Fine, okay, it's a blog already!

I don't know how much of the war you all are watching...hopefully not enough that it affects your normal lives. I am a bit of a news junkie myself so I know the symptoms. In any case, if you have been catching any of the lovely speeches given by the ultimate spin doctor, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the Iraqi Information Minister, you will have noticed something verging on the comical. I mean, this guy should get his own late night talk show when this is over. Al-Jazeera could host it, except that he's made them mad too. Of all the dire and serious events going on, for this guy to go ranting about anything and expect to be believed in ridiculous.

Which is why the following makes me chuckle:

Also, I managed to get someone at Central Command to send me the world map wallpaper you may see plastered all over the plasma screens at the Doha, Qatar media center. You can download it from here.

If you haven't noticed, our pal Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has become quite the Internet celebrity. Here is one site pertaining to him (beware that it is INCREDIBLY slow loading).

You may remember earlier this year when I pointed out that KB Toys was planning on selling George Bush actions figures. Well, there's apparently a "Top Gun" version too, amongst others. And to make it even worse, psychopathic hate monger Ann Coulter has her own doll. It apparently says some of the same demonic crap Linda Blair said in The Exorcist.

Speaking of clueless people, Saudi Arabia wants the world to pay OPEC subsidies should we ever stop using fossil fuels. Wait a minute...I already have a problem giving money to fundamentalist suicide bombers? You want me to do it on purpose?

How's this for unfair? Employees at an auto supplier actually got taxed for their holiday bonus. Pathetic.

Speaking of pathetic, some morons decided to coin a phrase called "killographic" to explain violent video games.

Finally, I don't know what's worse: the story comparing us all to Paris Hilton or the one that says we are all nerds. Read, then decide for yourself.

First off, a couple of thank you's to pass along. Thanks to Jason Parchert for his holiday gig in Reynolds. Good to see you, and thanks to Alycia for meeting up with us there.

Thanks to Jason Lindstrom and his new band, Short Lived Fun, for a fun New Year's Eve show. Sorry we couldn't stick around longer as you guys were a lot of fun to watch.

Thanks to all our friends and family whom we were able to catch up with. It was good to see Tom one more time before he ships out to Iraq. Good luck to all you guys with your urban warfare training.

One last shout to my sister Belinda for pointing us to Potbelly Sandwich Works at Midway Airport. Fantastic pickles as recommended and the sandwiches were equally delicious. I strongly recommend you find one of these restaurants if you are in one of the chain's markets.

And now on to the ranting.

One of the (dis)advantages on the old home being close to Iowa is the bludgeoning the state gets every time there is a presidential election. I got to see a lot of the political ads while we were home and I can honestly say that I absolutely do not get why people like Howard Dean. The guy came off as a pompous ass the first time I saw him and it hasn't got any better. Granted, if that's all that gets offered to vote for in November I'll grudgingly do it, but people, let's try to find a better candidate please.

Speaking of egocentric people who fly off the handle with little provocation, I have some articles related to our dictator-in-chief. A tongue-in-cheek article from the Seattle PI attempts to explain the president's high popularity rates. I tend to think this article is true for the most part. MoveOn.org is hosting a contest for anti-Bush political ads. The top 15 entries are currently online at Bush in 30 Seconds. I can't say I agree with all of them, and am usually skeptical about anything involving Michael Moore, but it looks like this is quickly becoming an "enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend" kind of year.

In other administration news, the Labor Department is offering employers tips on how to not pay their employee's overtime. But remember, they aren't necessarily working hand in hand with big corporations. Right.

Slate tackles the whole outing of a CIA agent incident from last year, suggesting John Ashcroft is playing a shell game to protect Karl Rove, among others.

Another Slate snippet questions why the First Lady would willingly want to make her husband look stupid.

But hey, its not all bad news here. I've been following the Spirit landing on Mars and gladly link you to the NASA site covering the mission.

Australian figures show that music downloads do not seem to be affecting actual record sales. I think, and have always said, that the RIAA is trying to cast the blame from the fact that current pop music in America just overall stinks. Granted, I don't listen to almost any of it myself, but maybe if we find some musicians with actual talent the industry wouldn't be in its current position of suing children and old people to excuse away poor product.

Wired has come up with 101 ways to save the internet. Fun read if you follow the industry like I do.

To finish things off, Slate attempts to find the silver lining in the whole mad cow incident. I'm still going to stay away from beef for a couple more weeks. Better safe than sorry and all that.

The Galva News has been really cool about offering to provide pics from some of their articles (many of which I really have to start scanning and putting up on the unit page). Here is one from a profile of Tom in last week's edition.

Sorry, its mostly a political rant day.

A memo put out by the Bush campaign states: "President Bush provides steady leadership in these times of historic change....He has an optimistic vision and agenda that will move America forward toward greater prosperity, greater security, greater freedom and greater compassion." I'm sorry, I haven't seen a single one of those action points come up lately. I have an open request on the message board if you actually have a plausible answer to any of that.

In other administration news, you already know that if you disagree with the current administration you are immediately labelled unpatriotic and possibly a traitor (or check the article here, here, and here) . However, if you are an educator and part of the NEA, you are now part of a terrorist organization. So says the Secretary of Education.

On the other side of the spectrum is Ralph Nader. Seriously, this guy can't admit that the primary reason George W. Bush is president is him (the Supreme Court coming in a close second). I'm trying to be optimistic and take him at his word, but there's a whole lot of history saying something else.

