No Tomorrow
Bill Moyers

---This is directly copied from a zmagazine email. I've been trying to tell this to people, but they won't listen. They think I'm overstating the case. Well read on.---

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that thedelusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sitin the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the firsttime in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power inWashington.Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologueshold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what isgenerally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, theiroffspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is thedanger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts.
Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of theinterior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engagingGrist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congressthat protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of theimminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after thelast tree is felled, Christ will come back."Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he wastalking about.
But James Watt was serious.
So were his compatriots outacross the country. They are the people who believe the Bible isliterally true - one-third of the American electorate, if a recentGallup poll is accurate. In this past election several million good anddecent citizens went to the polls believing in the rapture index.That's right - the rapture index. Google it and you will find that thebest-selling books in America today are the 12 volumes of the "LeftBehind" series written by the Christian fundamentalist andreligious-right warrior Timothy LaHaye. These true believers subscribeto a fantastical theology concocted in the 19th century by a couple ofimmigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wovethem into a narrative that has captivated the imagination of millions ofAmericans.
Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre (the British writer GeorgeMonbiot recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted tohim for adding to my own understanding): Once Israel has occupied therest of its "biblical lands," legions of the antichrist will attack it,triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon.As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah willreturn for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of theirclothes and transported to Heaven, where, seated next to the right handof God, they will watch their political and religious opponents sufferplagues of boils, sores, locusts and frogs during the several years oftribulation that follow.
I'm not making this up.
Like Monbiot, I've read the literature. I've reported on these people, following some of them from Texas to the WestBank. They are sincere, serious and polite as they tell you they feel called to help bring the rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy.That's why they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers. It's why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in the Book of Revelations where four angels "which are bound in the great river Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of man." A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed- an essential conflagration on the road to redemption. The last time I Googled it, the rapture index stood at 144 - just one point below thecritical threshold when the whole thing will blow, the son of God will return, the righteous will enter Heaven and sinners will be condemned toeternal hellfire.
So what does this mean for public policy and the environment? Go toGrist to read a remarkable work of reporting by the journalist GlennScherer - "The Road to Environmental Apocalypse." Read it and you will see how millions of Christian fundamentalists may believe that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed - even hastened - as a sign of the coming apocalypse. As Grist makes clear, we're not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers who hold or are beholden to these beliefs. Nearly half theU.S. Congress before the recent election - 231 legislators in total andmore since the election - are backed by the religious right.
Forty-five senators and 186 members of the 108th Congress earned 80 to100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian right advocacy groups. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Assistant Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Conference Chair RickSantorum of Pennsylvania, Policy Chair Jon Kyl of Arizona, House SpeakerDennis Hastert and Majority Whip Roy Blunt. The only Democrat to score100 percent with the Christian coalition was Sen. Zell Miller ofGeorgia, who recently quoted from the biblical book of Amos on the Senate floor: "The days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will senda famine in the land." He seemed to be relishing the thought. And why not? There's a constituency for it. A 2002 Time-CNN poll foundthat 59 percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in the book of Revelations are going to come true. Nearly one-quarter think theBible predicted the 9/11 attacks. Drive across the country with your radio tuned to the more than 1,600 Christian radio stations, or in themotel turn on some of the 250 Christian TV stations, and you can hear some of this end-time gospel. And you will come to understand why peopleunder the spell of such potent prophecies cannot be expected, as Grist puts it, "to worry about the environment. Why care about the earth, when the droughts, floods, famine and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why careabout global climate change when you and yours will be rescued in therapture? And why care about converting from oil to solar when the same God whoperformed the miracle of the loaves and fishes can whip up a few billion barrels of light crude with a word?"Because these people believe that until Christ does return, the Lordwill provide.
One of their texts is a high school history book,"America's Providential History." You'll find there these words: "Thesecular or socialist has a limited-resource mentality and views the world as a pie ... that needs to be cut up so everyone can get a piece."However, "[t]he Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God's earth ... while many secularists view the world as overpopulated, Christians know that God has made the earth sufficiently large with plenty of resources to accommodate all of the people."No wonder Karl Rove goes around the White House whistling that militant hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers."
He turned out millions of the footsoldiers on Nov. 2, including many who have made the apocalypse a powerful driving force in modern American politics. It is hard for the journalist to report a story like this with any credibility. So let me put it on a personal level. I myself don't know how to be in this world without expecting a confident future and getting up every morning to do what I can to bring it about. So I have always been an optimist. Now, however, I think of my friend on Wall Street whomI once asked: "What do you think of the market?" "I'm optimistic," he answered. "Then why do you look so worried?" And he answered: "Because I am not sure my optimism is justified."I'm not, either.
Once upon a time I agreed with Eric Chivian and theCenter for Health and the Global Environment that people will protect the natural environment when they realize its importance to their health and to the health and lives of their children. Now I am not so sure.It's not that I don't want to believe that - it's just that I read the news and connect the dots.I read that the administrator of the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency has declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the environment. This for an administration: That wants to rewrite the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and theEndangered Species Act protecting rare plant and animal species and their habitats, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to judge beforehand whether actions might damage natural resources. That wants to relax pollution limits for ozone; eliminate vehicletailpipe inspections, and ease pollution standards for cars,sport-utility vehicles and diesel-powered big trucks and heavyequipment. That wants a new international audit law to allow corporations to keep certain information about environmental problems secret from the public.That wants to drop all its new-source review suits against polluting,coal-fired power plants and weaken consent decrees reached earlier withcoal companies. That wants to open the Arctic [National] Wildlife Refugeto drilling and increase drilling in Padre Island National Seashore, the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world and the last great coastal wild land in America.
I read the news just this week and learned how the Environmental Protection Agency had planned to spend $9 million - $2 million of it from the administration's friends at the American Chemistry Council - to pay poor families to continue to use pesticides in their homes. These pesticides have been linked to neurological damage in children, but instead of ordering an end to their use, the government and the industry were going to offer the families $970 each, as well as a camcorder and children's clothing, to serve as guinea pigs for the study. I read all this in the news. I read the news just last night and learned that the administration's friends at the International Policy Network, which is supported by ExxonMobil and others of like mind, have issued a new report that climate change is "a myth, sea levels are not rising" [and] scientists who believe catastrophe is possible are "an embarrassment."I not only read the news but the fine print of the recent appropriations bill passed by Congress, with the obscure (and obscene) riders attached to it: a clause removing all endangered species protections from pesticides; language prohibiting judicial review for a forest in Oregon;a waiver of environmental review for grazing permits on public lands; a rider pressed by developers to weaken protection for crucial habitats inCalifornia. I read all this and look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer - pictures of my grandchildren. I see the future looking backat me from those photographs and I say, "Father, forgive us, for we knownot what we do." And then I am stopped short by the thought: "That's not right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world."
And I ask myself: Why?
Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy? Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain indignation at injustice? What has happened to our moral imagination?On the heath Lear asks Gloucester: "How do you see the world?" And Gloucester, who is blind, answers: "I see it feelingly.'"I see it feelingly.
The news is not good these days. I can tell you, though, that as a journalist I know the news is never the end of the story. The news can be the truth that sets us free - not only to feel but to fight for the future we want. And the will to fight is the antidote to despair, the cure for cynicism, and the answer to those faces looking back at me from those photographs on my desk. What we need is what the ancientIsraelites called hochma - the science of the heart ... the capacity tosee, to feel and then to act as if the future depended on you.
Believe me, it does.

Bill Moyers was host until recently of the weekly public affairs series"NOW with Bill Moyers" on PBS. This article is adapted from AlterNet,where it first appeared. The text is taken from Moyers' remarks uponreceiving the Global Environmental Citizen Award from the Center forHealth and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School.

Noam Chomsky

There's a very interesting excerpt from Noam HERE.

"In fact the Pentagon announced at the same time two days ago: we’re keeping 120,000 troops there into at least 2007, even if they call for withdrawal tomorrow.
And the propaganda is very evident right in these articles. You can even write the commentary now: We just have to do it because we have to accomplish our mission of bringing democracy to Iraq. If they have an elected government that doesn’t understand that, well, what can we do with these dumb Arabs, you know? Actually that’s very common because look, after all, the U.S. has overthrown democracy after democracy, because the people don’t understand. They follow the wrong course."

He's saying (as I read him) that a "democratic" Iraq will do things we cannot let them do, so what we have to do is give them the government we think they should have. i.e. one that will keep US interests at heart. We won't stand for anything less.

Propaganda is a 4 letter word.

Via Tom Tommorrow

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror
by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.
....A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in January, 1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu, the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.
The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy to the Saigon Government, which has been founded only on coups and power plays since November, 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military junta.

I'm glad the Iraqis voted. I just don't think it matters very much. They voted for Saddam too. 104% in the last "election." In the end, I'm not sure if this was any different. Sure, our guys were there to protect the Iraqis from the other Iraqis, but they still saw American soldiers standing around everywhere with guns. Just like when they voted for Saddam. I'm not saying it's the same- I don't think it is at all, but in terms of perception... I just don't know. I heard on NPR that the US media, reporting so authoratatively on the election, wasn't allowed to see the voting- a block outside the green zone. The sole source of the "positive" signs in Iraq are coming from the military. Grain of salt people, that's all I'm saying.

