Codpiece Hagiography endorses John Kerry For President

After long, tortured and thoughtful examination of the cases for the candidates for Presidency, the Editorial board has decided that John Kerry should be elected as the next President of he United States of America.

Wow

One Notion Angers God

Thanks to Say "Ten" for the idea for a modification of Billboards all over PA, OH, MI.

History Made in Yankee Stadium

The Red Sox has become the first team in history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4 games in a row and the series title. As a fan of history and of Baseball, let's here it for the BOSOX

Pat Robertson is off the Reservation

Karl Rove is ordering a carton of Depends™ undergarments. Pat must be feeling the sting of declining coffers, and realize the damage a Bush presidency, Republican control of both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court is having on his Fortune. It is far easier to collect loot from people who continually feel victimized, and it is harder to play the victim when the deck is stacked in your favor. I said harder, not impossible. It is understandably increasingly difficult to check underneath the bed every night, making sure the Clenis™ is not waiting to get you. Apparently the 24/7/365 pro Bush, 'God told me he'd win in a Landslide' Robertson, had a chat with George "there won't be any casualties" Bush prior to the start of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The founder of the U.S. Christian Coalition said Tuesday he told President George W. Bush before the invasion of Iraq that he should prepare Americans for the likelihood of casualties, but the president told him, "We're not going to have any casualties."

Pat Robertson, an ardent Bush supporter, said he had that conversation with the president in Nashville, Tennessee, before the March 2003 invasion U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He described Bush in the meeting as "the most self-assured man I've ever met in my life."

"You remember Mark Twain said, 'He looks like a contented Christian with four aces.' I mean he was just sitting there like, 'I'm on top of the world,' " Robertson said on the CNN show, "Paula Zahn Now."

Never underestimate the power of the Warnis™. Pat bore witness to the effects of the "Holy War Hardon", so firm in resolve, that it could support a circus tent. Mr "On top of the world, looking down on Creation" Bush's brain was flooded with endorphins, and quite frankly, Roberston was probably lucky to get out of the room alive.

"And I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties.' "

Robertson said the president then told him, "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties."

Think of all the lives you saved, Mr Robertson, by sharing your concern with us way back then, thank you. When the president discusses "casualties" "us" "we" etc.. he's talking about his base, the "Haves and the have mores" and they of course were not going to be taking fire, just their war profiteering dividends to the bank. Only the untermenschen were to be casualties in Dubbys blood engorged war of opportunity.

"I mean, the Lord told me it was going to be A, a disaster, and B, messy," Robertson said. "I warned him about casualties."

You know Pat you really could have opened your pie-hole on this issue a little earlier and maybe, just maybe, so many souls would not have been lost. Now if you would just step aside and let some adults see if they can pull our ass out of the "messy disaster" you warned endorphin boy, but apparently no one else about. By the way, what did the little "christian Soldier" think of Paula's legs?

A bit of sweetness

A baby giraffe goes on show
for the first time with his mother
at Whipsnade Zoo near London.
He was born 11 days ago.

The way they whine you'd think they missed out on 40 acres and a Mule

Republicans that is.... Party that wears the verisimilitude of Victimisation.

Crazy idea department list

start a weekly best of eschaton commentary
start a haloscan tutorial/website
other stuff i have forgotten but will update later.

Sign a Petition, find yourself registered as a Republican

Caught this over at Susans spot, the Suburban Guerrilla, which will allow me to float an idea that has occasionally banged around the inside of me skull. But before we go there let's take a look at yet another stupid Republican dirty trick.

Students, who last month signed a petition that was being circulated on the Blue Bell campus to legalize marijuana for primarily medicinal purposes, now are finding out that they are registered Republicans.
"This is just very disheartening," said Plymouth resident Jennifer Fugo, a 24-year-old continuing education student who describes herself as a "victim of voter registration manipulation."
"Everyone is encouraging young people to register and vote and then they experience something like this," Fugo said Monday. "This is just outrageous."
Fugo, who had been living in New York, this summer returned to the area and, in August, had her voter registration transferred to Plymouth. Her new registration card at that time correctly listed her party affiliation as a Democrat.

Imagine her surprise last week, said Fugo, when she received a new registration card from the county that listed her as a registered Republican.
"It is disgraceful and detestable, not to mention illegal, to alter anyone's voter registration without that person's consent," Fugo said. "The thought that there is a special interest group in my area that is knowingly defrauding citizens voting records is outrageous, no matter what party or interest group is perpetrating this act."

When she contacted the county's voter registration office, she was advised that she was not the only MCCC student who was a victim of registration fraud.

Pretty cheap and sleazy, eh. Leave no Dirty Trick Behind should be the motto for the Republican party. Sign a petition, a petition carefully chosen to lull the victims, and end up with inflated registration numbers, sheer genius.

