« "Dear Liberals..." | Main | Weighing In »
Political Advertising
![Club_For_Horse_Manure_Old_Fogeys[1].jpg](http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/Club_For_Horse_Manure_Old_Fogeys[1].jpg)
photo courtesy of D.M.O.C.K.R.A.C.Y.NET
With just 19 days left, the political advertising in your area is bound to be cranked up to full tilt.
There are a number of very good ads out there, and I would love to have folks post in the comments a link or links to your favorite ad(s), followed by a comment on what you think makes them good.
Here's a link to one of my favorite ads. I like it because it pulls the viewer in, and the viewer knows the whole time that the topic they think they are talking about, isn't the topic they are talking about, and they are waiting for the punchline. It makes the viewer involved, and creates an effective intimacy and attention commitment.
You want the person to watch the ad until the end, then think about it and talk about it afterword, and then look forward to seeing it again. That's a might tall order, and this ad gets the job done.
So let's hear it. What do you like and why do you like it? Do you think others will, and if so, why?
9 ex Republicans run as Dems in Kansas
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15322219/
I only saw one political ad, when I decided to watch 60 Minutes, to see that religous whistle blower guy.
It was the guy running against Cantwell in my state. I'd never heard him talk & I was happy to discover that he has a very high voice, like it hasn't changed yet! So it doesn't matter too much what he says.
Keith Olbermann | Olbermann Addresses the Military Commissions Act in a Special Comment
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906L.shtml
"A government more dangerous to our liberty than is the enemy it claims to protect us from," says Keith Olbermann. "We have accepted that the only way to stop the terrorists is to let the government become just a little bit like the terrorists."
{{{This link has the last two Commentaries. Wow! Just... WOW! Olberman is my hero! Would that we had politicians who could speak so forcefully and clearly......}}}
The Unlearned Lessons of Abu Ghraib
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906N.shtml
President Bush has signed into law Congress's latest attempt to clarify our country's position on proper treatment of detainees and the boundaries of legitimate interrogation techniques. Unfortunately, this legislation demonstrates that both the administration and Congress have failed to learn important lessons from what Bush described as the "biggest mistake that's happened so far" in Iraq: the detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib.
Mark Crispin Miller | Part II: Our Rigged Elections
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906O.shtml
"From the start, George W. Bush has pointedly refused to ask that we make any national sacrifice to help us win the 'war on terror,'" writes Mark Crispin Miller. "The patriotic thing would therefore be to lessen our national dependency on fossil fuels, by driving less (or not at all), and turning off the air conditioners, by buying fewer disposables, and otherwise deferring to the greater good."
I saw that ad! I remember being absolutely floored, and hope it brings women out to vote in droves. I just can't remember what I was watching when I saw it; I don't watch much TV, and what little I do watch I tape so I can scroll through the every-sickening sludge of negative sleaze put out by the rightwingnuttia crowd (they're getting worse in MN; getting desperate because polls show Dems ahead in almost every race), and when I don't do that I'm further wearing out the mute button on the remote if/when I watch any TV.
In any case, I like the ad....
http://www.americanprogress.org/cartoons
Speaking of horror... This isn't funny, but it is tragic....
Molly Ivins | Don't Count the Republicans Out
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906C.shtml
Molly Ivins writes: "I watched this happen two years ago - same rejection of the Iraq war, same disgust with Bush and Co., same understanding Republicans are for the rich, period, same polls showing D's with the lead going right into Election Day. And the same geographic gerrymander and same wall of money in the last two weeks. I'm not close to calling this election, and I'm sure not into celebrating anything yet."
Tom Engelhardt | November Surprise?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906A.shtml
"The US-backed special tribunal in Baghdad signalled Monday that it will likely delay a verdict in the first trial of Saddam Hussein to November 5. Why hasn't the mainstream media connected the dots between the Saddam's judgment day and the midterm elections?" asks Tom Engelhardt.
{{{Errr... where was Tom the day this news came out? I remember right here on this blog we already connected those dots within minutes of reading the story the same day....}}}
Ohio Lawsuit to Reinstate Hundreds of Thousands of Purged Democratic Voters to be Filed Friday or Monday
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906I.shtml
"Put pressure on the democrats to bring suit. I would urge the DNC - the party can't let this stand. They could proceed to Federal court and argue that this is a civil rights case - against blacks and young people. They could file their own suit. There are a lot of ways they could do it procedurally. They could intervene as an independent party. They could join our lawsuit, I would welcome any action by them," says Ohio voting rights activist and attorney Dr. Bob Fitrakis.
War, Scandal Could Make This "Year of the Woman"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906D.shtml
Women candidates - mostly Democrats - may prove the biggest beneficiaries of this year's scandal-dominated headlines and the growing voter disgust with Congress.
Well the word "naked" is in the news at least twice - that will draw attention, with our sensationalistic press. One instance has to do with a car wreck, the other with Foley's priest.
Taboo words have a lower visual threshold for the brain.
The naked and the dead.
Nice.
You don't watch enough teevee to notice it, Nonny, but the women in that ad you and Casey like so much are all widely-recognized celebrity actresses, too. So there's also a facial/vocal recognition aspect to the ad that just makes it that much more effective, especially since it's left it to the viewer to say "hey, wait a minute, I recognize *her*!"
good thing the voters know quality when they step in it,
Otter
Posted by: NonnyO at October 19, 2006 05:14 PM
It was awesome my Husband has said if Olbermann keeps it up he will dissappear under his wonderful new law.
Olbermann is my Hero he goes where other journalist or commentators refuse to go.
NBC is restructering I am hoping they leave Olbermann the heck alone I have emailed them with thanks and asked them to leave him do his thing, the more people who do the more likely they are to leave him alone.
Jack Cafferty's doing extended coverage on CNN tonight of 'Broken Government" -- it's getting so you can barely turn on MSM these days without hearing tons of detail about how totally boinked the current administration has made everything around us (along with a reminder that it's our citizenry's own damn fault for letting this happen via the voting booth).
gee you say that like it's a bad thing,
Otter
NBC and MSNBC are not the same thing (despite some layers of shared corporate ownership, of course).
And yes: That was me on Stephanie Miller this morning
Posted by: abqjohn at October 19, 2006 08:13 PM
Does Mr. Miller know?
Judge orders release of Cheney visiting logs
How much access did lobbyists have to the vice president?
WASHINGTON (AP)- A federal judge is ordering the Bush administration to release information about who visited Dick Cheney's home and office -- and fulfill a request from The Washington Post that was refused by the Secret Service. The request is an effort to determine how much access lobbyists had to the vice president?
Government attorneys call it "a fishing expedition" and argue that they need to protect "the effective functioning of the vice presidency."
An earlier lawsuit over similar records revealed that key figures in a federal lobbying investigation landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House.
The judge says the new request has to be honored by the end of next week, or at very least the Secret Service has to identify the records and explain why they're being withheld.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15332695/
You know Otter I know you think I am an idiot on occassion but I do know what I read.
