No Mas(k)!

I can't take anymore.

A man wearing a John Kerry T-shirt and President Bush mask at an election office was charged with disorderly conduct for breaking a law that bans campaigning outside polling places, police said.

Kevin Dodds also was charged with the seldom-invoked crime of wearing a mask. A Georgia law aimed at the Ku Klux Klan makes it illegal to wear masks except on "holidays and special occasions."

The case started Friday, the last day of Georgia's early voting period, when Dodds' wife went to vote accompanied by an infant wearing a Kerry-Edwards shirt. Poll workers asked the woman to turn the child's shirt inside out so she could remain and vote, but she allegedly refused and left.

Later that day, Kevin Dodds went to the polling place saying he wanted to protest the objection to the baby's shirt. A police report said Dodds stood outside screaming, sometimes using foul language, and refused requests to take off his mask.

When Dodds, 35, was arrested, he "reeked of alcohol," said police Sgt. Chris Robinson.

Poll workers didn't get his wife's name. A phone call to a listing for Kevin and Susan Dodds was not immediately returned.

State law prohibits campaigning within 150 feet of a polling site. Signs outside polling places explain the law, which even bans voters from wearing stickers promoting a candidate.

All the charges are misdemeanors, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

One Nation Under A Fool

The obsession the Bush camp has with "supporters only" pep rallies is worrying me to death! A normal candidate, particularly an incumbent, should be trying to garner all of the votes they can. They have gone through such great lengths to eject detractors or those who may ask a question that he won't like that it sounds like he is not really concerned with getting new supporters. It sounds like he is trying to brainwash the ones he already has. Tell me this verbal pledge isht isn't scary?

"I want you to stand, raise your right hands," and recite "the Bush Pledge," said Florida state Sen. Ken Pruitt. The assembled mass of about 2,000 in this Treasure Coast town about an hour north of West Palm Beach dutifully rose, arms aloft, and repeated after Pruitt: "I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States."

They froth at the mouth if you make the Hitler comparisons but something is definitely afoul. I hope against all hopes that I am just being paranoid but this has been nagging me ever since I read about the first incident of the loyalty oath.

Mr. Bin Laden I Presume?

I was starting to think that Osama had succumbed to some illness or that he'd been secretly captured. But, just in time for the election, the nefarious OBL reappears on video - this time, it seems, just to F' with the Dubya. Bush has been getting some pretty nifty endorsements from 'the enemies' recently. But Osama shows up on a dime to yank our fearless leader's chain. It would almost be funny if there wasn't so much at stake. Kerry won't be able to fix this. We will be in a blood feud for generations to come:

"'God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind,' he said.

Bin Laden suggested Bush was slow to react to the Sept. 11 attacks, giving the hijackers more time than they expected. At the time of the attacks, the president was listening to schoolchildren in Florida reading a book.

'It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would leave 50,000 of his citizens in the two towers to face these horrors alone,' he said, referring to the number of people who worked at the World Trade Center.

'It appeared to him (Bush) that a little girl's talk about her goat and its butting was more important than the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers. That gave us three times the required time to carry out the operations, thank God,' he said."

What the heck! I do have to laugh. Even OBL won't cut Bush a break over that damned goat story!

Private Party 2

Okay, gotta laugh! He had all of his good little negroes rounded up and put in a corral before a rally. (link via oliverwills.com)

"Bush walks into a curtained off area to meet with African American leaders, before a rally in the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan October 27, 2004. (African American leaders?)"

When did Don King become an "African American" leader?

Has Anybody Here Seen My Friend Jesus?

Somewhere in this blog, I know I've mentioned that I grew up in the Catholic Church and school system. Save my last two years in high school, I went K thru college. I've never considered myself to be a religious person but one with a strong spiritual foundation. From the very beginning, charity and compassion were the core and the song "They'll know we are Christians by our love" still runs through my head every now and then. That's what I thought it was all about. According to some, I was wrong.

More so than I can ever remember (including the time of the moral majority during the Reagan years), religion is playing a huge part in politics and in this election. The people who are making it such an issue make me wonder if I was asleep during my entire childhood and young adult life because the God and Jesus that George W. Bush's conservative Christian base rant and rave about bears no resemblance to the son of God that I remember learning about. The fire, brimstone, judgment and claim to a man that I thought was in everyone's heart and soul is so far beyond who I know that I'm convinced that there must have been another Jesus. These people have decided who loves Jesus more, who Jesus loves, who can be a Christian, who knows the bible, who is going to heaven, who is evil ...

