Torturers 1: Rule of Law 0

Boston.com / News / Nation / Bush picks chief counsel as next AG: "President Bush yesterday nominated his White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales, to become the nation's attorney general, choosing a man who has drawn both praise and ire for his role in developing the nation's legal response to terrorism." [--snip--]

Democrats and civil libertarians pledged to conduct a spirited and thorough vetting of Gonzales's record, questioning whether the nominee will protect the rights of the accused. Some said they plan to challenge Gonzales on his opinions about the Geneva Conventions and his expanded use of executive privilege to shield more White House documents than previous administrations.

But the 49-year-old former state judge is widely expected to win approval by the Senate, where Democrats have neither the voting power nor the political capital to defeat a Cabinet appointment. [--snip--]

Some conservatives were also pleased that Bush chose to make Gonzales chief law enforcement officer instead of nominating him to the US Supreme Court, where Gonzales's uncertain record on abortion and other social issues has sparked concern among some conservative groups. [--snip--]

''There are concerns with respect to his role with the development of [Iraqi prison] Abu Ghraib policies, the treatment of detainees, and concerns about his role with respect to the Bush administration packing the court with right-wing ideologues, " said Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way. As White House counsel, Gonzales and his office vetted all of Bush's court nominees.

Pudentilla had thought Mr. Bush nominated Mr. Gonzales in order to piss off European countries who might help us in Iraq (thereby ensuring that the glory is his alone) but would be infuriated by the nomination of man who has rejected the Geneva conventions.

Scorpio, however, suggests a more immediate benefit from Mr. Gonzales' tenure as Attorney General. How likely is it that DOJ will go after mercenaries for torturing Iraqis and Afghanis if defense attorneys can offer memos defending the use of torture written over Mr. Gonzales' own signature in their defense.

Do Ya Think?

Yahoo! News - U.S. Forces Hold 70 Percent of Fallujah: "Most insurgents likely fled the city before the assault began so they could fight elswhere, officers said Wednesday. Iraqi and U.S. commanders had been warning for weeks that they invade Fallujah to re-establish government control."

Bush's Health Care Plan: Ration Vaccines

CDC Announces Plan To Ration Flu Vaccine (washingtonpost.com): "Federal health officials announced a distribution plan yesterday for the remaining 10.3 million doses of flu vaccine, divvying it up to states based on how many high-risk people each has and the number of doses already received."

A Real Shocker: NCLB Helps Middle Class Kids And Screws Poor Kids

High Achievers Leaving Schools Behind (washingtonpost.com): "The legislation is intended to give struggling students the chance to move from high-poverty, low-performing schools, but Fairfax school officials have found that the students who take the transfers generally aren't the ones who need extra help.

Instead, they are like Umaid: higher-scoring students from middle-class homes. The trend, evident in suburban school districts nationwide, means that the receiving schools don't have to augment their remedial programs or worry about test scores dropping. It also means that resources spent on transfer students aren't going to the students who need them most, some educators said."

The Red Christian Agenda

Moderates, Liberals Hear Call to Morality Debate: "'The mainline Protestants, who are now the sideline Protestants, and the secularists like John Kerry were the dominant force in 1960s America,' Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said last week. 'Their day is over. Ours has arrived.'"

About 22% of all voters said their primary concerns were "moral issues," eclipsing the economy and the war in Iraq. More than half of Bush's voters cited moral issues as the chief reason they voted for him, eclipsing other issues, including terrorism and the economy, according to a Times exit poll.

A poll released Tuesday by the Barna Group, which does polling for religious groups, found that born-again Christians voted for Bush over Kerry by a 62%-to-38% margin. The poll also found that although the "born-again" population constituted 38% of Americans, it represented 53% of the votes cast in the election.

Land said conservative religious believers, including socially conservative Roman Catholics, Jews and evangelical Protestants, expected Bush to deliver on his promises. In addition to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, they "want strict constructionist judges who will reverse Roe vs. Wade — make no mistake about it," Land said, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed a woman's right to choose abortion under the constitutional right to privacy.

Dear Asshole Prof. Prothero


I write in response to your Boston Globe Op-Ed, in which you stated:

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Democrats: Get religion!: "Democrats need to learn this vernacular. They need to develop their own cultural politics -- a politics that does not sneer at the deepest commitments of the vast majority of the American people. They need to get right with God. Religion and politics have never been utterly distinct in the United States. To insist otherwise is to cede 'moral values' (and the White House) to conservatives."

Why do you assume that Democrats don't have a cultural politics or a religion. Doesn't the, um evidence, of say the anti-slavery or civil rights movement prove you, oh, I don't know, utterly wrong. Aren't you sneering with disgust at the religious convictions of more than 50 million people simply because they are on the one hand expressed in a different style and on the other hand married to a different political vision than that of the Red Christians.

Democrats have long informed their politics with religious ideals that value the freedom and dignity of the individual. Red Christians have long infused their politics with religious values that have subordinated individual freedom and dignity to patriarchal authority. The fact that Democrats reject Red Christian religious and political values does not make Democrats less religious. Aren't you condescending to Democrats just the way Reds complain that east coast elites condescend to them?

Pudentilla can handle your insults to her religious faith - turn the other cheek and all. But your sloppy analysis is annoying. Some free advice: try thinking before you write.

THE SCLM HAS SPOKEN: HUSH YOU CRACKPOTS IN THE CHEAP SEATS

Boston.com / News / Nation / Internet buzz on vote fraud is dismissed: "Much of the traffic is little more than Internet-fueled conspiracy theories, and none of the vote-counting problems and anomalies that have emerged are sufficiently widespread to have affected the election's ultimate result."

Bush Wants Government Lawyers in the MD's Office of Terminally Ill

Yahoo! News - White House Wants Suicide Law Blocked: "The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to block the nation's only law allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients die more quickly."

We lost a close friend to cancer last year. We think the decision to intervene in this case was inhumane. We note that on federalism grounds, conservatives should be outraged. We wonder whether Justice Rehnquist's confrontation with cancer will shape his attitude towards the rights of the terminally ill.

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."
- Auric Goldfinger, in "Goldfinger" by Ian L. Fleming (1908-1964)


Randi Rhodes and a good friend have convinced me that the voter fraud issue in Ohio and Florida is quite serious. Atrios has an appalling list of wards in Ohio that have identical numbers of overvotes. Once, perhaps twice is possible. But this many times is fraud. According to Cannonfire what went on in Florida was even worse. And the shamelessness of it breath taking. They were too fucking lazy to to do it quietly. Or perhaps so fucking arrogant that they want us to know.

Thank You!


We learned to day that we have had the chance to share our perspective with over 5,000 readers. Thank you.

Another Priestly Pedophile Arrested: Fall River Pro-Life Catholics Lose Spokesman to Clink

Boston.com / News / Local / Mass. / Probe of priest continues: "Investigators have found tens of thousands of child pornography images on a laptop computer used by the Rev. Stephen A. Fernandes and are now looking into whether any area children were victimized by the priest at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. said yesterday."

Well he may prey upon children? but at least he wanted them to be born, right. We hope the "culture of life" folks choke on their own bile.

Bush Faces Legal Obstacles In Efforts To Destroy Due Process, Establish Monarchy

Boston.com / News / Nation / Judge halts legal proceeding at Guantanamo: "'The government has asserted a position starkly different from the positions and behavior of the United States in previous conflicts, one that can only weaken the United States' own ability to demand application of the Geneva Conventions to Americans captured during armed conflicts abroad,' Robertson wrote."

The ruling also rejected the Bush administration's contention that military necessity dictates that suspected terrorists be tried outside the normal rules of evidence to prevent them from seeing classified intelligence. Robertson ruled that Hamdan must see all the evidence against him.

The decision was made five months after the US Supreme Court held that Guantanamo Bay prisoners may challenge their detention in civilian courts, rejecting the Bush administration's contention that the military alone had total authority over them.

