Silly, Silly, Sad!

Okay, the twins were embarrassing. Six year olds where I come from have more poise than that. The talking amongst themselves when they were approaching the microphone, the incessant and juvenile giggling, the jokes ... WHAT WAS THAT? Who wrote that speech? It was an abomination! The "Sex In The City" comment was tasteless and obviously not funny to the "abstinence" crowd!

I know the Kerry daughters are older, but I cannot imagine them ever behaving like that! Family values should also include basic home training, basic behavioral skills as well as how to speak in front of a crowd with some semblance of decorum.

I missed the pundits but here is a link to a blog that notes what they had to say.

Even Conservatives Hated Them....The verdict from the Fox News crew on Jenna, Barbara, and Laura is not good.

Bill Kristol: "The last half hour did not help, as far as I can tell, Bush's campaign for reelection."

Mort Kondracke: "Those two girls were ditzes. I'm surprised they were allowed on the program."

Fred Barnes: "I think she [Laura] had no place up there or the daughters either....Their mother said they'll be pursuing their own careers. I would advise them to look in some field other than comedy."

Were they high? I'm just appalled!

Don't Come Back Home Ah-nold

Was this really necessary?

"This is like winning an Oscar! ...As if I would know! Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called 'True Lies.' It's what the Democrats should have called their convention. "
[...]
And this is just stupid but he knew he was talking to a bunch of chest pounding morons who ATE IT UP:

"There is another way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people ... and faith in the U.S. economy. To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: "Don't be economic girlie men!"

The Battle of Thou

More than the prevalence of cowboy hats; more than Rudy Guliani's butt kissing speech; more than McCain's disappointing attacks on Kerry (and Michael Moore), I think the purple hearts on bandages being proudly worn by convention delegates, irritated me the most:

"A GOP delegate handed out bandages with purple hearts on them Monday night at the Republican National Convention in a swipe at Democratic nominee John Kerry's war record, but national GOP officials have asked him to stop.

The bandages were handed out by Morton Blackwell, a longtime GOP activist from Virginia, with the message: 'It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it.'
Kerry won three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a bronze star for his service in the Vietnam War. A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has been attacking Kerry as a liar through campaign ads and media interviews, but Kerry's wartime experiences have been backed by crewmates and official records."

In addition to insulting Kerry, this was a slap in the face to every soldier who has ever received a purple heart - whether it be for a scratch or the loss of a limb. And this gets back to the message that, in jest or not, the GOP consistently sends. There is always a battle of THOU ... The holier than thou, the more patriotic than thou, the tougher than thou, the more touched by 9/11 than thou and, now, the more injured than thou ...

True, the Democrats tried to take a "higher road" than thou during their convention. While I don't promote nastiness, I think they could have shown a little more edge than they did. But, after the first night of the RNC, I think I'm glad the Dems did keep it clean and positive. The two minute booing of Michael Moore after John McCain spoke an untruth about Moore's view of pre-invasion Iraq, the bandages and the flip flop sandals really showed who has less class than thou, less cooth than thou and less of what the spirit of America is supposed to be about than THOU.

I'll try to watch Ah-nold tonight for he is my Governator. I saw and heard Laura at my sorority's Boule and don't necessarily want to endure her sing-songy, Polly Purebread soft sell again. The bandages will supposedly be gone. But I am sure something else or some other behavior will replace it. That is, afterall, who thou are.

No Flip Flop Flap Here

Look, we all know this man cannot talk and think at the same time. So empath, with a penchant for mirroring, that I am I'm finding that can now follow the seemingly idiotic and illogical path of Bush's brain.

So, he slipped and said that the war on terror cannot be won. Not only do I believe that he meant exactly that, I agree. I also agree that it is "a tool" and a tactic that will only cease to be used when conditions change such that 'terrorists' no longer find it necessary or effective.

What I disagree with are our current tactics. To those we are engaged in battle with, we are the terrorists. I won't debate our true intention but, clearly, we miscalculated, "misunderestimated" and failed to properly analyze the consequences of our invasion. Al Qaida is no longer a fringe group led by Osama bin Laden. It is an ideology (like that of the neo-cons) and a movement that is rapidly being fueled by our actions in Iraq and our "threats" around the world. So, I don't care that Bush Reverses Himself, Says War on Terror Can Be Won:

"In the interview broadcast on NBC's 'Today' show on Monday, Bush was asked if the war on terrorism would ever be won.

'I don't think you can win it,' he replied. 'But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.'

Bush used the occasion of a speech to the American Legion, the nation's largest veterans group, to fight back against the Kerry team's charge that he was taking a defeatist stance.

'We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start, but one that we will win,' Bush told the group. "

I think he's right again today. Tempering it can be achieved ... but not with our current strategy and administration. George Bush has been steadfast, stubborn and unflinching in his stance on Iraq and on terrorism. He's been perfectly consistent. Unfortunately, he has been consistently wrong.

Meanwhile, Back In Iraq

As the GOP basks in the fervor of their convention, the battle against occupation rages on in Iraq.

"A militant Iraqi group said it had killed 12 Nepali hostages and showed pictures of one being beheaded and others being shot dead, the worst mass killing of captives since a wave of kidnappings erupted in April. "
[...]
"We have carried out the sentence of God against 12 Nepalis who came from their country to fight the Muslims and to serve the Jews and the Christians...believing in Buddha as their God," said the statement by the military committee of the Army of Ansar al-Sunna."

It's going to take more than chanting a mantra that "they hate our freedom" to win this war. It's getting old, the casualties are mounting and foreign civilians are becoming innocent victims now being picked off by the dozen.

Inching Towards Theocracy

The right wingers hit the roof when someone compares them to Islamic Fundamentalists. Yet, behind the scenes and subtly in public, this administration has a agenda that is, in kind, an apocalyptic, Christian fundamentalist regime.

God told him to run for president, Bush says, and God told him to strike al Qaeda, and God told him to occupy Iraq. "I haven't suffered doubt," Bush said to Woodward (adding, without irony, "I hope I'm able to convey that in a humble way"). For all his weak demurrals, Bush does in fact perceive the "war on terrorism" as a new crusade, as a member of his family makes explicit:

George sees this as a religious war. He doesn't have a p.c. view of the war. His view of this is that they are trying to kill the Christians. And we the Christians will strike back with more force and more ferocity than they will ever know.

Of course, it would be comforting to see this only as a case of individual mania, which reasonable people – Christian and non-Christian – might shrug off. And yet this is no laughing matter, as Bush is not alone in his apocalyptic frame of mind, but aided and abetted very powerfully. Having variously seized our nation's government, the GOP also pursues "religious war."

GOP: God's Official Party

link via oliverwillis.com

This bumper sticker is standard issue for the far right but, coincidentally, has the same message as terrorist extremists.

"What is Hezbollah?

Hezbollah is a Lebanese group of Shiite militants that has evolved into a major force in Lebanon's society and politics. It opposes the West, seeks to create a Muslim fundamentalist state modeled on Iran, and is a bitter foe of Israel. The group's name means "party of God."

Is it really a good idea for the Repubs to be stealing their party motto from a terrorist group?"

Not The Party Of Lincoln Anymore

I've heard a lot about Ed Brooke, former black Republican Senator from Massachusetts. He is not active in state politics anymore but, clearly, does not like the direction the Republican Party has taken.

(link via negrophile.com)
"I applaud Rice and Powell’s appointments and I think most African-Americans applaud them as well. But when you’re talking bread-and-butter issues, when you’re talking jobs and health care, you have to balance that. What are they doing for the millions of African-Americans who are suffering?" asks former Massachusetts Sen. Ed Brooke, the first Black elected to the U. S. Senate in the 20th Century. "From the tax programs, the war, and the disproportionate number of African-Americans going to war, when you look at it that way, they can’t expect to receive African-American votes just because of a few Black appointments."

