all the equipment you need..." Bush imagines he says to the troops.

He is a bald-faced liar.


-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: DanInAlabama
EMAIL: dhestand@knology.net
IP: 24.214.118.215
URL:
DATE: 10/01/2004 12:52:12 AM
I hope the debate viewers on other stationâ€(tm)s got to see the debate with the candidates viewed side by side via a split screen as seen on C-Span. Bushâ€(tm)s “body language” was very telling. Iâ€(tm)ve heard the Bush side talking about body language- it seemed like they thought it would hurt Kerry- and find it quite amusing that it was their guy who failed the visual Alpha Male test.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 10/01/2004 01:21:25 AM
"Miscalculation"

Hear the word, decipher the well hidden message. Tell it to the world.

"Miscalculation". I'm fairly sure he admitted to making mistakes. Probably as close as he'll ever come.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimber@atbates.dotedu
IP: 69.49.138.29
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 10/01/2004 09:01:13 AM
It seemed, actually, well, like a debate. And it seems clear that Kerry won. And it seems that Rove hasn't figured out how to spin it. Therefore, I am nervous. I'm a democrat. By the by:

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Just A Note
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/01/2004 10:27:01 PM
-----
BODY:
Tonight I'll just post one more note about the debate. I really meant it when I said that I was impressed by Lehrer's questions. In recent years, journalists have failed dismally to get information from the administration on serious issues. Lehrer has raised the bar for asking pointed questions that will give voters more information. He did good follow-up questions as well.

It will be interesting to see if the other moderators perform to the standard he has set. It would be a service to all Americans if they do, and a major disservice if they fail.
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimber@atbates.dotedu
IP: 69.49.138.29
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 10/02/2004 10:26:09 AM
I agree. I thought the result of the debate was a clear picture of two radically different philosophies about the war in Iraq and (very generally) foreign affairs. He gave each candidate a chance to answer the "canned" charges made against them, and gave each a chance to present their own views as they wanted. It was a strange, unnerving experience. I've heard they call it democracy.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Jury Duty in Kansas
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Remembering

DATE: 10/02/2004 12:53:17 PM
-----
BODY:
In Comments early this week, Pudentilla asked me to talk about what Jury Duty was like.

My experience was very different from that of Woundwort at Silflay Hraka.

My first step, like his, was to phone in and find out if I needed to report. Since all groups were called, I prepared to get there nice and early.

Of course, the route between my house and the courthouse was under construction, so it took almost 25 minutes to go three miles.

I made it through the metal detectors, reported to the clerk of the court, and got into the courtroom just at the crack of 8 A.M. I filled out the information sheet that the court uses to gather surface information (profession, marital status, employer).

One of the judges came in and gave a little talk. He briefly explained the working of the court, the schedule, and the right to trial by jury. He thanked everyone for appearing several times, as did every person from the court who spoke at any length. He then turned the process back to the clerk.

The clerk read out 60 names and dismissed everyone else to get more information on being oncall and reporting later. My name was the 59th -- and this was the first time I have ever been called to really be in a pool on the first day. We filed into the benches in the order called. The clerk then called each person again to sticker them with a number and seat them in a very rigid pattern at the front of the court.

The prosecutor, defendant and lawyer came in and took places at their tables. They did an "all rise" and the judge took his place. The clerk had all the prospective jurors rise and be sworn in. We had various talks by both the judge and the prosecutor. The prosecutor emphasized that the defendant was presumed innocent, and did not have to defend, explain, testify, or anything else to maintain that assumption -- that the state was required to prove its case alone. He explained the difference between civil and criminal, and between "preponderance of evidence" and "beyond a reasonable doubt." He said that we were about to go through the process called voir dire . He would read the charges and then ask questions.

The charges were two: First Degree Murder or Murder while Committing a Felony; and Felony Theft. The questions took from 10 AM to 3 PM with a break for lunch, and any time someone raised their hand that the question applied to them (Do you know the prosecutor? How do you know him? Will this make a difference in whether you can be impartial?) , impartiality was always one of the issues that the person answering was required to essentially swear to. About six people were dismissed during this process, some for close knowledge, some for other reasons.