Struggling NBC Cutting 700 Jobs
By DAVID BAUDER
The Associated Press
Thursday, October 19, 2006; 3:31 PM
NEW YORK -- NBC Universal announced Thursday it will cut 700 jobs, abandon MSNBC's New Jersey headquarters and shift spending from traditional broadcast TV to digital entertainment, reflecting both hard times at the network and changing times in the media world.
The company, a unit of General Electric Co., said the various moves were expected to save $750 million by the end of 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101900205.html
You mean her future husband, Keith Olberman: No, Keith doesn't know. Until now . . OMG
Posted by: abqjohn at October 19, 2006 08:34 PM
I think you would need to worry more about Linda knowing or finding out!
Sorry I missed you today, Abqjohn. Was it the same time as JK; was his appearance today?
I'm still waiting for more to be made of the energy policy lobbyists, and those first two months of pie-shaped mapped shares of Iraq in Cheney's office. Heard that this Dec the IMF will force Iraq to divest its oil to clear their debt. Maybe the war will be over then?
Posted by: Marjorie G at October 19, 2006 08:38
I thought most countries forgave Iraqs Debt?
Bin Laden, terror imagery focus of latest GOP ad
RAW STORY
Published: Thursday October 19, 2006
An unsubtle new ad released today by the Republican National Committee features fleeting video of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and other terrorist imagery.
Entitled "The Stakes," the ad also highlights snippets of statements--one over eight years old--from the two al-Qaeda leaders, both still at large. Certain menacing phrases are repeated twice (e.g., "kill the Americans," "suitcase bombs") to reinforce the message.
A ticking sound reminiscent of a bomb timer grows progressively louder until the last repeated phrase ("What is yet to come will be even greater") is shown, followed by the sound of a beating heart, fleeting images of explosions and terrorists in training, and ending with the message "These Are The Stakes. Vote Nov. 7."
President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other Republican officials and candidates have made the war on terror a crux issue going into Election Day, to the point where critics are accusing them of fearmongering. Recent polls, however, don't bode well for the GOP; a Newsweek survey, for example, reveals that more Americans think Democrats will handle the terror war better than Republicans. Other polls have the Republicans barely retaining the upper hand in an area once deemed their strength.
PRESS RELEASE TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Bin_Laden_terror_imagery_focus_of_1019.html
Red Cross concerned with interrogation law
International group says U.S. definition of enemy combatant too broad
Updated: 44 minutes ago
GENEVA - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed concern on Thursday at a new U.S. law allowing tough CIA interrogation techniques and military trials for terrorism suspects.
In an interview on its Web site, ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said the law was too vague about which detainees could be covered and did not explicitly exclude the use of evidence extracted by force in trials.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, signed by President George W. Bush on Tuesday, could also weaken basic guarantees given under the Geneva Conventions which are supposed to protect everybody from humiliating and degrading treatment, he said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15338515/
How's this for a poorly worded headline...
Clerk office witness fingers Hastert aide in Foley scandal
Posted by: monkey at October 19, 2006 08:43 PM
Well thats a cheap and easy add to counter alls the Dems need to do is run a snippet of that add along side BUsh saying 1000 times he doesnt really care about Bin Laden and at the end question should be asked, What exactly has this administration and republican congress done to capture Bin Laden! Cause most Americans no matter how unaware know Bin Laden is not hiding out in Iraq.
Top US general says Rumsfeld is inspired by God
MIAMI (AFP) - The top US general defended the leadership of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying it is inspired by God.
"He leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country," said Marine General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rumsfeld is "a man whose patriotism focus, energy, drive, is exceeded by no one else I know ... quite simply, he works harder than anybody else in our building," Pace said at a ceremony at the Southern Command (Southcom) in Miami.
more...
http://tinyurl.com/y3bqmy
April, I do not now nor have I ever thought you were an idiot. Have I ever accused you of wanting to vote for John McCain? No, I have not. So there. Nyaah.
NBC's corporate ownership doesn't much around with the editorial content of MSNBC as a general rule. And Olbermann himself has gone on record as saying that neither his bosses (MSNBC) or their corporate parent (NBC) have asked for or been given any input into what he chooses to say on the air.
How specifically true that may be, or on which specific levels it may be true in any case, is left as an exercise for the cynical reader's jaded suspicions, of course. This is still America, after all. *ahem*
but they do know better than to mess with success,
Otter
Posted by: monkey at October 19, 2006 08:46 PM
Did you make that up, are News people really that stupid? Never mind forget I asked.
Sorry I missed you today, Abqjohn. Was it the same time as JK; was his appearance today?
Posted by: Marjorie G at October 19, 2006 08:38 PM
Luckily, JK had left before they let me call in - they're good about that. But Steph (Momma) is a sweetheart and has a comedic line on current life in America. We're in trouble !
These last 3 weeks everyone needs to get there hip boots and waders out cause the Sh*t is gonna get deep. The Republicans are gonna roll out any kind of trash they can no matter how false, with the thought if they lie it wont matter cause no one will find out till after the election. Desperate people scare the he** out of me, actually more and more scares the hell out of me. I must be getting old.
Military: Baghdad attacks up during Ramadan
Bid to secure capital didn't meet expectations; U.S. refocusing effort
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The two-month old joint U.S.-Iraqi bid to crush violence in the Iraqi capital did "not meet our overall expectations," as attacks in Baghdad rose by 22 percent in the first three weeks of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the U.S. military spokesman said on Thursday.
The spike in violence during the month of fasting was "disheartening" and the Americans were now working with Iraqi authorities to "refocus" security measures, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said.
"In Baghdad, Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas but has not met our overall expectations in sustaining a reduction in the level of violence," Caldwell said at a weekly news briefing.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15329254/from/RS.5/
Umm, what focus areas?
My favorite ad this election cycle has to be The More We Work Together. Sherrod Brown will be a teriffic senator, the good lord willing and Blackwell doesn't supress the dem votes, and Diebold lets them be counted...
http://thebluestate.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/09/ohsen_the_more_.html
Another good one is Vic Wulsin's Had Enough? against Mean Jean Schmidt.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/19/211827/55
Posted by: monkey at October 19, 2006 08:49 PM
...and that god can only be Jobu, the same god that Pedro Cerrano worships in the movie, Major League.
Come to think of it, if that's what Pace really thinks, then it should come as no surprise to anyone that we're losing this war. These people are completely out of their minds.
Heard Barack Obama on the drive home (NPR) - said Kerry, McCain, Frist & Obama are highest producers in terms of private political donations for candidates for their parties.
My son's most apolitical young 20 something friends are now watching Jon Stewart & the Colbert Report pretty regularly. Got to turn them on to Olbermann.
I normally have roughly a dozen progressive political bumper stickers on my VW Beetle. Someone in the garage a work (up north in the sticks) but a McGavick sticker over the top of my Cantwell sticker. He's one of those who uses "GOP" to distance himself from the Republicans.
