Bush: Pleased by Progress in Iraq

Excuse me?

The progress of what exactly? Halliburton profits?

Polls: Up, Down, and All Around

I haven't commented much about the various polls that have, alternately:

* Bush way ahead
* Kerry somewhat ahead
* Both in a dead heat

Why, should seem almost obvious, just from what you see here.

But there's more to it than that. I tend to suspect the people at home to answer the phone and willing to take a survey probably tend toward the Republican side of things (my bias: I avoid the phone like the plague, and most polls I get called on tend to be these long catch-all affairs). I also know a lot of people who would not answer a question like, "Who will you vote for?"

Right now, I'm not worried about the polls. I'm worried about people who are going to vote for Bush when it is NOT in their best interests, when they're being scammed. Yet there are people with a legitimate reason to vote for Bush: military industrial complex folks, million-and billionaires, people who feel challenged by civil rights and freedom of both religion and speech.

And if he gets re-elected, I'll be profoundly worried about all of us. As it is, I don't think life is going to marvelously and suddenly improve if Kerry is voted in. It's all a matter of degree.

Shield Your Eyes

I heard this joke over dinner (and liked it):

Why do they call it Dick Armey if there's only one of him?"

Tough. I warned you.

With All the Hurricane Disaster Talk...

Let's not lose sight of Hurricane Bush, which has been causing disaster and misery for nearly four years. While the media wants to talk about gusts, think the economy that's only getting better for a few, the public school problems, the end of the assault weapon ban, the tax cuts that reward the wealthy, and the number of Americans without health care.

They Don't Like Ashcroft Either

From Mark A.R.Kleiman:

Have you ever wondered how intelligent conservatives could stand having John Ashcroft as Attorney General?

One possible answer -- one tht I hadn't considered -- is that they can't. I was just told by a smart, well-plugged-in Washington conservative that there is to be a meeting next month where he and "others of my ilk" will discuss a candidate to replace Ashcroft. My source reports that the President is "very disappointed" with his Attorney General, and that the White House Counsel's office regards him as "a boob."

Nah, a boob is occasionally useful (or at least enjoyable).

DeLay Buys End to Investigation Into His Skank?

From Daily Kos - and thanks to Skippy for the lead:

No they didn't! The House ethics committee has just voted to postpont the DeLay ethics complaint filed by Rep. Chris Bell. From the Richard Morrison press release:

In another show of the power of money in Washington, the House Ethics Committee resorted to an option that has never been used before that could, in effect, kill the ethics investigation into Tom DeLay?s illegal fundraising and his role in Texas redistricting. After nearly three months of reviewing the charges against DeLay, the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Ethics committee postponed today?s hearing and have decided to put before the committee the question of whether to proceed with the investigation. This unprecedented move could result in a deadlock among the ten member committee resulting in no further action in this Congress.
?I?m outraged that the Committee is giving DeLay a pass,? said Morrison. ?Soliciting funds for legislative favors, funneling corporate contributions to state races and personally redrawing districts to ensure his power in Washington---these are serious charges and they merit investigation. But when four of the five Republicans on the committee have accepted thousands of dollars from DeLay how can they be trusted to judge him impartially? If DeLay is innocent of these violations he should demand the investigation proceed so his name can be cleared.?

Of the five Republican members of the committee all but Chairman Hefley have accepted contributions from DeLay?s PACs. The Committee refused to turn over the investigation to an independent counsel despite precedents set by ethics investigations into two other powerful members of Congress?former Speakers of the House Newt Gingrich and Jim Wright.

This is yet another DeLay power gambit, plain and simple, and true to DeLay's form. Four of the five Republicans on the ethics committee are bought and paid for by DeLay, and we are seeing that money and power go hand in hand in the Republican House.

We have three options, people. One, is to pressure your local media outlets to cover the story and your congressperson to reverse this travesty of justice. The second is to help Richard Morrison get rid of DeLay on November 2nd. And the third is to help Democrats retake the House, and replace DeLay's corrupt ass with Nancy Pelosi.

And I'm not just talking money, but time, energy, expertise, know-how, advocacy, etc.

In the "Katherine Harris' Evil Twin" OR "Glenda Ain't the Good Witch" Department

Skippy points us to this column in Thursday's Times that makes it sound like Kathy-Babe Harris in Florida in 2000 was just an aging ingenue amateur:

Every state has an obligation to run elections that are not only fair, but also appear fair to the average voter. After the debacle of 2000, Florida's officials should understand this better than anyone. But its top elections officer, Glenda Hood, is acting in ways that create a strong impression that she is manipulating the rules to help re-elect her boss's brother. After her maneuvers this week to try to put Ralph Nader on the ballot, she cannot be trusted to run an impartial election.