"Democracy in Iraq."

"For the only time in memory, electoral candidates are afraid to be seen in public and are forced to campaign from underground cells, with many afraid to even link their names to their faces in the media. There are no public rallies where voters might glean some information about candidates' positions. As one voter told CNN, he would prefer to vote for George Michael, since he knows more about the singer than about any of the candidates running for office."

Read the whole article here.

Yikes.

Seymour Hersh ran a very frightening article for the New Yorker this week that lays out what he sees as Dubya's long term military plan.
It seems Iran is our next target- and if it's not, the Dubya Crew is trying hard to make it look like it's going to be. The plan, according Mr. Hersh, is for our lack of support cause to the EU's attempt at negotiations to fail. This will bring the issue into the UN. We try to pass sanctions, a move that will be vetoed by either China or Russia. Then, saying we have no choice, we bomb the shit out certain areas, destabilizing the country. This will cause the people in Iran to rise up and fight for a western style democracy.
What a bunch of idiots.
There's more.
The Pentagon wants autonomous control of "secret ops" teams outside the oversight of anyone but Dubya himself.
Anyone who remembers Iran/Contra should be gettting a stomach ache at the previous sentence. This is exactly how that debacle happened- removal of Congressional oversight of Pentagon secret ops. And now we're setting things up for a reprise. Ugh.
This year is giving me a headache.

Why People who like him are Nitwits

In Shrubs inaugral speech to "peacefully transfer power" to himself he said the word

FREEDOM: 27 times.
LIBERTY: 15 times.

THE SPEECH WAS 12 MINUTES LONG!
TWELVE MINUTES!!!

"And always twirling twirling towards freedom!!" ----Kodos the alien on the Simpsons.

(Thanks to the Daily Show for the tally and the wonderful montage.)

The Process of Writing.

One question people ask writers all the time is, "How do you come up with the ideas?" It's a question all writers are uncomfortable with not because we get asked it all the time, but because I don't think the bulk of us know how to answer the question. It's not that we're being cagey- It's just really hard to describe- even for people who describe things for a living.
I'm working on my 6th novel right now. It's still pretty early on in terms of a novel- 10,000 words (Most novels are 90-135,000 when they're finished.) but it's at this point the idea you hope will end up being a novel actually does, or doesn't, take on a life of it's own.

This novel started as a dream and a phrase. "Inside and outside." The dream was vague, a variation on the film The Game directed by Fight Club Director guy where I, in the dream, did something bad that wasn't what I thought it was. I sat with this for a while ( a week or two) , then just before Christmas I had the image of this kid waiting for a train. He's going somewhere fun, but this guy sitting next to him is bothering him. That was it. No details. I go down to Florida for a relaxing vacation. When I get back, I know the kid meets the other main character in this train station- but I don't know who the other main character is.

When I write, it's like I'm watching a movie inside my head. The entire scene is just there in the mind's eye and you try to describe as best as you can what you're seeing. It's like a 3-d moive though- you can go into the charaters and know their thoughts or feelings at any given moment, rewind and replay the same thing from multiple angles.

But here's where it gets tricky- at the best moments, I in no way feel like I'm writing WHAT is happening, I'm only writing HOW I'm seeing what is happening on it's own. It's like watching a thriller where you are absolutely guessing and rooting for what you want to have happen, and I believe that rooting influences the story, but in the end, your just watching the movie and you find out what happens when you get there.

For instance, when I started writing my last book (Clearing at the End of the Path- 1st 3 chapters available here. ) I had a female character I was just going to have this serial killer kill in the virtual world as a way to introduce the theme of the book. Only when I started to write, that's not what happened. He didn't kill her- she killed him. The scene stayed in the book, but ended up 3/4 of the way through instead of at the beginning, and it's meaning was totally different. This girl became Molly, the main charater of the entire novel, totally changing the tenor and eventual result of the book.

I didn't mean for that to happen. I don't care how weird or "cheesily mystical" that sounds. I'm as cynical as most people, if you don't believe that, read a few old entries. Still, there are great swaths of this thing we call existing that I don't begin to claim I can understand- and while I don't understand where this writing thing comes from, I'm indescribably grateful to be able to do this thing- and I say that at a time my writing has cost me a hell of a lot more money than it's made me. Every book I hope someone will come along to help on the financial end of things, and when they don't all I can do is write another novel- the writing is the reason, the publishing is the gravy. Granted, I really like gravy.

Farneheit WINS

In yet another wacky twist- Farenhiet 9-11 beats out Shrek 2 and Spiderman 2 for the People's Choice Award of the Best Movie in 2004. Sp2 and Sh2 collectively made 10X the money Farenheit did, yet F911 wins!
See the entire segment here.
To quote the thankfully now sans-career Yakov Smirnov, "What a country."
I can't wait to see him win another Oscar.
Oh, and by the way, did anyone else catch the 6th Grade Michael Moore logic line in last night's episode of 24. The show's always been a little right of Stalin politics wise, but this season they're spreading it on a little thick. It's like Wolfowitz is a script supervisor or something this season.

Hoorah

Congrats to the Democrats for taking the novel and courageous position that we should count votes!!


We've fallen pretty far haven't we?

Guess who's paying for W's Inaugral?

(This article copied from www.commondreams.org)- I usually don't just straight copy a story, but this one has too many stomach wrenching numbers to just summarize.)

Published on Saturday, December 18, 2004 by the Associated Press
Energy Firms Lavish Funds on Inauguration
by Pete Yost

WASHINGTON - More than $4.5 million from the corporate world has flowed to President Bush's inauguration fund, much of it from the energy industry and some of its executives in contributions of $250,000 each.
Outside the energy sector, New Orleans Saints football team owner Tom Benson gave $50,000 and his companies gave $200,000, the fund reported Friday.
Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest shipbuilder and second-largest U.S. defense contractor, donated $100,000.
Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer maker, gave $250,000. So did United Technologies, maker products ranging from escalators to aircraft engines.
Investment banking firm Stephens Group Inc. of Little Rock, Ark., gave $250,000. And the education loan firm Sallie Mae gave $250,000.
Occidental Petroleum Corp., whose business stands to benefit from the president's actions concerning Libya, donated $250,000, as did Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company. Exxon Mobil reported record third-quarter profits, thanks to higher prices for oil and natural gas.
In April, Bush took steps to restore normal trade and investment ties with Libya, enabling four American oil companies, including Occidental, to resume commercial activities there after an 18-year absence.
Bush's action was a reward to Moammar Gadhafi for eliminating his most destructive weapons programs.
Other donors from the energy sector included Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who gave $250,000; and former Enron President Richard Kinder, who left the firm five years before it collapsed and now is CEO of one of the largest energy transportation and storage companies in the country. Kinder also gave $250,000.
Energy provider Southern Co., which owns utility companies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi, gave $250,000.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, the policy organization of the nuclear industry, gave $100,000.

Gary Webb is Dead

Gary Webb, the insanely brave reporter who linked the CIA to the South American drug trade has died of an apparent suicide. Gary was a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News when he ran a series of reports linking the Contras (a group massively funded by Reagan's CIA) to the explosion of drugs in LA in the 80's. Not surprisingly, the mainstream media tore Webb to pieces- although they failed in taking apart his story- notice the way the NY Times Obit treats him- they didn't disprove anything, and they are too cowardly to say they were the main "mainstream" newspapers who "discredited" him.
The best summary of Webb's work is actually an audio commentary track on the film BOB ROBERTS done by the guys from CounterPunch.
Webb was a brave reporter who stood and stands for everything the mainstream media is failing to do.

My Top 10 Films of 2004

1) Fahrenheit 911
Michael Moore’s latest documentary is a brilliant piece of satire that holds up to factual scrutiny far better than the media here is willing to admit. It covers the last four years in a whirlwind, from the fishy election in 2000, to 9/11, and Bush’s connection to the Saudi Royal Family, this movie cuts deep. Certainly Moore is giving his version of reality, but that’s an inherent part of filmmaking- to present a world through the lens of a director. Fahrenheit managed to beat a move by Disney to bury it, and went on to become a phenomenon. The movie works both as political propaganda and terrific filmmaking. The way Moore handles the event of 9/11 itself, with just a black screen and the screams of the people watching- was the most emotionally devastating presentations of the tragedy of 9/11 I have seen. It belies any fool who says Moore hates America. This film, and the frenzy of hatred some people have shown toward it, marks it as the cleaver splitting America in half between those who love Bush- and those who hate him.

2) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
On the other side of the spectrum comes the third, and best, of the Harry Potter movies. A better look, tighter story, and the increased acting ability of the three principle leads, Harry, Ron, and Hermione (Danielle Ratcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson respectively) make for a habitually watchable film for Potter fans of all stripes. Director Alfonso Cueron’s greatest achievement is telling a complicated story with such skill, one hardly realizes how confusing it could all potentially be. Additionally, Cueron shows the Potter movies don’t have to follow the bland, minutia obsessed style of the earlier two films.