Brooke, who remains loyal to the Republican Party, says he will not attend the convention because he is not a delegate and is no longer involved in Massachusetts politics. He says his decision not to attend the convention is not a protest. Yet, his disappointment is evident.

"The Republican Party has not done what it should have done to attract African- Americans," he says. "The party of Lincoln is not the party of Lincoln today. Unfortunately, African-Americans still view the Republican Party as opposed to the issues that are most important to African-Americans."

His Time To Shine

The Republian National Convention starts this evening and I guess I'll have to be a looky lou and watch it - despite my disdain for many of the speakers they've got lined up who do not necessarily agree with Bush's right wing agenda. To be fair I'll watch - with remote in hand so that I can turn the minute the dookey gets too deep. I've read more about Dubya than I care to know but Newsweek and MSNBC.com published an article on him which provides some insight into who he might be.

"But not without struggle and, almost surely, at a cost. Behind his calm and outward patience there is an edginess that can seem prickly, resentful. At times, he appears so determined to stay the course and stick to his convictions that he seems too rigid, fixed in his ways, unable to adjust. One cannot help but wonder: At some level, is he afraid that the slightest wavering might fatally crack his whole hard-earned, painfully constructed persona? Is admitting a mistake for Bush like an ex-drunk's taking just one drink? Bush can be empathetic, emotional and even (dread word) sensitive. But he can also be surly and impatient with weakness. At these moments, he seems more dogged than enlightened, his life more a triumph of will than of understanding.

It is easy to mark the turning point in George Bush's life. It was the morning of July 28, 1986, when he woke up, wretchedly hung over after a night of celebrating his 40th birthday at the Broadmoor, a resort in Colorado, and decided to quit drinking. He did not seek therapy or join Alcoholics Anonymous. He just quit, and joined a regular Bible group. Before Bush gave up the bottle, his life was more feckless than accomplished. After that day, he moved from success to success. Bush has been sober for 18 years (less time than John Kerry has spent in the U.S. Senate); for 12 of those years, he has been running for office or governing. His mature life, then, has been a public one, mastering, despdespite his occasional inarticulateness, the art of politics. And his relatively brief adulthood may also help explain the roots of the self-confident side of his nature. If a man starts focusing only when he's 40 and finds himself president of the United States at 54, what can't he do if he sticks to the script that got him from the Broadmoor to the White House?"

Hierarchy of Needs

Now, I was just watching a news clip this weekend about Iraq's having to drink contaminated water because the treatment facilities were inoperable. But we are going to divert money from basic needs to more police and guards? This in a democracy? Now, I do understand that because of Bush's miscalcuations on post-war efforts it is close to impossible to get anything constructive done. But why, after nearly a year and a half after the invasion, are we still at the point where we cannot even provide the basics like clean water, power and sewers?:

"The proposal by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte reflected the realization that without better security in the nation torn by an anti-U.S. insurgency, long-term rebuilding is impossible, the official said.

Among other things, Negroponte proposed spending about $1.8 billion now earmarked for water, sewage and electricity to expand the Iraqi police, border patrol and national guard and increase the number of border posts, he said. "

What a mess!

The Miscalculations Are Endless

Well it's about time! After months of Bush spending MILLIONS of dollars on negative campaigning and standing idly by while his friends run decidely dishonest attack ads against Kerry, the Democratic camp finally appears to be coming out with some attacks of its own. Perhaps, naively, I believe that ultimately truth will prevail over lowdown tactics and lies. This bit of truth is a good start:

"'After months of saying he'd done everything right on Iraq and foreign policy, the president acknowledged just the other day that he miscalculated the way in which he waged the war in Iraq,' Edwards said at North Carolina University's Wilmington campus.
'He believes that he may have won the war too quickly and that was a 'miscalculation.'

'I want to talk to you about the other ways in which this president has 'miscalculated.' The Bush administration miscalculated by rushing to war without a plan for the peace,' Edwards said, according to a transcript provided by his campaign.

'The Bush administration miscalculated by deciding to go it alone without strong allies.

'The Bush administration miscalculated when they waited three years after September 11 to start to reform our intelligence,' Edwards said.

'The Bush administration miscalculated by turning its back on Afghanistan ... by failing to listen to the 9/11 Commission ... by standing on the sidelines while North Korea and Iran advanced their nuclear programs,' Edwards said.

Edwards also told NBC that Bush lacked clarity in fighting his 'war on terror.'

'After months of listening to the Republicans base their campaign on their singular ability to win the war on terror, the president now says we can't win the war on terrorism,' Edwards said.

'This is no time to declare defeat,' he said. "

Loud And WRONG!

Again, I just don't know what to make of these people who call themselves Christian then demonstrating demonic and violent behavior.

"Parents of a newborn were erroneously targeted Wednesday by about 50 abortion protesters who raised posters of mutilated fetuses and called 'Evil dwells here' through a bullhorn.

The problem is they had the wrong house, said Tricia Lehra, who was on the receiving end. The group apparently thought Lehra's Washington Road home belonged to a doctor who performs abortions. Lehra, who has a 2-month-old daughter, is a Shenendehowa Central Schools counselor; her husband, August, is an electrical engineer.

The target of the misplaced protest was a neighbor, Paul Drisgula, an executive of Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson.
'I feel terrorized,' said Lehra, who was not home when the group arrived. Still, later that evening two teens bicycled past her house and screamed 'No abortion,' she said.

'They do not have their facts straight,' she said of the protesters. 'They took pictures. Is my house going to end up on their Web site? I feel victimized in my own home.'
The 90-minute parade angered some neighbors on the quiet, maple-lined street, drawing them to the sidewalks at around 2:30 p.m.

'I heard them yelling, 'A murderer lives on your street,' ' said Brian Whitter, who lives up the block from the Lehras and was getting ready for work when he saw the parade shortly after 2 p.m. '"

More Life Endangering Behavior By Pro-Lifers

I never understood how pro-lifers can justify this kind of violence in Jesus' name:

"An explosion that blew out a number of windows at a Boston-area laboratory specializing in stem-cell research was caused by a pipe bomb, local police said on Friday.

No one was wounded in Thursday's early morning blast at Watertown, Massachusetts-based Amaranth Bio, which says on its Web site its technology is focused on organ regeneration and that it is working on cures for diabetes and liver disorders. "

Portugal Bans Dutch Abortion Ship

Okay, I'll buy that. If it is against the law, they had every right to stop the ship from docking.:

"The government said the group operating the trip planned to hand out pills to end early unwanted pregnancies - a procedure prohibited in Portugal.

In Portugal, abortions are only allowed in exceptional circumstances, such as when the mother's life is at risk.

The ship has stopped in other Catholic countries with restrictive abortion laws such as Poland and Ireland. "

However, this is what the US would revert to if the Bush administration has its way:

Up to 40,000 illegal abortions - some of which are fatal - are carried out in Portugal every year, according to family planning agencies.

Women are periodically taken to court for having unwanted pregnancies illegally terminated.

Do we really want to send desperate women to back alleys, coat hangers and jail again?

Keystone Cop Action

At what point will pro-Bush, war supporters see this 'war on terror' as the joke that it is?:

"KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces fought with an Iraqi police unit in the center of the northern city of Kirkuk Saturday, police said, putting the clash down to a 'mistake.'

Two Iraqi policemen were badly wounded and U.S. forces arrested six of their comrades after the overnight battle, police Colonel Farhat Qader said.
'The battle happened by mistake,' Qader said. He declined to elaborate.
U.S. forces maintain bases in Kirkuk, a center of oil production. The city's Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen populations claim historical property rights that have caused sporadic violence since Saddam Hussein was toppled last year. "

It has gotten so stupid that it is funny!