When I read opinions like the ones on this site (via debwire), where this Christian questions whether "liberals" can even be Christian, I just feel sad. According to people like her, not only am I not Christian, it is impossible for me to be because of my political views - though using the standards they use, I don't want to be.

This article, however is reminiscent of what I thought I knew about Jesus. Alas, this author is no longer a Christian either.

Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was born poor to an unmarried woman. He was not born into a family of privilege. He was a radical. He said, "It was said an eye for and eye and a tooth of a tooth, but now I say love your enemies and bless those who curse you." He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Matthew 5: 3-9) He said, "All those who are called by my name will enter the kingdom of heaven." He said, "People will know true believers if they have the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control."

He knew he would be led like a sheep to the slaughter. He responded with "Father forgive them." He explained that in Christ there is neither Jew nor gentile, slave or free male nor female. He explained that even to be angry is akin to murder. He said the temple of God is not a building, but is in the hearts of those are called by his name. He was called "the Prince of Peace." His final days were spent in prayer, so that he could endure what was set before him, not on how he could overpower the evil government of that day. When they came for him he was led away and didn’t resist his death sentence.

This is a stark contrast to the call of the religious Christian right, who vote for war and weapons, and suggest towns and villages be leveled to bring freedom and peace to the people. They proudly boast this country’s superiority, suggesting God has blessed our nation. Today, as I listened to a popular Christian news network, I was reminded that in the last days, even God's elect will be deceived, (II Timothy 3:13). When the religious media moguls preaching prosperity spout their rhetoric, I am reminded of the difficulty Jesus described of a rich man's ability to enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19: 24) (http://www.4religious-right.info/rr_economics.htm) Some who believe they are fighting evil will cry to the Lord, and he will say I never knew you. (Matthew 22). They will have a form or godliness but will deny the power (II Timothy 3:5) to move mountains through prayer. (Matthew 17:20). Jesus explained that he has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:17) I wonder if the innocent moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas who were the victims of US military weapons (the never reported collateral damages we are protected from in the "liberal" nightly news) felt the love of Jesus with the shock and awe. I wonder if the surviving family members now understand His radical love and that they no longer have any need for weapons or defense.

In a matter of days, we will elect a new president. I am hoping to get the Whitehouse back into the hands of a sane and competent leader. I am also hoping that my Jesus comes back.

Yet Another Private Party

I'm still not getting this "supporters only" rule with the Bush campaign rallies. We are supposed to be teaching our children about democracy yet they are told they can only wear Bush paraphernalia or neutral attire? I guess I'll never know. Why is this allowed?

"The Bush-Cheney campaign rented the local high school and applied the divine right of kings - or at least one ill-prepared and inarticulate boy king - to what had been a public school. Richland Center students were informed that they could attend the audience with His Highness only if they donned approved apparel: a Bush for President T-shirt or so-called 'neutral clothing.' What they could not wear was any clothing that promoted the cause of any dissenter to the rule of King George.

If they showed up dressed inappropriately, students were warned, they would be removed from what was perhaps the biggest-ever event at their school.

What could justify such an abuse of the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and assembly? The principal of Richland Center High School - whose boss, the superintendent of schools for the city, is the wife of Republican congressional candidate Dale Schultz - had no problem eliminating a few basic liberties because, as he put it, students were being given a rare opportunity to spend time in the presence of their king, er, president. The principal needs to review a few American history books.

The American Revolution was fought, in Paine's words, to 'establish a new social order.' Central to that new order's philosophy of being was the notion that every American must be endowed, as Jefferson explained, with 'the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion.'

That right was denied in Richland Center by the Bush "

Catching Up To Saddam

Part of the post-rationale for invading Iraq was bringing up the fact that Saddam Hussein had killed thousands of his own people. He was in power for decades. We have been there for 18 months. It seems to me that if we calculate the deaths on a per annum basis, we're very likely to surpass Saddam's death toll if we stay much longer.

"Deaths of Iraqis have soared to 100,000 above normal since the Iraq war mainly due violence and many of the victims have been women and children, public health experts from the United States said Thursday.

'Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess deaths, or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq,' researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland said in a report published online by The Lancet medical journal.

