Don't Watch This Video!

Sorry, but I had to send it my e-mail list.

"Stake the horse"? What's all this about staking the horse? What did the poor horse ever do to them?

why that's just crazy talk,
Otter

aaahhhhh...George Clooney... Sigh...

Hmm.

---------------

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 — A former White House budget official who became entangled in the criminal investigation focused on the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to 18 months in prison today for lying about his relationship to the lobbyist.

The former official, David H. Safavian, wept as he pleaded for leniency from Judge Paul L. Friedman of Federal District Court here, who used the sentencing hearing to decry what he said a growing culture of corruption in Washington encouraged by high-priced lobbyists.

“He came to work in an environment that has become, frankly, more and more corrupt,” the judge said in announcing Mr. Safavian’s sentence, which was half of the three-year prison term sought by the Justice Department. “It’s become corrupted by money. You’ve literally got lobbyists sitting in Congressional offices writing legislation. That’s what’s going on.”

Mr. Safavian’s crimes, he said, were a “classic case of abuse of the public’s trust.”

[snip]

Rest of article is here: http://tinyurl.com/y5bexy

---------------

judge not lest ye be judged,
Otter

I just held my breath..thinking they'd ALL leave when the child began to act out!! WHEW!!

Bush denied knowing Abramoff and should join him in the same cell.

Hello DCP! Just thought that I would drop in to say hello to some old friends of just causes. Been fairly busy here in Arizona, getting out the message of hope, voters, and other details exposing the corruption of a few Republican Congressmen here.

We are very much hoping to add 2 to 3 new Democratic Congresspeople and one new Democratic Senator to the growing ranks in Washington. It looks like Gabby Gifford's is going to cruise to victory, but the other 3 races to watch closely and work are Pederson for Senate, Harry Mitchell and Ellen Simon for Congress, both of whom are running against a couple of corrupt politicians (Hayworth and Renzi).

There is a story about Renzi growing out there (That there is an indictment pending AFTER the election)...we have gotten the word out, and the story was picked up by the NYT and the WaPo, and finally locally on a few TV stations, and the major newspaper here (although they whitewashed the story) There may be more to come.

Keep up the great work!

A few funnies today

http://www.gocomics.com/stuartcarlson/2006/10/24/

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20061025/cx_po_uc/po20061025

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/luckovich/entries/2006/10/20/master_planner.html

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/

A good article about the Arizona election for the US House...
Porky Pig may lose...Hooray

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1027fri1-27.html

Nice to see both Kerrydemocrat and battlebob.

We have a local dilema regarding early voting in our county.

The Democratic Party is encouraging early voting while some locals are encouraging people to wait until November 7. The controversy stems from concerns regarding the Diebold machines used in early voting as compared to optiscans that are used on Nov. 7. There is significant concern that "the most corrupt county" (DuPage County, IL) for voting - per Bev Harris at Blackbox voting.org - Diebold's machines can be too easily hacked. The Dems believe that if there are enough early votes, then it will be too hard to change the results. There are some who believe that the news about about the system's vulnerabilities will discourage voting, while others just want people to make an effort to hold on voting until Nov. 7. There were some unfortuanate snarks by those promoting early voting.

Either way each side is urging everybody to vote. It is so sad to see our voting process itself become a bone of contention among people who all want the same thing - change for the better.

Hmm.

--------------

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The only remedy to a series of Iraq policy failures by President Bush is a Democratic takeover of Congress in the Nov. 7 election, Virginia Senate candidate Jim Webb said Saturday.

The former Republican, who was President Reagan's Navy secretary, said in the Democrats' weekly radio address that Bush's "incompetence" in Iraq had undercut the fight against terrorism.

[snip]

"Since 2003, President Bush has laid out nine different plans for victory in Iraq, none of them serious and none of them workable. And most seriously, this incompetence has hindered our ability to fight international terror," Webb said.

It marked the second time since July 1 that Webb, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, has given the Democrats' address. Both times, his focus has been Iraq.

Webb warned in a newspaper column in 2002, the year before Bush ordered the Iraq invasion, that a war there would destabilize the oil-rich Middle East and mire U.S. forces in a bloody and protracted conflict. As of Friday, 2,810 American troops had died in Iraq.