Allrighty then. The Idea I mentioned earlier popped into my head way back in the end of July when I posted about special republican absentee ballots. It occured to me that if I was a floridian, I would think seriously about registering as a republican. Why? Because it would increase the liklihood of my vote being counted. They would hook me up with one of them fancy absentee ballots that clearly marks my party registration and it would end up in the good to go pile instead of the dustbin.

Sure they would try to hit me up for money and volunteer activities, but those requests would be easy to rebuff or ignore. And of course when it is all said and done, it would be a simple matter to change your registration the next time the primary season comes up. I am sure that there is a gotcha flaw in this plan, but it might be something to consider next time around.

Dirty Tricks in Florida

Leave it to the Brits to break this story. Thanks to my buddy and fellow blogger Rorschach for the tip on this guardian piece detailing some creative dirty election tricks being floated in Florida.

Dirty tricks return to the sunshine state

US election begins with voting in Florida dogged by controversy over faulty machines and disenfranchised voters

Oliver Burkeman in Tallahassee
Tuesday October 19, 2004
The Guardian

Gordon Sasser first got the feeling that something strange was going on when the telephone pierced the silence of a weekday afternoon at his house on the swampy fringes of Tallahassee, northern Florida.

An automated voice had some surprising news: did he know that he could now cast his presidential vote by phone, and could do so right now, using the keypad? Mr Sasser's suspicion that somebody was trying to trick him into thinking he was casting a vote - presumably so that he wouldn't cast a real one - was far from unique.

James Scruggs, another Tallahassee resident, remembers a similar unease about the young woman who phoned him at home, insistently offering to collect his absentee ballot to ensure its safe delivery.

Is there no depth they will plumb, no fetid pile they won't sift, to find sleaze to sling, tactics designed to disenfranchise? No these folks are scum friends, and we have fallen through the looking glass. These guys make the Nixonian Ratfucking team look like small time hustlers.

Then there was the elderly woman who called the local elections office last week to register her husband for an absentee vote. According to office staff, as she hung up she made a point of thanking them: she wouldn't have thought to get in touch about her husband, she said, if it hadn't been for their helpful call the night before, when someone had taken her own details, assuring her that she was now registered and would receive a ballot.

But the elections office makes no such calls.

"It's Alice in Wonderland here now," sighed Ion Sancho, elections supervisor for Leon County, which includes Tallahassee, Florida's capital. "Up is down, and down is up ... My feeling is that someone has essentially conned her into believing that she's going to be voting."

Ion Sancho, Patriot, claims that he has never seen it like this in 16 years on the job. I guess that the banana-republicans in Florida have mastered the art of election theft, it will be nice when they have their asses handed to them. It certainly won't be for a lack of trying though. In Duval county they have cool plan for all the niggers that live there.

The US election officially began in Florida yesterday, as early voting sites opened across the state - though in Duval County, a Republican-run area with a large African-American population, that too is a subject of dispute. Only one early voting site, far from densely populated neighbourhoods, has been made available for the entire county.

"One location for a county of 831 acres - that's the most asinine thing I've ever heard," said the Rev William Bolden, a Jacksonville pastor who is among many to detect a pattern in the controversies.

Cute. I hope the Kerry Campaign is on top of this and is helping voters make the trip to the remote location.

Evil Tshirt wearing Teachers Thrown out of Bush Rally

Digby posted a picture and a link to a piece on yet another victim of the president's loyalty oath related campaign activities. Three teachers (him sure is an edumicatavatin'preznit) were given the old boot from a campaign rally for obscene t-shirts.

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. -- Three Medford school teachers were threatened with arrest and thrown out of the President Bush rally at the Jackson County Fairgrounds Thursday night, after they showed up wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Protect our civil liberties."

Three Medford school teachers who were thrown out of a Bush rally because of their t-shirts.

Three Medford school teachers who were thrown out of a Bush rally because of their t-shirts.

All three women said they were carrying valid tickets for the event that they had received from Republican Party headquarters in Medford, which had been distributing event tickets to Bush supporters.

Teacher Janet Voorhies said she simply wanted to bring a message to President Bush, but did not intend to protest.

"I wanted to see if I would be able to make a statement that I feel is important, but not offensive, in a rally for my president," said Voorhies, 48.

The women said they were angered by reports of peaceful protesters being thrown out of previous Bush-Cheney events. They said they chose the phrase, "Protect Our Civil Liberties," because it was unconfrontational.

"We chose this phrase specifically because we didn't think it would be offensive or degrading or obscene," said Tania Tong, 34, a special education teacher.

The women got past the first and second checkpoints and were allowed into the Jackson County fairgrounds, but were asked to leave and then escorted out of the event by campaign officials who allegedly told them their T-shirts were "obscene."