Your blogger got called upon by the prosecutor. He was at some point talking about what kind of evidence would be needed to find someone guilty. I screwed up my face and he wanted to know what the face was. I said "I may have been reading way too much about people who are found innocent after 20 years on Death Row, but I have to tell you that my standards for finding someone guilty of murder are possibly a bit higher than you would like. I want hard evidence to tie the person to the crime. DNA evidence would do nicely, but I surely don't want any 'he said/she said' nonsense. If I am going to help convict someone of murder, I want to be darned sure that the person and the scene are directly connected." There was some murmer of agreement from fellow prospective jurors. So the prosecutor went through some thought exercises until I was satisfied that at least he was in the same ballpark for what constitutes evidence.

Altogether, some 54 people were there at 3 PM when the questions were over. The prosecutor asked so many questions that the defense didn't even have any to add. They were just about to choose the final group when a woman on the other side raised her hand. She was called upon.

Prosepctive juror: "I have to ask you, is this a death penalty case?"
Prosecutor: "Would that make a difference? It's not, but would it matter?"
Juror: "It certainly would matter!"
Prosecutor: "Why would it matter?"
Juror: "I ain't sentencing nobody to death, that's why it matters!"
Another juror [raising hand and calling out]: "It matters to me, too!"

Judge then calmed the potential debate by explaining that the jury would not have to impose a sentence.

Personally, I found that a bit ominous rather than reassuring. He didn't say the court would not impose one -- though I understand now that in Kansas the charge in a death penalty case is Capital Murder rather than First Degree. It was a very interesting day; and it was a bit draining. The court here really took a lot of care in asking questions, and in explaining processes.

I was not chosen for the jury. I wonder if the defense suggested Juror 59 and prosecution protested. Guess I will never know.


-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimber@atbates.dotedu
IP: 69.49.138.29
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 10/02/2004 03:16:23 PM
In a previous lifetime, I was a prosecutor. As a consequence, I'm always fascinated to know how non-lawyer types describe their experience as jurors. I have to tell you, I would have booted you as well if I heard what you had to say. Too darn stubborn and passionate, not to mention independent.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: I Approve This Message
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/03/2004 12:24:01 PM
-----
BODY:
I've taken that statement -- "I am _____________ and I approve this message" to mean that the message may as well be coming out the candidate's mouth.

By that standard, John Kerry has called Bush a liar in his latest advertisement.

I think I'm actually surprised by this, not because Bush doesn't lie; but because I think I expected Kerry to pull that particular punch.

Makes me wonder what the domestic debate will be like.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Credit
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 10/04/2004 02:14:16 PM
-----
BODY:
In a rather long entry today, Avedon Carol asks why credit for publicizing the Fox prejudicial humor is not cited by the New York Times. Josh Marshall was first with the story, but the print media acted like the discovery was their very own.

It's time for the Times an other print media to begin documenting the stories they run -- and with web links if those are the sources. I know it will hurt, but it is only fair.
-----

--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: VPs Tonight
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/05/2004 06:59:46 PM
-----
BODY:
I expect the debate tonight to be very different. Mr. Cheney, the Halliburton loyalist, is not goint to twist, stutter, and make little sighing and peevish faces.

I expect bared teeth. I expect some interesting worming as he pretends that Saddam and Al-Quaeda were connected. And I expect him to be defensive, offensive, and ferocious when his beloved Halliburton is called for the criticism it so richly deserves.

So we'll see.
-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: VP for "I Agree"
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/05/2004 10:39:13 PM
-----
BODY:
Probably the most interesting exchange was on gay marriage. When Edwards told Cheney that he liked how their family was very caring about their gay daughter, and then stated the position that he and Kerry take, Cheney's only response was to thank Mr. Edwards.

That is about as close as he will ever come to distancing himself from the Republican party's position and agreeing with his opponents. Even Gwen Ifill seemed startled by the brevity of Cheney's response.

Probably the most amusing Cheney response -- aside from lying about making a 9/11-Saddam connection, was how protective an attack dog he was for Halliburton. Not at all a surprise, of course, but amusing nevertheless.
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 10/05/2004 11:40:24 PM
Edwards came off badly. And he showed little connection with known facts.

Example. Kerry has stated his reasons for voting against the appropriations bill when it came up. It was because not enough was going to be supplied to the troops, IE, more armor, and a hidden rider was attached that would divert money somewhere other than the war itself.