In Florida's 2000 election mess, Katherine Harris served simultaneously as Florida's secretary of state and as co-chairwoman of the state's Bush-Cheney campaign committee. In her official capacity, she repeatedly took actions that favored the campaign. This year has turned out to be more of the same. When Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Ms. Hood as secretary of state, he chose someone with a history of partisanship, as a Republican officeholder and as a Bush-Cheney elector in 2000. Now Ms. Hood's politics appear to be influencing her election duties.

She recently conducted a highly suspect voting-roll purge of felons. The voters who were to be taken off the list included more than 22,000 African-Americans, who generally vote heavily Democratic, but just 61 Hispanics, who tend to favor Republicans in Florida. She was forced to scrap the list.

In last month's primary, some people without photo identification were turned away without being told that they could vote if they signed affidavits affirming their identities. After the same thing happened in South Dakota this year, the Board of Elections there told every polling place to post signs advising people of their rights. Ms. Hood's office insists that voters need not be told of the affidavit option. Voter ID is often a partisan issue because poor people and members of other groups that are less likely to have identification often vote Democratic.

Most recently, Ms. Hood has played a suspect role in helping Mr. Nader get on Florida's ballot, where he would be likely to weaken John Kerry. A court has ruled against Mr. Nader's claim to have met the requirements to be on the ballot.

Last night, the state was again involved in suits and countersuits over a presidential election in Florida. Ms. Hood's role has been a disturbing one. Instead of waiting as an impartial bystander for the court's direction, she seems to be trying to thwart any ruling that would take Mr. Nader off the ballot. At one point, while the court ruling eliminating Mr. Nader was under appeal, Ms. Hood's office hurriedly directed every county to add Mr. Nader's name to the ballots that will soon be sent to overseas voters.

Granting legitimate candidates access to ballots is important, but officials should obey the law. Ms. Hood had no right to try to proceed with her own preferred outcome. It is hard to believe that she would have done the same thing if the candidate had been one likely to hurt President Bush.

The nation cannot afford another tainted election. Governor Bush should quickly find an elections professional or academic of unquestioned neutrality to run Florida's elections.

Church, State, and the Oh So Pious "Chosen" People

Karlo's got a thoughtful post up on this issue at Swerve Left. Go forth and think.

Let me put it this way: if Bush and DeLay are examples of the Chosen, I'll be happy to sit this one out. But the God I worship doesn't seem to mention being "Chosen" much (another difference from the Chosen and me: God doesn't have me on his cellular speed dial); the impression I get is that we succeed or fail based on our own actions and being.

Rick James, A Pharmacy Within

I'm sorry to hear that Rick died with so damned many drugs in his system (Wellbutrin, Celexa, Valium, Vicodin, Digoxin, plus methamphetamines and cocaine). I doubt it eased the heart attack they say ultimately killed him.

I have no idea what meth does; never tried it and I don't think I know anyone who has. But I've seen friends do coke, and it always seemed like a single snort was like a descent into hell. That's no way to die (or to live).

I've always been grateful that I had no interest in coke or anything like that - and there was a time in my 20s when I was a lot more experimental than I've been anytime since. Watching perfectly great smart people do coke and turn into nasty skunks just didn't pique my interest.

Now, even up here in the tiny towns of bucolic Vermont where it can be hard enough sometimes just finding a quart of milk and loaf of bread, we're seeing terrible things happen with heroin. For a lot of them, hopefully, it's just experimentation that will disappear. It's the ones who don't see this as a phase that I worry about.

Forced Callup of More Reservists and Guardsmen Immediately After Election?

That's what John Murtha (D-PA) says is the scuttlebutt going around among both parties in Washington; that they don't want to announce it aloud because it might sound back for our dear leader. Little do they know that the Supreme Court would never let that happen.

They don't want to call a draft because the word upset people even back when they mistakenly believed Saddam was a particular threat to us. A draft before the election now that so many do realize (or are incapable of thought, I guess) that Iraq was a sham that Bush turned into an unholy mess, would indeed not do much for big bad Bush.

But forced reenlistments (sign up for 3 years or you're on the next shuttle to Baghdad), keeping "weekend" warriors in combat 20/7 for more than a year at a time and then forcing more reservists and guardsmen into service just after the election sure sounds like a draft.

Fat Old White Men on Abortion and Blackmailing GIs

Jesse at Pandagon brings up two items today very much worth noting.

The first is about a new law passed by the House and barely mentioned anywhere else:

The Well-Timed Period leads us to a little-noticed House action discussed in a CNN.com article. Namely, that the House passed a provision which would not allow any local, state or federal authority to require that any institution or health care professionals perform abortions.