Kerry Will Not Go Gently Into That Good Night; Rethugs Scared Shitless

Boston.com / News / Nation / Kerry run in '08 called conceivable: "'He's going to exercise that role and be a voice for the 55 million people who voted for him. The position he's in gives him a bully pulpit.'"

He added, "One of the things that John brings out of this campaign is a tremendous number of people have gotten organized, and that's something we've got to build upon."

Puppy Blogging




Fanueil Hall ("Fanny") on the left and Quincy Market ("Quincy") on the right. Proud to be called Northeastern Liberal Puppies.

Can We Dispense With The Tax Exempt Status Claims Now?

Evangelicals Say They Led Charge For the GOP (washingtonpost.com): "In battlegrounds such as Ohio, scores of clergy members attended legal sessions explaining how they could talk about the election from the pulpit. Hundreds of churches launched registration drives, thousands of churchgoers registered to vote, and millions of voter guides were distributed by Christian and antiabortion groups."

Bush Fails To Defend Homeland

U.S. Unprepared Despite Progress, Experts Say (washingtonpost.com): "The United States remains woefully unprepared to protect the public against terrorists wielding biological agents despite dramatic increases in biodefense spending by the Bush administration and considerable progress on many fronts, according to government officials and specialists in bioterrorism and public health."

We hope the Reds are praying hard, because the guy they voted for isn't working hard enough.

CIA Terrorism Expert: Bush Doesn't Get How Al Quaeda Operates

The New York Times > Washington > Evolving Nature of Al Qaeda Is Misunderstood, Critic Says: "The Bush administration has failed to recognize that Al Qaeda is now a global Islamic insurgency, rather than a traditional terrorist organization, and so poses a much different threat than previously believed, says a senior counterterrorism official at the Central Intelligence Agency." [--snip--]

"The amount of punishment the C.I.A. has delivered to Al Qaeda since 9/11 would have wiped out any other terrorist organization," Mr. Scheuer said. "But this is an insurgent organization.''

"The difference between fighting a terrorist group and fighting an insurgency is one of size," he added. "Yet we still don't know how big it is. We still, today, don't know the order of battle of Al Qaeda."

Another lonely voice from the reality based portion of the populace.

The Pentagon Fails To Provide A Coherent Falluja Narrative To the SCLM

U.S. Troops Advance to Fallouja's Edge: "Although promising a 'decisive' victory, Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, head of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment, and other commanders acknowledged that many insurgents probably would stash their arms and pretend to be civilians, and return to fight another day.

That tactic has already blunted the effectiveness of recent U.S. offensives in Samarra and elsewhere, where rebels re-emerged after U.S. troops withdrew.

"When they start to lose the battle, [the insurgents] will go to ground and try to blend back in with the civilian population," Ramos said."

Corporate Contributors 1: War on Terror 0

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / Fines for terrorism links drop: "Despite the Bush administration's pledge to battle terrorist financing, the government's average penalty against companies doing business with countries listed as terrorist-sponsoring states fell sharply after the Sept. 11 attacks, an Associated Press analysis of federal records shows."

The average penalty for a company doing business with Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, or Libya dropped nearly threefold, from more than $50,000 in the five years before the 2001 attacks to about $18,700 afterward, according to a computer-assisted analysis of federal records.

The Nazis in Ohio

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer's analysis, the citizens of Ohio amended their constitution last week to prevent gay people from granting their partners power of attorney. Actually, all unmarried couples are screwed, but the queers were in the crosshairs on this one. The straight fornicators happened to be in the fallout of the Reds' rather straightforward assault against the legal rights of citizens who happen to be a distinct minority in their population.

Note that we are not talking about traditional marriage here. The Reds used the political-legal machinery of the state to take away existing rights from a distinct segment of its citizenry. What do we call societies that choose to create a legal underclass? Well, lets see. The Nazis did it to the Jews in 1935 with the Nuremburg laws. The South Africans did it to their black population in 1948 with apartheid laws. Southern Americans did it to their black populations in the 1890s by passing state constitutional amendents which established a segregation regime.

The Red Christians who have joined such dubious ranks, however, are not the worst aspect of the problem, in Pudentilla's opinion. Only 25 to 30 percent of the population believes, like the Red Christians, that loving Jesus requires them to treat gays like untermenchen. The Nazi amendment in Ohio needed more than 50 percent of the vote to pass. The New York Times estimated that it will have received 62 percent of the vote. A far more daunting threat, in Pudentilla's opinion, are Mr. Bush's willing executioners: the percentage of Reds in Ohio who don't believe that their state's new Nuremburg laws are divinely inspired, but instead, are the price they willingly pay for the benefits they believe will flow from Mr. Bush's election. It's not that they personally have anything against queers, you see, but they need the Red Christian vote. The correct term for such a person, we believe, is collaborator.

Some Democratics and some pundits in the SCLM are urging the Democrats to adopt in response to the Red victory the supine pose of the Vichy (the people who accomodated the Nazis and replaced the French motto of "liberty, equality and fraternity," with the motto "work, family and fatherland"). Pudentilla prefers to respond as Winston Churchill responded to the Nazis:

...we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender...

Better dead than Red. Since the success of Ohio's Nazis, that slogan has acquired some substance.

Dog Bites Man

Voting System Error Gives Bush Extra Votes in Ohio: "An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said Friday. "

Saudi Clerics Issue Fatwa Supporting Iraqi Insurrgents

Yahoo! News - Saudi Religious Scholars Support Holy War: "Prominent Saudi religious scholars urged Iraqis to support militants waging holy war against the U.S.-led coalition forces as American troops prepared Saturday for a major assault on the insurgent hotbed of Fallujah."

Who knew the Saudis would know all the words to Me and Bobby McGee.

Didn't Karl Send Them The Memo?

Yahoo! News - Over 30 Killed in Iraq Insurgent Attacks: "Facing a major assault in Fallujah, insurgents struck back Saturday with suicide car bombs, mortars and rockets across a wide swath of central Iraq (news - web sites), killing over 30 people and wounding more than 60 others, including nearly two dozen Americans."

Feel A Draft In Here?

Yahoo! News - Veteran Sues After He Receives Duty Order: "A veteran of the first Persian Gulf War (news - web sites) is suing the Army after it ordered him to report for duty 13 years after he was honorably discharged from active duty and eight years after he left the reserves."

Bush's Mandate: What's yours is his.

The Thing About The Christians

Pudentilla herself is a Christian. She prays, reads the Bible, and she believes that Christ is her personal savior. She believes that God has a plan for her - and that it is not without its challenging moments. So Pudentilla believes that the First Amendment guarantees of religious freedom are very important and protect her in her ability to pursue and express her beliefs. That's why Pudentilla is personally committed to protecting the right of all persons to pursue and express their religious beliefs.

Pudentilla has two problems, however. First of all, many people who call themselves Christian don't believe that Pudentilla is a Christian - because she's gay as a goose. They do not live in a conceptual universe that permits a dyke to love Jesus. They have their own sectarian vision of Christianity and it excludes Pudentilla. We would like to note that we whole-heartedly support their right to ban Pudentilla from their congregations and to earnestly believe that she's going to hell. But we do wonder how we're ever going to have a conversation with these Red State Hateful Christians that all the pundits are advising Democrats to have.

In the Hateful Christian's world, Pudentilla's political expression is illegitimate because it is falsely motivated. Her Christianity is wrong because their Christianity doesn't let dykes love Jesus. Therefore, Hateful Christians feel they don't have to listen to Pudentilla. We wonder if the Hateful Christians even care what straight folks who don't hate queers and love Jesus say. So she suspects that it will be difficult to begin the "conversation" with Red State Hateful Christians that the pundits prescribe.

