The Sinking Ship

Fe, I completely agree. That the likes of Perle would attempt to rehabilitate himself by accusing the Bush Administration of incompetence is truly beyond the pale.

The Neo-cons' ideas were flawed and dangerous from the beginning - and we must not allow these ideas to rise untarnished from the ashes of this failed administration.

It is not America's role in the world to impose democracy. In my humble opinion, it is our role to model what democracy is like when a people, inspired by the better angels of their nature, come together to create a greater future for themselves, their children, and for posterity.

By that standard, we are falling far short of fulfilling our essential obligation - and virtually every friend on foreign shores immediately understands and appreciates how far off course our ship of state has sailed.

Editorial
The Difference Two Years Made

On Tuesday, when this page runs the list of people it has endorsed for election, we will include no Republican Congressional candidates for the first time in our memory. Although Times editorials tend to agree with Democrats on national policy, we have proudly and consistently endorsed a long line of moderate Republicans, particularly for the House. Our only political loyalty is to making the two-party system as vital and responsible as possible.

That is why things are different this year.

To begin with, the Republican majority that has run the House — and for the most part, the Senate — during President Bush’s tenure has done a terrible job on the basics. Its tax-cutting-above-all-else has wrecked the budget, hobbled the middle class and endangered the long-term economy. It has refused to face up to global warming and done pathetically little about the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Republican leaders, particularly in the House, have developed toxic symptoms of an overconfident majority that has been too long in power. They methodically shut the opposition — and even the more moderate members of their own party — out of any role in the legislative process. Their only mission seems to be self-perpetuation.

The current Republican majority managed to achieve that burned-out, brain-dead status in record time, and with a shocking disregard for the most minimal ethical standards. It was bad enough that a party that used to believe in fiscal austerity blew billions on pork-barrel projects. It is worse that many of the most expensive boondoggles were not even directed at their constituents, but at lobbyists who financed their campaigns and high-end lifestyles.

For us, the breaking point came over the Republicans’ attempt to undermine the fundamental checks and balances that have safeguarded American democracy since its inception. The fact that the White House, House and Senate are all controlled by one party is not a threat to the balance of powers, as long as everyone understands the roles assigned to each by the Constitution. But over the past two years, the White House has made it clear that it claims sweeping powers that go well beyond any acceptable limits. Rather than doing their duty to curb these excesses, the Congressional Republicans have dedicated themselves to removing restraints on the president’s ability to do whatever he wants. To paraphrase Tom DeLay, the Republicans feel you don’t need to have oversight hearings if your party is in control of everything.

An administration convinced of its own perpetual rightness and a partisan Congress determined to deflect all criticism of the chief executive has been the recipe for what we live with today.

Congress, in particular the House, has failed to ask probing questions about the war in Iraq or hold the president accountable for his catastrophic bungling of the occupation. It also has allowed Mr. Bush to avoid answering any questions about whether his administration cooked the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. Then, it quietly agreed to close down the one agency that has been riding herd on crooked and inept American contractors who have botched everything from construction work to the security of weapons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/opinion/05sun1.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print

This is one of the reasons I like this site so much. I had no idea what gotterdamerung meant. I looked it up and thought it was a perfect word to describe the slow but steady fading out of power of the sliver of the Republican party that has had a death grip on this country.

Oncall, not a Wagnerian, I guess...Gotterdammerung is one of those works that is near and dear to my heart.

Wagner was a monster in human terms, but as a composer...

I am taking bets. Who thinks Bush will come out on T.V. congragulating the "independent Iraqis" for "bringing justice" to Saddam?

If Bush could get a photo-op of Sadam hanging from his noose with Bush standing in front of the gallows, I am convinced he would do it.

Interesting photo of Richard Perle... Compare it to this one...

http://www.gallerym.com/work.cfm?ID=866

Deja vu?

Hey! At least she described my work as "scholarly"!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/04/AR2006110401298.html

madame--that is one terrifying piece of comparative body language.

And it holds up...

November 5, 2006
Pastor Apologizes for ‘Sexual Immorality’
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Less than 24 hours after he was fired from the pulpit of the evangelical megachurch he founded, the Rev Ted Haggard confessed to his followers Sunday that he was guilty of sexual immorality.

In a letter that was read to the congregation of the New Life Church by another clergyman, Haggard apologized for his acts and requested forgiveness.

"I am so sorry for the circumstances that have caused shame and embarrassment for all of you," he said, adding that he had confused the situation by giving inconsistent remarks to reporters denying the scandal.

"The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality. And I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring against it for all of my adult life," he said.

Haggard resigned last week as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, where he held sway in Washington and condemned homosexuality, after a man claimed to have had drug-fueled homosexual trysts with him. Haggard also placed himself on administrative leave from the New Life Church, which has 14,000 members, but its independent Overseer Board fired him on Saturday.

In his letter, Haggard said "the accusations made against me are not all true but enough of them are that I was appropriately removed from his church leadership position."

He did not give detail details on which accusations were true.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/05wire-haggard.html

*****

Jimmy Swaggart was unavailable for comment.

I nominated Richard Perle as Most Dangerous Republican back at Johnkerry.com in 2003. Good to see he is finally emerging from the shadows so people can see who he really is. aka "Prince of Darkness" - and do you know that his hobby is collecting airplane barf bags?

nice press Sis!!

Richard Perle used to work for Scoop Jackson, who was narrowly beat out by Maria Cantwell in 2002. His specialty in the last few years has been specialty policy papers, many written from his villa in south of France.

Under Reagan, he opposed the UN and arms treaties with the Russians. He favored taking out Saddam early on. He recommended steering Israel further to the right. He was caught by FBI wiretap leaking secure info to the Israelis.

Perle was devastated when Spain went to the Socialists, his worst nightmare. He is an early advocate of pre-emptive strikes. He has advocated striking both Iran and North Korea - first. He has called Colin Powell a "wuss" (see Clancy's "Battle Ready")

"He was saying how (Secretary of State) Colin Powell was being a wuss because he was overly concerned with the lives of the troops," Clancy said. "And I said, 'Look ..., he's supposed to think that way!' And Perle didn't agree with me on that. People like that worry me."