Our last bit of erosion of the Constitution comes from our neighboring governor Schwarezenegger who wants to make it so foreign-born sons of Nazis can run for president. Oh wait, he doesn't want it for himself. My bad. Orrin Hatch is assisting.

Slate has a story on poor Colin Powell. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Lastly, if you saw George Bush on an Alabama airfield in the 70's, you can make some money.

So, I'm on page 10 of Had Enough?, James Carville's new book and I figured I might as well recommend it to you already.

We'll start off with the political stuff and move in to the fun stuff later, okay? Slate has a couple articles dealing with Bush's attack ads and his continued screeching that anyone against him is against the United States. There's also another one on how the truth doesn't seem to matter to the current White House and one on the cancer that is Karl Rove.

Here's a story on how the government is attempting to kill our First Amendment. Yes, the Janet Jackson thing was out of line. But tell me how you plan on silencing Howard Stern discussing sex (which is a natural thing, right?) and then let the Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh types preach slander and hate without any repercussions. It just doesn't seem fair to me.

Martha Stewart's daughter says prison will be bad for her mom and she shouldn't have to go. I say, "Great!" It should be as awful for her as it is any convicted liar and thief.

I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier, but I love the new Nike ad where sport stars are playing sports we don't expect to see them playing. Here's a story on it and a link to the ad if you haven't seen it.

What else? Oh yeah, this should probably make your day if you've ever dealt with a city government.

How's your pool? No, not swimming. College basketball. Mine is fairly okay but that Michigan State loss kind of messes me up. In any case, here's a story on the history of the terms involved with March Madness.

Everyone makes a mistake from time to time. Its human nature to err on occasion. That is, unless you are the egotistical, power hungry fool who just happens to run this country.

Apparently George Bush doesn't think he's made any mistakes in relation to the war in Iraq. That's pretty much what I gathered from his press conference yesterday. The worst part? The part where he keeps harping about this supposed "Coalition of the Willing" there to help me out. I'm not going to respond to this other than to quote Dave Clarke from the Kewanee Star Courier who posted the following tidbit on a sidebar in today's(?) paper (thanks to Jim Doherty at the Galva-Kewanee Armed Services Yahoo Group for the text):

"GALVA HAS MORE TROOPS IN IRAQ THAN 12 COUNTRIES

"The Galva National Guard Unit has more troops in Iraq than 12 foreign countries among the 34 listed in the 'Coalition of the Willing'. Battery F of the 202nd Air Defense Artillery, has 120 soldiers now stationed near Baghdad while, as of March, Lithuania was listed in official sources as having 118 troops, Slovakia 102, the Czech Republic and the Phillipines, both 80, Albania and Georgia, each 70, New Zealand 61, Moldova 50, Macedonia 37, Estonia and Canada, 31 each and Kazakhstan 25.

"The United States has approximately 130,000 troops stationed in Iraq. Galva, Illinois has a population of 2,700 people. The Galva Guard Unit is made up of soldiers from the surrounding rural communities."

Now let's be clear here. The Star Courier is not a radical paper. It is the local news for what is a fairly conservative farming area in the MidWest. If the editor of such a paper takes the time to use facts to question this grand coalition we keep getting told is behind our troops, then shouldn't we all continue to press the issue as to the parameters and mission scope our armed forces are being told they are operating under? They, of course, will do their jobs; our's is to make sure their lives and service are being used truthfully, honorably, and without negligence or malice from our government. I have yet to be convinced of any of that.

What's funny is that his re-election campaign is scaling back the ad blitz with the conclusion from strategist Matthew Dowd that, "The two things voters know about Kerry today more than anything else is that he's a flip-flopper and he's going to raise your taxes." I don't know anything about that, but I'm pretty sure his guy is a liar and is trying to kill my brother. And I didn't even need a political ad to tell me that.

Not all is negative on this post. I will quickly end with vodka-flavored ice cream, Peeps, and the Brit that reminded us all last week why Las Vegas actually exists. Good for him, I say.

From the "Saying everything but what they want to hear" department, Bush went on Arab TV to acknowledge that, yes, some of our MPs are dirtbags, but he's not going to apologize, much less take responsibility, for any of that mess. For all his obvious faults, even Rumsfeld did that. Slate also covers how we are letting the president get away with being stupid.

You don't have to be intelligent to vote Democratic, but it obviously helps. Thanks to Raziel in the UK for bringing that to our attention. Hopefully intelligence will overcome bombast, false patriotism, and a culture of fear this fall.

Speaking of the current administration, GQ covers the sad, sorry fate of Colin Powell. You almost have to feel sorry for the guy, though he should have known what he was getting into.

So, we still make cars here right? After the news from Oldsmobile and Ford, I'm beginning to wonder.

On a vaguely current culture aspect, I picked up Smile Empty Soul's CD the other day and was struck by the lyrics of "This is War." If I get enough calls for it, I may even put up an .mp3 of it, though I doubt the RIAA would be very pleased if I did. Maybe I can get the band's permission.

I'll tip-toe around the obvious news story. My dad once said that you don't talk bad about someone once they've passed on, regardless of the ill they brought to the world. So that's what I'll do.

For those among the living, we have Republican Survivor. Another game is Presidental Knockout. Guess whose butt I chose to slap down. Also, I didn't make this up, so bear with me. In trying to con African-American voters into backing him, Mr. "There is no such thing as a hate crime" Bush has recruited the good graces of...wait for it...Don King.