The second problem that those Hateful Christians pose for Pudentilla is their use of the First Amendment as a sword as well as a shield. Red State Hateful Christians, for example, challenge the ability of public schools to teach the theory of evolution in biology classes. Pudentilla notes that Red State Hateful Christians have the absolute right to believe and preach that Darwin and his heirs are wrong and that the biblical account of the creation is literally true. But the mere fact of their belief doesn't entitle them to a privileged position in the debate on school curriculum. They could also believe as a tenet of their faith that the moon is made of green cheese, but we wouldn't let them dictate the teaching of astronomy simply because they possessed this religious belief.

Indeed, when Red State Hateful Christians attempt to dictate public policy based on their religious beliefs, those who disgree agree are entitled and indeed obliged to challenge the content (but not the fact) of the belief. It is this distinction that folks have trouble with. Red State Hateful Christians just hate it when folks who don't share their religious identity start challenging the content of their beliefs in public policy debates. They start complaining that those who challenge them are looking down on them, denying them their right of expression. And Democrats back off because they are afraid of hurting the feelings of people.

We can't do anything about the poorly developed ego defenses of Red State Hateful Christians, folks. But we can and should insist upon the distinction between faith and reason. Pudentilla believes in the Incarntation as an article of faith. She has to because their is no scientific basis at all to believe in the possibility of human parthenogenisis. Pudentilla is entitled to her religious belief in the Incarnation, but she is not entitled to insist that public schools design sex-ed curriculum around it. And should she insist, her opponents are entitled to suggest that the content of her belief is crazy as bat shit (no disrespect to bats intended) and a piss poor basis for public policy. It's ok to call articles of faith crazy. That's why they are articles of faith and not reason.

The Red State Hateful Christians can't have it both ways. If they want to argue that public policy should be set according to the articles of their faith, they should be prepared to defend the content of those articles in terms of secular reason. If they can't, then the First Amendment compels us to reject their suggestions while passionately defending their right to make them.

Hope you're rich and healthy

because otherwise they're waiting to break your bank

The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > Insurers and Drug Makers See Gain in Bush Victory: "Insurance and pharmaceutical executives said Thursday that they were pleased and immensely relieved at the election results. President Bush's victory, they said, guarantees that the new Medicare prescription drug program will be carried out by officials who enthusiastically support it."

Hope your kids are rich

because they're going to increase the birth tax even more

Bush 2nd-Term Agenda Would Add Big Costs: "With federal deficits already running amok, it is unclear how President Bush will pay for his second-term agenda, a potentially multitrillion-dollar smorgasbord that includes overhauling Social Security and revamping the tax system. "

Hope you like your asthma inhaler

because the environment is about to go hell in a handbasket.

GOP Senate Improves Odds for Bush's Energy Plan: "With Republicans increasing their majority in the Senate, President Bush is in a stronger position to finally win approval for his long-stalled bill to overhaul national energy policy and even appears within reach of achieving one of his most cherished goals: opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling."

and the NRA is going to get a get out of jail free card for gun manufacturers passed.

The energy legislation and Arctic drilling are two of several administration-backed measures that gained new life from Tuesday's elections. Others include legislation that would curb what Bush calls frivolous lawsuits, including a measure backed by the National Rifle Assn. to shield gun makers and sellers from lawsuits related to gun violence, and a bill that would make it a federal crime to circumvent parental notification laws by transporting a minor across state lines for an abortion.

filthy lucre versus stewardship, violence vs safety, controlling women's bodies at all costs - the moral values of the Mr. Bush's 51%.

We Hope You Like Your Job


because this president wants you to work until you die.

Privatized Accounts Moved to 'Fast Track': "
Although he did not embrace a specific blueprint, Bush said the starting point for discussions was a set of recommendations that in all likelihood would run up the federal debt and reduce government-paid benefits for workers who chose to set up private retirement accounts. "

Note to Dems - ask for specifics. e.g., "This President wants to radically change the most successful government program in U.S. history. He needs tto explain in detail how, why and for how much money before the Democrats are going to let him undermine the security of our seniors and the future of our younger generations. It is irresponsible and immoral to do otherwise."

Next

Well, Gentle Reader, yesterday sucked. We cried on and off. We listened to Mr. Kerry's gracious concession speech. We hated feeling like we'd been beaten. We went down to town hall and volunteered to work on boards that needed help. We didn't even specify a preference. We assume we'll get assigned to the one that manages complaints about the town dump, because that's the kind of day yesterday was. But we liked not feeling defeated. We liked feeling that our response to defeat was to get more involved in our community. Light a candle rather than rage.

Then we went out for Thai food with a bunch of friends - the brigade of the red eyed. Being a middle child, Pudentilla found herself instinctively trying to cheer her friends up. In doing so, she observed the following.

Mr. Bush's majority consists of 1%. We can persuade this tiny fraction of the population that his margin represents that racism, sexism and homophobia are not religious values and that God doesn't like it when you tell lies in order to start a war.

Mr. Bush will not be able to blame Bill Clinton or John Kerry (although we see Fox is already lighting the Hillary torch) when many more soldiers dies in Iraq and thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians are killed in his war of choice.

Mr. Bush will have to pay for the consequences of his economic policies

.

We're lucky to live in New England.

In two years, lefties, Dem party people and progressives built an extraordinarily effective political machine in which ordinary people took a large measure of control over their political lives. True it wasn't effective enough. But also true that it took the Republicans a generation to do what the Dems did in two years. This is not a trivial accomplishment. Steve Gilliard is far more eloquent than Pudentilla on the topic.

These observations cheered Pudentilla up and she started making her list of things she would like to see happen in the next two and four years.

We would like the Dems to make Condi's and Wolfowitz's life a living hell of factual inquiry at the hearings if the rumors that Bush is going to name them to State and NSC are true.

We would like the Dems to announce that they will ask every federal court nominee whether or not they believe that a woman has a constitutional right to choose abortion and that they will filibuster nominees who refuse to answer or answer no.

We would like the Dems to resist the "mandate" meme that the SCLM is pushing. Mr. Bush got 51% of the vote (before the absentee votes are counted as Digby wisely notes. It is the job of every Democrat, elected and otherwise, to require Mr. Bush to earn any improvement in that margin, and if he fails to do so, to work strenuously to reduce that number. Mr. Bush has a narrow lead, a slim margin, a bare majority, but he does not have a mandate. The burden is on him to build the bridges and if he fails, he should be blamed for the political upheaval his failure will create.

We would like the Dems to be less mealy mouthed in attacking the "moral values" meme. One interesting tactic they might adopt is giving a "moral values" report card to all the legislation Mr. Bush proposes and using that report card language on the Sunday talk shows. "Well Tim, Mr. Bush's Social Security proposal really fails the moral values test that we Democrats like to use when considering public policy. While Mr. Bush will enrich Wall Street with his proposal, he won't increase the security of the elderly's income or secure the safe retirement of the young. We think that those who want to be honest and fair, and do the right thing should...." And they should be tough about it. Sure as shooting, Tim will ask, "Are you saying the President's proposal is immoral?" Democrats always fold at this point. Instead of shilly shallying around they should claim it. "Well, yes Tim, I am. This is an immoral proposal that breaks the compact of trust between generations that has allowed our elders to live dignified lives for almost a century now. For the life of me, I can't figure out why a man who claims to be a Christian wouldn't want to obey the biblical injunction to honor our fathers and mothers. But the proposal he has made is immoral. No doubt about it."

We should make the church folk own their hatred. Oliver Willis had a fascinating picture on his blog yesterday.

Now a Republican Christian might be able to persuade Pudentilla that the man in this picture isn't a Christian or a Republican or that he doesn't represent the Christian Republican right. But for now, when she thinks "Republican," this is the guy she thinks of. When she thinks "Christian," this is the guy she thinks of. If quiet Christian Republicans and quiet MBAs who like tax cuts in the red states are hurt to believe that Pudentilla would think they all are the hateful bigoted man in this picture, they should do something about the man and leave Pudentilla alone until successful. You have the majority, he is your problem. MoveOn should do an entire "moral values" advertising campaign on the theme of hate as a religious value in Pudentilla's estimation.