In 2003, Seymour Hersh published an article in The New Yorker titled Lunch with the Chairman, accusing Perle of a conflict of interest, claiming Perle stood to profit financially by influencing government policy. Hersh's article alleged that Perle had business dealings with Saudi investors and linked him to the intelligence-related computer firm Trireme Partners LLP, which he claimed stood to profit from the war in Iraq.

That same day Perle was being interviewed on the issue of Iraq by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Shortly before the interview ended, Blitzer quoted 'Lunch with the Chairman' and asked for Perle's response. Perle dismissed the premise of the article and argued that it lacked "any consistent theme". Added Perle; "Sy Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist, frankly."

(sources, my memory and Wikipedia)

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/11 /02/maliki_fiddles_as_iraq_burns.php

The most recent polls indicate that the number of Iraqis who want us out of there is approaching 70 percent. It may be ironic that the number of Americans who want us out of there, too, is nearing the same percentage. They want us to leave. We want us to leave. There’s nothing standing in the way of satisfying both majorities except a president, a vice president and a defense secretary who are willing to fight to the last man—willing to drive our military to utter destruction—before they’ll admit that they were wrong, wrong, wrong from deluded beginning to wretched end.

Ever more horrifying:

Army Guard, Reserve face new call-ups to Iraq
Citing rule changes and mounting stress, leaders express concern

By Ann Scott Tyson

Updated: 12:18 a.m. ET Nov 5, 2006

The Army's National Guard and Reserve are bracing for possible new and accelerated call-ups -- spurred by high demand for U.S. troops in Iraq -- that leaders caution could undermine the citizen-soldier force as it struggles to rebuild.

Two Army National Guard combat brigades with about 7,000 troops have been identified recently in classified rotational plans for possible special deployment to Iraq, according to senior Army and Pentagon officials, who asked that the specific units not be named. One brigade could be diverted to Iraq next year from another assignment, and the other could be sent there in 2008, a year ahead of schedule.

More here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15555730/

Riverbend weighs in on Saddam Hussein's death sentence.

When All Else Fails...
… Execute the dictator. It’s that simple. When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you’ve put a group of Mullahs in power- execute the dictator.

Everyone expected this verdict from the very first day of the trial. There was a brief interlude when, with the first judge, it was thought that it might actually be a coherent trial where Iraqis could hear explanations and see what happened. That was soon over with the prosecution’s first false witness. Events that followed were so ridiculous; it’s difficult to believe them even now.

Read the rest...
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

GREELEY, Colo., Nov. 4 -- During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush and his aides sternly dismissed suggestions that the war was all about oil. "Nonsense," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declared. "This is not about that," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Now, more than 3 1/2 years later, someone else is asserting that the war is about oil -- President Bush.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/04/AR2006110401025.html?nav=hcmodule

Posted by: madame defarge at November 5, 2006 01:48 PM

And we all know the timing for announcing the sentence is completely coincidental... :p

Posted by: DiAnne at November 5, 2006 01:25 PM

Diane-- a correction--Scoop Jackson, although a Democrat, was a good fit for neo-con ideology, but he died in 1983, well before Maria Cantwell came on the scene. She defeated the Republican Slade Gorton, who Bush later placed on the 9/11 Commission...

Posted by: oncall at November 5, 2006 11:08 AM

I expect there will be a gleeful Rose Garden "news" conference tomorrow morning (conveniently the day before we vote) so he can brag about the hackuva job his puppet democracy has done in Iraq with bringing "justice" to the people there....

Anyone else having trouble getting onto the MoveOn site to make calls?

I hope they haven't been hacked. But I guess if it's just overloaded, that means LOTs of folks are making calls.

Anyone?

Ahem.

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

I don't believe the things I'm seein'
I've been wonderin' 'bout some things I've heard
Everybody's crying mercy
When they don't know the meaning of the word

A bad enough situation
Is sure enough getting worse
Everybody's crying justice
Just as soon as there's business first

Toe to toe, touch and go
Give a cheer and get your own souvenir

Well you know the people running round in circles
Don't know what they're headed for
Everybody's crying peace on earth
Just as soon as we win this war

Straight ahead, gotta knock em dead
So pack your kit, choose your own hypocrite

You don't have to go to off-Broadway
To see something plain absurd
Everybody's crying mercy
When they don't know the meaning of the word

Nobody knows the meaning of the word

(Thanx an' a tip o' the ol' otter topfur to Mose John Allison Jr. for the loan of his 40-years-hip jazz elegy lyrics.)

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

vote as if our lives depend on it,
Otter

Karen - Nice article in the Post!

I like listening to Roxanne Roberts on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!

Aimzz
Yes I mixed up Jackson and Gorton.k
Thanks.

Congratulations, Georgie!
by Granny Doc

I wanted to congratulate George Bush and his entire troop of Iraq invaders, today. It seems that Saddam has been "brought to justice".

The cost for one man to be stood before the bar? Well, let's see...

Over 3,000 Americans, including troops, contractors, and employees brought in for this adventure.

Around 100,000 Iraqis, men, women and children, although this may be a low estimate.

Three trillion? Four trillion? How many trillion dollars of tax payer money?

A military that has destroyed most of it's equipment, most of it's mid-level command structure, and the National Guard.

The infrastructure of Irag, including the oil industry that was to pay for the war, the electric grid, the water and sewer systems, and a significant percentage of the buildings in many areas.

The respect of the world.

The ability to project power in the many conflicts that actually require some intervention.

Diplomatic clout in dealings with Korea and Iran, as well as China and Russia.

The Constitution of the United States.

The Geneva Convention.

Heck of a job, Georgie!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/5/155934/915

The New York Times: The Difference Two Years Made
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110506Y.shtml
A New York Times editorial said: "On Tuesday, when this page runs the list of people it has endorsed for election, we will include no Republican Congressional candidates for the first time in our memory. The Republican majority that has run the House - and for the most part, the Senate - during President Bush's tenure has done a terrible job on the basics."