In non-political bashing, let's take a page from Minnesota - no, not in electing ex-wrestlers - but in combating gas price gouging. We might not be able to fight OPEC or Big Oil, but we can hit the hometown thieves.

Kobe's lawyers, finks that they are, have gotten permission to have the potential rape victim not labelled as a victim. Seriously, have we all lost our minds at this point?

Two technology articles to pass along. One is a Popular Science story about a guy who spent some time this year trying to emulate life in 1954. Kind of a revelation on how much tech we've gotten used to. Another article covers the measure of a death penalty in a tongue-in-cheek way concerning virus writers and other filth. The last covers the modern music industry and how we end up with the crap bands we do when better music never gets heard by larger audiences.

We spent last weekend out of town, specifically hiking, dining and relaxing in Payson, AZ. Got to catch a D-Backs game in there too. It was much fun. This week I'm out of town in Carson City on work assignment. Have a good one.

There's a lot of talk (and at least one ad) equating Bush with Reagan. I'll skip over the blatant conspiracy theories about the Bush family being involved with the Hinckley's and let Reagan's son and various other pundits discredit that notion. Indeed, one has found another president Bush is more like. Other than Hoover of course.

Did you know? Over 82 million of us went without medical insurance at some point over the past two years. Guess that's going to just be written off by some compassionate conservative phrase like "the poor must have deserved it" or some such crap.

What else? Oh, yes, we still have segregation laws on the books in the southern states. Frankly, this doesn't surprise me unfortunately. Meanwhile, rappers can run around our jails are tape videos without fear of being caught. Though we can sink to the level of those we are fighting in Iraq and actual hide the fact we hold some prisoners. Nothing like giving psychotic terrorists more possible reasons to justify harming our soldiers. Who's driving this bus anyway? And can we please try to play cause-and-effect once in awhile?

Flying in the face of the 9-11 Commission he had to be forced to allow in the first place, the research involved by said committee is unconvincing to the president. He swears that the already flawed intel he led us into war on is still valid when it comes to a Saddam-Al Qaeda connection. Somewhere I'm sure someone is collecting data on a Saddam-Bush connection based on all the meetings his administration had in the past with the guy. Should one come up, I'll link it just to show you how ridiculous this line of argument is.

Last week, some nitwit bowled over a 4-year old to catch a fly ball. He was eventually shamed into giving the ball to the kid - three days later. Just wanted to share human stupidity to you in it's finest.

But hey, for all my doom and gloom, at least we don't all live in Cambodia.

"You know, back in 2000, a Republican friend of mine warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what: I did vote for Al Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true."

- James Carville

As you may have noticed, I changed the top quote because, well, you are never going to find a more candid explanation of why George Bush does what he does to us. The Carville quote will hereafter reside on the Archives page.

A special shout-out to Mooney for actually reading the random posts and for pointing me to America Coming Together. These are the guys who helped bring that Will Ferrell ad you may have heard of, and are sponsoring the Vote for Change tour, which is frankly good music working for a good cause. No Vegas dates yet, but it isn't like I've got the time right now anyway.

Kerry is coming to town tomorrow and I'll try to get home in time to catch that (seeing as he'll basically be next door at the Thomas & Mack Center). Bush is coming on Thursday, but he'll likely be spending time ducking questions concerning how Homeland Security "forgot" to warn Las Vegas that terrorists were casing our casinos. Refer back to the top quote. It starts making sense, no?

From the "That's no moon" Department comes Matok from the FES gaming club with this link. Yes, I'm an insufferable Star Wars fan and have even joined a club (which teams up with the FES sometimes) about four years back. Email me for more info - or just to point and laugh I guess.

Good lord we have a lot to cover. Let's keep it fun, shall we? We have Official British Jesters, German driving penalties, safe women drivers (no, I didn't stutter), overtime - the hard way, and our Olympic athletes - the hard way. Bad pun, I apologize.

The War on Terror takes a smile off the faces of travelling Britons and the election campaign makes Bush feed at the trough (thanks to Mooney for the link).

Our society took a few steps back with California leading the charge with inaccurate high school education materials; though, granted, it's not the state's fault. Texas follows with a story we touched on earlier. Instead of dealing with a racial slur, they chose to ignore the entire situation. Smart move, given the "sensitivity" usually shown about such things.

Wouldn't be right to not cover Slate articles cover the Bush as a preacher angle and the backlash of the rich and less fascist when it comes to those famous tax cuts. Gary Trudeau has joined in via the pages of Rolling Stone and through his comic, Doonesbury:

With rumors of massive protests at the upcoming GOP convention, the Republican party has pretty much gone with the playbook and declared anyone who would deign to disagree with Bush as a traitor. According to GOP fascist-pig-in-chief Ed Gillespie, "The line between the official Democratic Party and labor protesters, environmental protesters and antiwar protesters is fairly blurry, and I'm not sure they want to have Democrats engaging in violence in New York against our convention. It would seem disrespectful and antidemocratic." (Emphasis mine.) Excuse me, but killing a thousand soldiers based on innuendo and outright lying to the American people is "disrespectful and antidemocratic." A protest is a constitutionally protected response to bad government. Or did Ashcroft do away with that right too?

The story that irritated me so referred in the previous paragraph is in the New York Times (use refuse and registration as your user name/password).