I heard where a "Goldwater Republican" said Goldwater's response to the brouhaha about gay marriage would have been, "What the hell business does government have with that?"
My friend Bert told me that Kos site today had over 500 diaries & over 200,000 hits - if so, that's alot of "chatter"
If there is a Goddess or God or other form of metaphysical supreme being, he, she or it is not on Rumsfeld's side.
I read an article in some CA paper earlier that speculated that the Foley story had died. I don't think so - not with closed door investigations, more than 4 dozen subpoenas & the business about the Reverend in the sauna. It's appropriate that the House Ethics Committee is in the basement. It's also somehow comforting to hear that Boener & Hastert are providing disparate stories. It's going to be interesting when Boener takes my Congressman McDermott to the Supreme Court on Halloween - for purposed Ethics violation. That will be yet another test of our 1st Amendment rights.
Ironically enough, a lot of Republicans in the hinterlands are getting mileage out of the Foley scandal in Washington. And it pulls attention from the even more evil stuff the neokonzertruppen are up to, like the military commissions bill and the fact that we are getting our asses handed to us on a bullet-pocked plate in Iraq. So don't be surprise if it turns out that Rove has a hoof in keeping the Foley story from dying out completely. It's bad, but it's better than the other stuff. And yeah, he really is that Machiavellian. Smart, no, but shrewd as hell. And we underestimate him only at our peril.
skanky skanks and the skanking skanks who shank them,
Otter
Posted by: monkey at October 19, 2006 08:43 PM
I saw that add on Obermann tonight. I am waiting to see the DNC run its own ad with that ad in the background of footage from New Orleans during Hurrincan Katrina. The voice overlay says something to the effect, "They had their chance to keep us safe, look what happened."
Posted by: Otter at October 19, 2006 06:56 PM
Ah, but I did recognize three faces, my furry friend (Tyne Daly, Felicity Huffman, Marg Helgenberger).... I did figure the others also had something to do with the entertainment industry, but couldn't place the faces or the voices.
Posted by: April at October 19, 2006 07:43 PM
If Olberman were a little older (or I were a little younger), I'd serve him crackers in bed any day... I'd buy the crackers and also the cheese and wine and apples and serve it to him on a silver platter.... ;-) Intelligent men are SO incredibly sexy...!
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Awaiting the recommendations of a commission exploring U.S. options in Iraq, the White House on Thursday emphatically ruled out some proposals to end the long and unpopular war.
Presidential spokesman Tony Snow said a suggestion to divide Iraq into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions, each with high degrees of autonomy, was a "nonstarter." Similarly, he said a phased withdrawal of American troops -- perhaps by 5 percent every two months -- also was a "nonstarter."
"You withdraw when you win," Snow said. "Phased withdrawal is a way of saying, 'Regardless of what the conditions are on the ground, we're going to get out of Dodge.'"
-snip-
White House clarifies 'Tet' comment
The White House also tried to clarify Bush's remarks Wednesday when he said the surge of violence in Iraq "could be" comparable to the 1968 Tet offensive that prompted Americans to lose support for the Vietnam War.
"The president was making a point that he's made before, which is that terrorists try to exploit pictures and try to use the media as conduits for influencing public opinion in the United States," Snow said.
Acknowledging that the Tet offensive "was successful from a propaganda point of view," Snow said the violence in Iraq would not have the same result.
"The important thing to remember is, the president's determined it's not going to happen with Iraq because you have a president who is determined to win," he said. "And the strategy is a threefold strategy that involves security, economics and political reconciliation, working with the Iraqis. And we'll continue to make adjustments as necessary to pursue victory."
"But the one thing that nobody should have any doubt about is that we're going win," Snow said.
He agreed that the Tet offensive had become shorthand for the point at which the Vietnam War changed course but, again, said there was no parallel with Iraq.
"We do not think that there's been a flip-over point," Snow said. "But more importantly, from the standpoint of the government and the standpoint of this administration, we are going to continue pursuing victory aggressively."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/19/us.iraq.ap/index.html
Posted by: monkey at October 20, 2006 12:33 AM
No surprise about the comments from Snowjob. I expected junior to poke his finger in Baker's eye. As loyal as Baker is to the "the family", this was a setup. Junior sees him as one of daddy's boys. Junior will do anything to piss off his daddy, even slam the family consigliere.
Kim says he's sorry he did the nuclear test. Now let's hope this situation doesn't get bungled.
& speaking of loss of face, this is what the British are waking up to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1926809,00.html
"We've lost the battle for Bagdad, US admits"
(followed by Tony Snow job & then refresher on history of Tet offensive)
Monkey
Can't we get a President who doesn't constantly "misspeak" and have to have things clarified & reinterpreted by Tony Snowjob or someone like him? He's gone through 3 of these PR clowns already.
I am not in NYC - I'm using my husband's old computer & that label was stored there. I WISH I was in NYC.
And yes: That was me on Stephanie Miller this morning
Posted by: abqjohn at October 19, 2006 08:13 PM
Good for you John!
Here is an outrage -
A Vietnamese immigrant named Tan Nguyen, running as a Republican against Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez in Orange County, is now accused of sending 14,000 letters to Latino voters threatening them with deportation if they attempt to vote.
Disgusting. This is how low some right-wing immigrants will go in order to sell out. And SoCal, with its large Korean and Vietnamese communities, is right wing immigrant central.
If Nguyen wanted xenophobic votes, at least he should've run under an "American" name. Either that, or the Orange County conservatives do love their Vietnamese puppets that much.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061020/ap_on_re_us/immigration_voting_threat;_ylt=AkB7RcH.G3LMELj5lGe3xtPMWM0F;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
Of course, Kim saying he's "sorry" for nuke test will be the spin du jour all weekend long, claiming how "tough" US talk somehow made him back down...
which if course, is total crap...
Republicans aim to scare up big voter turnout
With House losses likely, tactics focus on warnings about Democrats
By Dan Balz and Jim VandeHei
The Washington Post
Oct 20, 2006
WASHINGTON - With top Republican strategists now privately predicting substantial House losses, President Bush and top GOP officials plan to spend the final days of the 2006 campaign attempting to rally partisans and limit conservative defections with dire warnings about the consequences of a Democratic Congress.
Amid predictions that demoralized conservative voters might sit out the election, Bush and other senior Republicans will escalate charges that Democrats will raise taxes, weaken national security and liberalize social policies. Bush struck those themes in campaign appearances yesterday in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and White House senior adviser Karl Rove said he "will consistently refresh that message" between now and Election Day.
MORE...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15338793/
Yet another odd headline (from CNN.com)...
Church to probe nude Foley claims
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/20/foley.priest.ap/index.html
Just imagine what an illplaced apostrophe could do.
Monkey
"Republicans will escalate charges that Democrats will raise taxes, weaken national security and liberalize social policies."