Excerpt:
This election is indeed about George W. Bush - and the Congressional majority's insistence on protecting him from the consequences of his mistakes and misdeeds. Mr. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 and proceeded to govern as if he had an enormous mandate. After he actually beat his opponent in 2004, he announced he now had real political capital and intended to spend it. We have seen the results. It is frightening to contemplate the new excesses he could concoct if he woke up next Wednesday and found that his party had maintained its hold on the House and Senate.

{{{Well, better late than never...? *Someone* on the NYT editorial board understands just what some of the toilet paper legislation passed in the last six years has cost us in terms of rights lost or infringed upon, understands how dangerous it is for power to be concentrated in the executive branch with a person like Herr Boosh (who is a criminally incompetent psychopath, at best, or brainwashed and utterly controlled by Chinkster, et al., at worst..., and we all know it), how House and Senate members have failed us in multiple ways....}}}

From my sister, mkh: robocalls during dinner, and the Repubs admit it:

This is also happening in Eric Massa's district race against Randy Kuhl.

Harrassing and continous robo callin, pretending to be from Massa.

November 05, 2006 -- 01:33 PM EST // link)
More GOP dirty phone tricks in New Hampshire, scene of the 2002 phone-jamming incident that led to criminal prosecutions of Republican operatives:

For the second straight day yesterday, Democratic field offices received dozens of phone calls and e-mails from frustrated voters upset about repeated automated phone calls they thought were coming from Democratic candidate Paul Hodes - though the calls were paid for by a Republican group instead.
The National Republican Congressional Committee spent nearly $20,000 on the calls last week. Depending on the rate, that could mean more than 300,000 automated phone calls into the Second Congressional District.

Incumbent Republican Congressman Charlie Bass denounced the calls yesterday and said he tried to get the NRCC to put a stop to them. But a spokesman for the NRCC said the automated phone calls would continue indefinitely.

"The calls will continue as planned," said Alex Burgos, a spokesman for the NRCC, the national group charged with electing Republicans to the House. "They are done independently of Charlie Bass's campaign. He has nothing to do with them."

The only surprising thing here is that the NRCC has essentially admitted this is one of its tricks. We have a report that a similar effort is underway in the New York 19th Congressional District, where Democrat John Hall is trying to unseat Republican Sue Kelly.

November 05, 2006 -- 02:49 PM EST // link)

More on what we're hearing about GOP dirty phone tricks in the New York 19th Congressional District.

Three TPM readers have reported a phone scam with a double whammy. The call purports to be for John Hall, the Democratic challenger, but makes negative assertions about Hall. If the caller hangs up, they are called again and again, as many as seven times, according to one report.

So either the recipient hears a negative message about Hall, or they think Hall is harrassing them with repeated phone calls. Either way it's a win for Hall's opponent, Republican incumbent Sue Kelly.

If you're in the NY-19, let us know what you're hearing.

-- TPM Reader DK

November 05, 2006 -- 03:40 PM EST // link)
We're getting reports from a number of congressional districts that one or another of the GOP committees is sponsoring robocalls that begin with "I'm calling with information about [fill in name of Democratic candidate]." Apparently, many voters, irate with the flood of calls, assume that the Democrat is the one sponsoring the call.

In addition to the New Hampshire 2nd and New York 19th, which we covered below, TPM readers report such calls in the Illinos 6th (Roskam v. Duckworth), Illinois 8th (McSweeney v. Bean), and California 4th (Doolittle v. Brown). However, we do not have reports from those district of repeated callbacks after the recipient hangs up, as has been reported in the New York 19th.

-- TPM Reader DK

(November 05, 2006 -- 05:37 PM EST // link)
More from NY-19 on the robo-calls from TPM Reader VO ...

I was handing out leaflets for John Hall yesterday at a grocery store. There were two tables, a democratic one and a Republican one.
When I was handing out palm cards, several people said to me something like, "I WAS going to vote for John Hall, until I got all those phone calls. I got seven or eight, right at dinner time."

The guy from the Republican table, who was a local district leader-- friendly and chatty, actually came over to me and said, "You know, most of those are coming from Sue's office, but don't tell anybody."

I don't know how high his connections are to the Kelly campaign, but that's the information he volunteered.

-- Josh Marshall

November 05, 2006 -- 05:48 PM EST // link)
More of the scam calls from the NRCC, from TPM Reader PS ...

I was canvassing in Stamford, CT for Lamont and Farrel yesterday... some of the canvassers were talking about a nasty robocall hit on Farrell, which they said people at the doors had talked about. I didn't hear that at the door personally, but I wasn't focusing on the congressional race - i was talking about Lamont primarily.
Apparently the call starts with something along the lines of "Diane Farrell has some information for you," then pauses, waiting for annoyed people to hang up, and then delivers a negative message about Farrell. The canvassers say the call has hit some people as much as 6 times, and at 5 - 6am as well. Presumably, the intent is to annoy people and stick Farrell with the negative name ID as somebody who keeps robo-calling them.

We won't be able to get to the bottom of this operation until after Tuesday, which is the point. They'll happily pay the fines for breaking the federal regs on misidentifying calls.

-- Josh Marshall

| |

DCPers: Tell them to call 1-866-OUR-VOTE and report it

For all you hardworking GOTV phone-bankers out there... dig this DU thread quoting a freeper's tale of woe regarding his own phone-banking efforts:

http://tinyurl.com/yhch5s

awww poor baby,
Otter

Instead of dissing on this site...get going and GOTV!!
These races are getting tooooo close for any comfort !!

http://www.msnbc.com/comics/daily.asp?sfile=nq061105&vts=11520061526
Non Sequitur

Iraq War Will Cost More Than $2 Trillion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110506A.shtml
In January, we estimated that the true cost of the Iraq war could reach $2 trillion, a figure that seemed shockingly high. But since that time, the cost of the war - in both blood and money - has risen even faster than our projections anticipated. More than 2,500 American troops have died and close to 20,000 have been wounded since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. And the $2 trillion number - the sum of the current and future budgetary costs along with the economic impact of lives lost, jobs interrupted and oil prices driven higher by political uncertainty in the Middle East - now seems low.