'Violence accounted for most of the excess death and air strikes from (U.S.-led) coalition forces accounted for the most violent deaths,' the report added. "

Pro-war folks always toss up the "would you rather Saddam still be in power?" line when someone questions our damage, but given the numbers, I'm not seeing where our presence has really bought the Iraqis a better deal.

Bush Helps Wake Up Islam

Bush lost a number of allies but he ended up gaining some new ones. First he gets an endorsement from his "axis of evil" buddy: Iran. Now an alledged al Qaeda linked "terrorist" organization is giving him the nod too!

"We change and destroy countries,' the statement said. 'We even influence the international economy, and this is God's blessing to us.'

The statement tells American voters that Abu Hafs al-Masri supports the re-election campaign of President Bush: 'We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections.'

The statement said Abu Hafs al-Masri needs what it called Bush's 'idiocy and religious fanaticism' because they would 'wake up' the Islamic world."

Go Georgie! It's your birthday!

Pro-Life, Pro-Poverty

I'll save my pro-choice speech for another time but I think this article explains why some women make the choice to have an abortion. Under the Bush administration, the abortion rate rose after years of steady decline:

"Enter George W. Bush in 2001. One would expect the abortion rate to continue its consistent course downward, if not plunge. Instead, the opposite happened.

I found three states that have posted multi-year statistics through 2003, and abortion rates have risen in all three: Kentucky's increased by 3.2% from 2000 to 2003. Michigan's increased by 11.3% from 2000 to 2003. Pennsylvania's increased by 1.9% from 1999 to 2002. I found 13 additional states that reported statistics for 2001 and 2002. Eight states saw an increase in abortion rates (14.6% average increase), and five saw a decrease (4.3% average decrease).

Under President Bush, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates appears to have reversed. Given the trends of the 1990s, 52,000 more abortions occurred in the United States in 2002 than would have been expected before this change of direction. "

Joblessness and economic decline during Bush's term have left many women feeling as though they have no choice.

Mutiny On The Bushie

Over the past few days, Bush has been looking rather tired. I saw him on Good Morning America the other day and I almost felt sorry for him. He looked absolutely drained and defeated. The polls are generally close though I think Kerry's numbers are probably higher because I don't think they are polling the minorities and young people who are strong supporters. Many conservatives have criticized Bush but had vowed to stick by him. Lately, more and more newspapers have been endorsing Kerry - many of which supported Bush in 2000. The news has been bad for weeks both domestically and abroad. Iraq just seems to get worse and worse. Even Allawi is blaming the US for negligence. Now, it seems that American Conservative Magazine is having problems throwing the nod Bush's way. This article is just one of several that lead me to believe that even if George W. Bush does manage to eek out a victory, he will have a tough row to hoe once he gets re-installed:

Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favored corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation’s children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy. Add to this his nation-breaking immigration proposal—Bush has laid out a mad scheme to import immigrants to fill any job where the wage is so low that an American can’t be found to do it—and you have a presidency that combines imperialist Right and open-borders Left in a uniquely noxious cocktail.

During the campaign, few have paid attention to how much the Bush presidency has degraded the image of the United States in the world. Of course there has always been “anti-Americanism.” After the Second World War many European intellectuals argued for a “Third Way” between American-style capitalism and Soviet communism, and a generation later Europe’s radicals embraced every ragged “anti-imperialist” cause that came along. In South America, defiance of “the Yanqui” always draws a crowd. But Bush has somehow managed to take all these sentiments and turbo-charge them. In Europe and indeed all over the world, he has made the United States despised by people who used to be its friends, by businessmen and the middle classes, by moderate and sensible liberals. Never before have democratic foreign governments needed to demonstrate disdain for Washington to their own electorates in order to survive in office. The poll numbers are shocking. In countries like Norway, Germany, France, and Spain, Bush is liked by about seven percent of the populace. In Egypt, recipient of huge piles of American aid in the past two decades, some 98 percent have an unfavorable view of the United States. It’s the same throughout the Middle East.

The other articles in this issue aren't any more positive. Pat Buchanan lends his support solely to display party loyalty - but only after giving Bush a serious analytic beat down. I must say, if Bush thought that being President was "hard work" during his first term, he'd better step down now if he has a problem with it getting anymore harder. His party will, most certainly, do an intervention before they let him continue in the manner that he has been.