What in gods name is bubble boy afeared of, I mean, I can understand the fear of horses, I mean them's big animules, but teachers wearing shirts supporting free speech? Or dissenters of any variety? Who does him think hims presidentin for?

I just had a crazy idea, yeah I know, anyway it goes like this. Why dont we build a cardboard mockup of the whitehouse back in Texas somewhere and fly bubble boy in at night time and just keep him there and let him pretend to be president. We can keep a herd of horses around to keep him from leaving the place. and when it comes time for him to give the "state of the union' his meds can be adjusted just so, that his vision is blurred and won't be able to tell the real congressmen (who aren't there) with the cardboard congressmen (who are).

Iran is For Bush

It should be fun to see how this silken thread is spun, it turns out that a member of the Axis of Evil, has backed the re-election of Gee Dubbya Bush.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The head of Iran's security council said on Tuesday the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran's best interests, despite the administration's axis of evil label, accusations that Iran harbors al-Qaida terrorists and threats of sanctions over the country's nuclear ambitions.

Historically, Democrats have harmed Iran more than Republicans, said Hasan Rowhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security decision-making body.

"We haven't seen anything good from Democrats," Rowhani told state-run television in remarks that, for the first time in recent decades, saw Iran openly supporting one U.S. presidential candidate over another.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, please stop already with the killing, please stop, I'm dyin' here. I guess they have a reason for this endorsement.

"We should not forget that most sanctions and economic pressures were imposed on Iran during the time of Clinton," Rowhani said of the former Democratic president. "And we should not forget that during Bush's era - despite his hard-line and baseless rhetoric against Iran - he didn't take, in practical terms, any dangerous action against Iran."

So Iran finds all of bush's tough talk, to be so much like an empty wind, appreciate his appeasing ways, and certainly must enjoy some of that money they are raking in from the guns for cash program Allawi has running. That and the fact that they didn't like saddam and probably don't mind that we are now knee deep in the Iraqi Tarpit™

"The experience of two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the responsibility Bush had, will make it a very remote possibility for him to risk attacking a much bigger and more powerful country like Iran," he said.

Mofidi added that "Democrats usually insist on human rights and they will have more excuses to pressure Iran."

Yeah, those pesky democrats and their interest in human rights......I guess the Iranians recognise religious fundementalists when they see one and they like what they see in Bush.

President Pot meets Kettle, Determines it Black

From the "are you kidding me?" department. Take it away mr President.

"Instead of articulating a vision or a positive agenda for the future, the senator, my opponent, is relying on a litany of complaints and old-style scare tactics,"

Uhm, Sir, have you taken a look at what the vice president was telling people in Ohio today? I was on a search for yet another bush assertion that you just can't tax the rich, when I came across the gem above. Well back to searching.

Bush needs your Help

While over at Horkulated, there was a post that suggested that the guys at LGF, Arbeit macht Frie Republik, and other conservative blogger types to help debunk numerous documents. The site is called Yes Bush Can, we'll let them take it from here.

Calling All Conservative Bloggers!

You exposed RatherGate by proving the CBS documents were fake -- nice work! But now the liberals have found a bunch more documents so our work is not done. Let's get to work proving that these are fake, too!

Dick Cheney's DUI
George W. Bush's DUI
George W. Bush's Second DUI
Bush and Cheney have excellent judgement and would never get behind the wheel while drunk.

Memo to Ken Lay
Second Memo to Ken Lay
Ken Lay has been indicted on felony fraud charges -- there is NO WAY he was this close with President Bush.

Bush Daughters' Possession of Alcohol
It must be fake: This is clearly a liberal media snow job on these poor girls.

Osama Warning Document Part 1
Osama Warning Document Part 2
This so called "official document" suggests that Bush was asleep at wheel before 9-11. Get real.

Are there any other fake documents we are missing? Please send them to us so we can post them on this site for conservative bloggers to debunk.

Don't lose faith! Some conservatives don't think it is possible to debunk these documents. But real Bush supporters know that anything is possible with a president as great as ours.

I'd really like to think that this is a parody site, but I doubt it, now excuse me for a moment while i straighten my index finger and in contemplation of the last sentence, move it in a circular fashion beside my head. Anything is possible, especially with the great presidents new Nuclear shield technology, that desparate Dick was telling us about earlier.

You know on second thought, if it is not parody, I'm not sure that a satirist of Swifts quality could have done better.

You can trust me this much.

Meet Scary Cheney, Father of Mary

Desparate Dick dropped the Nuclear bomb on a rally of faithful supporters in Ohio today. He claimed that a nuclear attack would be the result of a Kerry Presidency. Ya, I know, fucking nutty.

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press Writer

CARROLL, Ohio - Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday evoked the possibility of terrorists bombing U.S. cities with nuclear weapons and questioned whether Sen. John Kerry could combat such a threat, which the vice president called a concept "you've got to get your mind around."