Music: New Must Haves

The Talking Action Figure

Funny! To this Californian (by way of Illinois) the Governator is still a cartoon character:

"'Californians have got used to him as a governor, but for the rest of the country he's still a cartoon character. This is his chance to set out what's important to him as a politician rather than an action hero.' "

His appearance is a total sham! The Bush platform is unswervingly far Christian right yet the speakers who will be front and center are almost all moderate conservatives.

But to pull off a coup both for himself and Bush, he will have to tread a delicate balance to avoid alienating either the party's Christian right or his own Californian constituency.

Schwarzenegger, 57, has so-far kept campaigning with Bush to a minimum in California and has been publicly ambivalent over whether he is prepared to go out to bat for Bush outside of his home state.

The governor's aides say he has no plans to meet Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) or top administration officials at the convention and that he may not even stay for Bush's acceptance speech on Thursday.

"Schwarzenegger will go to New York not only as a Hollywood celebrity who can draw audiences, but also as a moderate voice of the party," said University of California, Berkeley professor of government, Bruce Cain.

"But he has got to walk a very fine line between praising President Bush (news - web sites) and pleasing Californians.

Why can't Bush take off the mask and present the face of his party as it really is? I just hope that the GOP is paying Ah-nold (and our state) a pretty penny for his celebrity and feigned support.

Daddy's Maybe?

The canned reply from Dubya is that "9/11 changed everything" (even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11). However, below was his father's assessment of why an invasion was a bad idea.

via juancole.com
George H.W. Bush on Why Invading Iraq was a Bad Idea

George Gedda of AP reminds us of the opposition to an American invasion of Iraq expressed after the Gulf War by George Bush senior and his secretary of state, James Baker. Bush wrote in his memoirs:

' Incalculable human and political costs" would have been the result, the senior Bush has said, if his administration had pushed all the way to Baghdad and sought to overthrow Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led coalition ousted the Iraqi army from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf war in 1991.

"We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect rule Iraq," Bush wrote. "The coalition would have instantly collapsed. ... Going in and thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations mandate would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression we hoped to establish.

"Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different - and perhaps barren - outcome." '

James Baker wrote an op-ed in 1996 that said,

"Iraqi soldiers and civilians could be expected to resist an enemy seizure of their own country with a ferocity not previously demonstrated on the battlefield in Kuwait.

"Even if Hussein were captured and his regime toppled, U.S. forces would still have been confronted with the specter of a military occupation of indefinite duration to pacify the country and sustain a new government in power.

"Removing him from power might well have plunged Iraq into civil war, sucking U.S. forces in to preserve order. Had we elected to march on Baghdad, our forces might still be there."

Somehow I feel as though the world has been dragged into a family squabble between a prodigal son and his father.

Japan to deport Bobby Fischer

Oh, for crying out loud! This is a joke, right? It's not like he went over there on some treasonous mission. He went to play chess:

Mr Fischer has been on the run from the US authorities for more than a decade, after being accused of breaking international sanctions by visiting Yugoslavia to take part in a chess match in 1992.

Before his detention, he had managed to live undetected in Japan for three years, sometimes travelling abroad.

A brilliant but mercurial player, Bobby Fischer became a grandmaster at 15 and shot to fame in 1972 when he beat Boris Spassky of the then Soviet Union.

He held the title of world chess champion until 1975, and resurfaced in Yugoslavia for the dramatic 1992 rematch against Mr Spassky.

He won the game, but disappeared when the US authorities announced they wanted to prosecute him over the $3m he earned for playing, which Washington said violated US and United Nations bans on doing business in the country.

Le Sigh!

No Bona Fide Effort

I think President Bush's refusal to attend the NAACP Convention was a clear sign that if you criticize or disagree with him, he has no use for you. But is that the message you want to send while trying to build a new base of potential voters? Even Black Republicans are now questioning Bush's commitment to inclusion.

"I’m not sure they’re going to even try," says Arthur Fletcher, Jr., former assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration. "Nixon won the White House without a Black vote two times, Reagan won the White House without a Black vote two times. Bush won the White House without a Black vote one time. Bush junior has won it without a Black vote. When they look at their dollars and realize that the Hispanics are chomping at the bits to get aboard, I’m not sure they’re going to make a bona fide effort to attract Blacks."
[...]
The Republican Party has a mixed history with African-Americans. Until Franklin D. Roosevelt’s "New Deal," most Blacks were registered Republicans. But once African-Americans started voting Democratic, they never went back. Today, African-Americans generally favor the Democratic candidate in presidential elections by a 9 to 1 margin.

It was not unusual for Republican candidates to get 30 of the Black vote until the party picked Sen. Barry Goldwater, an archconservative from Arizona, as its presidential candidate in 1964. With strong Black support, President Lyndon Baines Johnson was re-elected in a landslide.

"It wasn’t until after Goldwater got up and refused to deal with the civil rights legislation, that began to break it. That’s where the break came," says Milton Bins, a longtime Black Republican activist.

The A-List Against W

MoveOn is mobilizing the A-List against Dubya with their new ads - which don't mention a particular candidate:

"Hip-hop impresario Benny Boom, who has directed videos for P. Diddy, Lil' Kim and LL Cool J, didn't need to have his arm twisted to join an anti-Bush advertising campaign.

'I felt like Bush stole the last election and the whole country kind of got robbed and bamboozled, and I wanted to make sure I did my part besides voting,' he says. When he was approached by the liberal MoveOn PAC, 'I was like, yo, I want to do an ad myself.' "
[...]
Boom's ad is a voter-registration pitch aimed at minorities. "A lot of common people in the inner cities just don't see the importance of it because nothing changes," he says. MoveOn describes the ad as an attempt "to counter Republican voter suppression efforts."
[...]
"I'm more passionate about being opposed to Bush," says Boom. "George Bush is probably the first real gangsta we have had in office. John Kerry needs to be a little bit more of a gangsta himself."

One Man's Freedom

... is another man's occupation. Middle East expert, Juan Cole, shares his views on the state of affairs in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Bush in these remarks continued to try to exploit the presence of Afghanistan and Iraq at the Olympics for his presidential campaign. The problem is, he has a different definition of "freedom" than do the people of whom he is speaking.

The Bush campaign is defining freedom as the absence of indigenous tyranny. Thus, they claim to have liberated 50 million persons (25 each in Afghanistan and Iraq) since September 11, insofar as they overthrew the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.

But to date, no one in either country has been freely and openly elected by the popular electorate. The US has more or less appointed the governments of both countries (in consultation with other international actors). Even one Iraqi cabinet minister admitted last spring that the then Interim Governing Council was no more representative than had been the Baath government.

The Western press often confuses a government that reflects the composition of the country with a "representative" one. Thus, the Interim Governing Council had and the new national advisory council has representatives from all over Iraq, and some journalists have said the council is the most representative body Iraq has had since 1958. But this allegation ignores the undemocratic way in which it was chosen.

As for Afghanistan, the Bush administration simply turned it back over to the pre-Taliban warlords who had fought the Soviets in alliance with the US and then had fallen to squabbling when the US walked away, reducing much of the country to rubble. Herat province is ruled by Ismail Khan, Mazar by Abdul Rashid Dostam, etc., etc. Even really bad guys like Abu Sayyaf have their fiefdoms in the Pushtun areas (although he broke with the Taliban, it would be hard to distinguish his ideas and style of ruling from theirs). This is not to mention the revival of the poppy trade, which fuels heroin smuggling to the tune of $2 billion a year, nearly half Afghanistan's gross national product.

The parliamentary elections scheduled for summer, 2004, in Afghanistan have been postponed until at least spring, 2005. Presidential elections are to be held this fall, but American-installed Hamid Karzai has enormous advantages of incumbency. These advantages recently spurred his 23 rivals to call for his resignation, threatening a boycott of the elections if he declines. There is widespread voter registration fraud.