3) Kill Bill Volume 2
Better than Volume 1, this second installment is the think-piece accompaniment to Part One’s action/gore fest. Tarantino picks up right where he left off with the Bride (Uma Thurman) on her hell-bent quest to find Bill (David Carradine). The story, while still sparse, pays off nicely in the grand finale. Uma spars with Carradine verbally instead of physically, marking an interesting contrast to the heavily physical film as a whole. The scene where Uma is buried alive by Michael Madsen, along with the interlocking story of how she is able to escape, is Tarantino at his best.

4) Hero
This movie wasn’t released in the US until this year. Zhang Yimou’s martial arts film tells the same story 3 different ways, adding depth and twists to the plot with each re-telling. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this film is visually delightful and full of incredible sword play, especially by Jet Li. The thing I liked best was Yimou’s use of natural elements- water, trees, etc. The fight scene that takes place amidst a storm of yellow leaves was the most beautiful single segment I saw this year and shows CGI can be used for more than robots and space battles.

5) Dogville
Lars Van Trier’s film relies completely on the skills of his actors to carry this engrossing story about the good and bad of community, power, and individual responsibility. There is no set. Instead, the town in the Rocky Mountains where the story takes place is delineated by lines drawn on the ground and hints of set to help mark boundaries. Nicole Kidman plays a wonderfully complicated character faced with the decision whether to turn the other cheek or take an eye for an eye. Even more than its style, I found myself mulling over the ramifications of the story for days.

6) The Incredibles
Pixar’s story about superheroes who suffer all too human frailties is my favorite from the studio so far. The lush island way off in the middle of the ocean is a great touch, and the various chase scenes are fun to watch. This is the first Pixar film to use people as the main characters and I think it’s interesting that the Incredibles come off as more human than their computer counterparts in The Polar Express- even though the Incredibles are much less “photo realistic.”

7) Garden State
Surprisingly funny film about falling in love- a sort of 21st Century version of The Graduate. The biggest pleasant surprise of the year was Natalie Portman, whose charater in the movie suffers epilepsy, wasn’t forced to fake a seizure to prove some overly-melodramatic point about the tenuousness of life and the need to love. Instead the movie discusses these same themes cleverly and with great originality. Garden State is a great first effort by Zach Braff, who also starred and wrote the film.

8) Control Room
This is the film that should win the best documentary Oscar since Fahrenheit 9/11 isn’t eligible. Directed by Jehane Noujaim, Control Room documents the enormous difference between the US’s vision of itself, and the way it’s seen in the rest of the world. It mainly follows two people, an Al Jazeera senior producer and a Pentagon spokesperson who struggle to understand one another’s point of view. It’s interesting that the spokesman, Josh Rushing, has since been drummed out of the service and Al Jazeera has been banned from Iraq. A movie that I wish had been seen by more people here.

9) Spider Man 2
Another sequel better than its predecessor, this movie looked great and improved on the things the first did poorly without screwing up the things it did right. Clearly the centerpiece of a trilogy, this movie nicely sets us up for Part three, and like Return of the King- I’m actually looking forward to it.

10) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Original, strange film that stands out as the first movie Jim Carrey actually managed to act in without making a fool of himself. The way the film winds a great metaphysical premise into a story that’s really about people is what really makes it stand out.

WEBSITE UPDATE

In case anyone that reads this also likes Art I've just massively overhauled the MY ART section of the website www.williamhrdina.com so that you can see everything directly without being forced to click on a bunch of links- I've also added a bunch of stuff that wasn't up before- so go check it out.

First Draft of My 5th Novel Finished!!!

Sorry about the lack of posting- I've been on a run up to the finish of the first draft of my newest novel, "The Clearing at the End of the Path." I wrote the whole thing (@100,000 words) in a little over 4 months and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. So I guess I'll be spending another 60 bucks on stamps soon trying to find an agent smart enough to publish the thing. I've been thinking of dropping politics for a while and starting a new blog about how difficult it is to catch a break in the publishing world. The political world is so depressing right now my wife is yelling at me for being a bummer- so I guess I'll switch to something I at least have some control over and leave the political blogging to the Pros. (Or maybe not- one can never tell about these things.) I already know what the next book is going to be- it's a bit of a departure for me- but not really. I don't want to say to much about it becuase I'll invariably prove myself wrong.

Oh, the new book is about people who die and have their brains downloaded into a computer database where they can live indefinitly. I would call it metaphysical sci-fi but it has some strong thriller elements as well. It holds no relationship to the Matrix, no one (well almost no one) goes into the computer before they die- this book is more about our relationship to death, to mystery, and to each other. But it is also, as always, just a good story told to me by who or whatever tells the stories. I just work here.

Also on the lighter side...

Funny Billboards. Really, really, funny billboards.
And this site- a bunch of different photo series from Japan that are really... different.

Sent to me via email.

Subject: thinking
It started out innocently enough.I began to think at parties now and then -- to loosen up.Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.
I began to think on the job.I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself.I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka.I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"One day the boss called me in.He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."
This gave me a lot to think about.
I came home early after my conversation with the boss."Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking...""I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!""But Honey, surely it's not that serious.""It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!""That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently.She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.
I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche.I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors...They didn't open. The library was closed.To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye."Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.You probably recognize that line.It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.
I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's."Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.Life just seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.
Today, I registered to vote as a Republican.

Jeez.

Welcome to Soviet-style government folks!
Loyalty Oaths for Everyone!
If you don't say what we tell you to say- you'll be fired from the CIA.
The Geneva Convention is "quaint"
And on and on... the lines to get the toilet paper will be set up shortly.

All of which is motivating this- which actually has some good points- even if they are couched in rather angry language.

Umberto Eco on Fascism

First pointed out by Bob Harris- Umberto Eco- author of the truly wonderful Foucalt's Pendulum has an article written back in the last century- 1995 to be exact- in which he lists out a number of philosophical ideologies that make fertile soil for fascism. It's like Karl Rove read the list and used it as his roadmap to the '04 election.

A sampling:
"The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism.
In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason."
"Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity.
Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition."

WTF?

The Shrubster wasn't elected by people who are afraid of gays and the repulsively uninformed- he was elected by GOD.
Gee- the religious right wonders why they scare the living daylights out of those of us who are even remotely rational.
A sample:
Richard Land, a leading Southern Baptist who participates in a weekly strategy call between the White House and evangelical leaders put it this way: “Whoever won, it would have been God’s will.” But because Bush won, Land told Beliefnet, God has clearly shown America his blessings. If Kerry had won, it would have proved God was cursing the United States. “The Bible says godly leadership is a sign of God’s blessings and a lack of godly leadership is a sign of God’s judgment. I don’t see Kerry as a godly leader.”
Truly marvelous stuff.

Rove's Legacy

Carl Rove has been called lots of things- but dumb is never one of them. While the democrats fumble around trying to decide how Republican they can act in '08, Carl is already very hard at work wrapping up then next election for whatever wingnut next sucks in the nomination. McCain and Ghooliani probably shouldn't hold their breath- Bush will hand pick his successor and he's gonna be someone the American Taliban- Sam Smith's term for the far right- can really get behind. Why? Becuase that's Rove's strategy. Step one: Shore up and strengthen the already electrified American Taliban base- and second- here's the bigee- take the Hispanic vote away from the Dems entirely- thereby opening up California to the Repubs in '08. What he's doing- first Hispanic Attorney General and the work visa for aliens issue- is obvious and quite brilliant- but it's going to be really difficult 4 years from now to listen to the damn morons in the news media talking about what a surprise the whole thing was and how the Dems were just outmanuevered again.

I know he thinks he has a mandate but things are getting out of hand.

You would think anyone who would reccomend Zell Miller to replace COlin Powell as Sec. of State would just be a wingnut right. Well, I'll still argue this guy's a wingnut but a contributing editor to the National Review thinks it's a good idea.

But that's just a guy talking- this one's a whole lot spookier.

President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Dr. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's practice. His views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.
In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.

No Child Left Behind

Yeah. Bush's Police State won't leave anyone behind.

I'm still reeling from the election. Trying to understand how 1/2 of this country hates gays so much they'd reelect Bush IN SPITE of the fact that Kerry's poisition on the gay marriage thing is nearly as unsupportive of gays as Shrub's. Civil unions- sure- step right up to the water fountain- it's not the same as our water fountain- but it's just as nice.
Oh, and now you have to ride at the back of the bus.
The Daily Mirror put it best- How can 55 million people be so dumb?

Dean Wins!!!

Via Tom Tommorrow (how does he find so many gems?) A great bit of alternate history: The election of Howard Dean.

kerry loses

I wrote a 1,000 word thing and it just disappeared when I tried to post it. Fuck it. We lost. The evil shitbags won. Every single person who cast a vote for Bush will pay for it. It's their air, water, food, TV, too.
Let them choke on it.

You can almost hear the entire country holding its breath.

The Most Accurate Indicator??

This is my 101st post to this blog and I thought it was fitting to do 2 things. First, my predictions for tommorrow.
Kerry by 5 points. He takes Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, and MAYBE Ohio.
Dems go up by 1 seat in Senate and Repubs hold the House by 5. (5 is the magic number this year)
I think we'll know Kerry won tommorrow before midnight.
HOWEVER, it wouldn't surprise me to see Bush's people trying REAL hard to roll back Kerry's win. We'll see.

Second I would like to post what is probably the stupidest, yet weirdly accurate indicator of elections: The fate of the Washington Redskins.