Witches For Bush

Oh my! Here's a group I'll bet Karl Rove never considered courting:

There was never a moment when I had to adjust my way of thinking to accommodate either label. I was already a Republican and a witch—I just needed to discover the names for them.

I was 12 when I knew I was a Republican. Reared in a military family, I was brought up understanding the value of freedom and self-determination. I’ve come to believe that government entitlement programs are nothing more than a redistribution of wealth--which is socialism. Socialism is incompatible with capitalism and the American way of life. Winston Churchill once said that the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

I realized I was a witch about ten years ago. When I was 27, I picked up a book that described Pagan/Wicca; the more I read the more amazed I became. I had been brought up Catholic, and I had even attended 12 years of Catholic school. I could never fully comprehend or agree with the Catholic beliefs I was taught. That experience left me with far more questions than answers.

Many things attracted me to witchcraft. I loved the individual empowerment. I didn't need a priest to act as go-between for me to find divinity. I loved that it taught responsibility for one's own actions. There was no absolution for acting improperly or doing wrong. Meanwhile, the union of male and female is the very power of creation that permeates our existence. Among Wiccans, that union is celebrated, instead of being hushed up. And we celebrate nature itself in all of its majestic wonder instead of trying to subdue it.

MOSH is #1

This is the number one requested video on MTV right now. Here is a link to the video as well as a review:

http://www.gnn.tv/content/eminem_mosh.html

This is exactly why they didn't want integration ... I wonder what Homeland Security is going to do to him?

News They Can Use

Not to say that I don't take a peek at al-Jazeera's English website from time to time but I see that American Arabs watch the station via satellite.

Kerry Puts His Catholic Faith into Action

If I haven't said it enough, I just can't stand religious posturing and proselytizing - particularly since my personal experience has been that those who preach the most have done the most devilment. John Kerry's pastor outlines why he feels that he is a true man of faith.

I offer just a few examples of Senator Kerry putting his faith into action:

• John Kerry has voted for every major Civil Rights bill to come before the Congress since 1985, including the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Equal Rights Amendment. He has also voted to include sexual orientation in non-discrimination laws.
  
  
• The Psalms have been powerful inspiration to people of faith for thousands of years. In Psalm 34, we hear: The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Faithful followers also need to be attentive to the poor. John Kerry’s pledge to increase the minimum wage is evidence of his desire to assist people in lifting themselves from the lowest levels of poverty. He continues to seek tax relief for the middle class. In 2003, the Senator sponsored a bill to establish a National Housing Trust Fund to promote the construction of new, affordable rental units for low-income, working families. In 2000, he also supported the Global Debt Relief bill, which approved $225 million for third world debt relief.
  
  
• In the Gospels, we hear many stories of Jesus’ care and healing touch for those who are sick. Senator Kerry has continued to champion the poor and every citizen in his proposal for affordable, high quality health care for all. In addition, he voted against the final version of the Medicare Prescription Drug Act, which threatened employer-provided drug coverage for millions of retirees. He is the author of the most comprehensive HIV/AIDS bill ever to pass the Senate and understands that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has implications for the life and death of millions of men, women and children around the world as well as for the global economy and international security.
  
  
• Through his far-reaching commitment to the environment, John Kerry witnesses to his faith in the God of Genesis, the God who formed all of creation and saw that it is good. His many works in this area include authoring the Marine Mammal Protection Act Amendments of 1994, which banned the use of drift nets threatening dolphins and other marine life. He is the current co-sponsor of the Clean Power Act, designed to require utility companies to control multiple pollutants.
  
  
• In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul wrote that Christ is our peace; we who are baptized in Christ’s name must also work for peace. Senator Kerry has consistently opposed development and funding for new, more usable nuclear weapons. He has promised to enforce gun laws and close the gun show loophole and thus require background checks for all gun sales. He is also in favor of extending the assault weapons ban.
  
  
• In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah we read: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again." Pope Paul VI said if "you want peace, work for justice." We are called as People of God to respect and collaborate with people of all nations. True peace is the fruit of justice. As Senator Kerry has made clear: "As President, I will not cede our security to any nation or institution--and adversaries will have no doubt of my resolve to use force if necessary--but I will always understand that even the only super-power on earth cannot succeed without cooperation and compromise with our friends and allies." Kerry’s dedication to ending the war in Iraq, as well as his oath only to send troops as a last measure, is a clear understanding of his deep and abiding faith.
  