Edwards missed the chance to denounce Cheney's allegations three times. Cheney took this one. And you know I don't much care for him or Bush, but being non partisan means I try and tell it like it is rather than how I want it to look.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimberat@batesdot.edu
IP: 134.181.136.55
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 10/06/2004 08:35:26 AM
Edwards did just fine. Cheney's biggest mistake - the lie about never meeting Edwards. It was an argument from ethos (i.e., Cheney's own personal credibility), it was clearly planned, and it was a stupid lie. We are right to conclude that Cheney lies about everything, and that he thinks he can get away with it. To think, if he dies, his aWol-ness will be running the country.
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 10/06/2004 08:42:35 PM
It's not about the lies so often as about the perceptions of average America.

From a light look at boths performances Edwards looked like he was repeating himself and almost trying to mimic what Kerry said. A larger brother image of Kerry being the brains and Edwards being the smile.

Whereas Cheney came off as older and more mature and somewhat more knowledgeable. Making Edwards look even less likely to be the guy we would want as president should something happen to Kerry.

Yes I know about the lies. Yes I dislike both Bush and Cheney bunches. I'm talking about images and impressions an electorate who doesn't have computers to fact check everything will take out of it.

It's all about images and sound bytes.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Fact Check
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/06/2004 07:18:42 PM
-----
BODY:
Last night Cheney suggested that people go to "factcheck.com" to assure themselves that he was giving the straight goods.

Oh dear.

The actual site is factcheck.org, and the site notes the places where the goods were anything but straight.

Kevin Drum at Political Animal also has a nicely laid out grid of lies and facts for your perusal.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Hit 10,000
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 10/07/2004 04:28:52 PM
-----
BODY:
Someone coming from Pudentilla's home page this afternoon had hit number 10,000! Took me a bit over 7 months to get there, however.



-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimberat@atbatesdot.edu
IP: 139.140.55.226
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 10/08/2004 09:25:12 AM
You da man, Scorpio! We can only hope and pray and blog.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: The 87 Billion
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/07/2004 08:14:54 PM
-----
BODY:
OK. Another debate is coming up tomorrow.

I really think Kerry needs to do a three or four sentence rap to clarify his vote on the 87 billion for Iraq. It would start

"You know, George Bush said he would veto the 87 billion I voted for, which had specific spending provisions for armor and ammunition, plus oversight of contractors. Instead, I voted against the 87 billion that Bush wanted and got. His 87 billion was a free-for all. So armor has not been purchased fast enough, troops were running short of ammunition, and contractor spending has run amok.

I wanted the money spent for the troops, not for Halliburton, and that is why I changed my vote."

Do you think that might get the point across? Send it to the Kerry campaign.


-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: IXLNXS
EMAIL: incubus52@comcast.net
IP: 68.34.159.154
URL: http://home.comcast.net/~incubus52/index.html
DATE: 10/11/2004 04:08:52 PM
That was the point I mentioned Edwards as missing several times during his and Cheney's debate. One any blogger worth a dime would have known about and remembered from the first time the right tried to use it as a salvo.

Seems to me the Kerry campaign couldn't do too badly hiring a few "real" bloggers to help them counter and fact check Republicans lies.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Tomorrow's Lies
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/07/2004 09:03:43 PM
-----
BODY:
Bush will lie about clean air, healthy forests, aid to education, jobs programs, and anything else he can think of. He will claim he has helped first responders, and that domestic security is at an alltime high since he "created" Homeland Security.

Look for it -- those are the lies he's preparing.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Bush For Killing Mothers
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/08/2004 09:31:54 PM
-----
BODY:
Bush can run, but he can't hide.

He said that he is against "partial birth" abortion.

Kerry voted agaist a ban because there was no provision for the life of the mother.

Then Bush replied: "Against partial birth abortion. Yes or no. It's that simple."

Why yes, it is -- Bush just advocated letting mothers die.


-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Dale
EMAIL: knoxtwin@aol.com
IP: 65.82.170.38
URL:
DATE: 10/09/2004 11:33:47 AM
Excellent point!

How can someone who supports this and is the governor of the death penalty consider himself Pro-Life.

It don't make sense to this East Tennessean.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Do The Math
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/09/2004 07:19:40 PM
-----
BODY:
Bush said at least 3 times during the last debate that 1.9 million jobs were created in 13 months. I expect that line next debate as well since domestic policy is the topic. It is time to do simple arithmetic and tell the viewers the exact numbers Bush has ruined.

How many jobs were supposed to be created by the tax-cut-stimulus theory? Take that number and subtract 1.9 million. Accuse Bush of doing a bad job.

I figure the number should have been closer to 3.9 million to start taking up the unemployment slack.