Then there are the Swift Boat Vets. No matter what the truth is of Kerry's medals - other than they usually don't give out Silver Stars like candy, here we have a bunch of guys who will lie and collude with Bush party officials to try to stop a guy from becoming president who was actually in a combat zone. Bush, meanwhile, can't even be accounted for over a period of months and managed to bail out of his service. Pretty damn weird if you ask me.

And oops, there appear to be ties (image) between the campaign and this group. Not to mention a staffer working both sides. And more vets now are coming out against these guys who can't even keep a story straight, much less have any proof.

The point is, I guess, if this is all the Bush campaign has to argue for the guy to win the election, then seriously, why vote for him at all?

Apparently we are on the lookout for large, alcoholic, Irish-descended, Democratic senators who may potentially have joined Al-Qaeda. At least, that's the DHS' argument for putting Ted Kennedy on the No-Fly list. But wait, he's not the only Democrat on the list. Funny, I always thought Orrin Hatch was more of a threat to our civilization.

My respect for Tony Blair just went up a notch as he refuses to accept a medal from Bush while troops are still in Iraq (read: Mission NOT Accomplished) and for basically not meddling with our democratic process. This has been an ongoing issue between the White House and #10 Downing. Thanks PM!

Here's a weird political report about the advantage of having your name first on a ballot.

Alright, I've been watching the Olympics pretty regularly. It helped that I was out of town and had nothing to do most nights, but still I'd have caught a lot of it. Two major subplots beyond what the press has covered (Michael Phelps, et al).

One, our basketball team sucks. Period. And why the heck are they on a luxury cruise ship when their pathetic butts should be cleaning the toilets of the actual atheletes in Athens? Plus, nobody likes them. I'm all for pulling for the home team; but these clowns are only a sign of what's wrong with our pro league.

Two, and this is way out on a tangent. But in watching women's gymnastics I heard mention that Svetlana Khorkina of Russia is supposedly a model. Now come on. She looks like a giraffe that's been depilated and then fed alum. Plus, she can't even lose graciously. Not even the judges are immune from her fantasy world.

If you haven't been watching, shame on you. Aside from my nitpicking, I've watched some damn fast swimming and some excellent soccer (luckily, where I stayed last week had Telemundo).

I had more stuff to point out, but want to end on a fun note. Here are recent stories on animals and the harm we cause each other. First, we'll start off with dire news that badgers are destroying Stonehenge. Yes, the English do not need those stinking badgers.

Take a moment to recover from that horrible pun and read the following tales of a rabbit and a bear. Plus a variation on the dog ate my homework trick. Thanks to Mooney on the bear story.

Still wavering between Bush and Kerry? Still confused as to what constitutes democracy and who is in favor of it? Let me help.

Looks like you've got a couple options when attempting to see Bush or Cheney give a speech this year. You can either a) sign a loyalty oath, or b) work their phones for them, depending on where you are. Yeah, um, you can call people volunteers if you are forcing them to work, okay?

I'm still baffled on how anyone who is gay can back the GOP. I mean, their platform calls for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Now seriously, even if you don't think marriage should cover any couple in love with each other, ask yourself how a party who wants less government keeps trying to constitutionally ban your ability to read a library book without the FBI knowing it, have private thoughts and personal choices about who you love, what you can do with your body, whether you can protest or just have an opinion contrary to their's. Smacks of social dictatorship to me. And hell, even Cheney is against this one.

I meant to cover this one but I had to get over my high levels of disgust first. Apparently, the Bush campaign is pimping Afghanistan and Iraq and the Olympics in a political ad. This has - naturally pissed off the Iraqi athletes and the entire Olympic movement to date. Of course, who do you send into the thick of a controversy like that? Colin Powell, administration scapegoat. You really have to feel sorry for the guy. he couldn't have actually seen much of this coming.

Seriously, this administration is so messed up, even GOP Congressmen are speaking out against them. And more of a social commentary note than anything, but even Pat Buchanan is against Bush & Co. And seriously, with electoral discrimination on the rise, you'd figure a proven racist like him would be all on that bandwagon.

More to come, but I leave you with a fairly moving piece on the stupidity of airport security checks.

First off, best wishes to Lucas Seimers and the others injured in yesterday's attack. Sorry, short on info here and I want the news to get around to the family members first. Let's hope Irish treats you guys better than this in the long run. Keep hope alive guys.

As many of you know, I've been back in Illinois for the past few days visiting Tom while he's on leave. Got to spend some good quality time with him and have visited some familiar faces and gotten to meet some new ones.

One of the latter is Jim Doherty. You know him from the Galva Armed Services Yahoo group and we've emailed and spoken by phone before. Incidentally, Jim makes fantastic ribs, among with other foods. Really. Jim has oh-so-indelicately applied a boot to my backside and reminded me we only have a few more weeks to convince you, our readers, that we can grab our country back from pseudo-religious oil money thugs and their plan to burn up the Constitution. More from Jim later. Trust me, you'll enjoy it.

Alright, so I've been running into a lot of people who can't decide who to vote for this fall. They can't bring themselves to vote for Bush for all the obvious reasons but don't know what to think about Kerry. Which, judging by the TV ads they get here, I'm not surprised. I mean, damn, someone ought to call the DNC and focus some error correcting this way.