Saddam Verdict Date "Rigged" for Bush
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110506B.shtml
Saddam Hussein's defense team has urged a delay of his possible death sentence and said the ousted Iraqi leader believed today's expected verdict was timed to boost President George Bush before US mid-term elections.

Maureen Dowd | A Wartime Love Story
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110506F.shtml
"At the heart of every administration, there is one relationship above all others that shapes history. Ron and Nancy. Poppy Bush and James Baker. Billary. Cheney and Rummy. W. is the hood ornament, but," says Maureen Dowd, "Cheney and Rummy are the chitty chitty bang bang engine of this administration."

Why Do So Few People Vote in the US?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110506G.shtml
Government of the people, by the people, will be missing a lot of people Election Day. It's a persistent riddle in a country that thinks of itself as the beacon of democracy. Why do so few vote?

Taking a break for ramen between making calls

This is a good one from Shaun Dale at http://www.upper-left.blogspot.com

Mea Culpa.

The outgoing Speaker writes...

In short, Democrats do not believe in the Global War on Terror….What I mean is Democrats don't believe the war actually exists.
In the case of this particular Democrat, at least, Dennis Hastert's absolutely right (wow, never thought I'd find myself saying that!), because. well, it doesn't actually exist.

Even the most strident advocates of the GWT should understand that, after all, it is not a thing, but a metaphor, like the War On Poverty or the War On (some) Drugs, and, like it's predecessors, it's an unfortunate metaphor. Throwing the word 'war' at everything you don't like reduces the awful reality of the thing itself. It cheapens the sacrifices of those of us who've actually been to war.

So, no, I don't believe in the Global 'War' on Terror (for the record, I don't believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or moderate Republicans, either).

There's also the problem that the GWT isn't really global, and terror, well, it's pretty hard to pin down, isn't it. I mean, if some North Koreans got fed up and sabotaged their country's nuke plants, how hard would we go after them? If somebody had flown a plane into whichever palace Saddam was spending the night in, how fast would we have retaliated?

We need some reality based language for campaigns against social and political problems that implies appropriate urgency without invoking the specter of the horrific last resort of war.

There's another metaphor, after all, that's truly reality-based for those of us who've been there.

War is Hell.

Cheney's going hunting in South Dakota on election day, with his daughter.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061105/D8L74U4O0.html

anyone with connections with Whitehouse campaign in Rhode Island please contact me immediately. would like to help tomorrow. Tester 's office just told me they only want locals involved, probably a good idea.

Karen these Robo calls are no different than push polls which we have been screaming about for years and warned each of our campaigns, I know I told our campaign manager to expect that and sure many of us did the same in our Districts.

Karen: How can you and Josh turn that story into an Obermann and Matthews report for tomorrow. I will cut and paste and send to them but we need to get on the horn especially with Obermann for a story on his count down tomorrow, just an idea.

karen: just sent that story with Josh Marshall as writer to Olbermann but won't go any further to Hardball, etc unless either you or Josh want it spread but we need to saturate the media with that and probably tag it to Rove and RNC ASAP. Rhandi Rhodes, Miller and Ed Schultz also need to get that story line tonight. Am I overreacting?

Can you Karen or Josh try and call this story into the Director of Air America and get Frankin, Schult, Rhodes, Sedir etc to broadcast this story tomorrow? That is the only way we can counter it.

This story about the robo calls is all over Kos, I have sent an e-mail to everybody on my list. Hopefully they will send it on as well. Considering it took only about 7 hours for JK's mangled joke to become a political issue, there is no reason the MSM can't make this a big story in the next six hours.

I picked this cogent mini-essay up on another blog this morning, as posted there by "roooth" (aka "Ruth Lopez: mom, wife, veteran, citizen")...and I thought it sufficiently informative and significantly rhetorical enough on the draft-vs-volunteer military issue to merit its reposting here (along with its base reference link, of course):

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

Hi, I posted this article, "Why Kerry was Right" on OpEd.com:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ruth_lop_061103_why_kerry_was_right.htm

Kerry was -- inadvertently -- right. His "joke" may have been mangled; but there was truth in what he said. And what he said is something the GOP doesn't want Americans to think about: who is joining today's military? Who isn't? And why?

The Bush Administration has claimed a doctrine of infallibility regarding our troops. They can do whatever they want to the troops; send them into unnecessary wars, use them for photo ops, or as fodder for political attacks, blame them for Iraq, even manufacture fake war stories, as they did with Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. And always to benefit the GOP's political needs, never to benefit the troops.

They also think the troops should not be made up of them or their children. Today's GOP leadership is overwhelmingly filled with people who have made their careers feeding at the public trough but who have never served in the military.

They don't want attention drawn to this, especially right before this election, when they are mired in scandals, corruption and the damage inflicted by the worst President in modern history. Because the truth is this: the Bush Administration's treatment of our troops is not much better than their treatment of Katrina victims.

They have deliberately exploited certain segments of our society to fill the ranks of our ground forces. Bush's vaunted "Leave No Child Behind" program actually requires public schools to give students' personal information to military recruiters or the schools won't get their Federal funding. "Leave No Child Behind" should more accurately be called, "No bodies, No bucks".

Recruiters are trained to focus on those most likely be receptive to offers of financial and educational assistance; in other words, poor students from poor schools.

Many of these young people join the military with unrealistic and uneducated expectations. They are driven by many factors: lack of opportunity, poverty, ignorance, jingoistic propaganda, thrill-seeking and, yes, honest patriotism. These are largely unworldly, undereducated kids. Recruiters are trained to take advantage of this with slick salesmanship and not-to-be-kept promises.

Are these kids really prepared for extended and repeated tours in the quagmire Iraq has become? The answer to that is in the increased rate of suicides, PTSD, desertions, assaults, murders, rape, divorce, domestic violence, and substance abuse among our troops.

Demand for replacement bodies to fill the ranks of our ground forces is such that recruiters have been caught falsifying enlistment forms to meet the quotas they deny having, even though enlistment standards have been lowered, and those who once couldn't enlist for reasons including felony convictions and the inability to pass minimal educational standards can now sign up.

And, for the first time in the history of our military, there is evidence that gang members are joining. Gang sign graffiti has shown up in Iraq, as well as other military bases. They are said to be joining to get tactical and weapons training which they then bring back to their street wars here at home.