I imagine that Chicken Little will follow up with the introduction of the secret nuclear sheild, that only he and his sock puppet have the knowledge to operate.

"The biggest threat we face now as a nation is the possibility of terrorists ending up in the middle of one of our cities with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us — biological agents or a nuclear weapon or a chemical weapon of some kind to be able to threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans," Cheney said.

"That's the ultimate threat. For us to have a strategy that's capable of defeating that threat, you've got to get your mind around that concept," Cheney said.

"The biggest threat we face is in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." But Mr. Scary Man, what about the shield, there has to be a shield right? I'm sorry, I must have heard what I wanted to. Did yu actually say that our biggest threat is a possibility?

Cheney, speaking to an invitation-only crowd as he began a bus tour through Republican strongholds in Ohio, said Kerry is trying to convince voters he would be the same type of "tough, aggressive" leader as President Bush in the fight against terrorism.

"I don't believe it," the vice president said. "I don't think there's any evidence to support the proposition that he would, in fact, do it."

Do what? I have no idea what "it" is. Is it the ability to operate the shield you still haven't told us about yet? Well I guess this is just the beginning of the end-game re-election strategy, I can only wonder what other baseless crap will be flying out of Cheney and Dubya's pie-holes.

Dummy Dubya Turns down Troops

From AmericaBlog in what was news to me, it turns out that the dimwit dauphin turned down a UN offer of troops to help secure Iraq for the upcoming elections.

October 18, 2004

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- President George W. Bush rebuffed a plan last month for a Muslim peacekeeping force that would have helped the United Nations organize elections in Iraq, according to Saudi and Iraqi officials.

As a result, the UN continues to have a skeletal presence in Iraq, with only four staff members working full time on preparing for elections set for the end of January. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has refused to establish a new UN headquarters in Baghdad unless countries commit troops for a special force to protect it.

Wonder why this offer fell apart?

Diplomats said Annan accepted the plan. But the Bush administration objected because the special force would have been controlled by the UN instead of by U.S. military officers who run the Multi-National Force in Iraq. Muslim and Arab countries refused to work under U.S. command, and the initiative died in early September.

"Muslim countries that were willing to provide troops were not willing to put them under the command of the U.S.-led coalition," said a senior Iraqi security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "In many of these nations, there was too much domestic pressure for the governments to justify putting their troops under U.S. control."

What country in the world at this point would be interested in ceding control of their contributed armed forces to the United States? Given the brilliant success of our occupation planning - whoops - there wasn't any. I don't blame any of them, I wouldn't follow the incompetants into a pillow fight, let alone Quagmiristan. Idiots.

I've got Goldberg on my fingers.

I made a visit to that trenchant bastard Wollcott's blog and got some goldberg under my fingernails and under my skin. I am not sure whether it's the greasy residue or the lingering oder, that I find more offensive. Making use of a "did I say that" rhetorical device, little jonah takes aim at Kerry:

"John Kerry is a sphincter. Okay, that's a bit juvenile."
--Jonah Goldberg, NRO.

"I suppose in John Kerry's world good diplomacy lets the boys in the bar finish raping the girl for fear of causing a fuss. Okay, that was unfair."
--Jonah Goldberg, NRO.

This slimeball rhetorical device should become known as the Jonah Goldberg Limited Takeback, in which you assert something vulgar and provocative, then acknowledge you stepped over the line without withdrawing the original slur. Sort of like spitting at someone, then saying, "Gee, I guess my saliva went a little too far."

Taking a page out of the goldberg files "I suppose in George Bush's world, good diplomacy lets 'a few bad apples' finish raping and torturing inoocent men, women, and children in Abu Ghraib, for fear of causing a fuss. Oh shit, that really happened? Damn, and I thought I was being cute."

Wolcotts catch, compelled me to do a little research on the fruit of lucianne's loins, and man is this kid funny, funny in the, as a heart attack, or trainwreck way. Oh to be young, conservative, and well paid for your puerile blathering. A little background on the wunderkind.

Jonah Jacob Goldberg is a conservative commentator, probably best known for his contributions on politics and culture to National Review Online, where he is the editor-at-large. He also frequently appears on television, on such shows as Good Morning America, Crossfire, Nightline, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Politically Incorrect

Lets look at some of his famous quotes:

Great civilizations create great cathedrals, and the cathedrals of this generation should be in outer space. Cathedrals inspire rich and poor people alike to believe great things are possible. The Mars Polar Lander cost the average American the price of half a cheeseburger. A human lander would cost the average American more — perhaps even ten cheeseburgers! So be it. That is no great sacrifice.
.....
Why is it fair game to question conservatives' love or loyalty to children or to their fellow man, but beyond the pale to question liberals' love of country?
.....
If you’re too stupid to understand that a philosophy that favors a federally structured republic, with numerous restraints on the scope and power of government to interfere with individual rights or the free market, is a lot different from an ethnic-nationalist, atheistic, and socialist program of genocide and international aggression, you should use this rule of thumb: If someone isn’t advocating the murder of millions of people in gas chambers and a global Reich for the White Man you shouldn’t assume he’s a Nazi and you should know it’s pretty damn evil to call him one

This is the kind of boilerplate bigotry, commonly found in the circles of conservative caterwauling that garner jonah the tremendous respect required to be a rising star.