Anyways, let's make this a little easier and address these issues one at a time. My first issue, and its a big one, is this notion that Bush is a fine Christian fellow. Alright, let me break the bad news to you in the worst way possible. If you vote for Bush, you are giving a nuclear arsenal to a substance abuser. Not a recovering drunk or coke snorter, but an active breathing user in denial. How can I say this? Easy. The guy has no method for admitting fault and then working to correct any mistakes he may make. Had he been through an actual 12 step program, he'd know humility, responsibility, and remorse. NONE of these are evident in his behavior or in his reactions to events. Congratulations, this is akin to letting your children be schooled by a crack addict. Vote for that? Never.

Aside from that, this whole hateful approach to dealing with other religions (seriously, how many Muslims actually think Bush is working in their favor?) and other peoples (if you aren't white, you aren't part of the equation and I haven't seen anything that tells me differently) is definitively NOT part of what I'd call a healthy Christian agenda. The guy says he's pro-life and people are crazy enough to jump on his bandwagon and ignore the disdain for women's right (including taking the pill) and ah, heck, you get the idea. Seriously folks, its a bad choice. Bad for religion, bad for the country. (If you want links, I'll find some when I get better than a modem connection.)

Send me some questions you might want answered or issues to address. I'm not a policy expert or working for the Kerry campaign, but I'll try to find out what info you guys might want to know. Let's have a serious discussion on these things.

I have a few articles to pass along but that may wait until later days. For now, some partisan (what WAS he drinking) and humorous links from Jim Doherty, wrapping up with a horrible-but-probably-accurate image send by EvilNed.

Forgot to link this earlier. If you are 35 and under, the New Voters Project wants you to decide what youth-related questions to ask Bush and Kerry.

Bush came off like a gomer during the debate. Only a few morons like Bob Novak (who is a cretin) and the Bush campaign (who has to say this) think he actually won the debate. Hopefully the next couple follow the same line. At least Kerry showed up and did what he had to do; and much more skillfully than many of us would have guessed.

Then again, Bush is out lying and mis-stating Kerry at every turn. Most obvious is attacking the concept of a "global test" for any pre-emptive strike. Bush thinks this means we have to check in with Paris every time we want to launch a military attack. Which, given his limited scope of "send troops to do what I never would" it is easy to confuse that with actually proving to your citizens and the world that a threat actually exists. Case in point: Iraq.

Here's a gem I've found hilarious: "I've never seen a meeting that would depose a tyrant or bring a terrorist to justice. ... I will never submit America's security to an international test."

So says Bush when commenting on Kerry's call for an international summit about Iraq.  Apparently, ol' George never read about any of the Big Three summits during World War II in which such disparate personalities as FDR, Churchill and Stalin set aside their differences long enough to take out a certain tyrant named Hitler.  Sure, that never worked at all.  As for the latter part of the quote, Kerry, in the debate and on many previous occasions, has always stated he would never subject the national security of the United States to a foreign body. The GOP just can't stop their boy from lying about his opponent instead of attempting to find some credibility to run on. And don't even start me on the whole "the Taliban is gone" thing. Who do you think we're still fighting in Afghanistan?

Basically, George is either lying out his butt again or scrambling for foothold.  Either way, he's definitely not laying out any positive agenda on what he would do. Then again, we've had four years to find that out - and none of that is positive news. Hopefully Edwards can put Cheney's feet to the fire on all the corruption and in-attention to true homeland security this administration has fostered over their term.

Thanks to EvilNed for this one. GOP-TV, err FOXNews, forgot to censor themselves before posting this story yesterday. They have since replaced it with this sorry excuse of an explanation. But hey, it's not just them. Here's more on the "liberals are gonna burn yer Bibles" crap. And hey, apparently most of you voting for Bush don't even have a clue where he stands on foreign policy. Real smart decision making kids. And hey, it seems the White House may have had a hand in PM Allawi's speech last week. Way to let the guy think for himself. Bonus new article concerning the Bush White House purposely using known bad intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs. Joy.

And then there's Tom Delay. Scandal ridden, ethically challenged, hateful, anti-democracy thug that he is, has had a busy couple years. And now he's playing politics with an intelligence reform bill. Just another sign of the corruption in the Republican party. Clean your house out, GOP supporters.

I don't have a need to refer to Arianna Huffington much, but this article was well written and didn't seem to come from the logic of Planet X. Give it a read. Also, a followup on the Bill O'Reilly "my viewers are smarter than the Daily Show's" crap. Apparently the Daily Show viewers are more informed than Letterman and Leno's viewers as well. Bonus: Bush's flip-flops, courtesy of CBS.

A couple things from the debate and all these polls. If a majority of people think the country is moving in the wrong direction, why are some of them still voting for Bush? Get an answer for that, find a way to change their minds, and you just might have the election in the bag for Kerry.

Bush & Cheney may have tanked the economy, led 1,000+ troops to their deaths in an ill-conceived war, taken away your job and health care, poisoned the environment, taken a leak on the Bill of Rights and Constitution with their pet dog Ashcroft, etc. ad nauseum, but it's okay. Take heart fellow citizens, because when a terrorist finally finds a nuclear weapon to detonate in an American city because our administration keeps pissing off the world, good ol' Dick Cheney will be hiding in an undisclosed location ready to kick the butts of the "evil doers." That was I learned from tonight's debate.

Granted, the Heart Attack in the Wings did put on a better show than his meat puppet did Thursday, but this whole reign of fear stuff has got to go. Seriously, if you are gullible enough to vote for these guys because they tell you horror stories that keep you up at night, you seriously need to grow up and look around at the mess they have made.