If our ground forces are being increasingly filled with kids who are disproportionately from the lowest economic classes, poorly educated, barely literate, felons, and/or gang members, what kind of military will we have? The Best and the Brightest or the Dregs and the Drop-outs?

Meanwhile, religious schools, and expensive private schools -- the kind of schools Congress and the Republican donor base send their children to - are exempt from having their students preyed upon by quota-driven military recruiters. Their kids are going to college, not war.

But if the terrorist threat isn't serious enough to compel the children of the Bush Administration and his Republican Congress to the defense of their country, why is anyone else's child dying for it?

That's why Kerry's gaffe struck such a nerve with the GOP. They don't want us to look at the fact that their kids are safe at home, enjoying the good life, partying on campus, in spite of mushroom cloud threats, Dick Cheney, and "fight them there so we don't have to fight them here" rhetoric.

Bush and the Republicans know that the unnecessary war they have hyped is fought by other people's children, not theirs. They know they have cut funding for essentials our troops need while ensuring their children will have elite educations, cushy jobs and tax free inheritances. They know that if they can't sell military service to the poor with apocalyptic threats of imminent terror attacks, false patriotism and enticements of a better life in exchange for military service, we will have no military at all -- without a draft.

They know all this, and they don't want America talking about it.

Kerry didn't insult the troops. He just came a little too close to the unspoken reality of today's military; who's joining -- and who isn't.

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

support our troops -- bring them home,
Otter

Hey Bubba, Karen, et al --

Dunno how fast or how wide the other members of the MSM will choose to propagate the story this late in the game (since, after all, it doesn't have a single sexy soundbite clip to keep replaying ad nauseum as a teaser)...

But the prestigious kinda and hard-to-ignore New York Times is on the robo-call case, at least one facet of it. So I suspect they'd be receptive to hearing from folks like us about the deliberate phone-spamming dirty-tricks aspect of this years's robo-call campaigns also.

I sent them a followup email about that corollary angle, and encourage y'all to do likewise with them and with your other favorite representatives of the MSM as well. Here's the gist of their piece, so you can make reference to in your own followup messages -- and note the information it includes about the people behind these coordinated phone-spamming campaigns, too:

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

NY Times: New Telemarketing Ploy Steers Voters on Republican Path
http://tinyurl.com/yghyzr

An automated voice at the other end of the telephone line asks whether you believe that judges who “push homosexual marriage and create new rights like abortion and sodomy” should be controlled. If your reply is “yes,” the voice lets you know that the Democratic candidate in the Senate race in Montana, Jon Tester, is not your man.

In Maryland, a similar question-and-answer sequence suggests that only the Republican Senate candidate would keep the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. In Tennessee, another paints the Democrat as wanting to give foreign terrorists “the same legal rights and privileges” as Americans.

Using a telemarketing tactic that is best known for steering consumers to buy products, the organizers of the political telephone calls say they have reached hundreds of thousands of homes in five states over the last several weeks in a push to win votes for Republicans. Democrats say the calls present a distorted picture.

The Ohio-based conservatives behind the new campaign, who include current and former Procter & Gamble managers, say the automated system can reach vast numbers of people at a fraction of the cost of traditional volunteer phone banks and is the most ambitious political use of the telemarketing technology ever undertaken.

[snip]

The calls have set off a furor in the closing days of a campaign in which control of Congress hinges on a handful of races.

Late last week, Representative Benjamin L. Cardin, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maryland, demanded a halt to the calls, saying “this sort of gutter politics” was distorting his record. Some political analysts said the practice could mislead voters and discourage them from taking calls from more objective pollsters.

Andrew Kohut, a longtime pollster and the president of the Pew Research Center in Washington, said the automated calling “smells like a push poll, it feels like a push poll, so I guess we have to call it a push poll.”

But Harold E. Swift, one of the organizers of the Ohio group, said he viewed the move beyond phone banks or simple taped attack messages as a “very sophisticated approach to voter education.” The goal, he said, is to “make people aware of the candidate’s stand on the issues that are important to them.”

Mr. Swift said his group, Common Sense Ohio, is a nonprofit advocacy organization and is financed by wealthy Republican donors. A sister organization, Common Sense 2006, has received a donation from the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, an affiliate of the Republican Governors Association. Under federal law, the groups are not required to disclose their donors publicly or reveal how much money they have raised.

Mr. Swift acknowledged in an interview that if some critics thought the group’s polling approach seemed deceptive, “I grant that they can reach that conclusion.”

[snip]

Even some Democratic strategists acknowledge that the distortions are no worse than the television and radio advertisements by both sides and that they probably do not cross any legal lines. While many Democratic campaigns and support groups also rely on computer-dialed telephone attacks, Republican leaders said they had not seen Democrats use any poll-like solicitations in the major races this year.

Common Sense Ohio was formed in July to run issue advertisements in the governor’s race there, and it became involved in the Senate races in Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Tennessee, and in the abortion referendum in South Dakota.

Mr. Swift said two of the six people who formed the group, including its president, Nathan Estruth, worked at Procter & Gamble. Mr. Swift said that he and another of the organizers were retired from the company and that the group’s members shared conservative views on taxes and social issues.

Mr. Swift, who was once in charge of global privacy issues at Procter & Gamble, said some of the donors asked the group to expand beyond Ohio. He said Mr. Estruth, who was traveling and could not be reached for comment for this article, was familiar with ccAdvertising, a company based in Herndon, Va., that was hired to place the Common Sense calls.

Gabriel S. Joseph III, the president of ccAdvertising, said in an interview that the company, which also handles commercial marketing campaigns, began using the interactive software in political and lobbying campaigns in 2000. Its chairman, Donald P. Hodel, was a cabinet official in the Reagan administration and later served as the president of two conservative groups, the Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family.

Mr. Joseph said his computers could make as many as 3.5 million calls a day on behalf of all clients, at 10 to 15 cents a call.

[snip].

Neither Mr. Swift nor Mr. Joseph would say how many people had been called in the effort, though Mr. Joseph said his company had tried to reach every home in Maryland.