I can just see John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd working on all those Martian Cheeboyers. I can see clearly the kid who just got his ass kicked, because he thought it would be funny to put that itching powder in the other kid's jockstrap, claiming that it was unfair. I can see a tortured editor trying to make sense of his invocation of godwins law. The kid is a genius, has a fanclub, and managed to get his chubby little paws on the Lewinsky scandal. The pride is palpable oozing from every fingertip.

My mother was the one who advised Linda Tripp to record her conversations with Lewinsky and to save the dress. I was privy to some of that stuff, and when the administration set about to destroy Lewinsky, Tripp, and my mom, I defended my mom and by extension Tripp.
..............
His National Review Online column, the "Goldberg File" (often called the "G-File" by fans, who are called "G-Philes"), frequently involves humor...... Goldberg has also been critical of the French The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in North America, the Caribbean, South America, the western and southern Indian Ocean, the northern and southern Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica
..... Click the link for more information. and claims credit for popularizing the term "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (first used on The Simpsons television program) to refer to them

HA HA, You see Jonah leaves no tired stone of cliché unturned searching for clever things to write, and I look forward to the day that I can lose my sense of intellectual honesty, sense of fairness, and have an inflated sense of self importance installed. Then I might be luck enough one day to ascend to the hights of right wing punditry, I can dream, can't I.

"To Be Provided" "We're working on it, we really are"

I would be remiss to let this one pass, but it really is astonishing. I have made many assertions about the planning or lack thereof for the war, I just wonder how this story got out, who left the barndoor open. I imagine that lower level heads will roll.

Posted on Sun, Oct. 17, 2004
Click here to find out more!

War-ready U.S. wasn't didn't plan for Iraq peace

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON - In March 2003, days before the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, American war planners and intelligence officials met at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina to review the Bush administration's plans to oust Saddam Hussein and implant democracy in Iraq.

Near the end of his presentation, an Army lieutenant colonel who was giving a briefing showed a slide describing the Pentagon's plans for rebuilding Iraq after the war, known in the planners' parlance as Phase 4-C. He was uncomfortable with his material -- and for good reason.

The slide said: "To Be Provided."

Someone must have replace the original slide, the one showing flower tossing Iraqi's, happy go lucky bunny rabbits, and a pipleine of cash with a grinning Cheney with a bag at the output.

A review of the administration's Iraq policy and decisions has found that it invaded Iraq without a comprehensive plan in place to secure and rebuild the country. The administration also failed to provide some 100,000 additional U.S. troops that American military commanders originally wanted to help restore order and reconstruct a country shattered by war, a brutal dictatorship and economic sanctions.

In fact, some senior Pentagon officials had thought they could bring most American soldiers home from Iraq by September 2003. Instead, more than a year later, 138,000 U.S. troops are still fighting terrorists who slip easily across Iraq's long borders, diehards from the old regime, and Iraqis angered by their country's widespread crime and unemployment and America's sometimes heavy boots.

Post war planning in la-la land, faith based execution of a capitalistic paradise (screw 72 virgins, I want my 72 billions). Home by September? Has the White House become a Crack House? The problem is, had sanity been involved in the process, we may have used the very small window of opportunity to create the security required to rebuild the infrustructure and make large gains in the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. The minute Garner was tossed aside and Bremer's combat boots hit the ground, all bets were off, the insurgency guarenteed.

"We didn't go in with a plan. We went in with a theory," said a veteran State Department officer who was directly involved in Iraq policy.
..........
However, the review found that the president and many of his advisers ignored repeated warnings that rebuilding Iraq would be harder than ousting Saddam and tossed out years of planning about how to rebuild Iraq, in part because they thought pro-American Iraqi exiles and Iraqi "patriots" would quickly pick up the pieces. The CIA predicted up until the war's opening days that the Iraqi army would turn against Saddam, which never happened.

That is why worse case scenarios must be studied and provisions made to account for them, this is what any legitimate comprehensive planning would include. We planned for a best case scenario loaded with flawed assumptions and now we are paying a heavy price. There is much more and I would suggest that you read the whole thing, but I will leave you with words of wisdom ignored to our maximum peril.

"The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace in Iraq is real and serious," warned an Army War College report that was completed in February 2003, a month before the invasion.