"It gives me no great pleasure today to be saying 'I told you so,'" said Webb, whose son, Jimmy, is a Marine on active duty in Iraq. "It pains me as an American that our casualties are again escalating while this president and his followers are still incapable of bringing forward an intelligent, commonsense approach to ending our involvement there."

Webb cited Iraq and other Bush-backed policies among his reasons for leaving the GOP. Now, other Republicans are reaching the same conclusions he did about the war.

"Over the past several weeks a few realists in the Republican Party, such as (Virginia) Sen. John Warner and former Secretary of State Jim Baker, have begun to make their voices heard. They are moving away from the fantasy world of this administration, toward real solutions," Webb said.

[snip]

"A Democratic Congress will demand from day one that the president find a real way forward in Iraq. We'll work with the administration and other Republicans to develop a concrete plan, but none of us are ready to settle for empty rhetoric, or the same old unacceptable results," Webb said.

[snip]

--------------

hey hey ho ho macaca-allen's got to go,
Otter

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1027fri1-27.html

Posted by: battlebob at October 28, 2006 10:57 AM

That is an interesting endorsement. How likely is it that porky pig is going to get roasted in this election?

Here is the answer to my question. This race has remarkably tightened since September. The pig could be BBQ if the Dems get out their vote.

Harry Mitchell J.D. Hayworth* Oct 16 4 45% 48% SurveyUSA
Harry Mitchell J.D. Hayworth* Sep 17 3 40% 52% SurveyUSA

AZ-05 38% 60% 2004 Election

Great video Rick. I don't want to say much about it, we're supposed to!

Oops - on my first cup of coffee - shoulda been we're "not" supposed to.

There is a very good shot that Harry Mitchell will defeat Foghorn Leghorn. That is a very dominate Republican district, but Hayworth has been lagging in what should be a cakewalk. It is going to come down to turnout, but Mitchell is a quality candidate with a lot of respect in the area.

It is all a matter of voters paying attention to Hayworth's Abramoff connections. Hayworth may ultimately be indicted along with Renzi on other matters. Should Renzi and Hayworth noth go down, AZ will be sending a majority of Democratic Congresspeeps to Washington.

We have a legitimate shot, but the Renzi/Simon race is going to be the toughest. Gifford's is a lock at this point.

Sleazy

Investigators Say Speaker's Aide Hindered Inquiry of Hill Security Contracts

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806Y.shtml
Two former House committee investigators who were examining Capitol Hill security upgrades said a senior aide to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert hindered their efforts before they were abruptly ordered to stop their probe last year.

The 7th Congressional district in Michigan, which has been held by the Republicans for the last dozen years and had been written off by "insiders" as an easy Republican win, is "in play" this election, according to the Cook Report. The Republican candidate (a non-incumbent) is not well-known outside his own county and is polling below 50%. The Republican candidate, however, is well-funded (surprise) by the Club for Growth and other interest groups. The Democratic candidate, Sharon Renier, has a shot at winning. She is raising money and her name recognition is going up.

http://www.thesoapboxroadshow.com

This guy seems to be turning out to have a backbone -
the plot thickens, while Bush's tone is changing to one
of flip flop.

"Not America's Man in Iraq," Premier Says
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806X.shtml
Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Maliki told the US Ambassador Saturday that he's "not America's man in Iraq." Maliki criticized what he called the patronizing US tone toward the Iraqi government and warned US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad to respect Iraq's sovereignty, two of the prime minister's advisors said.

Ralpheh
Good luck! We have a pretty parallel situation here in Washington State with Sheriff Reichart v Microsoft momDarcy Burner. If she took that district, it would be first time in
recorded history for a Democrat.

Meanwhile, in the Senate race, McGavick (R) has just dumped 1/2 million of his own money into the race v Cantwell (D).

Hey, remember earlier in the week when madame defarge hipped us to a vote/poll contest that the 21st Century Dems group was running, in which site visitors got to vote for their choice of 5 new-dems candidates and the winner got a $5000 kick in the campaign kitty?

Well, this ought to top that one by a big ol' margin.