What worries me isn't so much conscience as it relates to the particular act, although if you're a pharmacist who may have to dispense birth control or a doctor who might have to perform an abortion and you're opposed to it, maybe you should find a different line of work, or a different specialty. What worries me is doctors and a medical industry who are increasingly allowed to provide only the medical care they want, regardless of the larger legal and medical principles to which they are bound.

The other involves blackmailing soldiers to join up for 3 more years OR get shipped to Iraq post haste (or as Jesse entitled it, "Fuck You, Serve Me"):

A generally recognized "good thing" about the aftermath of the Vietnam War was the move from a draftee military to an all-volunteer military. The soldiers are motivated to be there, and are serving because they want to, not because they have to.

Well, perhaps not so much anymore.

Soldiers from a Fort Carson combat unit say they have been issued an ultimatum - re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq.

Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last Thursday, said two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Dan Rather on the Bush Fog Machine

From the NY Observer, where Dan Rather talks about the brouhaha surrounding their story about Bush's Air National Guard service and the questions about it:

"I think the public, even decent people who may be well-disposed toward President Bush, understand that powerful and extremely well-financed forces are concentrating on questions about the documents because they can’t deny the fundamental truth of the story," he said. "If you can’t deny the information, then attack and seek to destroy the credibility of the messenger, the bearer of the information. And in this case, it’s change the subject from the truth of the information to the truth of the documents.

"This is your basic fogging machine, which is set up to cloud the issue, to obscure the truth," he said.

Mr. Rather said that he and his longtime CBS producer, Mary Mapes, had investigated the story for nearly five years, finally convincing a source to give them the National Guard documents. He did not reveal the name of the source, but Mr. Rather said he was a man who had been reluctant to come forth with them because he’d been harassed by political operatives. "Whether one believes it or not, this person believed that he and his family had been harassed and even threatened," he said. "We were not able to confirm that, but his fear was that what had already been threats, intimidation, if he gave up the documents, could get worse—maybe a lot worse."

On the Monday, Sept. 13, CBS Evening News, however, Mr. Rather said that not all of his critics were politically motivated. But CBS News, he said, "believed" the memos were real based on a new set of document experts who said "the documents could have been created in the 70’s."

Thanks to Buzzflash for the lead.

People Not Buying the Spin?

CNN's had a poll up this morning (which more than 130K respondents) asking which you consider more credible on Bush's military record: CBS or George. Nearly 60% right now say CBS.

The Wall Street Journal (a happy horseshit kind of right-wing rag dressed up in a natty banker suit) reported yesterday that a strong, clear majority feel Mr. Bush does not deserve re-election.

I'd like to think the tide is finally turning. But even I am not that naive.

Sue Niederer, Her Dead Son, and the Right to Speak

Here's CNN's spin of the story I posted last night. Scroll down; I'm on s-l-o-w dialup and I'm not going to go back and link.

I kept waking up last night thinking of Mrs. Niederer, all the talk about how our soldiers risk their lives for our freedoms and liberties (usually uttered by politicians who are trying to restrict them), and the way this mother of a dead soldier was treated. Her face and her words were there waiting for me when I awoke this morning, too.

Sure, everyone who dissents from the official spin is being treated this way. But that sanctimonious crowd in Hamiltown yesterday kept trying to drown out this woman, whose son paid for the right to her to speak, with chants of "Four more years!"

How many of the folks in the audience had given their sons and daughters in Afghanistan and Iraq? Certainly not Laura Bush, whose 22-year-old twins can't keep off the booze and drugs while on the campaign trail for their dad. Your 18-year-old may be fighting and dying, while the Bushes' children are swilling $4500 of designer drinks in a single pop (according to the NY newspapers during the RNC) and making sure their schedules are free during Fashion Week.

Why are Jenna and Barbara Bush more precious than Mrs. Niederer's son? How can men like Mr. Bush start and then mismanage wars that the children of the Mrs. Niederer's must fight? And how can these politicians have the sheer nerve to get their GI photo ops and praise these men and women for what they give us, only to have this mother arrested for daring to say the war is wrong?

In the "Oh, My, Don't We All Feel Safer?" Department

General JC Christian brings us a humdinger (emphasis on hum) of a story:

Last week, agents of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force launched a manhunt for Ari Cowan. After struggling for many long minutes with the Seattle phone book, they found his telephone number and gave him a call.

They had three questions:

Was Cowan Irish? Was he connected to the Irish Republican Army? And why did his business card have a rented mailbox for an address?

Cowan answered yes to the first question and no to the second. He said his card had a mailbox because his office was moving.

The FBI became suspicious of Cowan when San Juan County sheriff's deputies reported that he had been seen using a video camera on a Washington State Ferry.

