Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
Minneapolis loves John Kerry!
"[Colin Powell] was less firm in expectations for elections by the end of January than he had been in the past, while in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said elections were only ''technically possible'' by that target date.
Annan said the United Nations may not have enough staff in Iraq to help prepare for voting. In Baghdad, Iraqi authorities expressed concern that the lengthening unrest would discourage international monitors from going to Iraq.
But Powell was confident Iraqis would vote for democracy."
Reporter Anna Clark of the Herald Palladium reports:Also reported at:
"George Tenet called the war on Iraq "wrong" in a speech Wednesday night to 2,000 members of The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center. He did not elaborate."
"Tenet said a developing nation's low per capita income, high unemployment among young men and high infant mortality rate strongly increase its likelihood of becoming a "terrorist safe haven."
"In 2010, 100 million people outside of Africa will be infected with HIV," Tenet said. "The secondary implications of this are staggering."
He said the work of public health officers, missionaries and literacy teachers in third world nations are crucial to the war on terrorism, because terrorists build supporters by spinning poverty as a form of humiliation caused by wealthy nations like the United States."
-- TRIUMPH: A lot of people think [Bush] should appeal more to women because he's a douche. [laughter] I finally stopped you. You know what Bush won me over with? When he indicated that Kerry changed his mind. I think the 83rd time was finally a charm for me.
REPUBLICAN WOMAN: I think the most important time he changed his mind was when he refused to fund the troops in iraq, a critical situation for our country to be successful there. it's good to see you tonight.
TRIUMPH: Thank you for your time. Have a safe trip back to Stepford. [laughter]--
"There’s a problem when our troops are in harm’s way, fighting for a secure Iraq, and our national security adviser is out on the stump campaigning instead of working."
-Senator John Edwards
"I have been, and will continue to be, a Republican. But when we as a party send the wrong person to the White House, then it is our responsibility to send him home if our nation suffers as a result of his actions....I hope you all have noticed the Bush administration's style in the campaign so far. All negative, trashing Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards and Democrats in general. Not once have they said what they have done right, what they have done wrong or what they have not done at all...If we are indeed the party of Lincoln (I paraphrase his words), a president who deems to have the right to declare war at will without the consent of the Congress is a president who far exceeds his power under our Constitution.
I will take John Kerry for four years to put our country on the right path."
"In the battle of Fallen Timbers, it took but 40 minutes for "Mad Anthony" Wayne’s disciplined troops to bring to an end 20 years of border warfare. My hope is that Democrats will bring, in but one day, an end to four years of miserable failure in American leadership and partisan warfare."--Iddybud
It's easy to vote absentee in Illinois if you meet certain qualifications, like being out of your home county on Election Day. It's also easy if you don't meet those qualifications: You just lie. In fact, greasy machine pols have been known to exploit the present system to cast "votes" for their entire block. Juliet Alejandre is one person who didn't qualify, and who wasn't prepared to lie. Going to school full-time and working nights, the single mother says that the last time she tried to vote she left much of the ballot incomplete because she was terrified her unminded toddler would fall off the stage upon which the booths sat. So with three other working moms, Alejandre sued in federal court to order the state legislature to revisit its horse-and-buggy absentee statute to make reasonable provisions—whether by extending voting hours, changing absentee requirements, or instituting a universal vote-by-mail system like the one that's worked well in Oregon.
This past Friday, Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit, a prominent conservative intellectual and vocal Bush supporter, handed down a capricious, flippant dismissal of the complaint, ignoring key portions of its argument and simply inventing others. (The plaintiffs wanted the court to "decree weekend voting," he fantasized, wondering whether a federal court would soon "have to buy everyone a laptop, or a Palm Pilot or Blackberry?")
Bad enough if it only affected Illinoisans. Here's the scary part: Posner worded his ruling in such a way to make it difficult for anyone to challenge any voting statute passed by any state legislature anywhere.
The decision is diabolical—a perfect counterpart to this season's Republican strategy of drowning voting-rights complaints in a sea of moral relativism. One example: A goal of the plaintiff's case was to stop existing fraud by making Illinois's vague and antiquated absentee regulations more uniform and fair. Instead, Posner argued that the plaintiff's commonsense request for a second look at the statutes opened the door to fraud.