A certain senator from Massachusetts -- you know, the one whose fundraising request email raised $900,000 for 4 top dems candidates in 48 hours earlier this week -- has announced the following initiative to *really* put a kick in the campaign kitty for three lucky winners in the final week of the election cycle this year:

----------------

For the last two years, something big has been going on in America. All of us got knocked on our ass in 2004 -- me included. But we got up, dusted ourselves off and decided our country mattered more than our pride. We fought back. We went online. We organized.

This cycle, the netroots picked 3 Senate candidates and 16 House candidates where you knew we had to win. Red states, blue states, it didn't matter, you changed the rules and we're better off for it. Now we are on the verge of winning. So let's finish the Republicans off, let's go for three at the buzzer and go home with the win. It's time for a new team.

So here's the deal: vote for your favorite House and Senate netroots candidates on Wednesday, November 1 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST. The Senate candidate and the 2 House candidates with the most votes will get the last JohnKerry.com fundraising email of the cycle. We'll challenge our 3 million person online community to get these fighters over the top in the last few days.

Like we say in Boston: vote early and vote often... good luck to everyone in the days to come.

-- John Kerry
http://www.johnkerry.com/action/youdecide

----------------

so let's do like he says and put their money where our mouths are,
Otter

Great idea by John Kerry - looking forward to participating!

Just ordered myself a Halloween present - Rude Pundit CD.

If you want to see my Stones Concert photo with fireworks, it's at the bottom of the Sweet Neocon lyrics at http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com - followed by a related article about Halliburton's corruption. It's 2nd entry under the one about Endangered Colorado Kitsch. Comments welcome.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061028/ap_on_re_us/journalist_slain
NYC journalist killed in Mexico shootout
NEW YORK - Undeterred by violence, journalist Bradley Roland Will felt compelled to document what he called human rights abuses around the globe, so he headed to the volatile city of Oaxaca in Mexico.
As the situation turned increasingly dangerous, Will decided to stay. Despite his fears, he wanted people to know what was happening in Oaxaca.

"I am entering a new territory here and don't know if I am ready," Will wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to an ex-girlfriend. "Life is crazy."

The 36-year-old videographer from New York was killed Friday in the Mexican city where protesters have barricaded streets and occupied government buildings for five months in a bid to oust the governor.

The gunfire erupted in a rough neighborhood when armed men, possibly police, tried to remove a blockade set up by protesters who were demanding the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

"It appears that Mr. Will was killed during a shoot out between what may have been local police" and protesters, Tony Garza, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, said in a written statement.

However, it wasn't clear who fired the shot that killed Will, who was working for Indymedia.org, an independent Web-based media organization, and selling video footage on a freelance basis.

{More on link.}

Greg Palast | Recipe for a Cooked Election
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706C.shtml
"A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage. Most are called 'spoiled,' supposedly unreadable, damaged, invalid. They just don't get counted. This 'spoilage' has occurred for decades, but it reached unprecedented heights in the last two presidential elections. In the 2004 election, for example, more than three million ballots were never counted," writes Greg Palast.

William Rivers Pitt | Andy's Election
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706A.shtml
William Rivers Pitt writes: "In the summer of 2005, my friend Andy Stephenson passed away due to pancreatic cancer. Andy had devoted years of his life to sounding an alarm over the unbelievable flaws in the new electronic voting machines that had been foisted on the American public by the Help America Vote Act ... Andy Stephenson lived and died trying to warn us about these things. The good news, for Andy and for us all, is that these news reports are drawing much-needed attention to the problem. The bad news, simply, is that the problems still exist, and may come to determine who holds power in America after January."
Excerpt:
Thankfully, Miller provided a list of actions voters can take if they think their vote isn't being counted:
1. Vote, vote, vote ... and get everyone you know to vote as well.

2. Write your congressmen and senators and demand uniformity and federal standards for the election process. Demand an end to electronic voting machines unless there's a viable paper trail. Demand paper ballots instead. Ask that election day be declared a national holiday.

3. Bombard the media with letters and calls that demand coverage of election fraud.

4. Organize demonstrations.

5. Go armed to the polls next month with 1-866-OUR-VOTE and call it immediately to report any fraudulent and/or suspicious activity.