Pudentilla hopes that the blogosphere's super-stars identify a limited number of 2006 races to target and organize the blogosphere's interest around. We think the re-election campaign of Rick Santorum is an excellent place to begin. We like the idea of concentrating on ousting thugs like Santorum from the blue states, of picking off border states and of developing slates of Latino/a candidates in the going-blue mountain west. If somebody famous starts a pac, Pudentilla officially promises $50.

On a related note, Pudentilla believes that one of the reasons the Christian right has been able to take control of the Republican party is that they drove moderate Democrats out of the red states. The Christian right made it impossible for red state Republicans to split their tickets when the Dems offered a moderate or even conservative candidate (look at the southern senate race results on Tuesday). They didn't consolidate power by driving out their own moderates, they drove out the Democratic moderates, and the notion of what moderate was in the Republican party lurched quite far to the right. We believe Democrats should think about this with respect to the few remaining Republican moderates in the blue states. Drive them out. Make them pick sides. Pudentilla's own senators in Maine are notorious Republican moderates. In the by gone days of American political discourse they had a place. Now they are taking places that should be held by Democrats who will be far more effective than they at restraining the hateful impulses of the Christian right who have taken over the Republican party. If they don't want to jump ship, they should be retired.

We think the Dems in the House and Senate should not play nice. We like the idea of long moral values speeches against things like raising the deficit and then voting present on the debt ceiling bill, for example. We hope the Dems on Capitol Hill show a little discipline. We'll never be as good at the foot soldier thing as the Republicans, but we are so close, it is worthy trying.

We think that the Dems should start think about the label conservative and making it as hot a word as liberal. We're thinking ads with, for example, the woman from Ohio whose vote was challenged because she didn't pick up the registered mail they sent her. We think a tag line, like "those conservative Republicans, they told white people they were protecting the vote, but what they did was tell lies to try and keep black people from voting. I guess conservatives think bigotry is an American value." Then an ad from any one in Ohio who's lost a job - those Republicans don't think work is an American value." Then one on the deficit. Those conservatives are running up a bill my kids will have to pay. " We think the conservative Republicans have created a range of associations that most Americans won't like. We think the Dems should tie those associations firmly to the word conservative.

We think Democrats in Congress should offer a fair and steady critique of the war in Iraq and the war on terror. Mr. Bush is screwing it up so badly that it will be easy to be fair and still be critical. We must never let Americans forget that this is Mr. Bush's war.

Truer Words Were Never Written

The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > The Voters: Moral Values Cited as a Defining Issue of the Election: "Even in a time of war and economic hardship, Americans said they were motivated to vote for President Bush on Tuesday by moral values as much as anything else, according to a survey of voters as they left their polling places. "

Yes, Gentle Reader, under the leadership of the Republican Party with the strong support of the Christian right, those who embrace the values of racism, homophobia, and sexism eeked out a narrow victory. How fortunate we are that those who stand for equality and tolerance have so many who stand with them, and so few left to persuade.

An Interesting Choice of Words by Doyle McManus & Janet Hook

Majority Win Could Make Second Term More Partisan: "
This time, Bush can claim a solid mandate of 51% of the vote, which made him the first presidential candidate to win a clear majority since 1988 ."

A solid mandate of 51% . A narrow victory, a slim margin, a slight edge, to be sure - but a solid mandate? Who's writing their copy, Karl Rove? Perhaps we are too harsh. Perhaps we should credit Mr. McManus and Ms. Hood with a profoundly subtle sense of irony.

US Soldiers Confirm: Bush Planning Failure Gave Explosives To Insurrgents

Soldiers Describe Looting of Explosives: "In the weeks after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove the material away from the Al Qaqaa ammunition site, according to a group of U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen who said they witnessed the looting."


The soldiers said about a dozen U.S. troops guarding the sprawling facility could not prevent the theft because they were outnumbered by looters. Soldiers with one unit — the 317th Support Center based in Wiesbaden, Germany — said they sent a message to commanders in Baghdad requesting help to secure the site but received no reply.

But how will they blame it on John Kerry?

The Day After Tomorrow

We can hope for an Ohio miracle, but we think our guy lost. We take consolation in the fact that Mr. Bush will now live the consequences of his choices, and in the fact that we live in New England. We note the country remains closely divided and giving up in despair when we were within a few percentage points of victory is not the option a rational person would choose.

Pudentilla believes that folks who experience this result as a loss have to come up with a response to the "Christian" rhetoric of the Republicans and demonstrate to those who consider themselve Christians that salvation does not turn on the abortion and gay marriage question alone. Perhaps it is time on all legislative initiatives of the Republicans to provide a "Christian" evaluation. E.g., "While Christ suffered the little children to come to him, Mr. Bush's proposal will condemn x million more children to grow up in poverty." We also need to learn (and Kerry made a start of this) how to talk about moral values in non-denominational terms. Let Christian Republicans define themselves by the narrow issues of abortion and gay marriage. Let Democrats talk about fairness, community, etc. in a way that will attract persons regardless of their denomination. Pudentilla does not believe Christians are bad for American politics. She believes the Republican politicization of evangelical Christianity is bad for Christianity and bad for America.

We also believe Howard Dean was right. We all need to volunteer for town boards, run for school councils, etc. We also need a response to the media conglomerates who shape public perception of and participation in American political discourse. Blogs are only part of the answer.We should also go to the mat for the Supreme Court. If your Senator is a Democrat, urge him/her to filibuster any wackos.

We also need to do our chores. There's a snow storm predicted this weekend for the small town in Central Maine where Pudentilla lives. She has much to do.

Those Non-Reality Based Folks At the Ministry of Excuses* Are At It Again

Boston.com / News / World / Zarqawi's role in Iraq overstated, analysts say: "American officials have grossly inflated the role of Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the violence in Iraq in their eagerness to blame foreign terrorists for the insurgency, according to Jordanian analysts and Western diplomats."

*Ministry of Excuses: What the Republicans have made of the White House.

Way Better Than Biting Nails

Is listening to Al Franken doing his show from down in Portland while reviewing materials from Voter Protection in prep for tomorrow. Al says Big John has an 11 point lead here. Let's hope it's also true in the 2nd Congressional. New Hampshire is looking good as well. The Union Leader (whose estimates would be conservative) says Kerry had 13,000 yesterday at his rally.
The picture is impressive.



Who knew Al had so many Maine connections? His sister-in-law's band is playing "Bring a Book When You Go To Vote."

The Supreme Court Won't Decided This One

Yahoo! News - Rehnquist Undergoing Radiation and Chemo: "Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist disclosed Monday that he's undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for thyroid cancer and said he is delaying his expected return to the Supreme Court, a sign he may have a more serious form of the illness."

If Rehnquist can't take part in Kerry v. Bush deliberations, the Court is split 4-4.

We wish Justice Rehnquist and his family the best of luck and a speedy recovery.

Bush (DODO*)'s Agenda If Finally Elected

After 4 Years, Bush Is No Closer to Building a GOP Majority: "Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a leading conservative political action committee, said that 'if Bush wins, I actually think he'll be more conservative than he was in his first term, because he doesn't have to face the voters again.'"

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders

We Voted For Kerry

Pudentilla voted early in order to work voter protection on Tuesday. We voted for Kerry for a number of reasons.

First, we confess to drinking from the ABB cup, although we do not consider ourselves "Bush haters".

The Swift Boat ads sealed the deal for us. Leaving aside the question of personal honor, the Swift Boat ads are clearly a case of "2 + 2 = 5." Anyone willing to engage in such Orwellian tactics is a bad man (to use Lynne Cheney (MOAL**)'s term), and bad for the country. We also think that anyone whose own service in the Vietnam War reflects an admirable sense of self-preservation (which Pudentilla applauds) has a moral obligation to denounce mendacious ads that question the integrity and bravery of someone who fought and bled for their country. Mr. Bush (DODO*) benefited from the Swift Boat ads, he should have refused their tainted support. He didn't, because he's a bad man. Men whose sense of personal honor does not compel them to refuse the aid of dishonorable liars are bad for the country.