Without an "overwhelming" effort to prepare for the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the report warned: "The United States may find itself in a radically different world over the next few years, a world in which the threat of Saddam Hussein seems like a pale shadow of new problems of America's own making."

Guess where we are now?

Some heady advice From a Political genius

Cartoon producer and engaging political analyst Matt Stone, co-creater of South Park, and some extraordinary films like BASEketball, has some worthy advice for undecided voters, to wit; don't bother voting.

"Stay home," said Stone. "It doesn't matter who you're gonna vote for. If you really don't know who you're gonna vote for, or are uninformed, or haven't really thought about it? Just stay home."
.......
In person, Stone has little patience for those on the political fence.

"If you really don't know or you're just going to vote for George Bush because he's already in office, or you're gonna vote for John Kerry because he's on the cover of Rolling Stone, don't do that. That's lame. Just stay home. That's all we ever said," Stone told the San Francisco Chronicle in Sunday's editions

While I doubt that there is a significant population of undecided voters at this point in time, I would expect more constructive advice from this font of wisdom, this provider of high quality and inspiring entertainment. Mr. Stone could have suggested that it is incumbent on people to educate themselves about the issues they feel are important, and try to make a reasoned decision. Or he could have lent his support and his reasons for it to one or another of the candidates, instead he chooses to insult the few who reamain on the fence. Nice work Jackass.

Blacks and Hispanics lose wealth during recession.

No shit? Did Sherlock Holmes take up bloviating for the AP.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The enormous wealth gap between white families and blacks and Hispanics grew larger after the most recent recession, a private analysis of government data finds.

White households had a median net worth of greater than $88,000 in 2002, 11 times more than Hispanics and more than 14 times that of blacks, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a study being released Monday.

Blacks were slowest to emerge from the economic downturn that started in 2000 and ended in late 2001, the report found.

When has this not been the case. African Americans, are always the last to benefit and the first to be tossed off the ship. Just when that community was making economic inroads in the Industrial North during the late fifties and eaarly sixties, they were the first community to lose jobs to automation.

20 years later, these problems would hit the poor white community, and bring a lot of working class people into the republican party. Using a combination of social issue distraction and unvarnished appeals to racism, the republicans were able to convince large swathes of people to bvote against their own self interest. The scariest thing about the median net worth numbers is the disparity, and also noted is the fact that the hispanic community has eclipsed the African American community, once again demonstrating that as long as you are not an immigrant of color, it usually does not take more than a couple of generations to start up the ladder of prosperity.

Net worth accounts for the values of items such as a home and car, checking and savings accounts, and stocks, minus debts such as mortgage, car loans and credit card bills.

Greater wealth means a greater ability to weather a job loss, emergency home repairs, illness and other unexpected costs, as well as being able to save for retirement or a child's college tuition.

Net worth = stuff you own - debt. Greater wealth = less likely to starve, better health care and educational opportunities. Thanks for the lesson, this shit would never had occured to me.

Only white homes recouped all their losses between 2001 and 2002. Both Hispanics and blacks lost nearly 27 percent of net worth between 1999 and 2001; the next year Latinos had gained almost all back (26 percent) though blacks were up only about 5 percent.

Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, said the accumulation of wealth allows low-income families to rise into the middle class and "have some kind of assets beyond next week's paychecks."

"Having more assets enabled whites to ride out the jobless recovery better," he said.

Harrison says Hispanics were more insulated from the downturn than blacks, so they took less of a hit. For example, Hispanics made employment gains in lower-paid, lower-skilled areas such as the service and construction sectors.

Blacks were hit hard by job losses in the manufacturing industry and in professional fields, where they were victims of "last hired, first fired" policies, he said.

Where have I heard that before? Rhetorical query I know, sorry about that. And in the meantime the party who has idiots that wonder "why in gods name do Blacks vote for the Democratic Party?" is working overtime trying to disenfranchise voters in the Black community. Not to worry though, permanent tax cuts will right the economic ship of state.

Don't Worry, you won't die, maybe. Just relax

Health and Human services Sock Puppet, Tommy Thompson tells seniors to relax about the Flu shot shortage. Just take it easy, don't wait in long lines and please don't die, as that might cost us some votes.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Monday there will be enough flu vaccine available for most people who need it and told seniors to stop standing in long lines to get a shot.

"We want people to relax," Thompson said at a news conference in Tampa. "The flu season is not here."[yet]

Seniors have been standing in long lines at shopping plazas around the country to get flu shot since news of a shortage surfaced this month. British regulators shut down shipments from Chiron Corp. (CHIR), which had made millions of flu shots in an English factory for the U.S. market.

That cut the U.S. supply of flu shots almost in half.

Thompson said flu vaccine will be reallocated to parts of the country where it is needed most. Most at risk to have severe complications from the flu are seniors and young children.