Washington Redskins vs. The President
Wisconsin supporters of John Kerry and John Edwards had an extra reason to cheer the Packers victory over the Redskins today: over the past 17 presidential elections, the outcome of the Redskins' final home game has determined the outcome of the election. According to history, if the Redskins win, the incumbent president remains in office. If they lose, the challenger wins.
How the Washington Redskins franchise fared the game before presidential elections, and the elections' outcomes:
2000: Tennessee 27, Redskins 21... Democrats lose White House (George W. Bush defeats Al Gore)
1996: Redskins 31, Indianapolis 16... Democrats keep it (Bill Clinton defeats Bob Dole)
1992: New York Giants 24, Redskins 7... Republicans lose it (Clinton defeats George H.W. Bush)
1988: Redskins 27, New Orleans 24... Republicans keep it (Bush defeats Michael Dukakis)
1984: Redskins 27, Atlanta 14... Republicans keep it (Ronald Reagan defeats Walter Mondale)
1980: Minnesota 39, Redskins 14... Democrats lose it (Reagan defeats Jimmy Carter)
1976: Dallas 20, Redskins 7... Republicans lose it (Carter defeats Gerald Ford)
1972: Redskins 35, New York Jets 17... Republicans keep it (Richard Nixon defeats George McGovern)
1968: Minnesota 27, Redskins 13... Democrats lose it (Nixon defeats Hubert Humphrey)
1964: Redskins 21, Philadelphia 10... Democrats keep it (Lyndon Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater)
1960: Cleveland 31, Redskins 10... Republicans lose it (John Kennedy defeats Nixon)
1956: Redskins 17, Chicago Cardinals 14... Republicans keep it (Dwight Eisenhower defeats Adlai Stevenson)
1952: Pittsburgh 24, Redskins 23... Democrats lose it (Eisenhower defeats Stevenson)
1948: Redskins 51, Boston Yanks 21... Democrats keep it (Harry Truman defeats Thomas Dewey)
1944: Redskins 42, Chi-Pitt 20... Democrats keep it (Franklin Roosevelt defeats Dewey)
1940: Washington Redskins 37, Pittsburgh 10... Democrats keep it (Roosevelt defeats Wendell Willkie)
1936: Boston Redskins 13, Chicago Cardinals 10... Democrats keep it (Roosevelt defeats Alfred Landon)
1932: Boston Braves 7, Chicago Bears 7... Republicans lose it (Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover)

Osama in his own words

For those who are still kicking the dirt and believing the Gosh Darn Al-Queda just hates all of our freedom, Osama’s new tape should be an eye opener. No complete transcript is available, but here's the most complete transcript available. Sure he’s an evil shit- but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have legitimate reasons for his anger. Reasons, by the way, he has no reason to lie about. This IS NOT to say that 9-11 was justified. His anger is justified, how he acted on it, IS NOT. The sad fact of the matter is the poor deluded bastard probably thinks he’s Saudi Arabia’s George Washington. He wants the US to stop supporting Israel and to get our military out of the middle east entirely- particularly from Saudi Arabia. In other words he wants us to get the occupying military to go home- it's the same justification being used by the insurgents in Iraq.
Is that really such an insane request? Would we want someone’s military in OUR country. No, I don’t think we would. And it's an easy one to agree to. We just pack up our shit, come home, and focus our attention on eliminating our slavish need for foriegn oil.
The hawks will say that Osama wants us to go home so can he can be free to train terrorists to come over here and kill us. That’s just stupid. We have this infatuation in this country with cartoonish bad guys. The truth of the matter is, people can be sane, and still be very very evil. A crazy guy couldn’t hide out from us all this time.
Osama said the attack was carried out because "we are a free people ... and we want to regain the freedom of our nation."
Why does that have to be a lie? WE may not agree with anything the man thinks, but FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW what he's saying is true.
People do evil (ie violent) things because they are convinced of the truth of their convictions to the point they think they are justified in the violence they are perpetrating.
Nearly all violence has this same conviction- from a crime of passion to a well thought out act of terrorism, to an entire nation organized around a war. It is the root of the wheel of death the human race has been spinning around on since Cain killed his brother.
From this point of view both the US and the Al Queda are the same. It’s all senseless killing. When John Kerry pulls our people out of the Middle East (which I think most Democrats are hoping he will do if elected) I hope he doesn’t stop at just Iraq. I hope we bring everyone in the region home. And while we’re at it lets stop being the number one arms dealer in the world.

Bush Worse than Doctor Octopus and Leatherface.

Reuters-

Film Fans Make Bush 'Movie Villain of the Year'

LONDON - President George W. Bush may see himself as defender of democracy and compassionate conservatism but film fans have voted him "Movie Villain of the Year".
The American "Axis of Evil" fighter is wooing voters with security pledges ahead of the presidential election next week, but it was Bush's role in Michael Moore's anti-war film "Fahrenheit 9/11" that won him the villainous title.
In a poll for Total Film magazine, the U.S. leader fought off competition from such well-known baddies as atomic scientist Doctor Octopus from "Spider-Man 2" and fellow Texan Leatherface from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
"The overwhelming response of our readers voting Bush top villain just goes to show how frightening people found him in Fahrenheit 9/11," Total Film's editor Matt Mueller told Reuters. "He was absolutely terrifying in that film. The infamous scene where he's informed about the Twin Towers attack while visiting a school, and sits there absolutely paralysed, is enough to strike fear into anyone's heart," he said.

LYRICS TO "MOSH"- THE EMINEM SONG I MENTIONED YESTERDAY

Watch the video here.
Much respect. The video was produced by GNN the Guerilla News Network. They're good folks, I've been digging them for a while. GNN Home Page Here. (You can watch the video from here as well.)

"MOSH"

kids: I pledge alegence to the flag of the united states of america

eminem: People, hahaha, this is it, it feels so good to be back!

VERSE 1:

I Scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, reenergize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel its time.
just in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say the “fight” you take it as ima whip someone’s ass
If you don’t understand don’t even bother to ask,
a father who has grown up with a father less passed who has blown up now to rap phenomena,
that has or at least shows no difficulty multi task, in juggling both perhaps master this craft slash entrepreneur who has held launch a phew more rap bags.
Who’s had a phew obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his creatifical maneuver moving past that
Mister kiss his ass crack, he’s a class act,
Rubber band man, yeah, he just snaps back

CHORUS:

Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I wont steer you wrong
Get your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel we gon’ fight,
we gon’ charge, we gon’ stomp, we gon’ mosh through the smog, we gon’ march through the mosh, take us right through the doors… COME ON

VERSE 2:

All the people up top, on the side and the middle, from the ghetto, lets all form and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back,
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
Don’t matter what color, all that matters is we gathered together,
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the whether
If it rains, let it rain, YEAH the wetter the better
They ain’t gon’ stop us, they cant, were stronger now more then ever
They tell us no we say yeah, they tell us stop we say go,
Rebel with a rebel, yell “rais hell”, we gon’ let em? No
STOMP, PUSH, SHOVE, MUSH… FUCK BUSH, until they bring our troops home… COME ON

CHORUS:

just,
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I wont steer you wrong
Get your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel we gon’ fight,
we gon’ charge, we gon’ stomp we gon mosh through the smog, we gon march through the mosh, take us right through the doors… COME ON

VERSE 3:

Imagine it poorin’, its rainin’ down on us, moshpits outside the oval office
Someone’s tryin to tell us something, maybe this is god, just sayin we're responsible
For this monster, this coward, that we have empowered, this is bin laden
Look at his head noddin’, how can we allow something like this without pumpin our fists
Now this is our, final hour,
Let me be the voice, in your strength and your choice, let me simplify the rhyme,
Just to implify the noise, tryin to amplify to times it, and multiply it by sixteen million people are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech, let the president answer our high anarchy
Strap him with a AK-47 let HIM go fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way,
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil, no more psychological warfare to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing our hero
Look in his eyes, its all lies, the stars and stripes, have been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And replaced with his own face, mosh now or die, if I can snipe tonight, you’ll know why, ‘cuz I told you to fight.

CHORUS:

Come along follow me as I leed through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I wont steer you wrong
Get your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel we gon fight,
we gon charge, we gon stomp we gon mosh through the smog, we gon march through the mosh, take us right through the doors... come on

Eminem: and as we proceed to mosh through this deasert storm, and these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army to dissarm this weapon of mass distruction that we call our president for the present and mosh for the future of our next generation, to speak and be heard, mr president, mr senitor

kids: hear us, hear us

WOW- Who knew?

I don't care what you think of Eminem or hip-hop you have to watch his latest video. I wish MTV would just start playing it and leave it on until election day. I'm not sure when Eminem got political beyond his own life- but this is a seriously brilliant song/video combination.

DICK Cheney- The MOVIE

Want to know what a lying prick Cheney is?
A career retrospective.
Watch it here. (About 40 minutes)
You'll notice Sinclair isn't trying to air it. Oh well.
For instance, Did you know that Cheney dropped out of Yale- Twice?
Oh, and he got arrested for Drunk Driving too- just like Bush.

Oh, this just keeps getting more and more ridiculous

In what HAS to be, hands down, the most completely fucking stupid thing his Shrubness has EVER said- either that or this man is WAY WAY WAY more insane than even his greatest detractors have ventured to guess.