A New Campaign Tactic: Manipulating Google Data
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706G.shtml
By flooding the Web with references to the candidates and repeatedly cross-linking to specific articles and sites on the Web, it is possible to take advantage of Google's formula and force those articles to the top of the list of search results.

Reports Shed Light on Ties Between Weldon, Businesses
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806D.shtml
Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon, under investigation for allegedly trading his influence to get lobbying business for one of his daughters, also has helped corporations that have hired another daughter, a friend and some of his former aides.

Joe Galloway | Ruining America
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806A.shtml
Joe Galloway writes:"If President George Bush's hasty news conference on Iraq this week was the Republican October Surprise - unveiling some sudden presidential flexibility after three and a half years of stubbornly staying a losing course - it didn't work. With the midterm elections now days away, it smacked more of a change in semantics than a serious change in the direction of a war that seems to be spiraling out of control."

Robert Parry | Part II: The Original October Surprise
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102806C.shtml
"On March 23, 1979, late on a Friday afternoon, Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman David Rockefeller and his longtime aide Joseph Verner Reed arrived at a town house in the exclusive Beekham Place neighborhood on New York's East Side," states Robert Parry. "They were met inside by ... Iran's Princess Ashraf, the strong-willed twin sister of Iran's long-time ruler, who had gone from wielding immense behind-the-scenes clout in the ancient nation of Persia to living in exile - albeit a luxurious one.... Now, she was turning for help to the man who ran one of the leading US banks, one which had made a fortune serving as the Shah's banker for a quarter century and handling billions of dollars in Iran's assets. Ashraf's message was straightforward. She wanted Rockefeller to intercede with Jimmy Carter and ask the president to relent on his decision against granting the Shah refuge in the United States."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6093298.stm
Bush enters Cheney 'torture row'

Nicaragua Votes to Outlaw Abortion
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/102706WA.shtml
Nicaragua voted last night to outlaw all forms of abortion - including operations to save a pregnant woman's life - after a campaign by the Catholic church. The main political parties supported a bill establishing jail sentences of six to 30 years for women who terminate their pregnancies and doctors who perform the procedure.

Children Again Sewing Clothing for Wal-Mart, Hanes, and Other US Companies
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/102706LB.shtml
An estimated 200 children, some 11 years old or even younger, are sewing clothing for Hanes, Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney and Puma at the Harvest Rich factory in Bangladesh.

William Fisher | Blame and Run?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706R.shtml
"So Iraq looks into the abyss of a civil war, Iraqis and Americans and Brits continue to die in record numbers, everyone agrees there is no military solution, but there is no evidence of any other strategy," writes William Fisher. "My guess is that this president is so messianicly consumed with 'victory' there that he will remain in his 'State of Denial' and leave it to his successor to clean up his mess - as JFK did to LBJ, as LBJ did to Nixon, and as Nixon did to Jerry Ford."

Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your Honor. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse: Mark Twain.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -

Back in the stacks - bracketed by shelves filled with copies of "Where The Wild Things Are" and "My Friend Rabbit" and beneath an oversized cutout of Babar, the elephant king - the elder statesman has again found an audience.

Or maybe it's the audience that has again found him.

The air outside the book emporium tonight is cut by the first October chill. Inside, George McGovern must compete with the din unleashed by a gaggle of preschoolers ignoring the grandfatherly figure for the store's wooden train set. But as customers fill the metal folding chairs set before a microphone, the man one longtime friend calls "Should've-been-President McGovern" sticks with his quietly fervent sermon, drawing knowing laughter and grim nods of approval.

And now, a generation after he was ridiculed and rejected for a similarly resolute call to abandon another unpopular war, McGovern is one unshakable stride ahead of naysayers - certain that time and a nation's reflection have proven he was right before.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/...

glad to hear from kerrydem and battlebob again, it hss been too long hope you finally get rid of loud mouth JD ;have talked with friends in Tempe today to vote against him.
We are pulling out all the stops in Virginia have 1500 undecides that a group of us are speaking to. and detrmined to reach in 10 days. Each conversation is long and maddening but this is how we are going to win. Went right into strong Allen territory today in Richmond determined to leave no supporter behind. Dona't want to hear the bull about how determined and targeted Rove's employed workers are, I can see that our side has the energy and determination to pull it out this time. Our friends in Tempe told us that the Phoenix paper surprsingly endorsed Mitchell today.