Second, we believe that Mr. Bush (DODO*) has done a horrible job in protecting America in the Global War on Terror. The one thing 9/11 should have taught the administration was that the airline security system wasn't working. It didn't. Testers still smuggle weapons and explosives past TSA screeners. The "watch list" system, as Cat Stevens' ability to get on a plane headed for the US demonstrates, is a joke. Osama bin Laden, moreover, looks better today than he did before 9/11.

Third, we believed that Mr. Bush (DODO*) has done a horrible job in Iraq. We believe this because we read the papers.

We voted for Mr. Kerry as much because he's a Democrat as we voted ABB

Pudentilla's a liberal Democrat, from a union family. When Pudentilla's mom started working as a school teacher she also had to work a night job and a full time summer job in order to afford being a teacher. Because of a union, she was able to earn a salary that permitted her to devote herself full time to her teaching profession and spend the summer taking courses that further developed her pedagogical skills. Union people vote Democrat because Republicans try to bust up unions. When Mr. Bush (DODO*)'s Secretary of Education referred to the teacher's union as terrorists, we were reminded of what Republicans think of unions (and indeed, of the project of public education). Pudentilla was able to afford an excellent education in part because of college, grad school and law school loans backed by the federal government (which she paid back early). For her part, Pudentilla is happy that the country chose to invest in her and is happy to see her tax dollars go to comparable investments in the next generation of students. Pudentilla is gay as a goose, and perhaps because of this, at least in part, she's rather keen on defending the individual liberties of citizens. Mr. Bush (DODO*) and many in his party, on the other hand seem intent of limiting the rights of citizens vis a vis their government. They also willingly encourage homophobia for political gain. Since the next President undoubtedly will name several Supreme Court justices who will among other things define civil liberties, Pudentilla wants a Democrat naming the new justices.

Because Mr. Kerry is a Democrat, he will have Democrats around him when he governs the country. We have seen the kind of people the Republicans surrounded Mr. Bush (DODO*) with. We saw them during the Nixon years and we see them again now. We see the younger theocons and neocons. We think they have given Mr. Bush (DODO*) very bad advice during the last four years. We want the kinds of people who advised Mr. Clinton around Mr. Kerry. We think their advice led to a strong economy and international respect. We didn't mind that.

It's not that Pudentilla has never voted for a Republican - she has. Her general rule, however, is "when in doubt, vote for the Democrat." In this election, however, she has no doubts.

Finally, we voted for Mr. Kerry both because he is a better man and the better man for the job.

One of the thinks we like about Mr. Kerry, is that he worked to get where he is. He obtained his political success the old fashioned way - he earned it. In contrast, Mr. Bush (DODO*) has had his personal and political success handed to him on a silver platter - and he's still managed to kibosh almost every opportunity he's been given. This leads us to believe that while Mr. Bush (DODO*) clearly is far more talented for the job of social organizer at the country club than Mr. Kerry, Mr. Kerry is far more talented for the job of President. We realize that preferring someone who has embraced an ethic of hard work (can you imagine Mr. Bush (DODO*) managing a DA's office, or running Senatorial investigations, or working patiently with impassioned families, Democrats, Republicans and the Vietnamese to resolve the MIA question? - You can't.) betrays Pudentilla's middle age and middle class origins. But as between a rich guy who's wound a little tight and works hard, and a rich guy who discovers after he gets the job that governance is hard work, we'll take Mr. Kerry.

Which is why we voted for Kerry, and we encourage you to do the same tomorrow.


*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders
**MOAL: Mother of a Lesbian

If All Of These Things Are True, Iraq Is About To Explode

NYT: Allawi Warns Falluja Rebels That Time Is Running Out for Talks
By JAMES GLANZ and NORIMITSU ONISHI


Published: October 31, 2004

BAGHDAD, Oct. 31 - Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued repeated warnings today that negotiations with the rebels who hold Falluja are swiftly running out of time, saying that unless his government is allowed to establish control immediately, he will ask the American and Iraqi forces massed around the town to attack.

NYT: In Iraq, U.S. Officials Cite Obstacles to Victory
By ERIC SCHMITT

Published: October 31, 2004

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 - Senior American military commanders and civilian officials in Iraq are speaking more candidly about the hurdles that could jeopardize their plans to defeat an adaptive and tenacious insurgency and hold elections in January.

Outwardly, they give an upbeat assessment that the counterinsurgency is winnable. But in interviews with 15 of the top American generals, admirals and embassy officials conducted in Iraq in late October, many described risks that could worsen the security situation and derail the political process that they are counting on to help quell the insurgency.


Commanders voiced fears that many of Iraq's expanding security forces, soon to be led by largely untested generals, have been penetrated by spies for the insurgents. Reconstruction aid is finally flowing into formerly rebel-held cities like Samarra and other areas, but some officers fear that bureaucratic delays could undermine the aid's calming effects. They also spoke of new American intelligence assessments that show that the insurgents have significantly more fighters - 8,000 to 12,000 hard-core militants - and far greater financial resources than previously estimated.

Salon: War Room '04: Colin Powell believes U.S. is losing Iraq war

Secretary of State Colin Powell has privately confided to friends in recent weeks that the Iraqi insurgents are winning the war, according to Newsweek. The insurgents have succeeded in infiltrating Iraqi forces "from top to bottom," a senior Iraqi official tells Newsweek in tomorrow’s issue of the magazine, "from decision making to the lower levels."

This is a particularly troubling development for the U.S. military, as it prepares to launch an all-out assault on the insurgent strongholds of Fallujah and Ramadi, since U.S. Marines were counting on the newly trained Iraqi forces to assist in the assault. Newsweek reports that "American military trainers have been frantically trying to assemble sufficient Iraqi troops" to fight alongside them and that they are "praying that the soldiers perform better than last April, when two battalions of poorly trained Iraqi Army soldiers refused to fight."

If the Fallujah offensive fails, Newsweek grimly predicts, "then the American president will find himself in a deepening quagmire on Inauguration Day."

Pudentilla refuses to believe Mr. Bush (DODO*) would initiate a Fallujah offensive before November 2nd, if only because she believes that even Mr. Bush (DODO*) would not subject American soldiers to the bloodbath Fallujah would become if Mr. Powell's assessments are accurate. The risk that such a blatantly politically motivated military decision would backfire, moreover, would inhibit even Mr. Rove.

You Take What You Can Get - Camille Paglia For Kerry

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Camille for Kerry!: "First of all, I think Kerry will be a far better president than he is a campaigner. This is a man with gravitas who is totally prepared to be president. He has national political experience, historical knowledge, and personal contact with the wider world -- unlike Bush. Where he lacks information, Kerry will inform himself -- unlike Bush. I think he will make good appointments -- unlike Bush. And Kerry will repair our alliances: He will win back respect for America abroad. He speaks other languages -- unlike Bush. And Kerry's wife, Teresa, despite her current excessive candor (reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's arrival at the White House), is a truly international personality who speaks many languages and understands world cultures.

Is it a gay thing or are the trend whores going to jump start a new era of progressive politics in the USA?

Amen, Brother

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Walking the walk on family values: "But don't take the US government's word for it. Take a look at the findings from the George Barna Research Group. George Barna, a born-again Christian whose company is in Ventura, Calif., found that Massachusetts does indeed have the lowest divorce rate among all 50 states. More disturbing was the finding that born-again Christians have among the highest divorce rates."

OBL: Bush (*DODO) is a Lousy President

Which, of course is true. But even liberal lesbians** like Pudentilla hate to be reminded of the fact by Osama. The problem is that OBL is a living reminder of Bush's record of dismal failure. No doubt this is why the Bushies tried to supress the tape. The election is Tuesday and we all got reminded yesterday that as a leader of the War on Terror, Bush stinks.