Why Now?

This chimp has got to be kidding! He finally decides to mildly denounce the Swift Boat ads that attack Kerry's war record. But, why now?

Because the facts keep turning up info that proves them false?

Because he now has old, constipated looking, viagra using Bob Dole to Bash Kerry?

Because, once again (as with the initial refusal to testify before the 9/11 commission), he waits until outcries from his constituents and the public are holding his little hand directly over the flame?

Because they are already off the air?

In the words of Teresa Heinz Kerry, Bush needs to shove it!:

"'I think they're bad for the system,' added Bush, who had ignored calls to condemn the ad while it was on the air.

Democrats criticized the president's remarks at the same time they worked to limit the political damage from the ad which they denounce as a smear sanctioned by Bush and his high command.

'The moment of truth came and went, and the president still couldn't bring himself to do the right thing,' Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) said in a statement. 'We need a president with the strength and integrity to say when something is wrong.'
'Too little, too late,' added party chairman Terry McAuliffe. "

The damage is done and the nimrods who support him will probably still be running around repeating the lies like they are gospel. Too little, too late is right! Bush is a disingenuous @%#$!

Stupid Lies

These folks are just pathetic! The twisting of the truth and the omission of the facts are just brazen and shameless.

[...]
But now some anti-Kerry veterans are saying he was never in Cambodia. John O'Neill, who has been dogging Kerry more than 30 years, told Matt Drudge that the senator's Christmas-in-Cambodia stories "are complete lies." As evidence, he cites Kerry's own wartime diary, as quoted in Douglas Brinkley's Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War. That book—according to Drudge's account of it—places Kerry in Sa Dec, 50 miles away from Cambodia, on Christmas Eve, and seemingly at peace. "Visions of sugarplums really do dance through your head," Kerry wrote in his diary that night, "and you think of stockings and snow and roast chestnuts and fires with birch logs and all that is good and warm and real."

That passage is on Page 219 of Brinkley's book. But O'Neill, Drudge, and the other sneerers choose to ignore the 10 preceding pages—the opening pages of a chapter called "Death in the Delta." On Christmas Eve 1968, Brinkley writes, Kerry and his crew:

headed their Swift north by the Cho Chien River to its junction with the My Tho only miles from the Cambodian border. … Kerry began reading up on Cambodia's history in a book he had borrowed from the floating barracks in An Thoi. … He even read about a 1959 Pentagon study titled "Psychological Observations: Cambodia," which … state[d] that Cambodians "cannot be counted on to act in any positive way for the benefit of U.S. aims and policies." [Italics added.]
[...]

Somewhere in childhood, I recall hearing someone say "If you are gonna lie, lie right!" These folks get "stupid" points for not even being able to do that.

President Bush, Read My Lips!

THIS is precisely why, despite having conservative views, many blacks avoid the Republican Party like the plague:

"Naffe says she was fired from her job, which she held from August 2003 to April of this year, after she complained about being assigned to work with black organizations, events and issues. Naffe, 25, of Tampa, was the only black field director at the time. She said she was told, 'You understand your people.'

After refusing the assignments, Naffe said she was called insubordinate and 'not a team player.' The lawsuit says she contacted the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and was soon after fired.

A message seeking comment from the Florida Republican Party was not immediately returned. Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the RNC, said Naffe has never been an employee of the committee.

'Instead of true conservatism, she found herself faced with discrimination and intolerance. And instead of compassion, she found retaliation,' said one of Naffe's lawyers, Cyrus Mehri of Washington. "

Though I fully believe that racism is rampant in both parties, the Republican Party seems to breed it, thrive on it and pander to it. It's their loss.

If It Walks Like A Duck ...

I know I shouldn't laugh when another country bashes the President. But, in this case, I gotta!

"In a strongly worded statement published by the official KCNA news agency, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Bush had hurled 'malignant slanders and calumnies' against Pyongyang's leadership under Kim Jong-il.

'This clearly proves that the DPRK was quite right when it commented that he is a political imbecile bereft of even elementary morality as a human being and a bad guy, much less being a politician,' the spokesman said. 'Bush is a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade.' "

Axis of Deceit

An Australian intelligence analyst was yet another person who was marginalized because of his anti-war views and his feeling that the "Coalition" didn't have adequate grounds for invading Iraq:

As a senior analyst at Australia’s top intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments, Andrew Wilkie had high-level access to the raw data pouring in before the Iraq war. But while his country’s prime minister, John Howard, resolutely supported an invasion, Wilkie saw a significant gap between the evidence the intelligence community collected and the way Howard, George Bush, and Tony Blair argued the case for war.

Just a few days before the U.S., UK and Australia led the “Coalition of the Willing” into Iraq, Wilkie resigned his post at ONA in protest, and took his case against the Howard government public. Since then, he has spoken at numerous protests, testified before government inquiries in Australia and the UK, and won the inaugural Whistleblower of the Year award from the United Nations Association of Australia.

Wilkie has written a new book, “Axis of Deceit,” which discusses the intelligence relating to Iraq and how it was politicized in Canberra, London, and Washington. And he is continuing to take the fight to the government, running an underdog race as the Green Party candidate for Howard’s parliamentary seat in the upcoming Australian elections. The former intelligence officer spoke with MotherJones.com about his resignation, the war in Iraq, and how the post-war focus on intelligence failures is helping governments avoid responsibility.

Finding Common Ground

I am not sure which is more scary: a) that I agree with Pat Buchanan's views in his new article: Morning in Which America? or b) that most people won't read it and/or think about what he is saying.

“[W]ith the lowest number of people employed as a share of the population since 1994, there is still a plentiful supply of unused labor looking for jobs,” writes the Times. “When Castle Harlan advertised ... to fill 70 to 80 positions at a Morton’s restaurant it opened in early July in White Plains, 600 to 700 people showed up.”

These numbers frame the issue for Bush vs. Kerry. Is it morning in America again? Or are we breaking up into the “two Americas”? And the deeper crisis remains unaddressed by either party.

In a global economy, how do U.S. workers win steady pay hikes, when hundreds of millions of foreign workers are able and willing to take their jobs at far less pay and to work longer hours with fewer benefits?

Does either party have a plan for dealing with the four forces driving down American wages, permanently?

The first is deindustrialization, the closing of U.S. factories to transfer production abroad. Some 2.6 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared in three years. While most of these workers found new jobs in the service economy, they are earning less.

The second is outsourcing via the Internet of white-collar jobs to Asia. These are not just call-center jobs, but are in accounting, medicine, computer programming, engineering, architecture.

Either way, he is right about the sad state of our economy. I just wish the candidates would find time to talk about it instead of wasting so much time on the differences between someone who went to Vietnam to serve his country and someone who did not.

It Was A Mistake

Granted, he makes this admission as he prepares to retire from Congress, but it is nice to see that he has the integrity to admit that he was wrong:

"'I've reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action,' Bereuter wrote in a letter to constituents in the final days of his congressional career.

That's especially true in view of the fact that the attack was initiated 'without a broad and engaged international coalition,' the 1st District congressman said.

'Knowing now what I know about the reliance on the tenuous or insufficiently corroborated intelligence used to conclude that Saddam maintained a substantial WMD (weapons of mass destruction) arsenal, I believe that launching the pre-emptive military action was not justified.' "

Now, if only others would own up thier mistake as well.

964 And Rising

While the airwaves are being hogged by people worrying about whether John Kerry sustained real or superficial wounds in Vietnam, the casualty count of our soldiers is rising daily. Certainly, by election day, it will have topped 1,000.

Surely, this is more important than the vicious and petty squabble over John Kerry's Swift Boat activities. Surely it is!

What Went Wrong in Iraq

This essay should really be called "What Is Going Wrong In Iraq".