Pat Robertson. THE Pat Robertson of the 700 Club fame- otherwise known as Fundamentalist Wacko- says that in discussions with Pres. Shrub before the gulf war that NO ONE WAS GOING TO DIE!!!! I cannot wait to see the Republicans attack Robertson as a liberal or something- this is going to be rich!


What exactly was said?
"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."

Anyone that votes for this guy needs to have their heads examined. That millions will in a couple of weeks is a little hard to understand. How far up your ass does your head have to be before people will admit you're not worth their support?
I guess we'll find out.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous

THE BUSH FOLKS ARE BURYING A CIA REPORT THAT HOLDS THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR 9/11!!!!!

That's right, the CIA has reportedly had a report prepared for weeks that names high level Bush administration officials (we don't know which ones exactly- just that they are "high level") as culpable for 9-11. Since this falls under the category of things the Dubyas don't want to be true- THEY ARE SUPRESSING IT. This practice was quite common- in Soviet Russia.

Once again it makes me wonder- is there anything these people won't do?

There he goes again...

Cheney has once more unleashed what is probably the most petty, most shameful, most disgusting of all campaign arguments.
If you vote for the other guy- we're all going to die.
I mean, come the fuck on.

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States..." -Dick

First of all, this scares the crap out of me becuase if I'm a terrorist- this makes me want to hit America before the election- if for no other reason for saying they cannot hit at the Bush Administration- especially considering what happened in Spain last year. I fear such an attack will be the October surprise we've all been waiting for. These guys are clearly desperate. (Both the terrorists and the Bush Camp)

I think the first thing Kerry is going to do as President is to give all of Halliburton's contracts to other firms- I'm sure the thought's crossed the minds of the people at Halliburton as well. I'm sure they've made a few phone calls- I mean you would almost have to- the contracts are worth literally billions of dollars. If you're a Halliburton Exec. do you really just let this happen? And who are you going to call? Why the ex CEO of your company and the Vice President of the US- Dick Dick Cheney.
This is all speculation of course and will always remain so. Dick's not stupid- there will never be any record of his interactions with Halliburton. But with Billions of dollars in play and the media in their pocket- the chances for really scary Reichstag Fire/Wag the Dog- type stuff just gets higher and higher.

I really think it sucks that we even have to consider such things- that my biggest hope- not confidence- hope- is that the US can hold an election that comes within 10 miles of fair. Never mind the screw-ups in Afghanistan- I'm worried about our country- our people.

Tucker Carlson, "You're a dick..."

Johnathon Stewart is my hero. Watch him on Crossfire. It's totally brutal- John rips both Tucker and Bagala to shreds. And his point is a very valid one. My favorite part is when they criticize Stewart's COMEDY show against their show on CNN.

CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.

For all y'all with the yellow ribbons who plan to vote for the Cheatin' Dubya.

Amply supplied troops?

Go ahead. Say it's because Kerry voted against the 87 milliion- which was actually a protest vote against Halliburton's free cash giveaway.

He got his money. The troops are in a terrible place- unequipped, outnumbered, and unsafe. They should be back home here with us. If wanting people to not die is unAmerican. Then so be it.

Send Bush home to Texas and bring our troops home for Valentines Day!

Cheater Cheater Cheater!!!!!

It's a little hard to believe, but Bush wore the wire again in the 3rd debate. Salon has a great picture of it although you'll have to go through some bullshit to actually read the article that accompanies the terrific photo of Bush's bulging back.

Sorry to keep hyping on this- but if he's willing to cheat like this in a simple (albeit important for his personal political future) debate- just try to imagine the level of deceit going on about the really important issues that effect everyone in this country- indeed around the entire globe.

Yikes.

They've even got their own ketchup now!

Yup. The Republicans now have their own ketchup so they don't have to support Kerry.
Wow.
(Be sure to look at the About W ketchup section- for some reason there's a picture of Ronald Reagan. Also be sure to notice that everything is made in America- but they don't mention any states.. Hmm.)

The Final Presidential Debate

Bush got his clock cleaned.
Why?
It's not just because he was babbling like a loon half the time- it was Kerry's performance. While Bush just attacked Kerry as a Liberal, the only thing he really had was "he voted to raise taxes 96 times" Kerry read laundry lists of Bush screw-ups, and one of which could have been used in his non-answer to the last debates question of, "What mistakes have you made?" Kerry explained in remarkably coherent detail how he was going to pay for his plans. Frankly I was shocked he did it. Most politicians are terrified to stake out positions so publicly. I'm not saying his ideas will necessarily work- but at least he's actually explaining what he thinks. I think this tactic wins him swing votes. Bush had no plan at all. Kerry represents an alternative that comes across as well thought out. I mean, Bush has us back at trickle down economics for fucks sake.
The one thing the Bushy Administration doesn't want is the question to come down to stubborn resolve vs. the ability to change position in the light of new facts. People want resolve. They don't want insane ideological certainty. They don't want the pushy husband who refuses to admit he doesn't know where he is when you've been driving around in circles for 4 hours. You gotta stop for directions sometimes- the people know that.
Oh, and I'm sorry, but when the President talks about his faith I get freaked out.
Not that he has faith, that's way cool by me, it's that his kind of faith is almost desperate- He needs God to be on his side- otherwise he might have to actually face the fact he's one of the worst Presidents in the history of this country.
Clearly his handlers are well aware of how thin the reality of his poll numbers really are becuase he keeps cheating. Now they're throwing out Democratic voter registration cards. It seems to have be a concerted effort- all funded by the RNC. If this pops before the election- Bush is fucko.
And yeah, in case you've forgotten, he also likes to cheat some more. There were several times last night I would've bet money he was listening to something in his ear. He'd usually say a name or fact immediatly afterward. Of course, I was looking for it- so I might be biased.
Speaking of the "Is Bush wired" question, did anyone else notice how badly distorted his reception was for the first two or three minutes of the debate last night? It was an echoey feedback, you know, the kind you can get when you bring two microphones too close together.

Bill O Reilly- Right Wing Ideologue or Freaky Sex Pervert?

Apparantly Bill O Reilly is getting sued for sexually harrassing an ex-employee Andrea Mackris. While normally one would doubt such claims, this particular instance seems to be different becuase, as the Smoking Gun points out, there are long transcripts of Bill O Reilly's words that are quoted VERBATIM, which seems to indicate there is a tape. And if there is, O Reilly is TOAST. Bye Bye and SHUT UP!

IS BUSH WIRED?

It sounds like Herr Stupid has been caught. There are now 2 credible instances where it's clear Bush is listening to an earpiece for prompting. First, there is this audio of someone prompting Bush from June 5, 2004 with Chirac. Skip ahead to 22:40- that's where it occurs.
Then, at the debate last week Bush said to the air, "Let me finish" no one was interupting him. Listen to it here.

Here's the relevant portion of the French transcript:Q Mr. President, what role specifically would you like the French to play in Iraq going forward? Merci.PHANTOM VOICE: The French are going to provide advice...PRESIDENT BUSH: Listen, the French are going to provide great advice. President Chirac has got good judgment about the Middle East, and he understands those countries well.

A summary of the whole debate thing is here. Scroll down to the bottom for pictures of Bush's Battery pack, clearly bulging out on his back.
A whole bunch more stuff about it is here.

EEEWWWW

Well, never wanting to capitalize on an opportunity, Edwards sucked the big toe last night. He only had to say one word over and over again to win- HALLIBURTON.
"Good evening Mr. Edwards."
"Good Evening- HALLIBURTON!"
Edwards was defensive and lame. Cheney lied over and over and got away with it. ESPECIALLY that "I never said Iraq was connected to 9-11."
Yeah you did, you lying dick.
Anyway- we'll see if Kerry chokes on it on Friday- I hope he does well, but I think Bush is just going to fall back on making up crazy attacks (like the Global Test thing) and put Kerry back on defense. If he lets that happen, it's all over.

Important summaries of the War in Iraq that we're "winning"

Read this and tell me Bush isn't living in a goddamn dreamworld.