There's Osama in a nice looking robe, behind a nice looking desk, with a nice looking logo, sporting a nice looking tan and generally not looking like someone who is "on the run," as Bush (*DODO) would say (unless this is how relaxed people whom Bush hunts look).*** Bush looks like hell, in contrast, visably flinching when the confettit cannon's at his NH rally went off early. We are not criticaly of the flinch, we would have as well. It is just that looking at Osama's video, Pudentilla doubts that OBL would have flinched.

Some of the pundits have aruged that the OBL tape will help Bush (DODO*). The thinking is that when people are reminded of 9/11 they are gripped by a fear whose only remedy is the recollection of Bush (*DODO) strutting with the bullhorn at ground zero or strutting his rhetorical stuff with phrases like "wanted dead or alive." There may be such people, and no doubt they are beyond the help of 12 step groups. But for Pudentilla, OBL's tape is a reminder.

Bush (DODO*) has failed. It was his job to protect the country. On his watch OBL successfully attacked the US and killed thousands of people. Bush (DODO*) wants a free pass on this one, and the country, for the sake of unity in facing the threat, gave it to him. Bush said he'd hunt old Osama down but 3 years later, Osama, sporting the duds of a man not living on the run, flipped him the bird on international television. Now Bush wants another free pass. Unfortunately for Bush, the election is Tuesday. The election is when citizen's assess the record of incumbents. Bush, as OBL reminds us, has utterly failed. I'm voting against him.

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders

**We know with the news of Mary Cheney, daughter of a conservative Republican Vice President, Maya Keys, daughter of a conservative Republican Senatorial candidate, and Jennifer Knox, granddaughter of Jesse Helms, Gentle Reader, you may have come to the conclusion that all lesbians are closely identified with conservative Republicans, if not conservative Republicans themselves - but it is not true. There are some lesbians who are liberal.

***TalkLeft notes that some of the iconography of OBL's video's is lacking in this one (no Koran quotes, no automatic weapon, etc.) and wonders whether Osama has been captured and made the video on Rove's order. We suspect TalkLeft has a tongue in the cheek.

Bush (DOD*) Still Sending Guard To Battle Without Equipment

The New York Times > International > Middle East > Protecting Troops: Along With Prayers, Families Send Armor: "When the 1544th Transportation Company of the Illinois National Guard was preparing to leave for Iraq in February, relatives of the soldiers offered to pay to weld steel plates on the unit's trucks to protect against roadside bombs. The Army told them not to, because it would provide better protection in Iraq, relatives said."

hen the 1544th Transportation Company of the Illinois National Guard was preparing to leave for Iraq in February, relatives of the soldiers offered to pay to weld steel plates on the unit's trucks to protect against roadside bombs. The Army told them not to, because it would provide better protection in Iraq, relatives said.

Seven months later, many of the company's trucks still have no armor, soldiers and relatives said, despite running some of the most dangerous missions in Iraq and incurring the highest rate of injuries and deaths among the Illinois units deployed there.

Has anyone explained to DODO that today's Guard actual faces dangerous battlefield assignments?

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders

Your SCLM At Work

Boston.com / News / Politics / debates / Post editor clarifies story on debate fete: "The Washington Post's executive editor says his paper should have told readers up front that it had helped arrange a Republican debate-watching party it covered. The newspaper paid for food for the event and carried a photograph of it that was not as spontaneous as the story suggested."

All We Want For St. Victorinus' Day

November 2nd is, among other things, the feast day of St. Victorinus of Pettau. Perhaps because he may have been the first scholar to circulate commentaries on the Old Testament in Latin, Pudentilla feels a special bond with him. So it is to him our invocations turn when contemplating the election.

We think and hope Mr. Kerry will win. And if he does, we have decided our wants, with respect to the adminstration of Mr. Bush (DODO*) should be modest.

We would like to see the CIA's report on 9/11 that names names.

We would like to know who leaked Valerie Plame's name to Bob Novak.

We would like to see all the records of Mr. Cheney (FOAL**)'s Energy Task Force made public.

We would like never to see Karl Rove on a news show as a pundit.

We would like to see the FCC report the equal time rule.

We have other wishes, regarding a Kerry administration. But St. Victorinus, if you might intercede for us, this is all we want regarding Mr. Bush (DODO*)'s tenure.


*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders
**FOAL: Father of a Lesbian

Al Qaqaa - Tip of Iceberg

Munitions Issue Dwarfs the Big Picture (washingtonpost.com): "The 377 tons of Iraqi explosives whose reported disappearance has dominated the past few days of presidential campaigning represent only a tiny fraction of the vast quantities of other munitions unaccounted for since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government 18 months ago."

IRS Gets Tough On Tax-Exempt Status Ban On Politics - Are Catholic Bishops Worried?

IRS Investigating NAACP for Criticism of President: "The Internal Revenue Service has informed the NAACP that it is investigating whether the civil rights organization improperly 'intervened in a political campaign' when it posted on its website a speech by Chairman Julian Bond that condemned the Bush administration's policies."

No.

The Mystery of al Qaqaa

There is only one mystery regarding the al Qaqaa scandal nipping at the heels of Mr. Bush (DODO*)'s efforts to finally be elected Presideant. It is not what happened at al Qaqaa. The facts are clear and well documented. The timeline below is reconstructed from Josh Marshall's posts on the subject.

The IAEA put the explosives under seal in January 2003. They observed them under seal in mid-March, shortly before the U.S. invaded Iraq. (Nola.com timeline). The U.S. was well aware that Saddam used the site to store arms and munitions (NYT story). According to David Kaye, former UN weapons inspector and head of the team that searched for WMD after the US invasion, the US had the al Qaqaa site under satellite and UAV surveillance before the war (CNN interview transcript). (The Russians, didn't take 'em.)

Iraqi officials have asserted they were under strict orders not disturb the seals or move the explosives during the period when Saddam controlled the country (AFP story). (The Russians, didn't take 'em.)

On a brief visit over April 3rd and 4th, US forces discovered explosives at al Qaqaa (WaPo story). They did not secure the sprawling compound. (The Russians, didn't take 'em.)

US forces on their way to Baghdad stopped at al Qaqaa on April 10. They did not search the site. They did not observe signs of looting. (NYT story).

On April 18, 2003, US troops snapped locks with bolt cutters to show an embedded news crew from a Minneapolis news station explosives and munitions at al Qaqaa. The troops did not secure the site. (The Russians, didn't take 'em.)(KSPT story).

Peter Galbraith, a U.S. diplomat in Iraq following the invasion informed Paul Wolfowitz of the looting of medical and nuclear research facilities shortly after the US invasion of Iraq. Mr. Wolfowitz does not appear to have acted on this report to preventt looting at comparable facilities. (Globe op-ed).

In May 2003, the IAEA warned that the al Qaqaa sited was being looted. (NYT story).

On May 27, 2003, US forces visited al Qaqaa and discovered it had been looted (NYT story).

As late as September 30th of this year, Marines in the Sunni Triangle described the looting of al Qaqaa as the source for the IEDs being used against them (KRT Wire story)

The insurgents probably are using weapons and ammunition looted from the nearby Qa-Qaa complex, a 3-mile by 3-mile weapons-storage facility about 25 miles southwest of Baghdad, said Maj. Brian Neil, operations officer for the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, which initially patrolled the area.

The facility was bombed during last year's invasion and then left unguarded, Neil said. "There's definitely no shortage of weapons around here," he said.

Several weeks ago, Iraqi ministers informed the IAEA that explosives were looted from al Qaqaa in April 2003 (NYT story)

In summary, before the war the US knew that Saddam kept lots of explosives at al Qaqaa. War planners made no explicit plans to secure the site, even after being informed of the dangerous looting going on in Iraq. Soldiers passed through the site on several occasions. As late as April 18, 2003, witnessess saw explosives at the site. Looters took the explosives sometime between April 18 and May 27, 2003. The Pentagon and Whitehouse have known about this for 16 months. They did not inform the IAEA of the looting.