Yes, the Arizona Republic did endorse Harry Mitchell along with Janet Napolitano, but the editorial board there has gone further to the right since I sat in front of them.

They did get some huge egg on their face when Lofty Donkey broke the Renzi imminent indictment story (imminenet, but after the election), and several of us ran with it, blogging the heck out of the thing until the MSM picked up the story.

The Republic was put in the ackward position of reporting about the indictment possibility one day after endorsing the idiot.

People are fired up here.

I thank my family, my wife, wonderful children, did I mention my family Congressman Ford Corker said three times in 2 minute opening of debate. So I guess that Corker message is vote for me, I'm married he is not. Reminded me of Man of the Year.

For more firing up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FD-6pk_vuE

great video Karen should fire us all up to work harder tomorrow. It inspired me to start thinking about '08.
Ford's performance was masterful tonight, hopefully it will pull him across the finish line. I loved his response: and yes the children I want to have while I am in the Senate.

whatever political project we worked on today in our community, let us all pledge to work doubly on tomorrow and for the next ten days.

Failure is NOT and option.

Had to put that up on my blog. Very inspiring video.

It's been a good day here working for Dems, picked up some votes! I will be working my precinct a bit tomorrow, and then the kids go back to school on Monday, so I may get a chance to hit HQ downtown and do some phone banking.

wOOt

HOW JESUS ENDORSED BUSH'S INVASION OF IRAQ
By Damon Linker, Doubleday
In the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, Bush needed the approval of religious leaders to shore up his religious base and a group of Catholic theoconservatives were happy to help him do just that.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/43576/

THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT?
By Jane Smiley, HuffingtonPost.com
There aren't many tyrants in history who can truthfully say they put the entire future of civilization at risk just to make a buck -- but Dick Cheney can.
http://www.alternet.org/stories/43544/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061028/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Aide: Iraqi leader playing on U.S. angst

BAGHDAD, Iraq - After a hastily arranged video conference with George Bush, Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that the U.S. president promised to move swiftly to turn over full control of the Iraqi army to the Baghdad government. A close aide to Nouri al-Maliki said later the prime minister was intentionally playing on U.S. voter displeasure with the war to strengthen his hand with Washington.

Hassan al-Suneid, a member of al-Maliki's inner circle, said the video conference was sought because issues needed airing at a higher level than with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

Al-Suneid said the prime minister complained to Bush that Khalilzad, an Afghan-born Sunni Muslim, was treating the Shiite al-Maliki imperiously.

"The U.S. ambassador is not (L. Paul) Bremer (the former U.S. administrator in Iraq). He does not have a free rein to do what he likes. Khalilzad must not behave like Bremer but rather like an ambassador," al-Suneid quoted al-Maliki as saying.

The remarks were the fourth time in a week that al-Maliki challenged the U.S. handling of the war. The ripostes flowed from an announcement by Khalilzad on Tuesday that al-Maliki had agreed to a U.S. plan to set timelines for progress in quelling violence in Iraq.

{More on link.}

“To announce there must be no criticism of the President, and to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, it is morally treasonous to the American public.”
– President Theodore Roosevelt

Posted by: NonnyO at October 29, 2006 01:01 AM

Great quote NOnny.

And great video, Karen! I see some familiar Kerry supporters there!

He has been busting his hump trying to win this thing for the democrats. Whatever anyone thinks of him, there's no denying he's been a huge team player this cycle.

Thanks for all every one of you is doing these last days!

A little something to brighten your morning ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Groundswell for Democrats marks US campaign's home stretch
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061029/pl_afp/usvote

~snip~

"If the election were held today, the Democrats would pick up 25 to 30 seats in the House of Representatives and at least four seats in the US Senate," opined pollster John Zogby.

He cautioned, however, there was more than a week to go to the November 7 vote...

~snip~

...the poll indicated Republicans had virtually run out of winning campaign themes as their dominance on issues like national security and counterterrorism has all but evaporated.