Find out how many jobs were private sector, and how many were government. Point out that government jobs were not stimulated by a tax cut, and that our grandchildren will be paying those salaries.

Find out how many were low-pay and part time jobs. Too many, I have no doubt. Hit the issue of no health care with part time jobs. Make him part of many problems overtly. We do have a problem, and he is it.


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Stop The Lie
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/09/2004 07:24:46 PM
-----
BODY:
The biggest lie Bush tells over and over is that the deflation of the economy started beore he took office. It actually started in March 2001* -- and that certainly was on his watch. Stop him when he lies.

*Corrected per comments. The deflation started two months into Bush's term.
-----

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Andrew Cory
EMAIL: punningpundit@gmail.com
IP: 68.122.185.100
URL: http://www.punningpundit.com/
DATE: 10/09/2004 08:22:22 PM
Bush took office on 23 January 2001. So if the deflation started in March 2000, that puts it in Clinton's watch...

[Corrected. Thanks for the heads up. --S.]
-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 10/09/2004 11:25:39 PM
The fact that Mr. Cheney can basically lip-sync what Mr. Bush is saying is evidence enough that Junior is a Cheney puppet. Pity. No, retract that. Mr. Bush is beneath contempt in my book, so there.

I have ceased to care at this point about rhetoric because I've had enough of the nastiness. I just want to vote and hope for a second time a candidate I support will win (the first was Clinton).
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Dred Scott
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/10/2004 11:12:21 AM
-----
BODY:
Remember the bizarre mention Mr. Bush made of Dred Scott during the last debate?

Simbaud at King of Zembla finds someone who understood it:

Whatever point Mr. Bush had hoped to make about Dred Scott was quickly lost in a torrent of nonsensical, self-contradictory gobbledygook -- or so it must have seemed to most of America. But to his brethren of the religious right, who are adept at conversing in secret signals, and to such gifted exegetes as our colleague Paperwight, the President's message was actually quite clear:

It wasn't about racism or slavery, or just Bush's natural incoherence. Here's what Bush actually said:

If elected to another term, I promise that I will nominate Supreme Court Justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade.

I did a Google on Dred Scott abortion. I got 7190 hits. Bush was speaking to his extreme evangelical base -- the ones who want all of us to practice their religion's precepts. Catholicism has exceptions for the life of the mother -- there were dramas about that issue in the 1950's. Bush has no such exceptions. He was promising his little blonde fan that he would put abortions into back alleys and foreign countries -- that he was willing to endanger American women because someone else's religion was more important than their lives.

There you have it.
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Where in the World
CATEGORY: Weblogs

DATE: 10/11/2004 06:08:37 PM
-----
BODY:
In what places do people click on Eccentricity?



create your own visited countries map
or check out these Google Hacks.


It's a lot more countries than I imagined.
-----

COMMENT:
AUTHOR: stumpy
EMAIL: stumpy81@charter.net
IP: 24.176.69.52
URL: http://www.stumpysfindings.com
DATE: 10/12/2004 07:08:40 AM
Hey, I am going to click more often. I got here through Counterspin and I love the clarity you added to the Dred Scott question.

You can add so much to your understanding by simply asking questions.

[Thanks. --S.]
-----


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Believe It
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/11/2004 06:15:03 PM
-----
BODY:
I work with many born-agains -- or evangelicals -- Fundamentalist Christians of the extreme variety in any case.

Today I thought I'd poke at the hornet's nest.

"So, did you watch the debates Friday? No, of course that's not your thing. Most of the country thought Bush had gone mad when he started talking about Dred Scott. You do know what Dred Scott means?"

"Abortion."

"So I have learned, and he said he wants to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will overturn Roe-vs- Wade, essentially."

"Good. He should do that."

"Crap. Anyone who condones torture, wants to export folks to be tortured, and is willing to sacrifice the life of the mother -- basically kill mothers -- is not a decent Christian, period. He's slime."

So. There you have it -- Dred Scott is absolutely fundy code for anti-abortion. Heck, I didn't have to even poke hard to get that.


--------
AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Really The Pits
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/12/2004 05:28:08 PM
-----
BODY:
One of the part-owners of Sinclair Broadcasting is Janus.

Sinclair Broadcasting proposes to air a Kerry smear a week before the election, pretending it is "news" even though Sinclair does not do news per se.

Unfortunately, Janus was a part -owner of the company I work for, and it is one of the choices to invest in via our 401(k). I can dump the stock in the 401(k) and put it elsewhere, no problem. If I am lucky, Janus sold the shares of the company I work for, too, and then all would be well.