What remains a mystery to Pudentilla is how the SCLM is letting Mr. Bush (DODO*) get away with saying that al Qaqaa is a mystery to him. Either he knows and his lying or he is the cretinous puppet of Rumsfeld and Cheney.

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders

World Series Champs

Pujolz, he of the god-like glove, gets on in the top of the 9th. Rolen flies deep. Edmonds stalks to the plate and calls through the din, "Folk, have I known you in my father's house. Are you a guest-friend to my family?" But Folk smiled grimly death to Edmonds, saying, "Rolen, I know you not," and struck him once, then twice then smote him dead. Rentereia, mighty and brave, the last chance for the Cardinals to survive, strode fiercely to the plate. Folk took pity on him and killed him quickly.

The curse has ended. Kerry will win. The pendulum has swung. Health care for all, and end to wars of aggression and deficits. God Bless the Red Sox and God Bless America. John Kerry, go to bed. The Sox have won. You've a busy week and then a busy eight years ahead of you.

CNN IS ILLITERATE AND/OR LAZY

Pudentilla watched Aaron Brown last night. The story of the hundreds of tons of explosives accepted the Ministry of Excuses* line that no US forces were in al Qaqaa until 4/10/03. Thus, CNN overlooked the following contemporaneous report in the Washington Post:

By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 5, 2003; Page A19

In the first of yesterday's discoveries, the 3rd Infantry Division entered the vast Qa Qaa chemical and explosives production plant and came across thousands of vials of white powder, packed three to a box. The engineers also found stocks of atropine and pralidoxime, also known as 2-PAM chloride, which can be used to treat exposure to nerve agents but is also used to treat poisoning by organic phosphorus pesticides. Alongside those materials were documents written in Arabic that, as interpreted at the scene, appeared to include discussions of chemical warfare.

This morning, however, investigators said initial tests indicated the white powder was not a component of a chemical weapon. "On first analysis it does not appear to be a chemical that could be used in a chemical weapons attack," Col. John Peabody, commander of the division's engineering brigade, told a Reuters reporter with his unit.

How did Pudentilla find contemporaneous evidence that US forces discovered explosives? She went to Atrios and read the comments section on an entry titled "qa qaa". A commentor using the moniker Richard Cranium posted the link. Josh Marshall quoted an AP story with a Pentagon official confirming that the Army saw the explosives under UN seals "in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion."

Now if Pudentilla, a Classics professor in central Maine, can find contemporaneous reporting that contradicts talking points from the Ministry of Excuses*, why can't CNN?

*Ministry of Excuses: What the Republicans Have made of the White House.

Amen, Brother

"It's hard for me to say that Christians should be marching against abortion and carrying signs, and then turn around and giving a pep rally for the war in Iraq without even contemplating that hundreds and hundreds of people are being killed on a regular basis over there," Urcavich said.

"I'm very antiabortion, but the reality is the right to life encompasses a much broader field than just abortion," he added. "If I'm a proponent of life, I have to think about the consequences of not providing prescription drugs to seniors or sending young men off to war."

That kind of talk, coming from a conservative Christian who might ordinarily be inclined to vote Republican, could portend trouble for Bush. [--snip--]

A poll published last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 70% of self-described evangelicals or born-again Christians planned to vote for the president, down from 74% in the same survey three weeks earlier. That was not only a slight decline, but lower than the 80% to 90% support that Bush campaign officials had been forecasting.

We can win. We will win.

Dear God, Please, I'll Be So Good, Please, Please, Please

Boston.com / Sports / Baseball / Red Sox / One win to go for the crown: "Continuing their intrepid quest to win a championship for the first time since 1918, the Red Sox beat the Cardinals, 4-1, last night to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the 100th World Series."

I have only one purpose, the destruction defeat of Hitler Bush (DODO*), and my life is much simplified thereby (Churchill/Pudentilla).

Pudentilla has watched the Eminem video and confesses to feeling a bit like an anthropologist on Mars. It is obviously very powerful. It reflects an aesthetic standard that Pudentilla, whose heart was tuned to the girls with guitar music of 70s, does not share. We have also heard that Mr. Eminem makes references to women and queers in his music that are not characterized by humanism, much less Christian charity. No doubt this is why Pudentilla, who is a middle aged dyke, does not own any music by Mr. Eminem.

Nevertheless the goal of the video appears to be to urge young persons to empower themselves by voting. We rather admire this goal and thus hope Mr. Eminem's video is successful. Nevertheless, we are relieved to hear from Atrios that the Boss will appear with Big John in Madison.



*DODO: Doesnt' Obey Direct Orders

Twofer!: Another Dog Bites Another Man

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Murdoch: Fox News does not favour Bush: "Rupert Murdoch has claimed his Fox News channel is not biased in favour of George Bush and that News Corporation, his global media empire, is a 'fair and balanced' company."

HATEFUL CHRISTIANS TAKE NOTE: Bush (DODO*) Supports Civil Unions

The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > Same-Sex Marriage: Bush Says His Party Is Wrong to Oppose Gay Civil Unions: "President Bush said in an interview this past weekend that he disagreed with the Republican Party platform opposing civil unions of same-sex couples and that the matter should be left up to the states."

We love the smell of desperate Republican pandering in the morning.

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders

Can Kerry Now Go Back to Saying The War Costs $200 Billion - No Wait - $225 Billion?

Increase in War Funding Sought (washingtonpost.com): "The Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year, pushing total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year, Pentagon and congressional officials said yesterday."

Dog Bites Man: David D. Smith Denies His Political Activism

Sinclair Chief Denies Political Agenda (washingtonpost.com): "In a rare, wide-ranging and sometimes feisty and combative interview on Friday, David D. Smith, chief executive of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., said he has been mischaracterized as a Republican activist who has attempted to use his family-controlled company to support GOP causes."

The People Who Failed To Defend America On 9/11 Blocking Reform Efforts

The New York Times > Washington > Delays on 9/11 Bill Are Laid to Pentagon: "A months-long, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort by the Pentagon to water down the powers of a new national intelligence director is largely responsible for a stalemate threatening to derail Congressional efforts to enact the major recommendations of the independent Sept. 11 commission, Congressional officials and commission members said Monday."

Houston, Vee Haf Ein Problem

Gov. Won't Commit to Stump for Bush: "Though he still won't commit to campaigning out of state for President Bush, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is blitzing California in the days before the election, stumping for legislative candidates and urging voters to follow his advice on a string of ballot measures."

Ahnold's politics are first and foremost about furthering Ahnold's career. It appears that he thinks association with Mr. Bush (DODO*) might damage that career.

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders

Bush (DODO*) As Banquo's Ghost At Republican Events

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / Is New Hampshire slipping to Kerry?: "Bush campaign officials believe his relentlessly negative advertising against Kerry as a terrorist coddler and weakling are much more effective than the man himself. Bush will be back one more time to rally the troops, but during the final persuasion period, he has been absent. The campaign also prefers surrogates, especially those who can soften Bush's ideological image."

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders

Not A Good Sign

Boston.com / Real estate / Signs point to slowdown in housing market: "There are more homes on the market in Greater Boston than at any time during the last five years, some properties -- especially the more expensive ones -- are taking longer to sell, and price reductions are becoming increasingly common. Meanwhile, sales of single-family homes across the state fell for the second consecutive month, according to yesterday's report from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors"

A Proposed Response To Republican Voter Intimidation Tactics

Pudentilla thinks Billionaires For Bush, or some comparable group, should organize a media response to the Republican efforts to minimize the vote. Inevitably in key and we suspect minority precincts lines will form as white boys in suits challenge the right of citizens to vote. These challenges will be tedious and time-consuming and ultimately unavailing. They will, however, create very long lines, which might have the effect of encouraging people at the end of the lines to go home and take care of their families or if they are fortunate enough to be employed, to go to work.