Cowan says he was told a detective had been watching him, had been concerned about suspicious pictures he was taking of the ferry and the dock. Not that the any of the officers could really know what was on the video. They never asked to see the tape, says Cowan, who offered it to them -- to no avail.

Cowan wasn't arrested. He says the deputies were courteous when they took down his name, license info and noted the Irish sticker on the back of his Subaru.

FBI spokesman, Ray Lauer, a no-nonsense kind of agent who harkens back to the glory days of law enforcement when J. Edgar Hoover and Joe Friday were kings, explained the task force's concerns:

When the sheriff's deputies approached Cowan on the ferry, he [Cowan] says, they lightheartedly asked him why he was taking pictures.

Not realizing the gravity of the situation -- the officers, after all, were jocular and not in uniform -- Cowan said, "They are for my long-lost relatives in Ireland, so they can come and take over America."

Uh-oh.

"Was this guy joking? How would we know unless we talk to him?" asks FBI spokesman Ray Lauer.

Yes, it seems that Mr. Cowan was unaware of the IRA's first rule, "When approached by law enforcement officers, immediately tell them that you're a terrorist."

Sue Niederer

That's the name of the mother of the soldier who gave his life - so says Mr. Bush, for freedom and liberty - who was arrested today (AFTER she had left the auditorium where Laura was stumping for the campaign) in Hamilton, NJ because she had the nerve to question the war.

The cops who arrested her should be just very proud of themselves. I'm sure we'll hear that they had to (the Secret Service made us phenomenon), but this is pure Bush and any person in uniform who would have followed those orders should be ashamed.

Three Marines Killed in Iraq Thursday

With it comes word that a number of Iraqi cities have become far too dangerous for US forces to enter. Sorta like Afghanistan, where Hamad Karzai survived yet another attack on his life for trying to venture outside Kabul. Not that Kabul is any quiet country roadside either.

Dead GI's Mother Pulled Out, Handcuffed, from Laura Bush Campaign Speech

Oh. Nice. Really nice. I didn't catch the woman's name, but it was detailed by Keith Olbermann on MSNBC Countdown tonight:

The mother of a GI who was killed in Iraq appeared at a Bush campaign speech today. She wore a t-shirt stating that Mr. Bush had killed her son. When Laura smiled and tried to make everything everywhere seem just so perfect because of George, the woman shouted out.

The grieving mother was then pulled out of the group, handcuffed, dragged out, arrested. She asked why as she was being forced out by a phalanx of security people (and mind you, the woman looked fairly small) but they had no need to answer her.

Gee, Laura. When do you think we might get free speech and democracy here? Your hubby thinks it's a good idea for Iraq so it should be good enough for us.

I think this mother's son died for that cause. No?

Teachers Lose Tax Help for Buying Class Supplies

Gee, I'm sure this will just save us a bundle over doing something odd like expecting extremely rich people to be taxed.

If Doreen Seelig pocketed all the money she has spent on classroom supplies over 35 years as a teacher — the printer cartridges, the paper, the pencils and the paperback books lent to her Venice High School students — she figures she would have a new car by now.

Now, as the new school year gets under way, the burden on Seelig and other teachers around the country is even heavier.

Because of a budget crunch, California has suspended a tax credit that reimbursed teachers up to $1,500 for classroom supplies. Meanwhile, a $250 federal tax deduction for teachers that helped defray out-of-pocket spending expired this year.

Seelig said she will still buy hundreds of dollars worth of basic materials that districts do not provide. And she will still drive her 1991 Acura.

"What are we going to do, tell the kids, `Sorry, there's no paper today,' or tell them they can't print because there's no ink?" Seelig asked. "I know I couldn't do it."

Lester DoltHolt on Iraq War Situation

Lester on MSNBC is asking two people about the reports that the War is going badly. First person is retired Gen Wesley Clark. When Clark said it was going badly, Holt stopped him to say, "Well, isn't that just partisanship because you're supporting Mr. Kerry?"

Next person interviewed is Rep. Joe Wilson (R, SC), who insisted the war is going very well and this is just defeatism brought about by the Dems. Holt countered, saying the Republicans like Chuck Hagel have said the war isn't winnable. Suddenly, Wilson announced they were being taken out of context. And then he went into a long harangue (he got 3x Clark's speaking time) about how Mr. Bush is the only man who can lead us to victory, that Bush is a great president, and that Mr. Kerry should be demonized because the Dems are questioning Mr. Bush's "perfect" military record because of "forged documents".

No time did Lester suggest, however, that Wilson was partisan or that his comments were there to support Mr. Bush's reelection as he had with Clark on Kerry.

Refuckingmarkable.