"Although the early U.S. blunders in the occupation of Iraq are well known, their consequences are just now becoming clear. The Bush administration was never willing to commit the resources necessary to secure the country and did not make the most of the resources it had. U.S. officials did get a number of things right, but they never understood-or even listened to-the country they were seeking to rebuild. As a result, the democratic future of Iraq now hangs in the balance."

Lord, Help These People!

Vietnam Vet Says Has No Proof for Claim Kerry Lied:

"A veteran who disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam war record acknowledged on Sunday he had no proof to back his charge that Kerry fabricated the reports of enemy fire that won him two medals. "

Aha! So That's It!

Well, it took this article until the very end to get to the heart of the matter, but I guess this must be the point of all of this Swift Boat madness and negative campaigning on Kerry's previously undisputed war record.:

" Indeed, it's far more likely that moderates and fence-sitters will be disgusted by the lengths to which partisans will go to discredit a rival. But this anti-Kerry campaign is not designed to win undecided votes. It's designed to reassure uneasy minds"

Now and Laters

This from Political Animal on how some of the Swift Boat folks have 'flip-flopped' on their views of Kerry's war record:

Roy Hoffman, today: "John Kerry has not been honest."
Roy Hoffman, 2003: "I am not going to say anything negative about him — he's a good man."

Adrian Lonsdale, today: "He lacks the capacity to lead."
Adrian Lonsdale, 1996: "He was among the finest of those Swift boat drivers."

George Elliot, today: "John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam."

George Elliot, 1996: "The fact that he chased an armed enemy down is something not to be looked down upon, but it was an act of courage."

Larry Thurlow, today: "...there was no hostile enemy fire directed at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day."

Larry Thurlow's Bronze Star citation, 1969: "...all units began receiving enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks."

Dr. Louis Letson, today: "I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury."

Medical records, 1968: "Dr. Letson's name does not appear on any of the medical records for Mr. Kerry. Under 'person administering treatment' for the injury, the form is signed by a medic, J. C. Carreon, who died several years ago."

Grant Hibbard, today: "He betrayed all his shipmates. He lied before the Senate."
Hibbard's evaluation of Kerry, 1968: "Mr. Hibbard gave Mr. Kerry the highest rating of 'one of the top few' in three categories—initiative, cooperation and personal behavior. He gave Mr. Kerry the second-best rating, 'above the majority,' in military bearing."

I'm truly baffled as to why they continue to think they can pull this off. Either way, they are or were liars.

More With Us Or Against Us Crap!

It just slays me that no one seems to think that there is a point where this kind of behavior becomes extreme. This is, supposedly, the United States of America. We have the right to vote for any candidate we deem fit. We, I thought, had the right to disagree with and protest. But with the Bush administration, you cannot attend one of his campaign appearances unless you agree. If you express your opinion, it can cost you your job. And that is sad!

"He surrounds himself with people who support him," Hiller said of Bush. "Your opinion ... is viewed as right or wrong."

When he showed up for work at Octavo Designs of Frederick, Md., the following morning, he said he was told he'd embarrassed and offended a client who provided tickets to the event — and that he was fired.

The client was a public relations worker who represents the Berkeley County school district, he said. "It's just bizarre that you disagree with them and it all turns evil," Hiller said.

When are people going to wake up? Is almost half of America really this blind?

More Like Beechwood

via negrophile.com

When he arrived at Hallmark, Barnes had expected to find a staff of African-American designers and writers working on the Mahogany imprint, a line of cards tailored for black consumers. Instead, he found a white art director, a white editorial director and white writers. "

"That was a huge shock to me," Barnes tells the Pitch. "When you make a line of cards specifically targeted to a certain demographic, there is a distinct voice that can only come from people who have themselves lived through the experience. That is not to say that my white coworkers weren't writing beautiful Mahogany pieces, but what I didn't see was an influx of African-American writers getting a chance to express their own experiences or to be writers, period. We would be in editorial meetings consisting of every writer, editor and editorial director in the company, about 100 strong, and each and every time, I was the only African-American man in the room."

Hallmark introduced its first greeting cards for black consumers in the 1960s, but it didn't launch a full-fledged line until 1987, when it unveiled Mahogany as a 16-card seasonal offering. Now, with more than 800 options, it's the largest card catalog marketed to African-Americans."

No comment. Last Christmas I got an art set to begin making my own cards again.   ... again !

Weapons of Mass Seduction

I can't say I am particularly impressed with the form of protest but this certainly ought to be interesting:

[...] When Republicans descend on New York at the end of this month they will definitely be getting their panties in a bunch -- if they end up at Robert F. Wagner Park in lower Manhattan on September 1, that is.

The Axis of Eve coalition is planning a "Panty Performance Protest" at 6pm in the park, where its "brazen women" will carry out their mission of exposing themselves (no nudity, mind you) in order to help "expose and depose" President Bush. More than 100 women will participate in the mass flash, which will showcase the group's provocative line of protest panties emblazoned with such sexy admonitions as "give bush the finger," "expose bush" and "weapon of mass seduction."
Conservative Republicans may prefer to be titillated behind closed doors, but anyone sympathetic to Axis of Eve's desire to strip bare the Bush administration's numerous transgressions won't want to miss this spectacle. And the anarchists thought they were the ones stirring up all the nervous excitement. [...]

-- Mark Follman salon.com

Don King To The Rescue!

This is what kills me about Bush's administration. They keep touting that they have numerous blacks in key positions. Yet, they are all blacks who are isolated/disengaged from the black community. They've got a man who talks like he has marbles in his mouth as the Secretary of Education and he'll have a key speaking role at the RNC. Bush snubs the NAACP Convention and heads off to the Urban League yet fails to understand that the two groups aren't mutually exclusive and that the same folks he was hiding from at one conference will be front and center at the other one.

"The RNC chairman's so-called outreach efforts are nothing new. For the last 25 years, the GOP has sought to cultivate new black leadership to supplant the left-leaning cadre of traditional black leaders. The tactic reached public notoriety in the early 1980s, when a young Congressman from Georgia named Newt Gingrich publicly argued against trying to appeal to traditional black leadership. 'It is in the interest of the Republican Party and Ronald Reagan to invent new black leadership, so to speak. People who have a belief in discipline, hard-work and patriotism, the kind of people who applauded Regan's actions in (invading) Grenada.'

King apparently is one of those invented black leaders suggested by Gingrich, who incidentally remains an influential GOP strategist. King is best known for his wild hair, his 'only in America' mock patriotism and his shady dealings in the disreputable boxing business. That public image and his prison record make him an odd pitchman for a law-and-order administration with a solid base on the Christian right. 'What's next for the GOP?' one Republican blogger asked, 'a photo-op with OJ?'"

Why in HAY-ell they think a crooked whack job like Don King can hustle black votes is just beyond me. In fact, it's quite insulting! Why don't they just get Snoop Dog and Bishop Don 'Magic' Juan or some other court jester from that 'life'!

Who Gives A Crap?!

And the point is? Yeah, we know we invented Rock and Roll, The Blues, Jazz, Hip-Hop and have contributed, disproportionately, more to American language and culture than any other ethnic group. The people who don't know that, don't know a host of other things either. But, I'll be dang if I'll lose sleep over there being No Black Rock Musicians on Miller Cans:

"Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, said the absence is 'beyond conspicuous' since black artists often are credited with inventing rock 'n' roll. "

"It would be like doing a set of cans of six great Impressionist painters and not including any French people on it," he said. "It leaves out an enormous amount."

The brewer and the magazine issued the cans this summer, depicting Elvis Presley, Blondie, Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Willie Nelson, as well as two guitars.

Gary Armstrong, chief marketing officer for Rolling Stone publisher Wenner Media, said race wasn't a consideration when choosing the artists.