That said, Edwards got his digs in and stood up to a dinosaur in political circles and made him stumble a couple times. Considering the long odds going in, you have to call that a win, albeit a squeaker.

From EvilNed, what Bush was doodling during the debate (Offensive material warning).

Back to Iraq, both Bremer and Rumsfeld have countered the Administration's "we're all going by the same playbook, even if it's wrong" strategy. Sure, they'll try to recant a bit, but they didn't say these things without some reason. Meanwhile, another death to place at Bush's feet. Not that he cares.

The companion of fear is hate, and the administration hasn't done a whole lot to stop hatemongers from spinning their lies either. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has released the results of a poll showing that 1 in 4 Americans hold a negative view of Islam. From the day Bush called the War on Terror a "crusade" on 'til now, the White House has done little to educate Americans nor Arabs about each other and about how this is NOT an intra-religious conflict. Kerry, take note, as this will be key should you become president.

And in the worst news of the day, pause for a moment of silence for the passing of Rodney Dangerfield.

I couldn't have said it better myself. In speaking against John Kerry, Bush said what seems to be a very striking thing, "You can't win a war if you don't believe in fighting."

His goal was to discredit Kerry's call for telling people the truth and using war as a last resort, but it should remind us of a more serious issue. None of the principals involved in formulating the Iraq war ever believed in putting their own butts in harm's way for this nation. You could argue Colin Powell, but he didn't want this war anymore than most of this country did. Bush quit the service when it got inconvenient for his life; pity he won't even let Guardsmen and regulars leave when their service requirements are fulfilled, much less eight months early. Cheney is a world class scumbag when it comes to answering his nation's call. You can read more about the staff of service dodgers and general Chickenhawks here (and here) if you haven't read it before.

Hey, Saddam didn't have any WMDs. Most of us already know that, but even the government-appointed investigators now agree. So much for that "imminent threat" our troops have died and are dying to remove.

As for the debate, Cheney's lies about never meeting Edwards before or his previous statements linking Saddam to September 11th have met the light of day and have promptly withered and died. Seriously, this guy lies about small issues and large and then expect you to vote for them because of their conviction and morals? As Flo from Alice would say, "Kiss mah grits."

Even as Bush and Cheney run around the country attempting to misquote John Kerry (apparently they can only digest speeches sound bites at a time), polls (and newspaper endorsements) show the Senator surpassing the deceptor-in-chief. Which, while I won't hold my breath, puts a grin on my face. Then again, what do you expect from a guy who can't tell the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Read a transcript of the second debate if you don't believe me.

As the week begins, we have news of GOP stalwarts hiding information from the American people. For example, all major assaults in Iraq are on hold until after the election because - as they should - any casualties incurred would be blamed on Bush, irregardless of the success of the battles. More insidiously, a damning report concerning the Bush Administration's awful civil rights record has had it's release date pushed back by Republicans who don't wish you to know what their candidate's record has been. Similar bad news has, however, been released concerning the disrespect for women by this administration. And his environmental record only looks good because he omits data necessary to make an actual judgement of said record.

More voices of opposition from some Marines in Iraq. I just hope they don't get in trouble for being so frank. Thanks to Jim Doherty for the story. And apparently George may have problems within his cabinet...but who could it be? Heh, partisan snub there, just figured I'd warn ya.

Meanwhile, more deception from both in and outside the GOP. First, fake reporters have been used to tout the No Child Left Behind Act in ads made to look like government press releases. C'mon, isn't the existence of FOXNews enough for these guys? Then, Sinclair Broadcast Group - home of the "We don't honor our war dead" pledge - have chosen to air a blatantly anti-Kerry infomercial on it's public channels. These supposedly moral people (one of which got busted earlier this year in a prostitution ring) censored Ted Koppel when he wished to recognize the sacrifices of our troops but will stoop to slander a presidential candidate using illegal means to do so. All to keep their corrupt candidate in the Oval Office. And still people will vote for this so-called "leadership."

Incidentally, I have uploaded many Iraq pics from Lucas Seimers (given to Mom during his July visit) and a slew of pics from Tom. I also have two GMail accounts left to give (first come, first serve).

For any Republicans who actually still read this (and a shout out to you temporarily converted Democrats who don't have a GOP candidate you can believe in and are voting for Kerry this time around), I've been asking for quite awhile and still haven't received any reasons why you would actually vote for Bush. So...I'm gonna address in broad strokes why you shouldn't.

So, you voted for the Shrub because you wanted to restore some form of "dignity" to the White House. Seeing as your top dogs were more worried about what goes on in people's personal lives (big omen there by the way) than on what was best for the country, you went and voted for a drunk and former coke addict who had previously failed at most things he had ever tried. Good call. From there he proceeded to ignore any efforts at improving race relations, pissed off Russia and China, worked to undermine women, and prepared to give away our economic surplus to people who traditionally don't need the extra cash (and don't give me any of that repackaged Trickle Down theory crap because I still don't see those jobs being created).

Then we got attacked by psychos who had a strange and horrific bent view of the world because they had twisted the views of their chosen religion to something dark and menacing. But on to Al-Qaeda. We went into Afghanistan with the world behind us all the way, even the Cubans, Russians, Chinese, French, and Libya. We could do no wrong. Until of course, Bush began to unravel everything by focusing on Iraq. If you still believe Saddam was behind 9-11, had ties to Al-Qaeda, had WMDs, was an "imminent threat" to the US, and was the Easter Bunny, you are absolutely WRONG. Do you get it?