UNDERNEWS SPECIAL: COSTS OF THE IRAQ WAROCT 4, 2004FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEWEDITED BY SAM SMITH REVIEW INDEX: http://www.prorev.com/ http://www.fpif.org/pdf/reports/IPStransition.pdf[Prepared by the Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy In Focus]


KEY FINDINGS 1. U.S. Military Casualties Have Been Highest During the "Transition": U.S. military casualties (wounded and killed) stand at a monthly average of 747 since the so-called "transition" to Iraqi rule on June 28, 2004. This contrasts with a monthly average of 482 U.S. military casualties during the invasion (March 20-May 1, 2003) and a monthly average of 415 during the occupation (May 2, 2003- June 28, 2004).2. Non-Iraqi Contractor Deaths Have Also Been Highest During the "Transition": There has also been a huge increase in the average monthly deaths of U.S. and other non-Iraqi contractors since the "transition." On average, 17.5 contractors have died each month since the June 28 "transition," versus 7.6 contractor deaths per month during the previous 14 months of occupation.3. Estimated Strength of Iraqi Resistance Skyrockets: Because the U.S. military occupation remains in place, the "transition" has failed to win Iraqi support or diminish Iraqi resistance to the occupation. According to Pentagon estimates, the number of Iraqi resistance fighters has quadrupled between November of 2003 and early September 2004, from 5,000 to 20,000. The Deputy Commander of Coalition forces in Iraq, British Major General Andrew Graham, indicated to Time magazine in early September that he thinks the 20,000 estimate is too low; he estimates Iraqi resistance strength at 40,000-50,000. This rise is even starker when juxtaposed to Brookings Institution estimates that an additional 24,000 Iraqi resistance fighters have been detained or killed between May 2003 and August 2004.4. U.S.- led Coalition Shrinks Further After "Transition": The number of countries identified as members of the Coalition backing the U.S.-led war started with 30 on March 18, 2003, then grew in the early months of the war. Since then, eight countries have withdrawn their troops and Costa Rica has demanded to be taken off the coalition list. At the war's start, coalition countries represented 19.1 percent of the world's population; today, the remaining countries with foces in Iraq represent only 13.6 percent of the world's population.
HUMAN COSTS TO THE U.S. AND ALLIES U.S. Military Deaths: Between the start of war on March 19, 2003 and September 22, 2004, 1,175 coalition forces were killed, including 1,040 U.S. military. Of the total, 925 were killed after President Bush declared the end of combat operations on May 1, 2003. Over 7,413 U.S. troops have been wounded since the war began, 6,953 (94 percent) since May 1, 2003.Contractor Deaths: As of September 22, 2004, there has been an estimated 154 civilian contractors, missionaries, and civilian worker deaths since May 1, 2004. Of these, 52 have been identified as Americans.Journalist Deaths: Forty-four international media workers have been killed in Iraq as of September 22, 2004, including 33 since President Bush declared the end of combat operations. Eight of the dead worked for U.S. companies.
SECURITY COSTS
Terrorist Recruitment and Action: According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, al Qaeda's membership is now at 18,000, with 1,000 active in Iraq. The State Department's 2003 "Patterns of Global Terrorism," documented 625 deaths and 3,646 injuries due to terrorist attacks in 2003. The report acknowledged that "significant incidents," increased from 60 percent of total attacks in 2002 to 84 percent in 2003.Low U.S. Credibility: Polls reveal that the war has damaged the U.S. government's standing and credibility in the world. Surveys in eight European and Arab countries demonstrated broad public agreement that the war has hurt, rather than helped, the war on terrorism. At home, 52 percent of Americans polled by the Annenberg Election Survey disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq.Military Mistakes: A number of former military officials have criticized the war, including retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, who has charged that by manufacturing a false rationale for war, abandoning traditional allies, propping up and trusting Iraqi exiles, and failing to plan for post-war Iraq, the Bush Administration made the United States less secure.Low Troop Morale and Lack of Equipment: A March 2004 army survey found 52 percent of soldiers reporting low morale, and three-fourths reporting they were poorly led by their officers. Lack of equipment has been an ongoing problem. The Army did not fully equip soldiers with bullet-proof vests until June 2004, forcing many families to purchase them out of their own pockets.Loss of First Responders: National Guard troops make up almost one-third of the U.S. Army troops now in Iraq. Their deployment puts a particularly heavy burden on their home communities because many are "first responders," including police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. For example, 44 percent of the country's police forces have lost officers to Iraq. In some states, the absence of so many Guard troops has raised concerns about the ability to handle natural disasters.Use of Private Contractors: An estimated 20,000 private contractors are carrying out work in Iraq traditionally done by the military, despite the fact that they often lack sufficient training and are not accountable to the same guidelines and reviews as military personnel.
ECONOMIC COSTS
The Bill So Far: Congress has approved of $151.1 billion for Iraq. Congressional leaders anticipate an additional supplemental appropriation of $60 billion after the election.Long-term Impact on U.S. Economy: Economist Doug Henwood has estimated that the war bill will add up to an average of at least $3,415 for every U.S. household. Oil Prices: U.S. crude oil prices spiked at $48 per barrel on August 19, 2004, the highest level since 1983, a development that most analysts attribute at least in part to the deteriorating situation in Iraq. Economic Impact on Military Families: Since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 364,000 reserve troops and National Guard soldiers have been called for military service, serving tours of duty that often last 20 months. Studies show that between 30 and 40 percent of reservists and National Guard members earn a lower salary when they leave civilian employment for military deployment. Army Emergency Relief has reported that requests from military families for food stamps and subsidized meals increased "several hundred percent" between 2002 and 2003.
SOCIAL COSTS
U.S. Budget and Social Programs: The Bush administration's combination of massive spending on the war and tax cuts for the wealthy means less money for social spending. The $151.1 billion expenditure for the war through this year could have paid for: close to 23 million housing vouchers; health care for over 27 million uninsured Americans; salaries for nearly 3 million elementary school teachers; 678,200 new fire engines; over 20 million Head Start slots for children; or health care coverage for 82 million children. A leaked memo from the White House to domestic agencies outlines major cuts following the election, including funding for education, Head Start, home ownership, job training, medical research and homeland security.Social Costs to the Military: In order to meet troop requirements in Iraq, the Army has extended the tours of duty for soldiers. These extensions have been particularly difficult for reservists, many of whom never expected to face such long separations from their jobs and families. According to military policy, reservists are not supposed to be on assignment for more than 12 months every 5-6 years. To date, the average tour of duty for all soldiers in Iraq has been 320 days. A recent Army survey revealed that more than half of soldiers said they would not re-enlist.Costs to Veteran Health Care: About 64 percent of the more than 7,000 U.S. soldiers injured in Iraq received wounds that prevented them from returning to duty. One trend has been an increase in amputees, the result of improved body armor that protects vital organs but not extremities. As in previous wars, many soldiers are likely to have received ailments that will not be detected for years to come. The Veterans Administration healthcare system is not prepared for the swelling number of claims. In May, the House of Representatives approved funding for FY 2005 that is $2.6 billion less than needed, according to veterans' groups.Mental Health Costs: The New England Journal of Medicine reported in July 2004 that 1 in 6 soldiers returning from war in Iraq showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, or severe anxiety. Only 23 to 40 percent of respondents in the study who showed signs of a mental disorder had sought mental health care.
COSTS TO IRAQ
HUMAN COSTS
Iraqi Deaths and Injuries: As of September 22, 2004, between 12,800 and 14,843 Iraqi civilians have been killed as a result of the U.S. invasion and ensuing occupation, while an estimated 40,000 Iraqis have been injured. During "major combat" operations, between 4,895 and 6,370 Iraqi soldiers and insurgents were killed.Effects of Depleted Uranium: The health impacts of the use of depleted uranium weaponry in Iraq are yet to be known. The Pentagon estimates that U.S. and British forces used 1,100 to 2,200 tons of weaponry made from the toxic and radioactive metal during the March 2003 bombing campaign. Many scientists blame the far smaller amount of DU weapons used in the Persian Gulf War for illnesses among U.S. soldiers, as well as a sevenfold increase in child birth defects in Basra in southern Iraq.Rise in Crime: Murder, rape, and kidnapping have skyrocketed since March 2003, forcing Iraqi children to stay home from school and women to stay off the streets at night. Violent deaths rose from an average of 14 per month in 2002 to 357 per month in 2003.Psychological Impact: Living under occupation without the most basic security has devastated the Iraqi population. A poll conducted by the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies in June 2004 found that 80 percent of Iraqis believe that coalition forces should leave either immediately or directly after the election.
ECONOMIC COSTS
Unemployment: Iraqi joblessness doubled from 30 percent before the war to 60 percent in the summer of 2003. While the Bush administration now claims that unemployment has dropped, the U.S. is only employing 120,000 Iraqis, of a workforce of 7 million, in reconstruction projects.Corporate War Profiteering: Most of Iraq's reconstruction has been contracted out to U.S. companies, rather than experienced Iraqi firms. Top contractor Halliburton is being investigated for charging $160 million for meals that were never served to troops and $61 million in cost overruns on fuel deliveries. Halliburton employees also took $6 million in kickbacks from subcontractors, while other employees have reported extensive waste, including the abandonment of $85,000 trucks because they had flat tires.Iraq's Oil Economy: Anti-occupation violence has prevented Iraq from capitalizing on its oil assets. There have been an estimated 118 attacks on Iraq's oil infrastructure since June 2003. By September 2004, oil production still had not reached pre-war levels and major attacks caused oil exports to plummet to a ten- month low in August 2004.
SOCIAL COSTS
Health Infrastructure: After more than a decade of crippling sanctions, Iraq's health facilities were further damaged during the war and post-invasion looting. Iraq's hospitals continue to suffer from lack of supplies and an overwhelming number of patients.Education: UNICEF estimates that more than 200 schools were destroyed in the conflict and thousands more were looted in the chaos following the fall of Saddam Hussein. Environment: The U.S-led attack damaged water and sewage systems and the country's fragile desert ecosystem. It also resulted in oil well fires that spewed smoke across the country and left unexploded ordnance that continues to endanger the Iraqi people and environment. Mines and unexploded ordnance cause an estimated 20 casualties per month.
HUMAN RIGHTS COSTS
Even with Saddam Hussein overthrown, Iraqis continue to face human rights violations from occupying forces. In addition to the widely publicized humiliation and torture of prisoners, abuse has been widespread throughout the post-9-11 military operations, with over 300 allegations of abuse in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo. As of mid-August 2004, only 155 investigations into the existing 300 allegations had been completed.
SOVEREIGNTY COSTS
Despite the proclaimed "transfer of sovereignty" to Iraq, the country continues to be occupied by U.S. and coalition troops and has severely limited political and economic independence. The interim government does not have the authority to reverse the nearly 100 orders by former CPA head Paul Bremer that, among other things, allow for the privatization of Iraq's state-owned enterprises and prohibit preferences for domestic firms in reconstruction.
COSTS TO THE WORLD
HUMAN COSTSWhile Americans make up the vast majority of military and contractor personnel in Iraq, other U.S.-allied "coalition" troops have suffered 135 war casualties in Iraq. In addition, the focus on Iraq has diverted international resources and attention away from humanitarian crises such as in Sudan.
DISABLING INTERNATIONAL LAW
The unilateral U.S. decision to go to war in Iraq violated the United Nations Charter, setting a dangerous precedent for other countries to seize any opportunity to respond militarily to claimed threats, whether real or contrived, that must be "pre-empted." The U.S. military has also violated the Geneva Convention, making it more likely that in the future, other nations will ignore these protections in their treatment of civilian populations and detainees.
UNDERMINING THE UNITED NATIONS
At every turn, the Bush Administration has attacked the legitimacy and credibility of the UN, undermining the institution's capacity to act in the future as the centerpiece of global disarmament and conflict resolution. The efforts of the Bush administration to gain UN acceptance of an Iraqi government that was not elected but rather installed by occupying forces undermines the entire notion of national sovereignty as the basis for the UN Charter. It was on this basis that Secretary General Annan referred specifically to the vantage point of the UN Charter in his September 2004 finding that the war was illegal.
ENFORCING COALITIONS
Faced with opposition in the UN Security Council, the U.S. government attempted to create the illusion of multilateral support for the war by pressuring other governments to join a so-called "Coalition of the Willing." This not only circumvented UN authority, but also undermined democracy in many coalition countries, where public opposition to the war was as high as 90 percent. As of the middle of September, only 29 members of the "Coalition of the Willing" had forces in Iraq, in addition to the United States. These countries, combined with United States, make up less than 14 percent of the world's population.
COSTS TO THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
The $151.1 billion spent by the U.S. government on the war could have cut world hunger in half and covered HIV/AIDS medicine, childhood immunization and clean water and sanitation needs of the developing world for more than two years. As a factor in the oil price hike, the war has created concerns of a return to the "stagflation" of the 1970s. Already, the world's major airlines are expecting an increase in costs of $1 billion or more per month.
UNDERMINING GLOBAL SECURITY AND DISARMAMENT
The U.S.-led war and occupation have galvanized international terrorist organizations, placing people not only in Iraq but around the world at greater risk of attack. The State Department's annual report on international terrorism reported that in 2003 there was the highest level of terror-related incidents deemed "significant" than at any time since the U.S. began issuing these figures.
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS
U.S.-fired depleted uranium weapons have contributed to pollution of Iraq's land and water, with inevitable spillover effects in other countries. The heavily polluted Tigris River, for example, flows through Iraq, Iran and Kuwait.HUMAN RIGHTSThe Justice Department memo assuring the White House that torture was legal stands in stark violation of the International Convention Against Torture (of which the United States is a signatory). This, combined with the widely publicized mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military and intelligence officials, gave new license for torture and mistreatment by governments around the world.