Not only are Senator and Mrs. Heinz-Kerry regular members of the local church where I pastor, but I sincerely believe that their lives witness to the Catholic faith. Both of them have worked diligently to safeguard the environment. Mrs. Heinz-Kerry’s work with the Heinz Family Foundation, which benefits many of the poor, especially women, is a sign of her commitment to stewarding the resources with which she has been entrusted. And Senator Kerry, as a public servant---from service in the military to his work as a district attorney to his life as an elected official---has exemplified the Catholic ethic in seeking mercy and justice for all, and especially for the marginalized in society, for the poor, the sick, and those who are persecuted.

The very last person that I allowed to bend my ear about how holy they were ended up being pretty close to the opposite. One of my last statements to them was that it did not matter what one says if it doesn't match what one does. I am not sure that they ever quite got that. I don't think many people do. That, I think, is the difference between George Bush and John Kerry. Words vs Deeds.

Why Does Interim Prime Minister Allawi Hate America?

A good leader would never critcize a brave ally ... unless he gets the sense that a new ally is about to get elected. One can only hope ...

"Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, said today that 'negligence' by US-led forces brought about the massacre of 49 Iraqi soldiers and warned of further 'terrorist acts'.

'There was great negligence on the part of some coalition forces, ' Mr Allawi told Iraq's national assembly. 'It was a heinous crime where a group of national guards were targeted.'"

Foxnews Does Not Favor Bush

Okay. You can stop laughing. This man must not watch his own station. When the movie "Outfoxed" came out, I believe I watched Fox and Friends and one of the hosts basically acknowledged a bias and had the "so what?" attitude. They are NOT fair and balanced, they are there and biased. They toss in a few quiet, mild mannered democrats with their rabid pack of wolves and call it a draw. Puleese!

"We're not in the least bit biased, we're a fair and balanced company."

Mr Murdoch's comments will astonish critics of the notoriously right-wing television network, which was the subject of the controversial US documentary, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism.
The film, which accused Fox News of abandoning traditional reporting values and ushering in an era of partisan news coverage, has become a cult classic, topping Amazon.com's list of bestselling DVDs.

It alleges presenters are encouraged to accentuate points that might be helpful to the Bush administration, and includes a claim from one former Fox contributor covering news from Iraq that he was ordered to 'keep it positive' and 'emphasise all the good we're doing'."

The Buzzards Are Swarming

Castro is getting up there in age and the US is just waiting for him to croak. His fall last week prompted more buzz about him and what will happen in Cuba upon his death.

We're blocking travel and money to the Island so Fidel decides to strike back:

"Five days after falling and fracturing a knee and an arm, Cuban President Fidel Castro appeared on television yesterday with his arm in a sling to announce Cuba will end circulation of the US dollar.
[...]
'The empire is determined to create more difficulties for us,' he said, referring to Bush administration steps to restrict travel and cash flows to the island nation.

A Central Bank decree said the dollar will no longer be accepted in shops as of November 8, when Cubans and foreigners will have to exchange them for a local currency with a 10 per cent commission. "

A friend of mine went to Cuba a few years ago and the consensus she found among the natives was that when Castro was gone, it wasn't a new government they feared but Miami Cubans coming back. Listening to chat on NPR about families in Miami wanting their old property back and that being first on the list if they ever got to go back, I'd say that Cuba is going to be a disaster and we will be caught right in the thick of it. Greed will prevail and the current residents will suffer greatly - not under communism but under blind capitalism.

The Oddest Couple Ever!

In the midst of all of my political diatribes, I do manage to sneak in a few guilty pleasures on the tube. This season, The Surreal Life moved to VH1 and it has me in stitches the entire time. I don't think they ever could have guessed what would happen when they stuck Brigitte Nielson (Sylvester Stallone's ex) in a house with Flavor Flave (Public Enemy) but the chemistry between those two is not only shocking but positively (and I do mean positively) insane. That show makes me laugh so hard that I cry. VH1 must agree because they are now shooting their very own show (along the lines of The Simple Life) that will air in January. It should be a classic!