Anyway, while ruining the country's good name abroad, Bush reluctantly created the Department of Homeland Security which he immediately twisted. Instead of finding ways to protect the country from external threats, we began to have our rights taken away in airports, libraries, doctor's offices. If you think having your government treat you like a terrorist makes you safer, you are - once again - WRONG. And let's not even get me started on the PATRIOT Act which helps make all this possible.

So, we have antagonized the planet because Bush and his advisors basically lied to everyone. We have troops dead because of those lies and the man has the gall to say he respects the military (and hell, he at least put on the uniform, unlike his many advisors; then of course, he threw it off early to go to Harvard). Our environment is worse, civil rights are disappearing, jobs have vaporized like they have not since the Great Depression, government spending is out of control, unfunded mandates are spewing out of D.C. like a broken faucet, and your government is trying to scare you into rewarding such behavior by saying Kerry couldn't do as good a job as they can.

Are you frigging serious? I've seen Pokemon plushies that could run this country better. I refuse to justify some rampant hateful behavior by likely racists, sexists, wimps, thugs and zealots. You should to. Go get a actual Republican candidate and try again next time if you can't vote for Kerry. Sit this one out if you must. Anyway, that's my take on things. On to news stories.

Congrats to the Boston Red Sox for winning the World Series and making the smug St. Louis Cardinals look like chumps. There are, supposedly, advantages to Kerry for having Boston, and Massachusetts by extension, being mentioned in other circles. Especially with Bush bashing Massachusetts so often. Too bad Curt Schilling had to take a decade of respect I had for him, ball it up and throw it away with his mad rush to endorse Bush out of the blue on Good Morning America. For a guy who so meticulously studies the game of baseball to make this life decision, I really have to wonder what brought him to this point. Would make, if nothing else, an interesting read I think.

What else? Oh yeah, Republicans are trying to prove voter fraud goes both ways (and hell, maybe it does, but the GOP run it straight from the party offices). Then there's
this racially motivated effort to remove voters from the rolls. You'll have to read between the lines, but I imagine it's pretty cut and dried that's its a GOP stunt.

Congratulations George, you've helped kill 100,000 people you (now) say we went into Iraq to give freedom to. And you wonder why they're so pissed at us. Speaking of Iraq and political hi-jinx, a just returned soldier planning to vote for Bush went to a rally and, after seeing what Bush campaign workers do to people, changed his mind to vote for Kerry.

Doom and gloom forecasted for next Tuesday, and why the Supreme Court might actually sit this one out like they should have last time. Somehow, people doubt the election will be clean. Maybe thanks to Bush's deceit and scare tactics? More on early voting and on Florida "irregularities," like say, missing ballots? Also, a story on the phenomenon of vote pairing you may wish to read.

Other stuff. Jimmy Carter rips Bush for pimping 9-11 to his own sick needs and comments on other subjects. The recession widened the racial income gap (big surprise). Liberal Catholics for Kerry. Bush relatives for Kerry. Bush as a bad Christian role model. The GOP against student vote campaigns ("Don't bother learning the democratic process kids; we're two elections from getting rid of it" - Ed Gillespie, okay, I made that up). Why aren't we ripping on Bush for Ashcroft's anti-Americanism? Voting for the French vs the Saudis. Wait? Who is the family values candidate? And 2004 scariest Halloween costumes.

Well, it is already starting. The Bush junta is preparing to violate state's rights and tell Oregon what it can do with it's voter approved euthanasia law. And so much for Bush's hollow words to work for all Americans. Not that any Democrat bought that crap. He's moving to bankrupt - at the least endanger - Social Security (given, of course, his plan tied with his economic shortcomings), re-introduce an un-Constitutional gay marriage ban and start kicking civil rights in the teeth, pack the Supreme Court with ultra-conservatives, and probably reinstitute lynching if he thinks it will help him in the mid-term elections.

More on the conservative agenda and the harm it will bring to the average American. Helen Thomas on the Iraq war and recent discoveries, many just plain disturbing. Conservative radio goons are already throwing racism out into the airwaves. I bet Michael Powell has no plan to silence them for obscenities; which I imagine sounds as weird to you as it does to me.

And then there's that frightening incident with the F-16 shooting up a schoolhouse. Hopefully they get to the bottom of that.

Slate covers why terrorism, not values, was the driver for this election. If that is true, then bear with me a moment. Some exit polls (I know, we'll get to that too) said 19% of voters thought terrorism was the most important concern to them. Of that group, 86% voted for Bush. Now, where were these voters? Not in any place affected by 9/11, that's where.

Going by actual votes (found here but go wherever makes you feel good), Washington D.C. voted for Kerry at 90%. Arlington County, VA (where the Pentagon is) went for Kerry/Edwards at 68% to 31% for Bush. New York state went for Kerry at 58%, 40% for Bush. More distinctly, when you look at the New York City boroughs, they went for Kerry at anywhere from 71-84%, the higher end including Manhattan at 82%. The closest Bush got was Pennsylvania at 48% with 51% going to Kerry. Look, the places Bush has been pimping to scare America into voting for him did not want him in office. Is any of this making sense to you people?