= that is a very traditional attack and one of best counterattacks traditionally is that the Republicans don't care about the poor (and now we can add middle class) - they will probably go on about the stock market & "ownership society" & then I see Saudi Arabia is opening up the taps.
Poll: Lieberman's Lead Growing in Conn.
http://tinyurl.com/yg8v44
North by Northworst
Wowzers! Great post & comment thread over at DU (one that'll make NonnyO especially proud!) -- which see, at http://tinyurl.com/yhjnem
-----------------
"I May Be An Old Woman But They Ain`t Seen Nothin` Yet."
PLEASE NOTE: This may be a good time to use your ignore feature, because I`m going to let it rip.
After more than six decades on this planet, I`m about to begin a one-woman Spectacle Program. Forget the knitted potholder routine, I`m going to erect the biggest lawn sign I can safely install, fire off as many letters to editors as I can handle, call Bernie Sanders, Jim Jeffords and Patrick Leahy. When that`s done, I`m going to build a giant peace symbol out of wire and Christmas lights, rebuild my anti-war sign and head over to the town next door for an anti-Bush rally tomorrow night. I`m going to upgrade my volunteer hours at Democratic Headquarters and sign every single anti-Bush petition I come across. I`m going to cut back on my groceries between now and the mid-term elections and send $10.00 a week to whichever Democratic candidate I think needs the most help. My coin jar will get emptied and the contents sent to the ACLU. Best of all, I`ll wear my NO IRAQ WAR button 24/7. I`ll sleep with it. I`ll wear it to the laundramat. I`ll take the trash out in it. I`ll display it proudly for all Bush supporters to read.... "Here, feast your eyes on this. There`s another one on my other coat."
[snip]
----------------
barbara fritchie would be proud,
Otter
Not all country musicians are right-wing rednecks. (In fact, most of us aren't. *ahem*)
-----------------
NEW YORK (AP) -- Country music might seem like a pretty conservative medium, but Tim McGraw is bucking the trend. "It's innate in me to be a Democrat -- a true Southern populist kind of Democrat. There's not a lot of those anymore," McGraw tells Time magazine in its Oct. 23 issue.
"The issues that matter to me are the social safety nets for people, health care, middle-class concerns. We need to take care of the middle class and the poor in our country. The chasm is getting larger between haves and have-nots, and that's something we need to close down a little bit," says the singer and star of 'Flicka'.
"One of these days, if the opportunity's there, [running for office is] something I'd love to do," he says. "It's a high calling to serve the community, and if you can do it, I think you should."
-----------------
can I get a yee-haw,
Otter
Another October Surprise...But Not the Kind that Rove Wanted
October 20, 2006
Shiite Militia Seizes Control of Iraqi City
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:14 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized total control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by one of the country's powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dispatched an emergency security delegation that included the Minister of State for Security Affairs and top officials from the Interior and Defense ministries, Yassin Majid, the prime minister's media adviser, told The Associated Press.
The Mahdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations Friday morning, planting explosives that flattened the buildings, residents said.
About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers were patrolling city streets in commandeered police vehicles, eyewitnesses said. Other fighters had set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq.html
Yee-haw
I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change
The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change
Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever
I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change
The wind of change
Blows straight into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change
Klaus Meine/Scorpions
Trouble for Bush in the Lone Star state?
Friday, October 20, 2006
MIDLAND, TX -- Anecdotal evidence suggests President Bush's support is lagging in his hometown. An assortment of oilmen and other businesspeople and civic leaders used words like "disappointed" to describe their feelings about Bush's presidency, citing deficit spending, the Iraq war, and the Foley scandal as causes.
They expressed little support for Democrats, but their lack of enthusiasm for Republicans and the President echoed concerns of GOP leaders that the base could just choose to stay home this November.
Another measure of residents' feelings: Former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, in Midland to give a speech before a packed house of 4,000, got applause after making some critical remarks about the Administration, including a comment that the Iraq war was a mistake. One of the loudest rounds of applause came when Gorbachev said Bush seems OK -- but the problem is the entourage he has surrounded himself with.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/
Yee-hawskov
Predictable.
GOP Banks on Terror Down the Stretch
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006Z.shtml
The Republican Party will begin airing a hard-hitting ad this weekend that warns of more cataclysmic terror attacks against the US homeland. The ad portrays Osama bin Laden and quotes his threats against America dating to February 1998.
-- I would expect the same type of propaganda in Britain, which Al Quaida has reportedly identified as their main focus now.
We need to press the point that these folks (current Admins) are making it more likely, not protecting us. They let Bin Laden go. They let New Orleans go.
"These are the stakes," the ad concludes. "Vote November 7."
They let America go.
Period.
Raze Hell November 7th
GOP's Solidarity on War is Cracking
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-iraqpol20oct20,0,5900923.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Thanks for the Scorpions lyrics, Christy. They put me in mind of one of my favorite, most haunting Nanci Griffiths songs:
I am on a riverboat
On the Saigon River
Where the music’s too loud
While I try to have my dinner
Stories I’ve been told of 1954
When the bodies washed ashore
From that distant war
My friend Michael came in ’68
The bodies still floating
With the dinner boats sailing
Beside all those souls
Of the American war
Oh, deliver me to the river of souls
In the heart of Indochine
Deliver me to a river at peace
In this twenty-first century
All those souls that floated free
In these dark war’s waters
All the souls now swim together
The French the Viet Minh
Those American boys
The souls of the Saigon River
At peace in Indochine
I am in a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City
My friend Bobby Muller
Is sitting with me
This traffic is maddening
In his wheelchair he’s napping
I wonder at times
Does he walk in his dreams?
Later I walked all the way from Tu Do Street
To the banks of the river
With the dinner boats sailing
Beside all of the souls
Of a river at peace
Oh, deliver me to the river of souls
In the heart of Indochine
Deliver me to a river at peace
In this twenty-first century
All those souls that floated free
In these dark war’s waters
All the souls now swim together
The French the Viet Minh
Those American boys
The souls of the Saigon River
At peace in Indochine
Hoa binh ... hoa binh ...
Peace in the heart of Indochine
it's all blood under the bridge by now,
Otter
Republicans Accuse Dems of Support Gay Pedophile Group
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1904969.ece
(Some, such as Blackwell, attempt to link Democrats to the Man-Boy Love group NAMBLA. That is ridiculous, as they are persona non grata at gay pride rallies etc. They are disavowed by Stonewall Democrats etc etc etc)
... and my mind went here...
The Battle
by Blood Sweat And Tears
While the king and queen lie sleeping
And their daughters smile so nice.
Brothers wait through windows
And the peasants die for rice.
And here I'm standing naked
Laughing madly at the sun.
Though I wanted to sleep late today
The Battle's just begun.