The bottom line: Posner's precedent gives much more discretion to states like Ohio and Florida to take action to restrict voting opportunities, especially for working people. And it was handed down, conveniently, two weeks before Election Day.
—R.P/Village Voice
Excerpts:
What are the parallels between Iraq and Vietnam?
Right now there is one parallel that's very disturbing, and that is the leadership in Washington has not told the truth to the American people.....
...A failed Iraq is not in the interests of Arab states, and it's not in the interests of the European states -- but they're absent from the kind of effort necessary to prevent that from happening. That's where leadership is going to be necessary. That's the difference that I intend to make, and that I must make -- for the sake of our country. To make ourselves safe in the long term, we're going to have to rebuild relationships and re-establish American credibility. Bush's mistakes don't have to become America's misfortune for the long term, and it's my job to undo his mistakes and turn this into a success.
If you send troops into Iraq, how will you be able to tell them they're not risking their lives for a mistake?
Because I'm going to make it a success, 'cause we're going to win. We're going to do what we need to do to get this job done. And I'm committed to doing that -- and I know how to do it. I'll put a foreign-policy team together that talks the truth to the American people.
Will you communicate to the American people the size of the crisis we face?
I'm doing it in the course of this campaign. I'm already talking about it -- and I will as president. Look: I'm a person who has always believed that you tell people the truth and they'll make reasonable decisions. Truth is powerful.
This administration disrespects the truth, because they have a different credo. The truth unfortunately works against their interests, because their interests are in keeping power and in making money. And so they feed the drug industry, and they feed the oil industry, and they feed the big power companies.
And that's the difference between us. I'm fighting for the middle class -- he's fighting for a tax cut for people who earn more than $200,000 a year.
How did you feel when you first saw those Swift-boat ads?
Disappointed -- a sense of bitter disappointment. That people will stoop to those depths of lying -- for their personal reasons.
Did you get angry at Bush personally?
I do worry, and I am angry, about what they do to the American people. That's what this race is about. It's not about me. I can take it -- I don't care. I've been in worse things. I was on those boats -- I got shot at. I can handle it. What I worry about is that they lie to America..
You don't get angry when Bush outright lies about you?
No, I don't get angry at it. I think it's sort of pathetic.
Were you surprised by how the Swift-boat thing blew up?
I was surprised that the media, even when they knew it was lies, continued to cover it and treat it as entertainment.
You were criticized for wearing a windsurfing outfit.
It shows how pathetic and diversionary they are. They can't talk about having created jobs for America; they can't talk about giving people health care; they can't talk about having protected America and made it safer.
Did anyone say, "Senator, you shouldn't be wearing windsurfing clothes"?
Yeah, a few people said . . .
And you said, Fuck it?
You're damn right. I said, "I'm going to be who I am" -- I think people care about authenticity. There are much bigger issues.
What do you think of Karl Rove? Is he an evil genius?
I don't know him. I've met him once. I'll tell you November 3rd.
What do you think of the Vote for Change concerts that Bruce Springsteen organized?
I haven't been able to go. I'm jealous of everybody who is. It's separate from us -- they've done it by themselves. But I'm obviously elated. His music has been the theme song of our campaign from Day One. To have him out there is both a privilege and exciting. I hope it has an impact on the outcome.
Who are your favorite rock & roll artists?
Oh, gosh. I'm, you know, a huge Rolling Stones fan; Beatles fan. One of the most cherished photographs in my life is a picture of me with John Lennon -- who I met back in 1971 at an anti-war rally. But I love a lot of different performers.
Do you have a favorite Beatles song -- or Stones song?
I love "Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar." I love "Imagine" and "Yesterday."
You're a greatest-hits kind of guy.
My favorite album is Abbey Road. I love "Hey Jude." I also like folk music. I like some classical. I love guitar. Oh, God. I mean, you know -- Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Buffett . . .
"Recently, a couple nationwide polls have shown Bush with a substantial lead, including some nonsensical outlier from Fox News and an equally unrealistic poll from Gallup which showed likely voters favoring Bush by 8 points. What's going on?
Fear not. It is all a grand load of garbage!