I mean, for fucks sake!

Kerry beat Bush's ass.

Well, 12 hours after the debates and the Media Powers That Be are already doing their best to obfusicate the following polls taken after the debate by people who actually watched it:

CNN
73% Kerry
21- shrub
MSNBC
64% Kerry
36
Fox
What a shock- no poll about who won?! Fair and balanced my left nut.
ABC
45% Kerry
36%
CBS
89% Kerry
9%
-yet the headlines on CBS say- "Experts rate debate a draw" Assholes.
Kerry did what he needed to do- he CLEARLY and CONCISELY explained how Bush was a stubborn moron who is unable to change his position because he's an ideological nutbar. By the end of the debate Bush was throwing a mini-temper tantrum- making faces, slouching over, pausing for a long long time, struggling even to repeat the 4 or 5 memorized phrases he had in his bag of tricks. OK we know it's hard work. The flip-flopping thing fell on it's face- Kerry answered the "multiple position" theory very well although already this morning the Bush Puppeteers are working like mad to reestablish it.
I still don't like Kerry- but at least he finaly showed he's at least competent enough to pummel the shit out of an unarmed man. That's been my biggest problem all along- I honestly believe my cat should be able to beat Bush quite handily- he's the worst President- possibly in US history. Hiring Clinton's people was the smartest thing Kerry has done- they're earning their no-doubt enormous paychecks.
The VIce-President debate should be fun too. I want to hear the word Halliburton in every sentence Edwards says.

The Cloud inside Bush's Silver Lining

Tonight in the debate our idiot president is going to say things are going well in Iraq. I even believe he believes it.
BUT.
Check this out. (its an NPR audio story)
"We take a close look at the number of soldiers injured in Iraq. More than 7,500 have been wounded in action but 20,000 have become so injured or sick from a variety of causes that they've had to be taken to hospitals in Europe and the United States."

Take off your Rose Colored Glasses President Johnson, er, Bush.

Everyone Loves Scare Tactics

In a story that's becoming all too typical it turns out FOX news is trying to scare students away from voting in the swing state of Arizona. Shocking. A reporter actually said that voting in Arizona if you aren't a permanent citizen is a felony- which is just wrong, especially since the story was being directly targeted to students. Oh, and in case you think it was a slip. There were actually 2 different broadcasts where the stupid threats were made.

First we have endless "alerts", Saddam is totally going to kill us all, Dick says voting for Kerry will cause the terrorists to strike, Soldiers are told not re-upping their service will get them sent to Iraq, and now this.

Am I the only one who wishes they'd stop trying to scare us? It's like the really crappy horror ride at the State Fair- it's not scary- It's mostly just annoying.

Bush calls Iraq War "Catastrophic Success and other stupidity...

That's right. A Catastrophic Success.

Asshole.

And speaking of, the new head of the new Domestic/International Version of the CIA is Porter Goss. The guy who said he wasn't qualified to do the job, until it was offered to him. I just can't fucking believe it. I'm so glad a partisan Bush-head now has the authority to spy on me too. Ashcroft wasn't bad enough don't ya know.

These people want us to be scared of fucking Cat Fucking Stevens. Come the fuck on! Peace Train? The shithead wrote fucking Peace Train!!! And we're supposed to be afraid of him? BAH! Keep your eyes out for Big Bird- I heard he might be a terrorist too!

The Dark Tower VII

For anyone who is even a casual reader- now that Steven King has finished his 7th and final volume of the Dark Tower series- I cannot urge you strongly enough to go to the bookstore- buy the first volume and enjoy what is in my opinion one of the most amazingly complex worlds any fiction writer has channeled. As a writer myself- I'm jealous of his achievement. But in a good way.
As a thing I've been reading for 16 years- since I was 13- I'm sad to see it end. That's two things that have been a large part of my life since the first whiskers poked out of my face that's ended this year- the other being Phish. Bittersweet. Bittersweet.

Oh, and lest I forget- Kerry is still showing cajones. A good sign- Keep it up boy. And go after this jackass Porter Goss too- box the bastard's ears!

Porter Goss as head of the CIA?

OK. This is from Michael Moore. It's Porter Goss openly admitting he shouldn't get the job. But he's still gonna be confirmed.

Assholes.

Oh yeah, he's the first openly political appointee since, guess who? George Senior in the 70's. Nice.

Assholes.

Support the Troops?

In yet another example of the Bush Administration's Bully-Boy tactics the following story popped up on www.prorev.com

DICK FOSTER, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS - 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. . . A Fort Carson spokesman confirmed the re-enlistment drive is under way and one of the soldiers provided the form to the Rocky Mountain News. An Army spokesmen denied, however, that soldiers who don't re-enlist with the brigade were threatened. The form, if signed, would bind the soldier to the 3rd Brigade until Dec. 31, 2007. The two soldiers said they were told that those who did not sign would be transferred out of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team. "They said if you refuse to re-enlist with the 3rd Brigade, we'll send you down to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is going to Iraq for a year, and you can stay with them, or we'll send you to Korea, or to Fort Riley (in Kansas) where they're going to Iraq," said one of the soldiers, a sergeant. The second soldier, an enlisted man who was interviewed separately, essentially echoed that view. "They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're getting out, you're not," he said. The brigade's presentation outraged many soldiers who are close to fulfilling their obligation and are looking forward to civilian life, the sergeant said. "We have a whole platoon who refuses to sign," he said.

North Korean Blast- This is getting ridiculous.

Read this and compare it to this and this. Then there's this early report from Canada that pretty much says it was a nuclear test.