Oh, the Devil in all his wisdom
The father in all his grace
The servant's sons are washed in blood
And the man has run his race
A moving target looms behind the street where soldiers stood
Siren screams out desperately
Like only humans could
And standing on my balcony
I watch the battle run
Yes the war is never over
But the day is never done
Oh, the Devil in all his wisdom,
The father in all his grace,
The servant's sons are washed in blood
And the man has run his race.
Six-white horses like the wind are running,
Five are far behind
The captain lost his daughter,
The sergeant lost his mind.
The soldiers they still scream for riches
Even though they swore
That sons and daughters wouldn't live
Unless we won the war.
Oh, the Devil in all his wisdom,
The father in all his grace,
The servant's sons are washed in blood
And the man has run his race.
More bogus smear jobs from the scut-and-scum Rethuglicans. Those people turn my stomach. The only good side to it is that their attempts are getting so transparently desperate, so pathetically repulsive, that even the thickest-headed Amurrikins are turning away from their elephants' asterisks in disgust these days.
it's enough to make ya (mc)repuke,
Otter
Iraq city in chaos
Iraq is ordering troops to the restive southern city of Amarah where militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are said to have seized control. Video shows masked gunman on the streets and huge plumes of black smoke rising from buildings in the city where Iraqi forces took security control from the British two months ago.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/20/iraq.sadr/index.html
MSNBC BREAKING NEWS: Bush says he will consult with generals on change of tactics in Iraq.
GOT GUILT?
Between you, me, and Christy, monkey my friend, the default Freudians are now spinning in their big sleep.
let alone the jung and the restless,
Otter
Posted by: Otter at October 20, 2006 11:39 AM
Desperate times call for despot measures.
Thixon
And in this instance, it's a case of despot trying to call deskettle black.
which is as bad as putting descarte before deshorse,
Otter
I hope you realize you've just witnessed blog history, the first triple entendre with a one and a half pun twist puncuated by a pinhead landing.
10.0
Dems approach Nov. 7 with fundraising surge
In rarity, campaign committees outraised GOP counterparts in September
WASHINGTON - Democratic fundraising for the midterm elections is ending with a surge.
In September, the Democratic campaign committees for the House and the Senate outraised their counterpart Republican committees, reversing historical trends.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15338794/from/RS.2/
hee-yaw
I would like to thank President Bush for campaigning yesterday in Richmond Virgina. Apparently he learned absolutely nothing when his campaign stop for Kilgore the weekend before their gubenatorial election in Arlington, swung 5% of Virginia's vote for Governor Kilgore. This election is a referedum on Bush's failed Presidency, which hopefully we will hear for the next 18 days. Failed Presidency, Referendum on Bush and Rubber Stamp. Still looking for volunteers to help me with Virginia this weekend. You have my email address offline if anyone wishes to help me turn Virginia blue.
Bush's visit in Arlington the Sunday before their election swung 5% of Virginia's vote away from Kilgore to Governor Kaine.(typo)
Interesting comments on Diane Rehm News Roundup--
Increased deficit--> Increased borrowing from China--> Decreased US influence on China--> Decreased chance of influencing China's approach to
Another example of BushCo & Republican Congress shooting itself in the foot...
page w/ links for audio: http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/
oops!!!!
left out last bit
Decreased chance of influencing China's approach to North Korea
BTW, starting next week, Diane Rehm Friday News Roundup expands to 2 hours-- one hour for national news & another for international news.
Posted by: Otter at October 20, 2006 09:51 AM
Thanks! Yes, I appreciated that lovely rant! ;-)
Matt Taibbi | Time to Go! Inside the Worst Congress Ever
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101906R.shtml
Matt Taibbi says the 109th Congress has: " ... hijacked the national treasury, frantically ceded power to the executive, and sold off the federal government in a private auction. It all happened before our very eyes." Continuing, Taibbi explains how they did it "in five easy steps."
{{{Grab a cuppa... Highly recommended reading.}}}}
interesting to read Dick Armey now talking over the empirical evidence that Clinton balanced the budget and left these guys with a surplus. You think? Wan't he the one leading the charge against Bill Clinton?
"WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 — Tax-cutters are calling evangelicals bullies. Christian conservatives say Republicans in Congress have let them down. Hawks say President Bush is bungling the war in Iraq. And many conservatives blame Representative Mark Foley’s sexual messages to teenage pages."
"In the case of the Republican Party this year, the skirmish among conservatives over what is going wrong has begun unusually early and turned unusually personal."
“It is pre-criminations,” said Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, the conservative magazine. “If a party looks like it is going to take a real pounding, this sort of debate is healthy. What is unusual is that it is happening beforehand.”
snip
".. Mr. Armey accused Congressional Republicans of “blatant pandering to James Dobson” and “his gang of thugs,” whom Mr. Armey called “real nasty bullies” — arguments he reprised on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal and in an open letter on the Web site organization FreedomWorks.
"In an interview this week, Mr. Armey said catering to Dr. Dobson and his allies had led the party to abandon budget-cutting. And he said Christian conservatives could cost Republicans seats around the country, especially in Ohio."
“The Republicans are talking about things like gay marriage and so forth, and the Democrats are talking about the things people care about, like how do I pay my bills?” he said.
“Economic conservatives,” he argued, were emerging as the swing voters in need of attention, in part because they had become more likely to vote Democratic in the years since President Bill Clinton was in office. “A lot of people believe he brought us from deficits to surpluses, and there is a certain empirical evidence there,” Mr. Armey acknowledged.
Toss-up! GOP, Dems Battle For Senate Control Down Stretch
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1184
Democratic challengers lead in Penn., Ohio Senate races; Talent up in Missouri; Allen clings to narrow lead in Va.
October 20, 2006
The President,
The White House,
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We write out of a deep sense of concern that the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate and that there is no effective plan for improvement. The escalating sectarian violence coupled with the recent increase in the number of dead and wounded Americans are but the latest indications that neither the current U.S. plan, nor that of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, will bring stability and security to Iraq. Vice President Cheney's recent comment that, overall, things are going "remarkably well" in Iraq is profoundly troubling if it reflects your Administration's current assessment of the situation.
Iraq continues a rapid descent into full-scale civil war, with our troops increasingly caught in the middle. Over 200 U.S. troops were killed in the last 90 days, including 70 in the first two and one-half weeks of October, and on average 100 Iraqis are killed each day. The growing militia groups are beyond the government's control and have reportedly infiltrated the ranks of government security forces. Despite your recent decision to increase the U.S. military presence in Baghdad, the capital remains, more than three and a half years after the invasion, a city beset by violence and chaos - a conclusion echoed yesterday by Major General Caldwell. Unfortunately, recent violence in Balad, Basra, and Kirkuk demonstrates that Iraq's problems are not limited to the capital. Meanwhile, the insurgency is growing stronger in al Anbar province. The increased violence and a larger U.S. military deployment come even as your Administration reports that about 450,000 Iraqi security forces have been fielded (army, police, and facilities protection service) and are increasingly operating on their own, casting doubt on the central pillar of your strategy that "as Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."