[snip]

Mr. Joseph said that in a typical campaign, half of the homes answered the calls. About 20 percent of the people who were called answered some of the questions, he said, and only about 10 percent completed an entire survey.

Despite the controversy, some experts question how much impact the calls will have amid the rest of the political fog, especially since some voters quickly get annoyed with the technique.

Richard H. Timberlake, a retired minister in Knoxville who supported Mr. Ford, said he hung up after the first two questions. “It became almost a barrage against him,” Mr. Timberlake said.

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

hey hey ho ho rethug slimeballs got to go,
Otter

Here is a link to a site that has the audiio of a robocall. How would you like to get this several times per day? Also there are other programs that include voice activated push polling, and if you hang up it will call you back until the entire call gets completed. Some people are reporting 9 calls

http://take19.blogspot.com/2006/11/sue-kelly-stop-robocalling.html

I have been reading that people are getting robocalls on their cell phones with unlisted and heavily guarded numbers. Remember when the major telephone companies willingly gave their customer information to the government when told it was for anti-terrorism reasons? Only one company would not cooperate, and I wonder if any of their customers are getting these calls?

Here is an amazing list media contacts:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/15/34322/4810

Use this list to let the media know about, and the Republican regret what they did.

Now on a lighter note.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-hipp/meth-and-man-ass_b_33326.html

ALERT !!!

Rhode Island is very close now within one point and I just spoke to the Whitehouse campaign office. If anyone can spare and hour or 2 today to make sure we take back the US Senate I am getting call GOTV lists faxed to my office if anyone wants to help please email ASAP off the blog site and I will gladly fax you Whitehouse call list to make calls today and tomorrow. Lets call this Operation Leave No Voter Behind. Had only Gore done this into New Hampshire in 2000.
Please email or call me and tell me you will help. This is an urgent request.

Democratic leaders avoided publicly accusing the Bush administration of orchestrating the verdict's timing but privately some raised questions, and liberal Internet blogs have been full of angry discussion about it. The Iraqi court originally planned to render a verdict in October but delayed it until two days before the election, prompting a defense lawyer for Hussein to write a letter accusing Bush of manipulating the proceedings for campaign purposes.

Snow dismissed the suggestion as "preposterous" and absurd. "Are you smoking rope?" he replied when a reporter asked about timing manipulation aboard Air Force One on Saturday. "Are you telling me that in Iraq, that they're sitting around -- I'm sorry, that the Iraqi judicial system is coming up with an October surprise?" Corrected on the date, he expressed incredulity, "A November surprise. Man, that's -- wow."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15582943/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-hipp/meth-and-man-ass_b_33326.html
Posted by: oncall at November 6, 2006 09:58 AM

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

Thanks, I needed that!

My simian sensors are detecting large doses of desperation in the air today.

Tomorrow never knows.

Sitting near the White House and bringing my son up to date on the week's horrors. There are only a few folks protesting today, but the goal is to have much more to say after tomorrow. I hope this a quiet place because everyone is working their tails off to gotv, and I know the DCPers are out in force today.

I think where we were two years ago and how much savvier and focused we all are and that makes me feel good. I just hope we have been able to help spread the message far and wide:

It's time to throw the bums OUT.

We will be here and at the jk blog much of the day tomorrow and will take your anecdotes and concerns. Remember that you should call 1-866-OUR-VOTE if you see illegal activities.

IRC tomorrow night too. Hopefully, champagne will be ours...

Newest Virginia Bumper Sticker:

Oy, Macaca Happens

Sorry, haven't had time to read comments lately but with a hattip to Taylor Marsh at huffpo for pointing out this session of talking heads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EplxM9LLqhw&eurl=

The only question is can we clone Cliff? We need him on all the shows.

Enjoy!

November 6, 2006
News-7 Poll: Webb surges ahead of Allen

Democrat Jim Webb has surged ahead of Republican George Allen in the last poll of the campaign, conducted for News-7 by SurveyUSA.

The survey shows Webb with 52% of the likely voters, with 44% going to Allen.

In five previous SurveyUSA tracking polls, the race was a virtual tie with Allen slightly ahead. Other late polls show the race much closer. A Mason-Dixon poll released over the weekend had Webb ahead by a point, and a Gallup poll released today has Allen up by three.

The SurveyUSA poll also shows 42% support for the Marriage Amendment, but with 22% still uncertain over how they'll vote. Thirty-six percent say they'll vote against it.

SurveyUSA interviewed 1,000 Virginia adults from November 3 through November 5. Of them, 840 were registered to vote. Of them, 741 were judged to be "likely" voters. Survey details reflect Likely Voters.

***

Asked of 741 Likely voters

Margin of Sampling Error for this question = 3.7%

If the election for United States Senator were today, and you were standing in the voting booth right now, who would you vote for? Republican George Allen? Democrat Jim Webb? Independent Green Gail Parker Or some other candidate?

44% Allen (R)
52% Webb (D)
2% Parker (IG)
1% Other/Undecided

http://tinyurl.com/ylwlod

The American Conservative, a magazine started by Pat Buchanan to offset the over-representation of neoconservative thought in public debate, has taken a strong anti-Bush position this election.

The article states that "[i]t should surprise few readers that we think a vote that is seen—in America and the world at large—as a decisive “No” vote on the Bush presidency" is important for the health of the nation.

Since its inception, The American Conservative has taken a strong isolationist stance on most foreign policy issues. As Iraq has toppled into chaos over the years, the magazine has inveighed against the Bush team in harsher and harsher terms.

A larger excerpt appears below:

#
"Next week Americans will vote for candidates who have spent much of their campaigns addressing state and local issues. But no future historian will linger over the ideas put forth for improving schools or directing funds to highway projects.

The meaning of this election will be interpreted in one of two ways: the American people endorsed the Bush presidency or they did what they could to repudiate it. Such an interpretation will be simplistic, even unfairly so. Nevertheless, the fact that will matter is the raw number of Republicans and Democrats elected to the House and Senate.