In a nutshell. Now NKorea is saying there was no explosion. There was no mushroom cloud. There was an explosion (even though there wasn't) but it was part of a hydro/electric dam project. An explanation that wasn't offered until 5 days after the incident and no foriegn representatives were allowed to the "site" for a week. Something really stinks on this. I wish Canada or some non-American stooley representative would tell us what's going on.

Fat chance- but I've got my fingers crossed.

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!!!

Well, apparantly the dems have been visiting my blog because it appears Kerry has finally remembered that he's running for President and not wuss-boy of the democratic party. I don't think it's a coincidence that a few weeks after Clinton's people showed up Kerry changed tactics and stopped being a nancy-boy. Clinton was a mediocre Pres. at best, but he knew how to work the system. The Repubs might have kicked him around, but there's little doubt he would've won a third term if he could have run for it. Two days of standing up and calling Bush the lying little prig that he is and W's lead vanishes in the polls. We'll see if Kerry can maintain the track he's on- he's known for great impromptu zingers in debates, so there's hope- such as it is.
We shall see. If Kerry fights this'll be a hell of a race. If he backs down or blinks- he's through.

J R Shrub Dobbs.
whrdina@hotmail.com

fun with photoshop
whrdina@hotmail.com

2 stories apparantly not worth discussing

There are 2 stories that seem ENORMOUS to me that I cannot find any decent information about AT ALL.
First there is the 2 1/2 mile explosion with a mushroom cloud in North Korea that happened LAST Thursday Sept. 9. We've said the explosion wasn't nuclear- but we give no further explanation. NUTS.
Second is Russia. Yesterday Putin essentially gutted the Democratic reforms of the previous decade and a half and returned the country to a Dictatorship. You'd think that would be news. But it isn't. Why? Becuase he took a page from Karl Rove's playbook to do it. Putin is using the Chechnya/terrorist thing to complete revert Russia back to the good old days of one-party rule. We should never forget this guy is an ex-KGB officer.
Both of these stories have one thing in common. They are very damaging to the Bush white house. Korea has been ignored by them and even setting off nuclear explosions in their own country cannot get anyone's attention. The Bushies don't want us to talk about the Putin thing either becuase people might correlate Putin's message with Bush's. An easy thing to do since they are essentially saying the same thing. Terrorism= a battle we must do whatever we have to do in order to win. Including destroying the very ideals that makes the society worth living in in the first place.

why the dems make my head hurt

The following is an email- I get about one a day- just asking me for money.

We are at one of the defining moments of this campaign -- one of those points we will look back on when we win. We will remember that George Bush and Dick Cheney tried to completely ignore reality -- and we will remember that we stood side by side and refused to let them get away with it.
George Bush and Dick Cheney wake up every morning with their fingers crossed, hoping the American people will ignore their miserable record, forget their trail of failures, and fear the future. But with your help, we are going to make sure that the American people see through their bluster and posturing, and see what a mess they have made. true- but it isn't a reason to vote for Kerry.
Please make a contribution to the Democratic Party today:
THERES A LINK HERE I TOOK OUT
George Bush and Dick Cheney have lost over a million jobs, made our health care crisis worse, and turned record budget surpluses into record deficits. They misled America into war, failed to plan for the peace, and are running up a $200 billion bill at the expense of America's middle class taxpayers. again, all true- but Kerry voted for the war and view on tax cuts which are the best thing about his whole gig in my opinion, isn't even mentioned. (For those that don't know he wants to eliminate the tax cut for those who make over 200K a year and leave what meager relief there is for the other 98% of us.)
And now they are acting like they are doing us a favor by standing for re-election. They even have the gall to tell the American people how risky it would be if we turned them out of office.
The biggest risk to America's future is four more years of Bush-Cheney's incompetence, misinformation, and ill intent. It might be risky. There's a few indications that Kerry could be like Lydon Johnson- a believer that the answer to turn around a failing war is to send in more troops.
Don't let Bush, Cheney and the Republican Party run away from their record. Send a "Don't yield an inch" contribution to the Democratic Party right now:
THERES A LINK HERE I TOOK OUT
There are seven critical weeks left in this campaign. There will be moments when everything seems to be going our way -- and times when we will wish events were moving in a different direction. But we will never lose faith. We will never stop working for victory. And we will never yield an inch to our opponents.
Remember this: they are the ones who are hoping and praying that reality does not catch up with them by Election Day. We are the ones who are going to make sure that it does.
The rest of this campaign will be tough. But, we will be tougher. They will throw everything they have at us. But we will give as good as we get. And when the dust settles on Election Day, we are going to pull through to victory. I hope they mean this- cause they've been getting waxed.
Thank you for all you have done to help me, John Edwards and other Democratic candidates. And, most of all, thank you for standing with us through thick and thin. Together, we will win.
Thank you,
Notice that he never once asks for my vote. Like he's entitled to it because the corporate wing of the Dem. party annointed him King.

Of course I prefer Kerry to Bush- but man, it just really bothers me that we're stuck with this damn lesser of two evils thing again.

The logo for the total information awareness office is real. DARPA changed it after getting a lot of flack- I can't see why.
whrdina@hotmail.com

started as a picture of flowers...
whrdina@hotmail.com

spookey abbey
whrdina@hotmail.com

Test Photo from last Phish show in Coventry VT. 

Hiatus Ends

Hey everyone- sorry about the long absence. I've been focusing on finishing a readable draft of Ialtaboath and getting started on the new book- more details on that later. I've been following the politics all along, but its been really frustrating to watch.
Bush and his flunkys are making Nixon look like a guy who likes a fair fight. Not since Max Cleland have they been willing to punch this far South of the border. And you better believe they have an October surprise just waiting to be launched. (As I and many others having been predicting since last year. So why is it working? Because Kerry is a wuss who deserves the drubbing he's going to get. (I'm currently guessing Bush will win by a wide margin 10-15 points. OH CANADA!)
When a draft dodging coke head can make a 3 time purple heart winner look like the bigger liability to US foreign policy- well then that 3 time purple heart winner is a fuckin joke and doesn't deserve to be President.
What's really frustrating isn't the candidates, it's us. The people in this country seem to have their heads so far shoved up their own asses we're nearly inside out. That this base- third grade level of political activity is working on a National Level is terrifying. This whole campaign- on both sides- has been run like a couple of 4th graders running for Student Council President. And what's worse? It's working for Bush. Just repeat crazy things until the media says they are true. Repeat ad nauseum. War in Iraq? We're winning. No we're not- but they say it enough most people believe it. Iraq and al Queda? Connected. No there not- but they say it enough and most people believe it. And on and on.
The coming conflict isn't between people, it's within them. We are all going to have to decide each and every one of us. Do we really want to try to do what so many country's have tried to do before us? Do we really want to rule the entire world by force? Is that really what we want? Cause that's where we're headed. Bush has the same kind of ideological glint in his eye that Stalin and Hitler had- and he's probably going to have 4 more years to think of a good reason to cancel election in 2008. The only plus side to a clear cut Bush victory? The really scary scenarios become less likely- the one's I think everyone is a little afraid of- because they won't be necessary. I think this psychological fear will actually keep quite a few Democratic voters away from the polls this year.
At least for now Shrub seems happy keeping most of his bombs and tanks in other countries... as if that makes it OK.

Democratic Convention '04 --or-- I think I'm gonna puke.

"We don't want to offend anyone or Bush-Bash"

Pathetic.  Wimpy, pathetic, lame, sorry bastards.  You should be ashamed of yourselves.

About 2% of "expected voters" are undecided.  50% of the country doesn't vote at all.
So who does Kerry go after?  The 2% of voters who are somehow so stupid and spineless they haven't been able to figure out if they want Insano Bush to rule the world for 4 more years of scandal and war.
The 50%+ who don't vote, nobody's talking to them at all.  There's several million votes just waiting for John Kerry to remember what party he's in.  Al Gore was prevented from giving the speech he deserved to give, the one where he rips the pretender to the throne a new asshole and gut punches the democratic senatorial leadership who refused to allow the House to combat the Supreme Court's illegal hijacking of the election.  (Se  Farenheit 9/11 for the painful footage of this atroctiy.)  There are a whole lot of us out here who want an ass-kicker.  That's why Mike Moore and John Stewart's Daily Show are so popular.  They're kicking ass, but with vicious humor instead of vicious vitriole. They show their anger, but they use humor which makes it inclusive. I mean these guys are just sitting ducks, every time W opens his mouth what comes out is either a mushmouthed babble or a lie. 
So why don't the Dems court the progressive wing of the party?  The several million of us (80,000 of which are in Florida a key swing state) who either voted for Nader or didn't vote at all becuase no one represents us at all.  And now, even when 95% of the delegates INSIDE the convention center prefer "total withdrawal from Iraq" IMMEDIATLY, not only will the war not be directly criticized, Kerry doesn't even stand for ending the fucking thing. 
Spineless wimpy shithead.  He thinks being a push-over wuss is going to make the 2% think he can be a good strong leader.  He looks like the little boy who tells the bully, "Not only am I not going fight you, I'm going to pretend you don't exist at all and stand here talking about what a nice fella I am."
What are you nuts?  Ask any kid what happens next.  The bully stomps your guts.  You don't have to fight the same way as the bully, but you have to acknowledge the guy's existence. 
Which means we're gonna be stuck with 4 more years.
I'm gonna be sick...