It has never been more clear that we need to change course in Iraq. We were, therefore, disappointed to learn that you persist in your "stay the course" thinking. For example, during your phone call this past Monday with Prime Minister Maliki, it is reported that you told him, "Don't worry. You still have our full support," and that the Prime Minister should disregard rumors that the U.S. government was running out of patience. This message was conveyed to the Prime Minister despite the reluctance of the Iraqi Government to disarm the militias, despite the failure to move forward with a political reconciliation plan, and despite Iraq's recent agreement to share intelligence with Iran. Such a message at this critical time is also different than the one conveyed by the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq, the Secretary of State, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a bipartisan majority of Congress - all of whom have stated that it is important to keep pressure on the Iraqis to take more urgent action before the end of the year to resolve the political differences plaguing their country.
Mr. President, time is not on our side in Iraq. You and your Administration must do more to clearly inform the Iraqis that our commitment is not unlimited and that they must promptly make the political compromises necessary to bring Iraq together and to quell the violence. "Staying the course" is not a strategy, nor is sitting on the sidelines hoping that the Iraqis will eventually forge a political solution. We must actively engage the Iraqi leadership, just as we must work with each other to develop a better policy.
In two previous letters to you, dated July 30th and September 4th, we outlined sound changes in U.S. policy that would give our troops and the Iraqi people the best chance for success. In addition to beginning the phased redeployment and transitioning the U.S. mission in Iraq by the end of the year, we strongly believe your Administration needs to more proactively pressure Iraqi leaders to disarm the militias and to develop a broad-based and sustainable political settlement, including considering amendments to the Constitution to achieve a fair sharing of power and resources. We also believe it is imperative to convene an international conference and contact group to support a political settlement in Iraq and to preserve Iraq's sovereignty. We hope you will revisit those recommendations in light of the growing crisis confronting Iraq.
The steadily mounting sectarian violence, growing insurgency, and escalating casualty figures in Iraq are unacceptable and unsustainable. We urge you to change course, level with the American people, and join with us to develop a policy that will work, before the situation in Iraq is irretrievable. Thank you for your attention to our concern about the war, which is of critical importance to the American people.
Harry Reid, Senate Democratic Leader
Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader
Dick Durbin, Senate Democratic Whip
Steny Hoyer, House Democratic Whip
Carl Levin, Ranking Member, Senate Armed Services Committee
Ike Skelton, Ranking Member, House Armed Services Committee
Joe Biden, Ranking Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Tom Lantos, Ranking Member, House International Relations Committee
Daniel Inouye, Ranking Member, Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee
John Murtha, Ranking Member, House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee
John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Vice Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Jane Harman, Ranking Member, House Select Committee on Intelligence
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Democratic_House_Senate_leaders_call_on_1020.html
CNN BREAKING: President Bush and his top military commanders will hold previously unscheduled talks this weekend on Iraq, where violence is escalating.
aimzz: I have been calling into Virginia for almost 2 weeks now, and as of last night I was still amazingly getting over 15% of my respondents telling me they are still undecided, so Zogby is absolutely wrong in saying 97% of Virginia voters have made up their minds and that there is only 3% remain undecided. My report is unscientific but what I have observed having called 750 Virginia voters so far. Virginia is still fluid. That election outcome won't be known until probably Sunday night November 5. That is why Bush stupidly visited Richmond yesterday. The focus needs to be on Bush's failures and rubber stamping those failures
Record Company Executive: Your fans are church folk, Johnny... Christians, and they don't wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin' to cheer 'em up.
Johnny Cash: Well, they're not Christians then.
Walk The Line
Posted by: monkey at October 20, 2006 11:40 AM
Actually Herr Dictator doesn't have any guilt. To feel guilty for something, one must first have a conscience. He doesn't have a conscience; ergo, no guilt.
His narcissism and megalomania rule - not only the bubble in his head, but the Beltway Bubble and now, unfortunately, this nation (with his sights set on world rule per PNAC).
Anyway, he apparently hasn't "finished the job" (whatever that undefined job may be) in Iraq, and there can be no "victory" until he makes sure he "finishes the job" - even if it takes many more thousands of lives and/or trillions of dollars to Halliburton the the oil corpporations to "finish the job." The specialist in vague phrases can't define the "job" either, and he would be offended if anyone questioned him about it. He has uttered one truthful statement during his reign: as long as he's pResident, the US military will be in Iraq. He may pretend to change course, but it's only another lie, said for show.
But 'guilt'? Nah. Not a human emotion one can credit Herr Boosh with, even if SnowJob blathers on otherwise with his corrected spin, and spinmeisters yak about what they think they thought he said or felt.
The one big error in judgment people have about Herr Boosh is that they imaginatively try to put themselves in his place and try to imagine how they would feel or think or say or do in his place, and because people who do that have a conscience, they get it wrong every time. The ONLY thing that drives Herr Cretin is his need for power over other people. Period. He is a psychopath; he can mouth words about emotions, but he truly does not actually feel any emotions himself, so he's incapable of feeling guilt - or any other kind of emotion, for that matter. A person with a conscience would not have started a war, nor lied to start a war, just for one-upmanship on daddy's war, nor would any leader with a conscience force the bad legislation through a Rubber Stamp Congress, nor endorse torture, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera - all the abuses of power he's inflicted on us and the rest of the world since the SCOTUS decision of 2000. A person with a conscience would not have done any of that....
Difficult to truly describe the one-dimensionality of a psychopath unless you've had daily experience dealing with one. They're really quite boring people; all they want is power over others, and in that respect, they're utterly predictable. They have nothing else for a personality otherwise - no hobbies or interests or curiosity about anyone or anything around them, and they can't actively imagine themselves in someone else's shoes, so to speak, so they can't imagine what it feels like to be mentally or emotionally manipulated and abused by them (the worst sort also resort to physical abuse of humans and/or animals). But they sure make life miserable for anyone within their sphere of power and influence... which, in Herr Dictator's case, means the people of this nation who still can't figure out how he gets by with all his crap, and people of other nations who know he's out to rule them, too....
Bush to consult generals about Iraq strategy
'We are constantly adjusting tactics,' president says
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush acknowledged Friday that the situation in Iraq was tough and said he would consult with American generals to see if a change in tactics was necessary to combat the escalating violence.
Seventy-four American troops have died in Iraq in October, likely to become the deadliest month for U.S. forces in nearly two years.
“One of the reasons you’re seeing more casualties is the enemy is active and so are our troops,” Bush said in a brief interview with The Associated Press.
“We are constantly adjusting tactics so we can achieve our objectives and right now, it’s tough,” the president said.
-snip-
Overall Iraq strategy won't change:
The White House said that while Bush might change tactics in Iraq, he would not change his overall strategy despite growing opposition and Republican anxiety that his policy could cost the GOP control of the House or the Senate — or both.