More On The Delusional Mr. Bush

I'll admit, that many times I use my intuition over tangible evidence. If I get an eerie feeling about a person, I stay cautious until proven otherwise. I may choose something because of the way it makes me feel rather than how it appears. During a rough time where there don't appear to be a lot of options, I ride with my belief that "things always work out." However, I am not the President of The United States and am not entrusted with the well-being of millions of people. I wouldn't care if George Bush was Sylvia Browne, nobody voted for him to use his "instincts" after starting a global crisis. I think the man is off his rocker and, again, I am frightened!!!:

Forty democratic senators were gathered for a lunch in March just off the Senate floor. I was there as a guest speaker. Joe Biden was telling a story, a story about the president. "I was in the Oval Office a few months after we swept into Baghdad," he began, "and I was telling the president of my many concerns" -- concerns about growing problems winning the peace, the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanding of the Iraqi Army and problems securing the oil fields. Bush, Biden recalled, just looked at him, unflappably sure that the United States was on the right course and that all was well. '"Mr. President,' I finally said, 'How can you be so sure when you know you don't know the facts?"'

Biden said that Bush stood up and put his hand on the senator's shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts."

Biden paused and shook his head, recalling it all as the room grew quiet. "I said, 'Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough!'"

More Coalition Of The Leaving

I didn't forget about Poland but I did forget about The Netherlands. BTW, like Poland, they are leaving too!:

"The Netherlands will pull its troops from Iraq in March after Dutch Defense Minister Henk Kamp turned down a request from the Iraqi government to extend their mandate there, Algemeen Dagblad said, citing Kamp.

Iraqi interim President Ayad Allawi asked Kamp to keep Dutch troops in the Southern province of Al Muthanna, where about 1,200 soldiers have been on a peace-keeping mission, after the end of the current mandate in mid-March, the paper said. Coalition troops also want Dutch soldiers to stay, it said.

The paper quoted Kamp as saying that the Dutch had already made a ``large effort'' in keeping its troops in Iraq for 20 months in March and wouldn't stay longer. It also cited Kamp as saying the security situation in Iraq had worsened since his previous visit to Baghdad last year and that he expected the U.S. to remain for ``years'' in Iraq."

Freedom Shots?

Are we sure this is safe? Flu shots from France? The French, afterall, "hate America" and were not "with us" on Iraq. Are we going to tell the public to line up for their freedom flu vaccines?:

" A French pharmaceutical company will supply 2.6 million extra anti-flu shots to help the United States cope with a vaccine shortage that has sparked public concern, a top US health official said on Tuesday.

Tommy Thompson, Health and Human Services Secretary for the United States, said Aventis-Pasteur, a division of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, will raise the number of vaccines available in the US to 58 million in January."

I'm Frightened Part 2

Karen Hughes was the chosen one, this time around, charged with damage control for Pat Robertson's statement that Bush said there wouldn't be any casualties in the invasion of Iraq. The problem is that it means someone is lying. Now, who would that be? One of two men who talk to God directly (and one of them needs to pull God's coat tail and tell him to tell both of them the same stuff) or a woman whose job it is to spin the President's every move?

"White House and campaign advisers denied that Bush made the comment, with Karen Hughes saying, 'I don't believe that happened. He must have misunderstood or misheard it.'"

Honestly, even though she wasn't there, what else would she say? You cannot have that kind of lunacy being repeated to the masses. I guess Georgy won't be allowed to have company from Pat anymore. He's a tattletale.

I'm Frightened!

I guess I am preaching to the choir when I rant about how ridiculous I think George W. Bush is. I am not sure why Pat Robertson even needed to share his conversation with Dubya - especially since it makes him sound like a man who is totally out of touch with reality.

'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.'"
[...]
Robertson, the televangelist who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, said he wishes Bush would admit to mistakes made.

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

More than 1,100 U.S. troops have died in Iraq and another 8,000 troops have been wounded in the ongoing campaign, with the casualty toll significantly increasing in the last six months as the insurgency there has deepened.

Asked why Bush has refused to admit to mistakes on Iraq, Robertson said, "I don't know this politics game. You know, you can never say you were wrong because the opposition grabs onto it: 'See, he admitted he screwed up.' "

Yet, Robertson still thinks Bush is "blessed" by God. I think both of them are "touched" in the head.

Waaay Too Much Information

Why can't he just talk politics?:

"California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said his speech backing president George W Bush at the Republican Convention in August resulted in a cold shoulder from his wife, Maria Shriver, a member of the famously Democratic Kennedy family.

'Well, there was no sex for 14 days,' Schwarzenegger told former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in an on-stage conversation in front of 1000 people.