Then again, most Bush voters (up to 3/4ths of them) still believe Saddam was tied to 9/11 and al-Qaeda. They are probably best symbolized by this idiot, who probably would string me up the nearest tree for not being white enough for his tastes. That, and I don't listen to country music. To contrast that hate, I give you F*** the South. Yes, it's as offensive as you can imagine. But beyond words come the Republican tire slashers. Beyond that may come the hateful attacks similar to those now rising in the Netherlands.

More from devout Christians sickened with the way their religion has been stolen. And news flash for ya, Massachusetts leads the nation in actual family values (aka less divorce, better education/income/jobs/quality of life, higher marriage age, and lower birthrates than, say, the entire South).

I'm probably as tired of this red state/blue state crap as you are, but let's delve into it some more. There's a lot of chatter about secession amongst liberal minded folks, and aside from this waste of genetic wonder who thinks the GOP all-white party will be just fine, there's data suggesting that us more progressive minded types are actually subsidizing the hate and hijacked Christianity of these fear sheep. That, and apparently the dumbest of Americans voted for Bush. Yeah, like THAT surprised you.

All said, some Americans are ready to go live abroad. Some of the remaining Democratic lawmakers and others have decided to keep fighting. As for the secession crowd, there's the Cascadia folks in the Northwest and I suspect a Bizarro World version of the Hartford Convention can't be too far off. Slate checks to see whether any of this is legal. To be honest, for the first time in my life, I could see the grand experiment failing if Hate Boy keeps pushing things too far.

While damn near the entire planet wanted Kerry to win, it appears that maybe not as much of the US wanted Bush as we have been told. Now, I know this stinks of conspiracy theories but when it comes to electronic voting, not everything adds up, to the point where even Pravda wonders what happened. Now, how proud does that make you? That goes for exit polls (even Dick Morris agrees something smells wrong), to irregularities in Ohio, New Mexico (more), Florida, North Carolina, with rundown summaries here, here, and here of other states too. Read into that all you will I suppose; we're still stuck with Gomer in charge.

But not all is bad news. Ashcroft resigned and Arafat is about to find out how pissed Allah gets when you blow up children in his name. Let that be a warning to some of you warmongers.

I gotta say, I initially thought all these vote rigging stories were a little far fetched. I mean, all year I've been hearing about how electronic voting machines could be hacked with little effort, that the companies who manufactured them were all in Bush's pocket. I guess I just didn't want to believe it. I admit my naivete.

Anyway, a story from Florida from a programmer who admits to creating a vote rigging code sequence for a Republican congressman. The sworn affidavit is here. BradBlog covers this and many, many more stories from across the nation. This disturbing tale from Ohio covers many "irregularities," among which include fairly large amounts of black voters who supposedly pulled the lever for the ultra-conservative, pretty much racist Constitutional Party. I don't have any research on this, but I imagine that to be as realistic as a large Jewish turnout for Hitler in the 1930s.

Senate Republicans are still out to stack the deck in their favor by making filibusters almost impossible. So much for freedom of speech. The race to kill the United Nations continues. By the way, now the fools are talking about "liberating" Cuba. Stop before you get us all killed. Or starved to death I guess. Is keeping food from people compassionate conservatism? And, surprise, the SATs are racially biased.

Remember when China was ripping us for our economy a few days ago? Now Russia is comparing us to a dictatorship. Look, these guys know what one of those looks like. Maybe you should reassess your world view a bit. Even the Vatican is worried about a backlash against all Christians because of some coke heads and draft dodgers who pretend to be Christians. Thanks a lot jerks.

More foreign affairs. According to the Pentagon, Muslim hate our policies (See? They can see through the lies. Why can't you?) but not our freedoms. The same report shows that we have lost the war to gain the "hearts and minds" of Iraq. They'd better watch it. Too much talking away from the Bush playbook will get the Pentagon gutted and replaced with incompetent yes men like the administration is already planning to do with the CIA. When getting a rousing intro from Canadian PM Paul Martin, trying desperately to patch our sour relations, Bush returns the favor by insulting, by all accounts I've read, every Canadian citizen by comparing their sacrifices in World War II to what he thinks they should be doing to back his idiotic war in Iraq.

Canadians did everything we should be doing and protested Bush every step of the way during his visit. So much so that the little chicken cancelled a visit to Parliament because he's too timid to hear what people really have to say. Speaking of recent protests, a little history on the protests in Chile and why Latin American countries have reason to hate us. Makes you wish we had the stones to protest an unfair election the way they are in the Ukraine.

Remember those bribes, erm, tax cuts we were given in lieu of civil rights awhile back? Apparently those are going to fund higher property taxes in cash-strapped states. But, you know, you can't blame the federal government for that because nothing is ever their fault.

Jim Hightower shows how, while all of us who oppose the war still support our troops, our administration has nothing but contempt for our fighting men and women. While men can buy Viagra by the boatload, the FDA doesn't think women should get the same access to sexual dysfunction medication. Methodists and Lutherans jump on the gay-bashing bandwagon. Bigots are re-energized and out threatening inter-racial couples. Can't wait until the bastards come to my door with their pitchforks and Klan hoods. Bad news on the environmental front that even Bush can't deny; though he can still avoid recognizing its existence.

More rats leaving a sinking ship, though John Snow is just getting the bum's rush. Yeah, all that talk about the loyalty Bush inspires seems so relevant now. Half his staff runs off and he's a paragon of virtue? Gimme a break.

There is so much more deception to cover but you've had enough for one day.