“He’s not somebody who gets jumpy at polls,” presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.
“The president is not going to alter his approach based on political considerations, but instead on the business of trying and moving toward having an Iraq that can sustain, govern and defend itself,” Bush’s spokesman said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15347136/
“One of the reasons you’re seeing more casualties is the enemy is active and so are our troops...”
Someone hit the idiotmeter lotto.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6068644.stm
US call over Guantanamo detainees
The US State Department's chief legal adviser has challenged foreign governments to stop calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay camp.
In an interview with the BBC, John Bellinger said they should instead start helping to resettle some of the more than 400 prisoners held there.
He said no-one was comfortable with the situation and the US had been trying to repatriate prisoners for a long time.
He also said some detainees could face military trials next year.
President Bush may have celebrated the signing of a new law this week allowing the US to push ahead with military trials at Guantanamo, but foreign governments, including allies, continue to be a thorn in his side.
{{{Click on link for more.}}}
Heated debate over use of torture:
A sizeable majority of people around the world are opposed to torture even if its purpose is to elicit information that could save innocent lives from terrorist attack.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6063800.stm
Reflections on the Eve of Another Rigged Election
By Ernest Partridge
The Bush administration can not allow the Democrats to take control of either house of Congress. And they are in a position to prevent it, regardless of the will of the American voters.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15349.htm
U.S. building huge military airfield in Iraq:
Following hints U.S. troops may remain in Iraq for years, the United States is reportedly building a massive military base at Arbil, in Kurdish northern Iraq.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15344.htm
Bush says he may ignore new war-funding law:
In a “signing statement” released when he signed the 2007 Defense Authorization Act on Oct. 17, the president listed two dozen provisions in the act that he indicated he may or may not abide by.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15353.htm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061020/ap_on_re_us/maryland_voting_machines
Mailed disks raise voting machine fears
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Disks containing what appears to be software code used in Maryland's touchscreen voting machines in 2004 were delivered anonymously to a former state legislator, raising fresh concerns about the reliability of the voting system.
~~~~~
A statement issued by Diebold said it would "take years for a knowledgeable scientist" to break the encryption used on the software disks delivered to Kagan.
But Ari Rubin, a computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University who reviewed the disks for The Washington Post, said the data files were not encrypted on the disk containing the software that runs the machines.
{More on link.}
Very good reading here from Glenn Greenwald
Makes some excellent points about the "independent" Republicans who really are nothing more than W enablers.
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/10/deceitful-ritual-of-independent-gop.html
I am in the USA for 2 weeks before going back to China, i have been there for 8 months last go around.
China is truly hoping to see a change of leadership in the USA to Democratic Party. When i go to a meeting or function, interest only peaks when we discuss democrat party, and volenteer work i did in Kerry campaign.
China loves democrats, Kerry, Clinton(both of them), anything democrat is a topic of discussion. The Bush administration is seen as destabalizing regions of the world for profit.
One of the most interesting conversations is with officials of the NPC, regarding the JFK assasination. They placed into a longer historical context ;
The JFK assasination was an overthrow of the Democratic principles the USA was founded upon, and that overthrow continues to this day. The clinton administration was the exception( Carter was backlash and short lived). The Bush / Reagan power structure lives in the white house today, albiet daddy bush could speak coherently.
CLinton Speeches are usually on Media, followed by President Bush attemting to put together a sentence. There is no commentary, None is needed. This Nation is like a Frog left in a pot of slowly boiling water. It doesnt realize the water is boiling until its too late.
When I see USA politics from a distance, it appears to be a third world country; vote and voter tampering, electioneering, corruption, voter fraud, election fruad.....we cut off relations with nations that act in lessor degrees of corruption than we do ourselves.
My hope is people get angry enough to act, not just vote. We used to have marches on Washington and shake the foundations of Power. today we have chat rooms....not enough.
Shut down traffic, stop presses, force attention to Liberties and Freedoms our country was created upon. People Die the world over to change their government. We can at least Vote.
Today's talking points:
Republicans claim that because of their policies, there have been no attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11, a total of five years. Yet, under the Clinton Administration, there were no attacks on U.S. soil from March 1993 through January 19, 2001, nearly eight years.
Republicans will counter that the Embassy and Cole bombings happened on the Clinton's watch. But the educated voter understands that the death and misery toll under the Bush Administration is, in comparison, completely off the scale - with nearly one hundred times the number of Americans dead or maimed since January 20, 2001, and the numbers of radical Muslims seeking to attack America dramatically higher than at any time during the Clinton Administration.
The facts are crystal clear: Americans are safer when Democrats control Congress and the White House.
"we are seen as a third world country abroad." Have heard that before toolmaker, and that one statement is truly tragic. Its why we have been busy here at the dcp trying to change that image. Its good to hear from you again. When I read of the world travel figured it was my friend Chuck. You, Chuck, and Karen have now reported of that same image from all parts of the world, that our beloved nation is seen in such disregard. Perhaps that is a pledge we at the dcp should make for '07, to help in our own way to change that image.
Posted by: Toolmaker at October 20, 2006 03:54 PM
Posted by: Bubba at October 20, 2006 04:24 PM
I can second the bit about America being seen as a Third World country, whenever I travel abroad myself. And it's all about W's policies.
Americans are very myopic people, partly because they don't know what is out there in the rest of the world. And our leaders, by taking away our vacations and adding more hassles to air travel, intend to keep it that way.
William Rivers Pitt | A Major Event
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006A.shtml
William Rivers Pitt begins, "A lot of smart people have been saying for several years now that the number one tactic deployed by the GOP during moments of political stress is simple and straightforward: they aim to scare the almighty Hell out of the American people."
GOP House Appropriations Chair Lewis Fires 60 Staffers Investigating Corruption
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006D.shtml
The House Appropriations Committee has fired about 60 private contractors who made up most of an investigative unit that was auditing billions of dollars in government spending, including the $62 billion federal relief package for Hurricane Katrina. Last year, the Justice Department launched a separate inquiry into Katrina-related incidents of alleged fraud in which dozens of people have been charged. Many were accused of filing fraudulent claims of property damage in order to get thousands of dollars in government relief checks.
Canadian Court Ruling Upholds Freedom of the Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006F.shtml
A court struck down sections of a Canadian anti-terrorism law Thursday, in a ruling that threw out warrants used to search the home of a reporter covering US efforts to secretly send a Canadian terror suspect to Syria for interrogation. In her ruling, Justice Lynn Ratushny said the provisions were vague and violated the constitutional rights to justice and freedom of the press.
US Anti-Terror Law Concerns Red Cross
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006G.shtml
The International Red Cross said Thursday it has "concerns and questions" over whether a new US anti-terror law signed by President Bush complies with the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war.