It is time and past time for the equal time provision to be reinstalled.
-----

AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Last Debate Tonight
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/13/2004 01:54:38 PM
-----
BODY:
Tonight the topic is domestic issues.

I hope that Kerry makes a couple of really direct responses that I have not yet heard from him.

1) When Bush says 1.9 million jobs created, I hope Kerry will respond with how many the tax cuts were supposed to generate, and how short the Administration has fallen in real numbers (about 2 million right now).

2) When Bush praises the Patriot act, point out that no one has yet been convicted of terrorism in the USA despite the intrusive powers that Law Enforcement and Ashcroft have at their disposal. Point out that prostitution and gambling are not a threat to the security of the country. OK, Kerry won't talk directly about what the powers are being used for -- but terror convictions have been unnoticeable because they have been nonexistent.

3) If he metions Dred Scott again, let him have it. Overseas and back-alley abortions are not acceptable, period.

Other than that, look for the same dodges I mentioned before the last debate. Bush went for some of those, and will again.
-----

-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimberat@batesdot.edu
IP: 69.49.138.191
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspot.com
DATE: 10/13/2004 05:59:45 PM
As to "1", Kerry should also point out that the cost of the paltry number of jobs he claims to have created via the tax cuts was extraordinarily expensive.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Thank You Spc. Acosta
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/13/2004 05:47:23 PM
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BODY:
[via Hullabaloo]

This Operation Truth ad will inject a note of reality into the discussion of Iraq.

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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Flyinghawke
EMAIL: lmalkas@iupui.edu
IP: 24.208.213.221
URL:
DATE: 10/13/2004 06:37:57 PM
I agree. Sent them $100.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: What She Said
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/14/2004 06:32:38 PM
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BODY:
The Sideshow's Avedon Carol on the last debate.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Re-watching the Third Debate
CATEGORY: Current Affairs

DATE: 10/15/2004 05:26:29 PM
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BODY:
All while I watched the third debate, I thought Bush looked wrong, so today I went back to re-watch.

Except when he makes a huge effort to turn on a grin, the left side of his mouth droops unnaturally. When he just smiles, the left side hangs down or goes to neutral at best. The droop was less pronounced during the first debate -- though there were fewer smiles, too.

His expression looks like a smirk, but I think it wasn't meant to be -- I think something is really wrong.












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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Pudentilla
EMAIL: mimberat@atbatesdot.edu
IP: 66.231.198.250
URL: http://pudentilla.blogspotl.com
DATE: 10/16/2004 10:24:08 AM
Check out his filmed greeting to the Iraq Survey Group (via Kos). No facial anomolies, but disturbingly incoherent.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Scorpio
EMAIL: eccentric_00@hotmail.com
IP: 65.66.159.4
URL:
DATE: 10/16/2004 10:43:36 AM
Kos video:
The left corner of his mouth and the corner of his left eye both droop downward. Small stroke is likely -- and a history of alcoholism makes that even more likely.
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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Job Link
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/16/2004 10:30:23 AM
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BODY:
Actually, Bush misses the education-jobs link.

A community college can't help a programmer whose job has been outsourced to India. What could a community college possibly train someone for that will get them 60K to 80K a year? Nothing, that's what.

If you love making steel, there is nothing here for you. Who in this country makes shoes? What will replace the tech jobs that are being exported, and the help desk jobs and customer service jobs?

The "jobs of the future" were supposed to be service-sector and tech jobs. Many of the tech jobs are going to people outside the contry. Any service-sector job that can be outsourced is going fast. And then there is the matter of letting in foreign workers, as if there are not enough Americans who need jobs.

The policies of this administration have been bringing disaster to this country, and the only beneficiaries are those who have the spare money to be in the stock market.

It's time to bring jobs home, and the man who doesn't understand that doesn't need to have another term.

But maybe a degree from a community college could help retrain him to be something useful, and at least he will be able to afford it with his pension.



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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: What He Said
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/17/2004 12:47:19 PM
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BODY:
South Knox Bubba says everything you need to know about Bush.


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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Promises
CATEGORY: Politics

DATE: 10/17/2004 02:09:11 PM
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BODY:
Promises are very telling during this campaign season.

It is astounding to hear the incumbent make promises. It makes me ask myself why he hasn't done anything before with these issues. He cannot point to ways he has improved even one thing in a reasonable way.