By a margin of 45 percent to 33 percent, Americans now trust Democrats rather than Republicans to handle Iraq, the Newsweek poll found...

~snip~

o_O

"Next time you're having dinner at home, look around the table and multiply the number of children you have by 500 dollars," Bush said at a rally in Sellersburg, Indiana. "That's how much more you will be sending to Washington in taxes if Democrats take control of the Congress."

~snip~

Article written by Pat Tillman's brother here:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/

Pat's birthday is the day before the election.

For more extensive reading on Pat and his life and death, Sports Illustrated had an excellent and long article in their September 5 issue. He was an exceptional individual:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/magazine/09/05/tillman0911/index.html

here's a decent darkly humorous political cartoon:

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/200601028_mike_luckovich_appleboarding/

Some excellent news for my friend Jason Altmire running against Melissa Hart in the PA-4th.

The DSCC has just released it's Fourth tier of competitive candidates for their red-to-blue program:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2909914

By the way, here's how you can contribute to the fourth tier candidates. The House leadership is doing a 3-to-1 match, so you get way more bang for your buck:

https://www.dccc.org/contribute/default/?id=stakeholder

Columnist Kathleen Parker is part of the nattering-heads panel on Chris Matthews' early-Sunday poli-blahblah show on ABC, and she referred this morning to something I hadn't heard of before: "Broken-Glass Republicans".

Apparently, Broken-Glass Republicans are the conservative equivalent of Yellow Dog Democrats. Quoting Wikipedia here:

"In the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, Yellow Dog Democrats were voters in the U.S. Southern states who consistently voted for Democratic candidates -— simply because of lingering resentment against Republicans during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. The term arose from an apocryphal remark that a Southerner would vote for a yellow dog before he'd vote for a Republican.

"The term gained national prominence during the 1928 presidential campaign when many Southern voters disliked several items on Democratic candidate Al Smith's platform (as well as his Catholicism) but voted for him regardless."

The parallel term Broken-Glass Republicans doesn't seem to have anything like that kind of historical pedigree, though. As far as I could glean from using The Google to do a quick scan of The Internets on the subject, it only became current in the last few election cycles and seems to be used most by hard-core freeperii types (and by a handful of similarly-minded conservative MSM pundits like Parker and Peggy Noonan).

In a nutshell, the reason they're called Broken-Glass Republicans is that "they would crawl over broken glass if they had to in order to go out and vote against a Democrat."

And the only way that RoveCo can pull off a last-minute save against the looming Democratic turnaround 9 short days from now -- well, other than blatantly rigging the elections again in 2006, which thanks to the efforts of good Americans everywhere will be less easy to accomplish than they think this time -- is if the reich-wingers can motivate their crucial core of Broken-Glass Republicans to show up at the polls on November 7.

That's what they're counting on. It's worked for them before, and they're pulling out all the stops to make it work for them again. They've got what it takes to make it happen, too -- the money to spend, the manipulation techniques, the well-oiled neokonzertruppe machine in which to roll right over the gigantic cracks in their socio-political facade.

How can Democrats stand up against such a battle-tested blitzkrieg brigade on November 7? What weapons do they have with which to resist such an electoral onslaught this time? What tools do they have to use? What armies have they got on their side?

The answer is as simple as it is powerful:

You.

Yes, you.

You, your hearts, your minds, your mouths, your ears... your fingers on the keys, your boots on the ground... and, most crucially, your hands on the levers in election booths everywhere across America.

Yours, and those of everyone you know and everyone you can reach out to in these final critical days.

Don't let the Broken-Glass Republicans tip the scales on election day this year. Channel your inner Yellow Dog Democrats instead.

Gather up everyone you know, bring them with you to the polls, and make sure they know what's at stake this year. Make sure they understand that a vote for a Republican is a vote against their own futures, and the futures of their children, and of their grandkids yet to come.

Whatever happens between now and then, don’t give up and don’t give in. Do not falter, do not fail. Get out there and vote for Democrats on November 7... even if you have to crawl over broken glass to do it.

Vote smart. Vote true.