'Everything comes with side affects,' he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Panetta, a Democrat, had asked how Shriver, whose uncle was president John F Kennedy, had reacted to his partisan convention speech.
California is expected to support Democratic challenger John Kerry in the election in two weeks, and Schwarzenegger, who faces re-election in 2006, has been careful not to offend the majority Democratic voters in his state. "

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Oh My!

There just comes a point where you just have to say ENOUGH! Some people don't want to hear about Dick Cheney's gay daughter, I don't want to hear about terrorists, attacks, weapons or who has a big enough dick to handle the threat. That record has been on playing the Victrola in the basment and it is OLD! Bush, Cheney and who-some-ever else need to find a new meme.

"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.'

'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."

No Agreed Definition My Azz

Why is it that this administration cannot seem to tell the truth about anything? I thought it was stupid enough that Bush wouldn't sign
plan to ensure women's rights around the globe but the excuse that they used was that there was "no agreed definition" for sexual rights. It turns out that is just a load of crap.

The World Health Organization has a very clear definition that I am sure his administration is aware of:

Sexual rights embrace human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other consensus documents. These include the right of all persons, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, to:

• the highest attainable standard of health in relation to sexuality, including access to sexual and reproductive health care services;
  
• seek, receive and impart information in relation to sexuality;
  
• sexuality education;
  
• respect for bodily integrity;
  
• choice of partner;
  
• decide to be sexually active or not;
  
• consensual sexual relations;
  
• consensual marriage;
  
• decide whether or not, and when to have children;
  
• and pursue a satisfying, safe and pleasurable sexual life.
  

Exactly what part of this definition does Bushco take issue with? He certainly had no qualms about his own sexual rights when he had this exchange:

... at the 1988 Republican Convention, Hartford Courant associate editor David Fink struck up a conversation with George W. "When you're not talking politics," Fink asked the vice president's son, "what do you and [your father] talk about?"

"Pussy," George W. replied.

Liar! Loser! Hypocrite!

Freudian Slip or Showing His Hand?

A few months ago, I thought Bush was being inadvertantly truthful when he said that we could ever really win the war on terrorism. Before he corrected himself, I agreed that it will be a chronic problem for decades to come. Today, however, it looks like he slipped again (link via atrios) :

"He said that, after a debate with Kerry, 'I made it very plain. We will not have an all-volunteer army.' The crowd fell silent. 'WE WILL have an all-volunteer army,' Bush said, quickly catching himself. 'Let me restate that. We will not have a draft.'"

Another Bush Family Secret

George Bush has a twin brother that no one ever talks about.

Lynne Cheney Reconstructing History

I really cannot figure Lynne Cheney out. I know she is an exceptionally bright woman. From the profiles on she and her husband, it sounds like she was the intellectual of the two. But actions like this are just confusing. She is in an uproar because John Kerry mentioned her lesbian daughter during the debates as though he'd said something derogatory. She obviously has some issue with her very open daughter as she also went ballistic on Cokey Roberts in 2000 when she brought up the subject of Mary.

But, Lynne Cheney also wrote a novel in 1981 that focused not only on the women who helped pioneer the west but also had some pretty steamy erotica between the women. It doesn't make sense for her to a) be so sensitive about her daughter and b) be at odds with history books that include emphasis the contributions, fights and struggles of women throughout American history.

"One of the marks of authoritarian regimes is their effort to stop the spread of knowledge and free speech. In May 1933, Nazi sympathizers in Berlin burned 20,000 'degenerate' books, many of them written by Jews and anti-fascists such as Albert Einstein, Bertolt Brecht and Franz Kafka. Here at home, slaveholders were so frightened by the power of the word that throughout the antebellum South legislatures made it a crime to teach slaves to read and write.

Now, Lynne Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's wife and the former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has placed herself in the company of dictators and slaveholders. At her urging, the Education Department destroyed more than 300,000 copies of a booklet designed to help parents and children learn more about America's past. "
[...]
What was so horrible about the National Standards for History that any reference to them would merit the mass destruction of several hundred thousand volumes of knowledge? According to Cheney, the standards failed to recognize the achievements of America's traditional heroes and focused instead on the accomplishments of women, minorities and radicals such as Harriet Tubman, the former slave who helped found the Underground Railroad. As Cheney wrote in 1994, "We are a better people than the national standards indicate, and our children deserve to know it."