"We didn't even consciously think pro or con, the same way that the only woman on there is Blondie. We just went with the people that we thought were appropriate," he said. "We went through (the covers) and said these people we don't think are appropriate, or wouldn't appeal to Miller drinkers."

I know we have bigger fish to fry than who is on a beer can. Obviously, the cans aren't meant to target a black audience and I don't care about this anymore than I do about there being no Hurricane's being named Shameika or Tawanda!

Is Florida At It Again?

This election season is really about the nastiest I've seen in my voting days. Does Jeb Bush honestly think he can suppress the vote?:

"State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd 'investigation' that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November.

The officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, say they are investigating allegations of voter fraud that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March.

Officials refused to discuss details of the investigation, other than to say that absentee ballots are involved. They said they had no idea when the investigation might end, and acknowledged that it may continue right through the presidential election.
'We did a preliminary inquiry into those allegations and then we concluded that there was enough evidence to follow through with a full criminal investigation,' said Geo Morales, a spokesman for the Department of Law Enforcement.

The state police officers, armed and in plain clothes, have questioned dozens of voters in their homes. Some of those questioned have been volunteers in get-out-the-vote campaigns."

Florida, of all places, ought to try to keep it clean. But, I guess, when Bushco is bold enough to make attendees at his rallys sign 'loyalty oaths' and doesn't allow anyone who isn't an avid supporter to attend, you can expect just about anything.

More We Aren't Getting In The US Press

Najaf assault turns allies against US:

"'The government has lost the support of the Middle Euphrates region and the south, even if it manages to calm down these areas temporarily using brute force,' he said, referring to clashes in central and southern Iraq.

He said al-Sadr should have been given a political voice in government to avert violent confrontation. 'There is no wisdom to what the Americans and Allawi are doing,' he said.

'The consequences are unthinkable.' "

What Are We Doing?

I don't see this on the Yahoo newswire:

Aljazeera.Net - Many killed in US bombing of Samarra:

"The US military has dropped a series of half-tonne bombs on a number of locations in the city of Samarra, killing at least 50 people."

Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!

Yet Again!

No Evidence Attack Is Imminent:

"The Bush administration has discovered no evidence of imminent plans by terrorists to attack U.S. financial buildings, nearly two weeks after the government issued startling warnings about such possible threats, a White House official said Thursday. "

CTFU!

Today's Boondocks comic is too funny!

Up and Out From The DL

When I first saw the headline, I did the standard . But then I read the article and thought: "how sad!" Sad for his wives, his kids and, yes, for him.

NJ Gov. McGreevey Resigns Over Homosexual Affair

Throughout my life, I have grappled about my identity," McGreevey told a news conference, making reference to his Catholic upbringing.

The Democrat spoke about the love, strength and respect of both his first and second wives but said, "From my early days of school until the present day, I acknowledged some feeling, a certain sense that separated me from others."

"Yet at my most reflective, maybe even spiritual level, there were points in my life when I began to question what an acceptable reality meant for me."

"My truth is is that I am a gay American," he said.

Update: Okay, I was taking the high, compassionate route when I originally posted. This is some salacious mess! This guy had all kinds of things going on with his relationships and corruption. To his credit, he came out like Rick James with "I'm Gay ... Bitch!" ... obviously trying get the upper hand with some pending allegations. But, there was a whole lot of other stuff going on UP IN THERE! Him being gay was the least of it!

Amen! Hallelujah! Say It One Mo' Ag'in!

Ditto! It Is Disgusting

Anti-Kerry radio ads run on black stations:

"The Kerry campaign denounced the ads, all of which are being aired on black radio stations. 'It's disgusting that the president's political allies are now using race as a political weapon,' said Bill Lynch, deputy manager of the Kerry campaign. 'First a group of right-wing Swift boat veterans began smearing John Kerry's military service, and now another group has resorted to playing racial politics.'"
[...]
"Another ad attacks Teresa Heinz Kerry, who, at the Democratic convention last month cited her birth and upbringing in Mozambique and who has described herself as African American. In the radio commercial, the announcer says: "His wife says she's an African American. While technically true, I don't believe a white woman, raised in Africa, surrounded by servants, qualifies.""

For the record, when asked, I use the term Black American (because I am American by birth and generations of residence (forced or not). Teresa Heinz Kerry IS African American and has every right to call herself that.

These fools NEED to stop!

Fair and Balanced Reading ...

Objectively, I see Foxnews as the American Al Jazeera. So, since I take a peek at Foxnews even though I know they are biased towards the far right, I am obligated to scan the pages of the other extreme. Funny, they report stuff we don't hear ... I think we
need to know this stuff:

"The deputy governor of Najaf has resigned in protest against the US offensive on the city even as a series of explosions rocked Najaf as fighting between US marines and Al-Mahdi fighters entered a second week. "

Trash Talking

I am trying not to laugh. Iran is pulling a "North Korea" on us. They know we are up to our eyeballs in Iraq and Afghanistan, that public support is dwindling and that there really is nothing we can do about their REAL WMD's.

So, Dubya, what are you going to do about this? "'If Israel behaves like a lunatic and attacks the Iranian nation's interests, we will come down on their heads like a mallet and break their bones,' the ISNA students news agency quoted Revolutionary Guards Commander Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying on Wednesday."

What Is Plan B ?

Clearly, things are not going as planned in Iraq. Though I haven't seen news of the threat of secession on the American newswires (only reported via Al Jazeera and mentioned on Democracy Now this morning) it is something that has been discussed, recommended and analyzed by those who have more than cursory knowledge of Iraq and the middle east (and obviously people who were not included in the post-war planning committee in the Bush Administration). Not only were people discussing this before our boots hit the ground in Iraq, this article was written about one month after we invaded.

Secession and the Future of Iraq:

"The Post-World War II Creation of Iraq's 'Historic Borders'
Baghdad has a 5000-year old history, but Iraq as a country most certainly does not. In 1919, following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the British created what we now know as Iraq - enclosing it within suitably strange-looking borders, and trapping together within it a number of historically antagonistic religious and ethnic groups.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of World War I brought the triumph of the Wilsonian vision of 'national self-determination.' One implication of that vision is that it is desirable for each group considering itself a nation to have its own state. This is a totally unrealistic, indeed, disastrous vision - leading to the possibility of endless bloodshed in what are inevitably multinational states. But it has still proved a compelling one, for groups who have been denied their own state.
Today, as many commentators have noted, George W. Bush is almost zealously Wilsonian in his professed zeal to create a new world predicated on democracy. The initial defense of invading Iraq emphasized direct national security threats posed by weapons of mass destruction. But now the rhetoric has shifted, especially since few, if any, such weapons have been discovered. Now the rhetoric emphasizes the Iraqi people's right to determine their own fate. "

I Will Not Listen ...

This is getting embarrassing ... What a buffoon!
Keyes' Campaign Takes On A Whole New Note:

"Day four for Republican Alan Keyes' on the campaign trail brings more surprises! First, the senate candidate stopped to sing for CBS 2 News. Then, welcome to Mister Keyes' neighborhood. The out-of-towner will live temporarily in a suburban two-flat in the heart of Democratic territory"

The South Is Ready To Secede

That sounds like civil war to me.

Hmmmm

No wonder they are shutting down Al Jazeera in Iraq for a while. Looks like the mainstream papers haven't heard this yet:

"Meanwhile Al Jazeera is reporting that Basra's interim leaders are considering breaking away from the rest of Iraq and forming an independent southern Iraqi government to include the heavily Shiite areas of Basra, Misan and Dhi Qar. The head of the Misan council said the move is in part due to the situation in Najaf. He said 'This reaction comes in response to the crimes committed against Iraqis by an illegal and unelected government, and occupation forces who claimed they came to liberate Iraq, but it turned out that they have come to kill Iraqis.' "

Let The Side Show Begin ...