Vote Blue.

climbing down off my soapbox now,
Otter

Islam, Terror and the Second Nuclear Age
By NOAH FELDMAN

For nearly 50 years, worries about a nuclear Middle East centered on Israel. Arab leaders resented the fact that Israel was the only atomic power in the region, a resentment heightened by America’s tacit approval of the situation. But they were also pretty certain that Israel (which has never explicitly acknowledged having nuclear weapons) would not drop the bomb except as a very last resort. That is why Egypt and Syria were unafraid to attack Israel during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War. “Israel will not be the first country in the region to use nuclear weapons,” went the Israelis’ coy formula. “Nor will it be the second.”

Today the nuclear game in the region has changed. When the Arab League’s secretary general, Amr Moussa, called for “a Middle East free of nuclear weapons” this past May, it wasn’t Israel that prompted his remarks. He was worried about Iran, whose self-declared ambition to become a nuclear power has been steadily approaching realization.

The anti-Israel statements of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, coupled with Iran’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas, might lead you to think that the Arab states would welcome Iran’s nuclear program. After all, the call to wipe the Zionist regime from the map is a longstanding cliché of Arab nationalist rhetoric. But the interests of Shiite non-Arab Iran do not always coincide with those of Arab leaders. A nuclear Iran means, at the very least, a realignment of power dynamics in the Persian Gulf. It could potentially mean much more: a historic shift in the position of the long-subordinated Shiite minority relative to the power and prestige of the Sunni majority, which traditionally dominated the Muslim world. Many Arab Sunnis fear that the moment is ripe for a Shiite rise. Iraq’s Shiite majority has been asserting the right to govern, and the lesson has not been lost on the Shiite majority in Bahrain and the large minorities in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah of Jordan has warned of a “Shiite crescent” of power stretching from Iran to Lebanon via Iraq and (by proxy) Syria.

But geopolitics is not the only reason Sunni Arab leaders are rattled by the prospect of a nuclear Iran. They also seem to be worried that the Iranians might actually use nuclear weapons if they get them. A nuclear attack on Israel would engulf the whole region. But that is not the only danger: Sunnis in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere fear that the Iranians might just use a nuclear bomb against them. Even as Iran’s defiance of the United States and Israel wins support among some Sunnis, extremist Sunnis have been engaging in the act of takfir, condemning all Shiites as infidels. On the ground in Iraq, Sunni takfiris are putting this theory into practice, aiming at Shiite civilians and killing them indiscriminately. Shiite militias have been responding in kind, and massacres of Sunni civilians are no longer isolated events.

Adding the nuclear ingredient to this volatile mix will certainly produce an arms race. If Iran is going to get the bomb, its neighbors will have no choice but to keep up. North Korea, now protected by its own bomb, has threatened proliferation — and in the Middle East it would find a number of willing buyers. Small principalities with huge U.S. Air Force bases, like Qatar, might choose to rely on an American protective umbrella. But Saudi Arabia, which has always seen Iran as a threatening competitor, will not be willing to place its nuclear security entirely in American hands. Once the Saudis are in the hunt, Egypt will need nuclear weapons to keep it from becoming irrelevant to the regional power balance — and sure enough, last month Gamal Mubarak, President Mubarak’s son and Egypt’s heir apparent, very publicly announced that Egypt should pursue a nuclear program.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/magazine/29islam.html

Ralpheh
Good luck! We have a pretty parallel situation here in Washington State with Sheriff Reichart v Microsoft momDarcy Burner. If she took that district, it would be first time in
recorded history for a Democrat.

Meanwhile, in the Senate race, McGavick (R) has just dumped 1/2 million of his own money into the race v Cantwell (D).

Posted by: DiAnne at October 28, 2006 03:28 PM

@@@@@

Election night maybe a wild ride!!! AGAIN....

In my area of Michigan we are calling it the Year of the Woman:

Jennifer Granholm - running for Gov.
Debbie Stabenow - for Senate
Sharon Renier - for the House
Lynne Haley - for state House

and all of the Democratic women's opponents in the above races are men.....

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/1027fri1-27.html
Posted by: battlebob at October 28, 2006 10:57 AM

Battlebob, I'm thrilled to see this!