Robert Dreyfuss | The End of Maliki?: Will a Coup Unravel Iraq?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006M.shtml
Robert Dreyfuss writes: "From Washington, London, Baghdad, and other capitals come rumors that Maliki's government will soon be overthrown by a nationalist general or colonel or that he will resign in favor of an emergency 'government of national salvation.' A coup d'état in Iraq would put a period - or rather an exclamation point - at the end of the Bush administration's bungled experiment with democracy there."
French Defense Minister Gives US a Lesson on Friendship
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102006H.shtml
At a time when French newspapers are widely reporting the imminent withdrawal of French special forces from Afghanistan, France's defense minister meets privately with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and publicly delivers some telling remarks on the nature of friendship.
Hey toolmaker!
I've missed you around here. What an interesting perspective you add to our conversation.
I would not have guessed at that level of interest in American politics. Tell us more.
Michael J. Fox appears in stem-cell ad for Dem candidate
RAW STORY
Friday October 20, 2006
In a powerful new political ad, actor Michael J. Fox urges voters to elect U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill for her support of stem-cell research.
Fox does not hide the clearly evident physical signs of his disease in the brief ad, in which he says McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, "shares my hope for cures."
The actor knocks incumbent Sen. Jim Talent for not supporting the research, saying that the Republican "even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope."
"What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans," Fox concludes. "Americans like me."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Michael_J._Fox_appears_in_stemcell_1020.html
China loves democrats, Kerry, Clinton(both of them), anything democrat is a topic of discussion.
Toolmaker
I noticed same thing in France.
The voting thing - I think we really are starting to be looked at as a Banana Republic. The cowboy posturing doesn't go unnoticed either (dead or alive .. us or them .. bring it on .. go it alone etc.)
Shoot first, ask no questions later.
Whatever happened to "the group that couldn't bomb straight"? Noticing that they dropped out of the news cycle rather quickly.
What kind of country is this where windsurfing is questionnable but waterboarding is ok?!
Been hanging out on the rightwing sites - they seem obsessed with sodomy, abortion, torture and beheading. Some even have videos of beheadings. The article which says 2/3 of the world opposes torture is reframed to suggest that 1/3 of the world accepts at least some torture, like that's a good thing. & then they show photos!
Good article at http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1548897-2,00.html, which suggests that the comparison of Vietnam and Iraq is limited, because the situation in Iraq may be even more complex.
This part summed up alot of the problem:
Sure, just as in Vietnam, the U.S. is fighting an unwinnable war in Iraq. But in Vietnam, the U.S. faced a single challenger, who won because America did not. In Iraq, the U.S. can't win — but nor can anyone else. To imagine, as Bush and Friedman do, that this is a war between the U.S. and "jihadists" ignores the reality that there are multiple armed conflicts underway in Iraq, and many of those fighting the U.S. are also fighting each other.
The Sunni insurgency has successfully prevented the U.S. and its allies from stabilizing even Baghdad beyond the Green Zone, but it can never hope to restore the control that Saddam Hussein once had over the whole country. The Shi'ites are the dominant force in the elected government and have more men under arms (in their militias and in the government security forces) than do the Sunnis, but the Shi'ites are not really aligned with the U.S. (If anything, they're closer to Iran.) And as the U.S. has pushed back against the Shi'ites in the hope of dimming the appeal of the insurgency — by expanding Sunni power and cracking down on the Shiite militias terrorizing Sunni communities — U.S. forces find themselves fighting on two fronts. Mounting tension between Arabs and Kurds over the fate of the northern city of Kirkuk, the oil-town coveted by the Kurds for the de-facto state they're creating in the north, suggests that this could still get even more complicated.
Good one DiAnne !!
Leaving for Colorado for a bit - just got this from a friend in the UK and he says everyone is buzzing there about this toay.
US & UK Searching for Exit Plan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1928037,00.html
October 21, 2006
Accused Priest Flees From Law in U.S. and Mexico
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
TEHUACÁN, Mexico — For two decades, dozens of children have accused the Rev. Nicolás Aguilar of molesting or brutally raping them. He faces an indictment charging sexual abuse in Los Angeles and at least five formal complaints in Mexico. Yet at 65 he remains at large, still working as a priest in villages here.
Father Aguilar’s long flight from the law, critics say, reflects the ease with which priests can avoid prosecution in the United States by hiding in Mexico, where judges and prosecutors are reluctant to challenge the enduring political strength of the Roman Catholic Church.
The case has focused attention on a problem that is not limited to Father Aguilar, but rather, critics say, points to a pattern of complicity by high officials in the church.
In September one of Father Aguilar’s accusers filed a lawsuit in southern California alleging that the cardinals of Mexico City and Los Angeles had conspired to help him escape prosecution by allowing him to slip across the border.
Both cardinals deny any wrongdoing. But American law enforcement officials and advocates for victims say that since 1995 at least three other priests accused of molesting children in the United States have fled to Mexico before the authorities could arrest them. In other cases, going back to the 1980’s, still more were transferred to Mexico after church officials received complaints about them.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/world/americas/21mexico.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061021/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq
Bush: I won't change strategy in Iraq
WASHINGTON - President Bush conceded Friday that "right now it's tough" for American forces in Iraq, but the White House said he would not change U.S. strategy in the face of pre-election polls that show voters are upset.
~~~~~
Despite calls for change, Bush said, "Our goal has not changed. Our goal is a country that can defend, sustain and govern itself, a country that which will serve as an ally in this war. Our tactics are adjusting."
{{More on link for above story. That last paragraph is full of the same vague statements..., but I shall refrain from a 30 page rant. On the same Yahoo page, the earlier headline from yesterday: }}
Bush to Consider Change in Iraq Tactics
President Bush acknowledged Friday that the situation in Iraq was tough and said he would consult with U.S. generals to see if a change in tactics was necessary to combat the escalating violence. (Oct. 20)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061021/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terror_detainees
U.S. jails man once tortured by Taliban
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061021/ap_on_el_ho/immigration_voting_threat
Calif. candidate's office, home raided
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. - For two days, a Republican congressional candidate had promised to explain how a threatening letter was sent by his campaign without his knowledge to thousands of Hispanic immigrant voters. As about 200 people gathered Friday in front of his campaign headquarters seeking answers, Tan D. Nguyen was a no-show at his own news conference. Instead, 10 uniformed California Department of Justice police officers arrived with a search warrant and pounded on the glass of Nguyen's storefront headquarters.
~~~~~
Hours later, they searched a home in nearby Anaheim listed as belonging to one of Nguyen's staffers, emerging with a computer hard drive and a small box. Nguyen's neighbors in a gated community in Santa Ana said law enforcement officers also spent several hours searching his home.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant trying to unseat a popular Democratic incumbent, has acknowledged his campaign sent the letter, which wrongly said immigrants could be jailed if they voted. He blamed an unidentified staffer whom he said he has fired.
{{{Click on link for more.}}}
http://www.msnbc.com/comics/daily.asp?sFile=db061015
Doonesbury from last Sun. Keep clicking on 'next' and read the whole week's worth of cartoons....