His education initiative was unfunded. He has destroyed both the budget surplus and any notion of a budget. His tame majority Congress has spent huge sums on pork. They have locked out and mistreated the minority party. They have held votes open and threatened to get votes. They have broken into computers and stolen information so that they could better plan their malfeasances.

When Bush asks how Kerry is going to pay for something, it is a question that leaves me aghast -- for he has not paid for anything he has done. Not. One. Damned. Thing.

Ever.

So his "promises" are merely a promise of more and worse to come if he wins or steals this election. We know the disaster that is his record. Asking for four more years would be suicidal.


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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Down Is Up!
CATEGORY: Current Affairs

DATE: 10/18/2004 11:11:19 AM
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BODY:
Here it is!

Health secretary: No flu vaccine crisis
Monday, October 18, 2004 Posted: 11:51 AM EDT (1551 GMT)

(CNN) -- The shortage of flu vaccine in the United States is "not a health crisis," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said, urging people to be patient as the government works to reallocate the nation's limited number of vaccines

To quote Pudentilla, he is a 'mendacious bag of excrement'.

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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 10/19/2004 11:00:12 PM
I find it amazing that someone stated in a news link that they could pull several million extra doses out of their butt for people who needed it. (the North American manufacturer??? Don't recall, it was a Yahoonews headline in the rather special rack of news I choose to read the first five headlines in).

Excuse me? Was this manipulated? I used to work for a veterinary vaccine maker, and making vaccines is damned hard because it involves trying to make a rather particular, delicate virus reproduce itself in a live cell environment.

So my whole response, after I had pretty much decided, since my asthma is minor, I'm not that old, and if illness seems to pick up I can manage to avoid public places easily, I won't get the shot is, -- WTF?

I haven't HAD a major winter illness since I started routinely taken the shot. Amd feel like I'm taking a crapshoot by not taking it now. ARGH!

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AUTHOR: Scorpio
TITLE: Methodists
CATEGORY: Current Affairs
CATEGORY: Religion

DATE: 10/19/2004 04:41:24 PM
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BODY:
As Catholic bishops (6 out of several hundred) have complained about Kerry, so now it's Bush's turn -- and his little dog's, too.

[via Blah3]
Methodists have rules, too:

A Letter of Complaint Against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney

We, the undersigned, do hold that George W. Bush, a member of Park Hill United Methodist Church (UMC) in Dallas, Texas, and Dick Cheney (local membership unknown) are undeniably guilty of at least four chargeable offenses for lay members as listed in 2702.3 of the 2000 Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church. These offenses are: crime, immorality, disobedience to the Order and Discipline of The UMC, and dissemination of doctrine contrary to the established standards of doctrine of The UMC. For these offenses, we the undersigned call for an immediate and public act of repentance by the respondents. If the respondents do not reply with sincere and public repentance for their crimes, we demand that their membership in the United Methodist Church be revoked until such time that they sincerely and publicly repent.

I have known for quite a long time that Methodist ministers have been speaking out about the misdoings of this administration. This letter lays out formally what problems the Methodists have with their most prominent soi-disant member.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: dragonet2
EMAIL: dragonet@kc.rr.com
IP: 65.30.12.11
URL:
DATE: 10/20/2004 12:35:28 AM
Yeah, like such a threat is going to matter to them. They just don't care at all about anything except their own aggrandisement and enrichment. Yahoo. So their church casts them out. See how they quiver.

What a lot of uselessness. Since they both think they've been anoinited I'm sure they will think the people who brought this issue up in their own church are 'agin' them for political reasons.

Just my 2¢, ymmv.
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR: Rook
EMAIL: rook@rooksrant.com
IP: 66.41.149.220
URL: http://www.rooksrant.com
DATE: 10/24/2004 11:42:47 AM
Thanks for the info! It's nice to see that there are religious authorities willing to stand up and speak out against the so-called "blessing of God" mandate BushCo profess to carry.
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PING:
TITLE: Methodists, Proud Members Of the Reality-Based Community!
URL: http://www.rooksrant.com/weblog/001253.html
IP: 216.239.142.2
BLOG NAME: Rook's Rant
DATE: 10/24/2004 11:58:51 AM
Eccentricity: Methodists I have known for quite a long time that Methodist ministers have been speaking out about the misdoings of this administration. This letter lays out formally what problems the Methodists have with their most prominent soi-disant...
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