Pudentilla proposes that Billionaires for Bush set up espresso carts and offer free shots to folks waiting on line. It only has to be done in a few precincts, with media in tow and pictures posted on the web. We think the effect would be helpful. We are aware that more serious efforts have to be made to respond to these tactics, as well. Nevertheless, the satiric response will get the coverage.

Q: How Bad Are The Proposed Guantanamo Tribunals?

The New York Times > International > International Special > Tough Justice: Administration Officials Split Over Stalled Military Tribunals: "'Timothy McVeigh was one of the worst killers in U.S. history,' Mr. Ashcroft said at one meeting of senior officials, according to two of those present. 'But at least we had fair procedures for him.'"

A: So bad that John Ashcroft is criticizing them on due process grounds.

We shudder to contemplate the mess they have made of the Constitution.

Why Worry Their Pretty Little Heads About This

The New York Times > International > Middle East > Tracking the Weapons: Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq: "The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year."

The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed.

Rummy's known about this for more than a year and mentioned it to Condi, the National Security Advisor, within the last month? A pound of this stuff blew up the plane at Lockerbie and they just bothered (no doubt when they realized the SCLM had the story) to tell the National Security Advisor. Sounds like the boys at the Ministry of Excuses* aren't even bothering anymore to pretend she has any role in the Global War On Terror. Oh, and they knew the stuff was stored at the site but forgot to guard it. We will not hold our breath waiting for offers of resignation. They are too busy, no doubt, trying to figure out how to blame Clinton for this.

*Ministry of Excuses: What Republicans Have Made of the White House.

You Can Go Home Again

Pudentilla observed in her recent trip to visit family in her home town that there has been an innovation in religious observation since she left Chicago's Catholic climes: the Polka Mass. She would like to thank her those brave young girls with guitars for bravely pioneering the "Guitar Mass" in the face of bitter parish opposition when she was young. To think we fought to sing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" more than 30 years ago so that aging ethnics in the suburbs of Chicago could sing "Dancing a Polka to Heaven" this morning.

In fairness, she should note that in those same suburbs she saw quite a large number of Obama signs (only one for Keyes). Thirty years ago she would never have imagined that would be possible either.

A Polling Heuristic

Dead Heat? Kerry lead? Bush surge? With Nader or without? Horse race or internals? Battleground states or national? Likely or registered voters? Phones or internet samples?

There was a time in Pudentilla’s life when such questions did not trouble her. But that day has come and gone. She has read all the articles and blogging posts on polling and she wishes she could say they were Greek to her, because she actually can read Greek.

Her conclusion?

The race is, in fact, a dead heat and we won’t know to the election itself.

The “dead heat” story line (whether Bush or Kerry is actually winning clearly) sells more advertising than other story lines.

They want another post-election fight because it will sell more advertising than reruns of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on Thirty Fourth Street,” which is all you ever used to see on T.V. in November in the glorious days of our youth.

Technology (cell phone and internets) have vitiated the assumptions of most polling models and the SCLM is incapable of educating the public about polls and their problems. They also don’t have another predictive device in place to generate stories and fill air and print space. It is easier, therefore, to tell the “dead heat” story now and switch to a “surge” or a “2000 redux” story line on November 3.

The race is tilting towards Kerry, but the SCLM is skewing its coverage because:

They favor Bush.

They can’t imagine Bush, we mean, Rove losing.

They can’t figure out how to admit (assuming they want to admit) they’ve been played by Rove since 2000.

They are “shaping the battlefield” before the real fight – the post-election litigation.

We should care about this. We know the consequences of not caring.

It was then for the first time that the elections were transferred from the Campus Martius to the Senate. For up to that day, though the most important rested with the emperor's choice, some were settled by the partialities of the tribes. Nor did the people complain of having the right taken from them, except in mere idle talk, and the Senate, being now released from the necessity of bribery and of degrading solicitations, gladly upheld the change, Tiberius confining himself to the recommendation of only four candidates who were to be nominated without rejection or canvass.

Tacitus, Annales I.15.

Under The Heading: Things I Wish I Had Said

When did Bush form the habit of speaking painfully slowly, pausing before each mulitsyllabic word, and pausing again after it? He's beginning to sound like Fred Rogers' evil twin.

via Body and Soul

Honor Roll of American Warriors

via Seeing the Forest

Democrats:

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.


Republicans -- and these are the guys sending people to war:

* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon! Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
* Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
* B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued in NFL for 8 years.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Pundits & Preachers

* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.
* Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
* Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot back.)

Bush (DODO*) Policies Destroying First Responders Just Like He's Destroying Army

Yahoo! News - Police Show Strain From Endless Alerts: "It's not just the Capitol Police. All across the country, but especially in Washington and New York, police officers and federal agents say the heightened alert and the strain of working long hours with no end in sight are taking their toll. Experts on policing, police chiefs and the officers themselves wonder whether the law enforcement agencies can sustain the current staffing levels without a general change in policy by government agencies that would provide some financial and manpower relief."

Feeling Safer?

Q: If They Can't Handle Flu Shots, How Will They Deal With A Terrorist Small Pox Attack?

The New York Times > Health > Complaints Build Across Nation on Flu Vaccine Supplies: "ASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - As the flu crisis stretched into its third week, complaints are building across the country that health officials are failing to distribute the remaining vaccine supply quickly or equitably."

A: Very poorly.

Out of Town

We are journeying to distant climes to visit our beloved, ailing, eponymous aunt (who knew there could be two Pudentillas?) We'll be back on Monday.

It Will Be Your Fault If My Mother Dies: Health Care in Mr. Bush (DODO*)'s America

Morning Edition, October 18, 2004 · With tens of millions going unvaccinated this year due to a flu vaccine shortage, health professionals warn of a pending crisis in America's hospitals and emergency rooms. Many question why federal officials haven't yet met with hospitals to plan for this possible emergency.

Grocery stores get as much vaccine as hosptials. No plan or effort to vaccinate health care workers. Chain store managers are left to organize lottery systems on the fly for old folks. Those who get the shot feel lucky and guilty.

Last flu season the nation's health care system was stretched to the breaking point. (200,000 hospitalizations, 36,000 deaths in an ordinary flu season). Any rational person would anticipate more flu this year since so many more people won't be vaccinated. The administration's health care types have not had any meetings about plans to manage the potential health care crisis.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Excuses** said the CDC had met with hospital officials. The CDC could not "verify" the claim. (That's SCLM for "Bush (DODO*)'s people lied.") Yesterday, Tommy Thompson, Secrety of Health and Human Services said there was no flu vaccine crisis (story). He's living in the world where Iraq has nukes and other WMD.

*DODO: Doesn't Obey Direct Orders
**Ministry of Excuses: What the Republicans have made of the White House.

Require Reading

Visualize Winning

Torture Scandal Widens: Rummy Has Still Not Resigned

The New York Times > Washington > Broad Use of Harsh Tactics Is Described at Cuba Base: "ASHINGTON, Oct. 16 - Many detainees at Guantanamo Bay were regularly subjected to harsh and coercive treatment, several people who worked in the prison said in recent interviews, despite longstanding assertions by military officials that such treatment had not occurred except in some isolated cases. [--snip--]

One regular procedure that was described by people who worked at Camp Delta, the main prison facility at the naval base in Cuba, was making uncooperative prisoners strip to their underwear, having them sit in a chair while shackled hand and foot to a bolt in the floor, and forcing them to endure strobe lights and screamingly loud rock and rap music played through two close loudspeakers, while the air-conditioning was turned up to maximum levels, said one military official who witnessed the procedure. The official said that was intended to make the detainees uncomfortable, as they were accustomed to high temperatures both in their native countries and their cells.

Such sessions could last up to 14 hours with breaks, said the official, who described the treatment after being contacted by The Times.

There doing this in your name, America.