It should surprise few readers that we think a vote that is seen—in America and the world at large—as a decisive “No” vote on the Bush presidency is the best outcome. We need not dwell on George W. Bush’s failed effort to jam a poorly disguised amnesty for illegal aliens through Congress or the assaults on the Constitution carried out under the pretext of fighting terrorism or his administration’s endorsement of torture. Faced on Sept. 11, 2001 with a great challenge, President Bush made little effort to understand who had attacked us and why—thus ignoring the prerequisite for crafting an effective response. He seemingly did not want to find out, and he had staffed his national-security team with people who either did not want to know or were committed to a prefabricated answer.

As a consequence, he rushed America into a war against Iraq, a war we are now losing and cannot win, one that has done far more to strengthen Islamist terrorists than anything they could possibly have done for themselves. Bush’s decision to seize Iraq will almost surely leave behind a broken state divided into warring ethnic enclaves, with hundreds of thousands killed and maimed and thousands more thirsting for revenge against the country that crossed the ocean to attack them. The invasion failed at every level: if securing Israel was part of the administration’s calculation—as the record suggests it was for several of his top aides—the result is also clear: the strengthening of Iran’s hand in the Persian Gulf, with a reach up to Israel’s northern border, and the elimination of the most powerful Arab state that might stem Iranian regional hegemony.

The war will continue as long as Bush is in office, for no other reason than the feckless president can’t face the embarrassment of admitting defeat. The chain of events is not complete: Bush, having learned little from his mistakes, may yet seek to embroil America in new wars against Iran and Syria....

There may be little Americans can do to atone for this presidency, which will stain our country’s reputation for a long time. But the process of recovering our good name must begin somewhere, and the logical place is in the voting booth this Nov. 7. If we are fortunate, we can produce a result that is seen—in Washington, in Peoria, and in world capitals from Prague to Kuala Lumpur—as a repudiation of George W. Bush and the war of aggression he launched against Iraq....

On Nov. 7, the world will be watching as we go to the polls, seeking to ascertain whether the American people have the wisdom to try to correct a disastrous course. Posterity will note too if their collective decision is one that captured the attention of historians—that of a people voting, again and again, to endorse a leader taking a country in a catastrophic direction. The choice is in our hands."

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Conservative_magazine_pillories_Bush_1105.html

William Rivers Pitt: The Rat Pack
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606Z.shtml
William Rivers Pitt writes: "Ken Adelman, Michael Ledeen, Frank Gaffney and Richard Perle have spent many years waiting for the opportunity to road-test their wild ideas about how to deal with the world, and with the installation of the Bush administration, they finally got their big chance. Now that the wheels are coming off, however, they are trying to pretend that none of this has anything to do with them."

David Olive | End of the Neo-Cons
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606J.shtml
David Olive writes: "Whether or not the Republicans lose control of one or both houses of the US Congress on Tuesday, the neo-conservative vision that has guided American foreign policy since 2001 has run its course. The neo-cons' grand design lies in ruins, having accomplished nothing other than to shrink America's stature in the world."

Robert Fisk | This Was a Guilty Verdict on America as Well
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606L.shtml
Robert Fisk writes: "So America's one-time ally has been sentenced to death for war crimes he committed when he was Washington's best friend in the Arab world. America knew all about his atrocities and even supplied the gas - along with the British, of course - yet there we were yesterday declaring it to be, in the White House's words, another 'great day for Iraq.'"

Cameras Show Army Recruiters Misleading Students
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606M.shtml
An ABC News undercover investigation showed Army recruiters telling students that the war in Iraq was over, in an effort to get them to enlist.

War Simulation in 1999 Pointed Out Iraq Invasion Problems
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606N.shtml
A series of secret US war games in 1999 showed that an invasion and post-war administration of Iraq would require 400,000 troops, nearly three times the number there now. And even then, the games showed, the country still had a chance of dissolving into chaos.

Robert Parry | Bush Will Say Anything
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606O.shtml
Robert Parry writes, "The November 7 elections are shaping up as not just a choice between Republicans and Democrats, but a test of how gullible - and how divorced from reality - the American people have become."

Michael Schwartz | The Couch Potato's Guide to Election Night
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606P.shtml
Michael Schwartz writes: "If you have a political bone in your body - even if you're usually a cynic about elections - you're undoubtedly holding your breath right now. With the 2006 midterm elections upon us, the question is: Will the Democrats recapture at least the House of Representatives and maybe even take the Senate by the narrowest of margins?"

Karen for Larry:

During the Viet Nam war, a protestor stood outside the White house, with a candle. Every
night, for weeks. He stood in the cold, in the rain. One day a reporter came up to him, and
asked, “Do you really think, with your candle, you’re going to change White House Policy?”
“No,” he said, “I’m sure I won’t change White House policy. But that’s not why I’m doing
this.”
“Then why are you doing this?” the reporter asked.
“So that White House policy doesn’t change me.”

PASSN IT ON:

Robocalled? A Kossack has lawyers and reporters from NATIONAL MEDIA lined up to talk to you!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/6/ 142133/889

I think they mean misleading or multiple calls

Posted by: monkey at November 6, 2006 04:10 PM

America will get along a lot better with the paleo-cons in control of the GOP than the neo-cons.

The closer the election came to the finish line, the more President Bush's aides battled the perception he was doing his party as much harm as good and was unwanted in many districts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

White House Miffed by Fla. GOP Candidate
SF Chronicle http://tinyurl.com/vke87

aimzz:

hopefully it will cost Christ.

Anyone want to help me carry Rhode Island?

Posted by: mkh at November 6, 2006 05:08 PM

I know that was meant for Larry, but thank you, mkh. It's what I needed today.

Jean-Marcel Bouguereau | The Irresponsible
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606H.shtml
Jean-Marcel Bouguereau suggests that trusting that current world leadership will attempt to save the human race from the depredations of unchecked industrialization would be an obvious mistake.

The American Conservative | GOP Must Go
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606D.shtml
The American Conservative writes: "It should surprise few readers that we think a vote that is seen - in America and the world at large - as a decisive 'No' vote on the Bush presidency is the best outcome ... On November 7, the world will be watching as we go to the polls, seeking to ascertain whether the American people have the wisdom to try to correct a disastrous course."