CIA 9/11 info withheld-
Ignorance has been bliss for Bush
Robert Scheer/LA Times
It is shocking: The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the election, and this one names names..."What all the other reports on 9/11 did not do is point the finger at individuals, and give the how and what of their responsibility. This report does that," said [an anonymous] intelligence official. "The report found very senior-level officials responsible."....the only legitimate reason the CIA director has for holding back such a report is national security. Yet neither Goss nor McLaughlin has invoked national security as an explanation for not delivering the report to Congress.."
"The scuffle over the CIA report could pose a problem for the CIA's new director, Porter J. Goss, who now is head of the agency he helped investigate when he was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Listen To These People Before Going to the Polls
ErrolMorris.com/Election 2004
Why this Republican Ex-Governor will be Voting for Kerry
Elmer L. Andersen
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Throughout my tenure and beyond as the 30th governor of this state, I have been steadfastly aligned -- and until recently, proudly so -- with the Minnesota Republican Party.
Continue reading this entry...
Washington, DC - Responding to the latest misleading Bush-Cheney ad, the Kerry-Edwards campaign Tuesday took to the airwaves with the new ad “Looking.” The ad recounts the mess in Iraq Americans are seeing every day and notes Kerry’s strong record on and commitment to keeping our country safe.
Wilkes-Barre, PA – Providing America a fresh start after four years of wrong choices by George W. Bush, John Kerry pledged in a speech in Wilkes-Barre, PA that as president he will restore fiscal discipline in Washington and strengthen Social Security.
“What George Bush still doesn’t understand is that his four-year spending spree on tax giveaways for millionaires has undermined the hopes of middle-class families and put Social Security on a dangerous road,” Kerry said. “Now he’s asking for another four years to privatize the program, and undo the sacred compact we’ve made with our seniors. Well I’m here to tell you that even though this is George Bush’s plan, it doesn’t have to be our future. And now is our moment to choose...”
Responding to Dick Cheney's remarks earlier today about nuclear terrorism in American cities, Mark Kitchens, Kerry campaign national security spokesman, issued the following statement:
"Mr. Cheney's attacks are in line with what we've come to expect from the Bush administration – reckless and irresponsible leadership. Cheney's attacks are filled with irony. He has the audacity to question whether a decorated combat veteran who has bled on the battlefield is tough and aggressive enough to keep America safe. He wants to scare Americans about a possible nuclear 9/11 while the Bush administration has been on the sidelines while the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran – the world's leading sponsor of terrorism – have increased. John Kerry will take strong effective action to prevent nuclear terrorism – dramatically accelerating efforts to secure nuclear weapons and materials around the world and leading international efforts to end nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea.”...
The New Republic's October 25 issue contains the latest anguished letter from another Republican who has decided to vote for John Kerry. In a truly impassioned plea, New York Post editorial writer Robert A. George lays out a damning case against George Bush for violating the fundamental tenets of conservatism, including fiscal responsibility, smaller government, and accountability for all of the activities of the executive branch, even in a time of "war." (Keep in mind that the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, the arch conservative media mogul.)
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"Conscience of a Conservative":
Robert A. George
The New Republic
Sixteen years ago, just out of college, I volunteered at the Republican National Convention as a man named George Bush prepared to begin a fall campaign that would see him defeat a Democrat from Massachusetts. The sparkling words of an acceptance speech crafted by Peggy Noonan—and delivered almost flawlessly--helped him inspire his party and a country that saw him as an extension of Ronald Reagan. It fell to that George Bush to "close out" the cold war and launch a different one in the Persian Gulf.....(cont'd)
Washington, DC - 9/11 widow Kristen Breitweiser is featured in the latest Kerry-Edwards television ad. Titled “Ever Since,” the ad shows Breitweiser talking about the reasons she is supporting John Kerry for president over her 2000 choice, George W. Bush.
Click here to watch the ad and for documentation.
Monday in New Jersey, George Bush gave what his aides said was a “significant” speech on the war on terror. The only thing significant about Bush’s policy on the war on terror has been his significant failure to focus on terrorism before September 11, his significant failures to protect America through homeland security, his significant failure to stay focused on the war on terror by shifting attention and resources to Iraq, and his significant failure to build a real coalition and provide American troops with proper equipment for battle. (cont'd)
In his speech in New Jersey Monday, George Bush continued his smearing of John Kerry by distoring Kerry's record and statements. (cont'd)