"We don't want people to stand in line," he said. "We want them to understand that if you are a senior, there is a good possibility you will get a vaccine."

He advised people to first seek the shot from their doctor or a clinic. If that fails, they should contact the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, he said.

Talk is cheap, talk is all these guys do. Words are better than action, so just go back to watching whatever it is on TV and don't hold us accountable for hedging our bets on a single supplier. Meanwhile bush claims that a bunch of funding will be made available for Fatherland Security. In othernews Tax cuts = Revenue = Money Growing Trees.

US President George W Bush will return to his central election campaign theme of the war on terror on Monday.

He will authorise $33bn in funding for homeland security at the White House, before what aides say will be a major speech in New Jersey on terrorism.

Is this going to be a major speech on terrorism, or are we looking at a repeat of last weeks "major speech" which was the standard stump speech that made the networks covering it looke like the tools they have been for the last ten years.

Weapons of limited destruction replacement program activities.

"Prime Minister Puppet" Allawi says that he is gonna extend the guns for cash program throughout Iraq. Since what seems to be happening is that Iraqi's bring in busted, rusted, or broken down weapons, take the cash, and purchase shiny new Iranian arms, I wonder if Chalabi or Allawi have their fingers in that pie.

Iraq PM extends weapons amnesty

Many weapons have been handed over in the past week

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said a drive to buy weapons from militants in Baghdad will be extended to other parts of the country.

Mr Allawi said the programme, which last week halted fighting with Shia militants in the Sadr City area of the capital, had been a success.

The deadline for militiamen in Baghdad to hand in their weapons is being extended until Thursday.

After that, security forces will search for illegal arms, Mr Allawi said.

The prime minister told Iraq's interim parliament: "We will open this disarmament initiative to all the cities in the country."

If Allawi and Chalabi have their fingers in the pie then you know that some subsidiary of Carlyle or Halliburton may also be providing "replacement" weapons from Kuwait. You think I'm kidding? Look anything of value that is not bolted down in that country is up for grabs. War profiteering was a central goal of this Optional Operation in Iraq, War profiteering and control of the oil in the region, period. That and the possibillity of getting the end-times on, it was never about freedom for the Iraqi's, but you probably have drawn that conclusion yourself. 15 days pretty's and we can send these
bastards packing.

Darfur 'Safer than Iraq'

In what seems to be a preemptive shot across the bow and a slap in the bush administration face the Sudan foriegn minister claims to have a better handle on the situation in Darfur that the Us in Iraq.

Sudan's government has said it has handled the Darfur crisis better than the United States has dealt with Iraq.

Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismael told the BBC that US leaders were trying to use Darfur "immorally" ahead of next month's presidential elections.

He was speaking after a meeting of regional leaders in Libya, at which Sudan hinted it may agree to Darfur having more control over its affairs.

Some 70,000 people have died in Darfur, in what the US says is a "genocide".

Pro-government Arab militias have forced some 1.5 million black African farmers and their families from their homes, after two rebel groups took up arms in February 2003.

The Idea the rove and company would try to weave the narrative of Darfur into the campaign is unfortunate, but put nothing past these guys if they see a political advantage. It would be stupid beyond pale, but who knows exactly the calculus used by the handlers of incurious george.

"This is an African problem - it needs an African solution," he said.

DARFUR CONFLICT More than 1.5m displaced About 70,000 dead since February 2003 More at risk from disease, starvation and lack of aid Arab militias accused of ethnic cleansing Sudan blames rebels for starting conflict What is genocide? Q&A: Has security improved?

The African Union hopes to have a 4,500-strong force in place by the end of November, but a lack of funds has delayed the deployment of troops.

About 300 armed Nigerian and Rwandan troops are currently in place.

The United Nations has threatened to impose sanctions on Sudan unless it stops the violence.

Mr Ismael said although the US has deployed more troops and advanced military hardware to Iraq, it has still not been able to disarm dissident forces there.

Credible estimates say that some 14,000 people have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion last year.

Sudan has sent thousands of extra policemen to Darfur but the UN says that attacks on refugees have continued.

Those who have fled their homes say that the security forces worked with the Janjaweed militias to force them from their homes but Sudan has always denied arming the Arab militias.

If the administration had not taken their eye off the real conflict, and properly finished what we started in Afghanistan, Left a Toothless Saddam in place, we may have been able to have a real impact as part of a peace-keeping force and maybe 70,000 would be alive today.

Two signs of an Army in trouble

I had heard or read rumors about the 11th cavalry being deployed to Iraq to join the fighting. The unit is designated OPFOR for Opposition Force. This is an elite unit used to accurately play the enemy during wargames training. This is another example of the penny wise pund foolish straegies presently employed by the bush administration to the detriment of he long term health of our ground forces. This would be akin to the deployment of the teachers at the Top Gun School and replacing them with pilots of lesser quality, good for a short term impact but bad for the long term. From an excerpt of the LA Times.