David Swanson | Rumsfeld and Hussein: Partners in Crime
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606E.shtml
"In the course of making the world less safe for democracy, Donald Rumsfeld has overseen the slaughter of 650,000 Iraqis and 3,000 Americans. He has targeted civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances. He has used white phosphorous as a weapon on civilian families. He has used depleted uranium and a new form of napalm. (When did melting the skin off children become a family value?) He has approved the hiding of prisoners from the Red Cross, the detention of Americans and non-Americans without charge or counsel, and the use of torture. Acceptable torture techniques were posted on the wall at Abu Ghraib in the form of a memo from Rumsfeld," writes David Swanson.

Glenn Greenwald | An Ideology of Lying
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110606F.shtml
"It is not news to anybody that Bush followers lie repeatedly and aggressively," writes Glenn Greenwald. "But what does continue to amaze is that there is literally no limit on their willingness to do so even when - especially when - it requires them to ignore and contradict even the most glaring facts which everyone can see, as clear as day, right in front of our faces."

As the aptly color-coordinated Blue Fairy told little Georgie W., er, I mean, little Pinocchio:

"A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face."

heckuva shnozz bushie,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at November 6, 2006 07:04 PM

Pick Wisely on Nov 7th
http://tinyurl.com/3qdbq

taking a break from calling

TPM Muck is reporting that Conquest Communications, the Republican-led firm making dirty-trick robo-calls all over the country to depress Democratic turnout, has taken down their About and Contact Us page. Apparently they’ve been getting some annoying phone calls.

You can find the About page cached here, which includes this text:

If you would like to find out more about Conquest, please call us at 804-358-0560 or contact us online.

The Contact Us page, which features a web form, is cached here, and includes this note:

Conquest Communications Group stands ready to help with any project you may have. To find out more, please provide us with the following information or call us at 804-358-0560.

Love those internets. And the Google.

– Mark Barrett http://www.thepremise.com

Olbermann doing big story on Rethuglican robo-calling & other dirty tricks even as we type.

KO? OK!,
Otter

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the US voting machine industry.

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the Republicans.

5. 35% of ES&S is owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, a long-time friend of the Bush family, was caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush’s vice- presidential candidates.

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the US and counts almost 60% of all US votes.

9. Diebold’s new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

12. Diebold employs 5 convicted felons as developers. These are the people who write the voting machine computer code.

13. Diebold’s Senior Vice-President, Jeff Dean, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.

14. Diebold Senior Vice-President Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a “high degree of sophistication” to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold’s claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie at http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov.)

17. 30% of all US votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

18. Bush’s Help America Vote Act of 2002 has as its goal to replace all machines with the new electronic touch screen systems with no paper trail.

19. All—not some—but all the voting machine errors detected and reported went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.

20. Major statistical voting oddities (odds on the order of 250 million to 1!)—again always favoring Bush—have been mathematically demonstrated by experts.

Such amazing odds, the equivalent of statistical miracles these were. Was it God? or was it Diebold…?

http://www.guerrillanews.com/blogs/12824/

Keith Olberman...the MOST WONDERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD!!

Dirty Tricks afoot! The RNCC is currently bombarding competitve House race districts with an enormous amount of robocalls designed to annoy Democratic voters.

The mainstream media is beginning to pick up this story, but it needs to be in every major newspaper by morning as well as a topic of discussion on the morning shows.

You can click my name for links, or if you are a really good google bomber, go for it!

Help is needed, as this is happening in every close Congressional District now!

Here is an update to the massive media e-mail list I posted earlier today. The author posted it earlier today. It is truly amazing:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/6/85144/4854

ABC: — 47-46 in favor of the Dems (a 6-point swing in the last week toward the Dems)

Gallup: — 51-44 for the GOP (a 4 point swing in the last week toward the Dems)

NBC: — 46-35 for the GOP (a 2 point swing in the two weeks toward the Dems)

Times Mirror: — 48-43 for the GOP (a 7 point swing in the last
month toward the Dems)

After reading those numbers, will somebody try to tell me that John Kerry was a major problem for the Dems in this election.

KerryDemocrat, et al --

The robo-call tactics and other evidence of Rethuglican dirty tricks is all over the MSM tonight, which is a Good Thing. Keith Olbermann had a field day with it on tonight's broadcast, and the print & online media are on the story (stories, actually) also.

There's also a veritable treasure trove of useful links & info that we can all use to help ensure fair & accurate elections tomorrow (or today, depending on when you're reading this) posted as a thread header at:

http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/11/remember_this_number_1866ourvo.html

vote as if your life depends on it -- because it does,
Otter

Most of you probably are familiar with this site, but for those of you who aren't, I found information about every senatorial, gubernatorial, and house candidate here along with their chances of winning tomorrow's race....

http://www.rollcall.com/electionmap/

Those numbers are wrong. Sorry about that. Those are from older polls.

Texas DA Kills Self As Police Arrive
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:30 a.m. ET

TERRELL, Texas (AP) -- A prosecutor killed himself as police tried to serve him with an arrest warrant alleging he solicited sex with a minor, authorities said.

Louis ''Bill'' Conradt Jr., 56, chief felony assistant district attorney for nearby Rockwall County and former district attorney in Kaufman County, died Sunday.

Police forced their way into Conradt's Terrell home after hearing a gunshot when he refused to answer the door, a police spokesman said. The officers found Conradt with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and he later died at a hospital in Dallas, about 30 miles west of Terrell.

Police in the town of Murphy, in nearby Collin County, said Conradt solicited sex from a decoy posing online as a 13-year-old, said Murphy Police Sgt. Snow Robertson. Conts.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Prosecutor-Suicide.html?_r=5&adxnnl=1&oref=login&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1162871915-2JleNDLVqswZiALcvv4QyQ

Matthews just admitted the reps were off base with JK...so there, EOS !

*new thread*

Clinton in 08?

Well, if the first name was Bill, a Clinton might have won. Bill's travelling the country like a rock star. Oh...one wonders what it would have been like in 04 had he not had his heart problems. (He looks much healthier now!)

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/11/06/bill-clinton-fires-up-voters-for-webb/