I have been putting off posting on the Illinois Senate race because I honestly wanted to address the the issues from each candidate's perspective. I was going to build a 'case' for Alan Keyes. But, two days into the race, I can see this is going to be no more than a side show. I am not sure what motive the GOP had for dragging Alan Keyes all the way from Maryland to run against a very well received younger candidate. As cynical as I am, I truly hope they did not do it simply to spite Obama and basically say: "If a nigga is gonna win, we'll give them a nigga." More than that, Keyes, for all his bluster about morality, integrity and decency is clearly contradicting himself when it comes to carpet bagging.

I've never been a fan of Keyes because I simply disagree with him and don't particularly care for his vicious style. One can have an intelligent debate without engaging in ad hominem attacks. I love a good rhetoritician, probably more most, but if nasty attacks are all you have against your opponent, I'd say you need to step away from the podium.

I'll address a couple of his stands, just to say I did:

1) Abortion: Hypothetically, he could rape and impregnate his daughter. By his standards, she'd have to endure giving birth to the child. Sorry, I'd choose to terminate that spawn and take it up with the maker later. Ugh!

2) Affirmative Action: He doesn't support it. Why the heck does he think he was chosen by the same GOP who banned him from the 1996 Presidential debates as he chained himself to the television station studio door? BECAUSE HE IS BLACK!

At one point I would have said that Alan Keyes was a right wing version of Al Sharpton ... a more educated, non-Baptist preacher sounding Al ... But, I've come to like Al's wit and style and won't insult him with the comparison. We've already got a President with a God complex. We don't need a Senator from Illinois who has one too. We don't even need him in the race (pun intended).


New election, same old Keyes

On his first day of campaigning for a Senate seat in Illinois, Alan Keyes came out swinging…far to the right, that is. Using blindingly extremist rhetoric, Keyes said that his opponent, Barrack Obama, had the moral compass of an anti-abolishionist. The Chicago Tribune reports:

"When asked about his motivations for seeking the Senate seat, Keyes cited what he said were issues on which Obama is out of step with voters in Illinois and throughout the country, particularly abortion, gay rights and taxation. Obama's support of abortion rights means he 'opposes the great American principles that led to the abolition of slavery….'"

The Tribune also mentions a challenge from Jesse Jackson for president Bush to back up the GOP's new man in Illinois. "Also Monday, Rev. Jesse Jackson, who is backing Obama, challenged the national Republican Party to prove Keyes' importance by making him a centerpiece of the Republican National Convention, which starts Aug. 30.

"With Keyes at the top of the statewide races in Illinois, 'It means prime time for the convention. It means [President] Bush should campaign for him, as [Sen. John] Kerry did for Barack,' Jackson said." As fun as a prime-time, hellfire and damnation speech from Keyes would be at the RNC, we doubt it's in the cards. Bush senior already learned that lesson from Pat "culture war" Buchanan in 1992.

Crazy Times Demand a Crazy Senator ?

Now that Keyes is officially in the race, you know my commentary on the matter is forthcoming. In the meantime, though, I thought I'd direct folks to some of the buzz about this 'Hail Mary' shot at the Senate seat:

Keyes to a Fiasco:

"The Democrat's wunder-candidate will give this race national attention and the local GOPer's thick-headed Grand Strategy--'hmmm, they've got a black candidate who can give one hell of a speech . . . we need a black candidate who can give a fiery speech'--is likely to set the already tattered Illinois Republican party back at least another five years."

Loose Lips

sink undercover operatives ...:

[...]
"But what's more disturbing, perhaps even more than the new details of al-Qaida's twisted plotting, is the Bush administration's outing of an undercover al-Qaida agent in its rush to justify raising the terror alert. This move, whether politically motivated or rooted in incompetence has terrorism and security experts shocked and dismayed for the harm inflicted on intelligence operations against al-Qaida. CNN reports today that the administration 'may have shut down an important source of information that has already led to a series of al-Qaida arrests' when officials revealed Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan's identity to journalists last week (Khan is the computer expert who 'flipped' last month and was operating as a double-agent for the Pakistani government). Do we have so many plugged-in al-Qaida double agents that we can afford to lose one and with him all of his connections and leads? Of course not."
[...]

Now That His Girls Have Graduated College ...

Bush opposes 'legacy' college admissions:

"Under legacy programs, applicants are given an advantage if their parents or grandparents attended the school. Bush, a third-generation graduate of Yale University, joked about his own legacy.

'Well, in my case, I had to knock on a lot of doors to follow the old man's footsteps,' he said to laughter."

Yeah ... Okay Clarence ...

You Want To Hope

That this isn't real l ... But, it is:

"'When I knock on a door and say white children deserve the same rights as everybody else, the enthusiastic response is truly amazing,' he said.

If a black person opens the door, he says he simply drops off campaign literature and leaves. "

Jury Clears Fagan Jr. Of All Charges In Civil Trial:

"Fagan Jr. is also involved in a criminal assault case over a November 2002 incident in which he and two other off-duty officers allegedly beat two men over a bag of fajitas."

It matters not if he gets convicted. Why the heck would he even be involved in a conversation over a bag of fajitas?

Bush in tussle for N.H. votes

He's Just Not Getting It:

"The diner's owner, Ken Roderick, a registered Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, said he's not sure he'll do so again. His assistant, Matt Belanger, an out-of-work computer technician who's making ends meet as a short-order cook, was irate about an invitation he recently received to a $2,500-a-plate fundraiser for the president. 'I haven't had a lot of work in the last two years,' Belanger said."

Jimmy Crack Corn

So I guess eating raw corn makes him a manly man?

Insert [Home Alone Face] Here:

I swear! This has been my year for nightmares coming alive and staring me right in the face.

First, I spent more than a year in misery (because of this economy) at a job that I could not stand with a team lead who was, undeniably and compulsively obsessed with his work and everyone who had anything to do with it. At one point, I thought I was going to have to get an order of protection from his incessant calling when I carried the rotating pager and cell phone. STALKER! My only solace was that I sat in an office 3 floors above him so my daily face time with him was limited. That was until my not-so-bright, devoid of social skills, off-site manager decided that our team needed to be closer together and I end up being moved to the newly vacated seat right next to him. Oh, the horror!

Second, I've been blogging for over a year about our daft and addle minded President. I went to my sorority's bi-annual convention and WHO ends up, out of 10K conventioneers, with a reporter in their face being questioned about the President's chances of getting my vote? Yeah! The last person who needs that test. Whyyyyyy?

Finally, I watched as much as I could stomach of zealot Alan Keyes on his, now defunct, MSNBC talk show - at the suggestion of a former friend/co-worker (who turned out to be a psycho/pervert/bigot masquerading as a devout Catholic) just to see if I could possibly find common ground with a Christian ultra-Conservative. I learned something. You can't be open to someone whose mind is closed! I had already written him off as rude, mean and rigid when he was running for President and yelled at a naive little Iowan woman who questioned his stand on something with WWJD? When he screamed "Jesus would say GET OVER IT," I knew he was a few ticks on the wrong side of crazy. Once his show went bust, I figured he'd get a clue and go away - for good! The sight of him makes me cringe. So, imagine my chagrin when I see that the Illinois GOP is actually considering carpet bagging him all the way from the state of Maryland to run against Barack Obama for the Senate seat! Then, it appears as if these folks (they have a black republican woman on the short list of two as well) don't see this as the ultimate race card ploy. As qualified as they may be, I am supposed to believe that there is not another qualified man (who happens to be white/Hispanic/Asian), in the state of Illinois, who can take on Obama. These folks are so sharp that they were below Mike Freakin' Ditka (red-us neck-edus) on the list ... Bwaaaah!