Staging such scenes has long been the work of the fabled 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, or Black Horse Regiment. But starting next month, the 3,500-member unit will begin shipping out to Iraq from the Ft. Irwin National Training Center, near Barstow. Deployments are nothing new in the Army, of course, but there is a special sense of urgency about dispatching the Black Horse to tackle situations that it has trained roughly 500,000 soldiers to handle since 1994. Now the bombs and bullets they encounter will be all too real.

"No one ever thought the Black Horse would be taken out of the National Training Center; they are just too valuable here," said Maj. John Clearwater. "But the Army is stretched too thin, and Iraq is a big mission."

Bigger than we could have anticipated? Not at all. Did it need to get this bad? Of course not. While we are removing our finiest training force into compat and begging the brits to add some paratroopers, can anyone tell me that it had to come to this, that this is not representitive of incompetence and pie in the sky planning. We know from Clarke that
Iraq was on the table in January 2001, long before we were attacked by terrists, We know that Franks was asked to start the operational planning for an invasion of Iraq in Feb of 02. In those 26 months on the one hand and 13 months on the other, how much actual planning regarding the post war occupation occured. Intel Dump adds a bit more to the picture of the importance of the 11th Cav.

The article misses the most important point: deploying the OPFOR is like eating your seed corn. This unit is responsible for training other units and raising their level of expertise and combat readiness. The 11th ACR is being replaced by a National Guard unit. That's like replacing the Dodgers with a high school baseball team. Sure, they can both play baseball and wear the uniform — but one is a whole lot more proficient and experienced at its job. The OPFOR has a reputation as a tough enemy, and that's a good thing because it forces units training at the NTC to become better themselves. By replacing this unit with National Guard troops, the Army has hurt its ability to produce good units for Iraq in the future. Suffice to say, National Guard and active units that go through Fort Irwin aren't going to get the same tough experience they would have with the Blackhorse regiment as OPFOR — and that means they'll be less ready for combat when they get to Iraq. This is a desperation measure, and I think the Army will come to regret it.

Yes they will, in fact we all will. Meanwhile expect the president and his posse to tell us "notheing to see here move along."

Meanwhile Atrios posted a discription of an email he has recieved, which may lend a small amount of credence -- What? you say the credence account is empty? What, Wont get fooled again for shame? While the following may be a way to temporarily dance around the nearly clear necesitty of a draft, Bet your bottom dollor that Bush if re-selected there will be a draft.

According to an emailer, who signed it "An Afghanistan and Iraq Veteran For Truth," the Bush administration does have a cunning plan to avoid reinstituting the draft. Their plan is to extend allowed reservist mobilization to 5 years, up from the current 2. Obviously I can't confirm the information one way or the other, but there's reason to think the person is credible.

With all the other Back Door Draft-lite scenarios that have been put in place, there is nothing to suggest that this is yet another ploy out of a pentagon bean counters office to lock our troops into service after their time has expired.

A couple of my favorite characters

Another Republican Drops support for Bush

A lifelong member of the Republican establishment in Kentucky, has published an editorial outlining why he can no longer support the Bush administration for re-election. Via Kos Dairist Muddy Paws.

Bush 'goes against values I treasure' By Ballard Morton - Special to The Courier-Journal

For nearly 50 years, I considered myself a Republican. I usually voted for Republicans, and I voted for George W. Bush in 2000. I have deep family roots in the Republican Party. My father, Thruston Morton, served as a Republican U. S. senator from Kentucky and also served as national chairman of the Republican Party. My uncle, Rogers Morton, also served as national chairman of the Republican Party, served as a Republican in the U. S. House of Representatives, and served in the cabinet under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

I cannot in good conscience vote for President Bush in this election. What he has done since his election in 2000 goes against the values I treasure both in terms of leadership and in our nation. He has not done what he said he would do. He has lost my trust and my respect. .............
President Bush refuses to take responsibility for his own actions and policies. Instead, he blames others. He talks in sound bites, uses slogans and misleading labels, relies on spin, photo ops and staged events, and brutally smears his opponents. That is not leadership.

Sen. John Kerry offers us a choice. He offers us hope and a new direction in dealing with global terrorism. He offers us hope for change in the war in Iraq. He offers us hope in protecting our environment. He offers us hope in restoring fiscal integrity to the government. He offers us hope in genuinely reforming health care and protecting those who need it most. Above all, he offers a return of decency and integrity to the White House.

I will vote for John Kerry.

Let's give a hand to Ballard Morton and welcome this sage Patriot to the side of righteousness.

This thing was gonna make it to Washington

Ahh yes, the unmanned drones that were gonna bring dirty bombs from Iraq to your back yard. Yeah Right.