Cheney insisted that the standards focused too much on the negatives of the past, on the presence of such stains on our democratic legacy as the Ku Klux Klan and McCarthyism, and not enough on great heroic figures such as Paul Revere, Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Wright brothers.

What Cheney really opposes is the prominent place that "social history" has assumed over the last 30 years. Known among its practitioners as "history from the bottom up," social historians argue that American history has too often been taught as the history of famous white men, political parties and industrialists.

I'd say she's working through some real inner conflict. Most certainly that is her prerogative. But she needs to keep it out academia and education.

No Agreed Definition

What is wrong with this man? In yet another non-global effort George Bush decides that he cannot sign a statement endorsing a U.N. plan (adopted 10 years ago mind you) to ensure women's rights around the world. What, exactly, needs to be defined in "sexual rights?" A woman's right not to be raped? A woman's right not to have her body ripped apart by having multiple children? A right to protect herself from the raging effect of AIDS? This is just beyond ridiculous!

More than 250 global leaders in all fields including 85 heads of state and government — have signed a statement endorsing a U.N. plan adopted 10 years ago to ensure every woman's right to education, health care, and to make choices about childbearing. But President George W. Bush's administration refused to sign because the statement mentions "sexual rights."

It notes that in 1994 "the world's governments and civil society committed to an action plan to ensure universal access to reproductive health information and services, uphold fundamental human rights including sexual and reproductive rights, alleviate poverty, secure gender equality, and protect the environment."

While progress has been made, the statement says the world is facing an exponential increase in HIV/AIDS, a growing gap between rich and poor, persistently high death rates related to pregnancy and childbirth, and inadequate access to family planning services. It calls on the international community to fund and implement the goals of the conference, known as the ICPD.

[...]

The Bush administration responded only on Tuesday to organizers who had asked for the president's support.

In a letter to organizers of the statement, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to "the goals and objectives" of the Cairo conference and "to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women's fullest enjoyment of universal human rights."

"The United States is unable, however, to endorse the `world leaders' statement on supporting the ICPD," Ryan said. "The statement includes the concept of `sexual rights,' a term that has no agreed definition in the international community, goes beyond what was agreed to at Cairo and is not a component of the ICPD."

Technically, the State Department is correct. The Cairo program of action states that women have the "right to make decisions concerning reproduction, free of discrimination, coercion and violence as expressed in human rights documents." But it doesn't specifically mention "sexual rights."

Sexual rights were specifically mentioned a year later, however, in the platform of action adopted by over 180 countries including the United States at the 1995 U.N. women's conference in Beijing.

That platform, which the United States also took a leading role in drafting, states: "The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."

At a news conference, Wirth and Obaid were asked whether the U.N. General Assembly was holding a commemoration of the Cairo platform on Thursday — not a review as it did five years ago — because of opposition to some provisions by the Bush administration, the Vatican and some Islamic states.

The Vatican, some Islamic states (Gee, I wonder what life is like for women in those states) and the Bush administration united against womens' sexual rights. You see the kinds of things Bush wants to get global about!

Do I Feel Safe?

Heck No! How on earth can I feel safe in a regular, unguarded environment when 2 suicide bombers can stroll on in to the most protected part of Baghdad and blow folks up?

"In an attack that punctured illusions of a haven in Baghdad, 10 people, including four American civilians, were killed Thursday when two explosions were set off inside the heavily controlled Green Zone in the center of the capital.

Witnesses said that at least one of the explosions was set off by a suicide bomber and that the second may have been as well. Neither American nor Iraqi government officials had any immediate explanation as to how the bombs were smuggled inside.

The attack, which struck a cafeteria known as the Green Zone Caf-I and a shopping bazaar, appeared to mark the first time that insurgents have infiltrated the heavily fortified area, which houses senior officials in the Iraqi government as well as the U.S. Embassy. "

If they can slither into the "Green Zone," they can get into anywhere. God help us if they start suicide bombing here. We wouldn't have a prayer.

Let Them Eat Education

Once again the pundits gave dubya credit for being better than he was before instead of being better than Kerry. Though everyone knows that, domestically, Bush has no legs to stand on, he has enough advisors that he should have been able to come up with some convincing BS about something.

What I found particularly disturbing is that he is totally out of touch with what being unemployed means in this economy. He kept mentioning funding for