Anyhow, the good news is this: 1) I found a new job. 2) I was able to 'chill' and didn't go into one of my Bush-hating rants on camera. 3) I am sure that these random, "articulate" Negroes the GOP thinks they can pass off as competition for Obama will, too, come to pass.

I believe that there are no coincidences. But now I am breathlessly awaiting the next one.

Update: It's going to be Alan Keyes. Yuck!

It Just Gets Dumber and Dumber

I'm just all out of rants today so I'll let everyone else do it:

Terror alert: how four-year-old information was transformed into clear and present danger ...

Now Run And Tell That!

"Four more years of hell"

Maybe Teresa Heinz Kerry should be the one debating George W. Bush this fall. From First Read:
'When Teresa Heinz Kerry addressed the evening rally in Milwaukee, WI, MSNBC's Diamond reports, some Bush supporters in the crowd yelled 'four more years,' to which Heinz Kerry replied, 'They want four more years of hell.' Just a few minutes later, Heinz Kerry told the crowd, 'We'll have a man who will serve in the line of fire instead of going elsewhere.' Kerry then thanked his wife for speaking her mind and told the crowd, 'I want to thank George Bush for sending the goons here to do his work.''"

(via Salon.com)

I'm outa here!

I am not sure why I even bother to call myself Catholic anymore. It's not like I go to mass regularly or that I buy into key parts of the doctrine. I guess I am still holding on to good memories from my childhood and my positive experiences in the Catholic school system and Jesuit University. Looking back, I'm guessing it wasn't the church, per se, but the people in the Parish, the nice nuns from grade and high school and the scholarly priests in college. It was going to mass each Sunday with my girl scout troop and going away for weekend retreats with the CYO. I don't remember doctrine being pounded into my head. My religion and theology classes seemed to be more Socratic in nature never instructive (save that weirdo "Christian Marriage" course I had to take in order to graduate from Marquette University ... Like I'd actually listen to a Dr. guest lecturer on "natural family planning" when he had 13 freaking children). I wasn't from an "ethnic" Catholic family so there weren't generations of people who'd come from other countries that were as much ruled by church as they were by politics. I missed out on the cycles of sin, blame, guilt and repentance that seem to be the scars that I kept hearing that Catholics supposedly had.

Anyhow, I guess that in all honesty, I've never been a follower of some decrepit old white man interpreting God's law for me. I'll keep the sweet memories of a nice childhood where the solemn rituals (like communion, confirmation) made me feel so special. The Pope and the entire hierarchy need to get their heads out of their behinds and rise up into the 21st century. For dang sure, I don't want to hear this kind of crap where the Pope is blaming feminism for all of the ills of the world. I still don't consider myself to be a feminist as much as I am a free thinking, independent, self-reliant human being who rebukes traditional rules and roles that, for all intents and purposes, render women as second class citizens. I don't buy that from Catholics, Baptists, Muslims or Buddhists.

I will keep my rosaries, my memories and funny stories. But the doctrine needs an overhaul and I'm not interested nor invested enough to be bothered.

Say what?

I had just read this article before I came home from work to turn on the DNC last week. Some squeaky voiced woman was addressing the Convention (blond hair, looking like an aged Barbie doll). I turned up my nose with the usual "who's that wench?" Well, it turned out to be none other than Iowa's First Lady (looking just as simple and ditzy as she sounded with this kind of foolishness):

" I am fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires," Vilsack wrote in a 1994 column in the Mount Pleasant News, while her husband, Tom, was a state senator.

Vilsack wrote that southerners seem to have "slurred speech," wrote that she'd rather learn Polish than try to speak like people from New Jersey, and wrote that a West Virginian waitress once offered her friend a "side saddle" instead of a "side salad."

Well! Thank God Kerry didn't pick this guy for a running mate. People are worried about Kerry's wife being a "pistol" but at least she's cultured and exposed to the world other languages and accents. There is life outside of Iowa and the Midwest. I hate to break it to this woman but there are folks who'd have a hard time understanding her Midwestern 'dialect' ...

Someone Else For President!

I think it is pretty clear that the late President Reagan's son Ron has the same views of Dubya that I do. This article in the new Esquire is a long outline of exactly what he thinks of the son of his father's successor.

[...]
" None of this, needless to say, guarantees Bush a one-term presidency. The far-right wing of the country—nearly one third of us by some estimates—continues to regard all who refuse to drink the Kool-Aid (liberals, rationalists, Europeans, et cetera) as agents of Satan. Bush could show up on video canoodling with Paris Hilton and still bank their vote. Right-wing talking heads continue painting anyone who fails to genuflect deeply enough as a "hater," and therefore a nut job, probably a crypto-Islamist car bomber. But these protestations have taken on a hysterical, almost comically desperate tone. It's one thing to get trashed by Michael Moore. But when Nobel laureates, a vast majority of the scientific community, and a host of current and former diplomats, intelligence operatives, and military officials line up against you, it becomes increasingly difficult to characterize the opposition as fringe wackos.

Does anyone really favor an administration that so shamelessly lies? One that so tenaciously clings to secrecy, not to protect the American people, but to protect itself? That so willfully misrepresents its true aims and so knowingly misleads the people from whom it derives its power? I simply cannot think so. And to come to the same conclusion does not make you guilty of swallowing some liberal critique of the Bush presidency, because that's not what this is. This is the critique of a person who thinks that lying at the top levels of his government is abhorrent. Call it the honest guy's critique of George W. Bush."

[...]

"UNDERSTANDABLY, SOME SUPPORTERS of Mr. Bush's will believe I harbor a personal vendetta against the man, some seething resentment. One conservative commentator, based on earlier remarks I've made, has already discerned "jealousy" on my part; after all, Bush, the son of a former president, now occupies that office himself, while I, most assuredly, will not. Truth be told, I have no personal feelings for Bush at all. I hardly know him, having met him only twice, briefly and uneventfully—once during my father's presidency and once during my father's funeral. I'll acknowledge occasional annoyance at the pretense that he's somehow a clone of my father, but far from threatening, I see this more as silly and pathetic. My father, acting roles excepted, never pretended to be anyone but himself. His Republican party, furthermore, seems a far cry from the current model, with its cringing obeisance to the religious Right and its kill-anything-that-moves attack instincts. Believe it or not, I don't look in the mirror every morning and see my father looming over my shoulder. I write and speak as nothing more or less than an American citizen, one who is plenty angry about the direction our country is being dragged by the current administration. We have reached a critical juncture in our nation's history, one ripe with both danger and possibility. We need leadership with the wisdom to prudently confront those dangers and the imagination to boldly grasp the possibilities. Beyond issues of fiscal irresponsibility and ill-advised militarism, there is a question of trust. George W. Bush and his allies don't trust you and me. Why on earth, then, should we trust them?

Fortunately, we still live in a democratic republic. The Bush team cannot expect a cabal of right-wing justices to once again deliver the White House. Come November 2, we will have a choice: We can embrace a lie, or we can restore a measure of integrity to our government. We can choose, as a bumper sticker I spotted in Seattle put it, SOMEONE ELSE FOR PRESIDENT."
[...]

The PO-lease In Iraq ...

Iraq police say ...:

"'Our biggest problem used to be fistfights,' said Mohammed. 'Today we have gunfights, kidnappings, assassinations. It's 100 times worse.'

During the Saddam era he carried no weapon. Now, like most officers, he tucks a Glock 9 mm pistol in his belt. Leaving the station Monday, he brought along an AK-47 assault rifle, too, in case his Glock ran out of bullets.
Authorities have been trying to raise the morale of an insecure public.

One ubiquitous Baghdad billboard shows a blue-uniformed policeman jabbing a forefinger into the distance, with the message: 'I risk my life every day for the sake of my country. ... I fight thieves, criminals and terrorists, not for money or reward, but because I am a member of the Iraqi police. What have you done for Iraq?' "