corrente

It's finally dawned on me. With Edwards, the final piece is in play on the board. It's going to be the Mother of All Campaigns, don't you think?

And it is a shame the way Bush demeaned himself by taking shots at Edwards, on his first day out of the box. You'd think He would stand above the fray, and all that. Sad, sad.

Oh, wait a minute. The electronic machines are computers! So that "glitchy" thing will never happen. Phew!

Voting rights groups sued Florida election administrators on Wednesday to overturn a rule that prohibits manual recounting of ballots cast with touch-screen machines, a lawsuit with echoes of the state's disputed 2000 presidential election voting.

The lawsuit said the rule was ``illogical'' and rested on the questionable assumption that electronic voting machines perform flawlessly 100 percent of the time. It also said the rule violated a Florida law that expressly requires manual recounts of certain ballots if the margin in an election is less than 0.25 percent of the votes cast.

The plaintiffs said in their suit the electronic voting machines were ``known to malfunction and to be subject to malicious tampering.''

Fifteen Florida counties containing about half the state's population use electronic touch-screen voting machines. They include the three most populous counties -- Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach -- that were at the heart of the 2000 punch card ballot recount battle.

Florida banned punch card ballots after 2000, but there have already been glitches with the electronic machines that replaced them in some counties.

Audit tests using the new touch-screen machines last year showed some of the data recorded on the Miami-Dade machines were not transferred to electronic logs that would need to be reviewed in a recount.

`The experience of Miami-Dade County alone shows that they (the machines) are subject to all kinds of errors. That's precisely why we must have a mechanism in place to recount all of the votes in close elections,'' said Florida ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon.

About 30 percent of U.S. voters cast their ballots on electronic voting machines in 2002, according to the Council of State Governments. In California, problems with the machines forced the state to rewrite its electronic voting rules in April and decertify those used in one-third of its polling places.

Florida's touch-screen machines do not produce printouts of the ballots. Other lawsuits winding through the courts have sought to require the printouts. Wednesday's lawsuit did not specifically ask for them, but said there must be some means of ensuring the integrity of the electronic machines, in order to secure voter confidence.
(Reuters via the New York Times)

Sheesh. So why not just ask for an audit trail in the suit? I don't get it.

You'd think they could have gotten this done before an election year. Oh, wait...

Kenneth Lay, the former Enron Corp. chief executive who insisted he knew nothing about financial fraud at the energy trading giant, has been indicted on criminal charges, sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The action caps a three-year investigation that has already seen several other executives charged and, in some cases, already sentenced to prison for their roles in the company's scandalous collapse.

The specific charges remained under seal.

The Securities and Exchange Commission was expected to bring civil fraud charges against Lay on Thursday, including making false and misleading statements and insider trading, a person familiar with the case said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Prosecutors have aggressively pursued the one-time celebrity CEO and friend and contributor to President Bush who led Enron's rise to No. 7 in the Fortune 500 and resigned within weeks of its stunning failure. Barring last-minute delays, Lay is the 30th and highest-profile individual charged.
(via AP)

Just another example of heavy-handed government interference, if you ask me.

(via NYHoHumTimes)

WASHINGTON, July 6 - An internal investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services confirms that the top Medicare official threatened to fire the program's chief actuary if he told Congress that drug benefits would probably cost much more than the White House acknowledged...

In recent weeks, [Thomas A.] Scully has registered as a lobbyist for major drug companies, including Abbott Laboratories and Aventis; for Caremark Rx, a pharmacy benefit manager; and for the American Chiropractic Association and the American College of Gastroenterology, among other clients. All are affected by the new Medicare law, which Mr. Scully helped write.

You want the short version? It's here, albeit buried in the NINTH (of 17) paragraph:

Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, said, "It sounds as though the Bush administration examined itself and found it did nothing wrong.''

Go read the whole thing; while the story is calculated to cloud reader's minds, most of the paragraphs are short, as befits the literacy-challenged modern media.

When "journalistic objectivity" prevents a reporter from plainly and clearly telling the truth--that Thomas Scully is a liar, a thug and a thief who's going get away with this sleaze because Republicans control Congress too--then maybe it's time to revisit the whole idea.

No, it's not something from Cheney's Word of the Day Desk Calendar.

I have no idea what this story means. But they're taking a batch of reservists, Marines, some of whom have already been deployed to the qWagmire once, and shipping them the hell off to Djibouti. Oil? WMD? Halliburton have something there that needs protecting?

And catch the part about a tank battalion, going to provide security, but not taking their tanks along. This one's been way far under the radar, whatever it is.

(via The State (Columbia SC))

The couple, married two weeks, said farewell Tuesday for what could be several months as 73 Marine reservists left Eastover on the first leg of a trip that will take them to the Persian Gulf region.

The part-time Leathernecks, members of Delta Company, 8th Tank Battalion, will spend the next three weeks in training. They will then head for Dijibouti, a tiny desert nation in the Horn of Africa that is half the size of South Carolina.

Dijibouti is home to Camp Lemonier, a former French Foreign Legion outpost now used by U.S. forces for anti-terrorism.

Delta Company is joining about 3,000 other reservists and National Guardsmen from South Carolina who are on active duty fighting the war on terrorism.

Bracewell, 33, a 10-year veteran of the Marines, fought with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force during the opening months of the Iraq war. He had to say goodbye again to his wife and 7-year-old son who are at home in Atlanta.

Delta Company will be providing security at Lemonier. That means they had to leave behind their M1A1 Abrams tanks.

“That’s the tough part because the tanks are our comfort zone,” said Gunnery Sgt. Roger Conrad, 43, of Seneca.

Tonto and the Lone Ranger are out riding one day when they are suddently set upon by a large, angry war party of Apaches. Hastily taking shelter behind some rocks they shoot and shoot, but their foes are many and their bullets few.

Lone Ranger: Gosh, Tonto old friend, I guess we're not gonna make it this time.

Tonto: What you mean "we", white man?

(via Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

LONDON — British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is an "anomaly" that has to end.

Blair confirmed that he had asked President Bush to free the remaining four Britons detained in the camp.

"Guantanamo Bay is an anomaly that has at some point got to be brought to an end," Blair told a committee of lawmakers.

Blair is under pressure from political opponents and many lawmakers of his own governing Labour Party to resolve the issue. Some suggest the deadlock reveals that he actually wields little influence in Washington, despite supporting Bush in the Iraq war.

We need him on the Republican ticket!

I'll start!

Um...

UPDATE

From alert reader Attaturk, The many moods of Dick "Dick" Cheney. CAUTION: Not over breakfast or at lunch! Noone will be admitted to the theatre after the movie begins!

Under the amazingly deadpan headline, "Pentagon Deputy's Probes in Iraq Weren't Authorized, Officials Say", this, from the Los Angeles Times:

A senior Defense Department official conducted unauthorized investigations of Iraq reconstruction efforts and used their results to push for lucrative contracts for friends and their business clients, according to current and former Pentagon officials and documents.

John A. "Jack" Shaw, deputy undersecretary for international technology security, represented himself as an agent of the Pentagon's inspector general in conducting the investigations, sources said.

In one case, Shaw disguised himself as an employee of Halliburton Co. and gained access to a port in southern Iraq after he was denied entry by the U.S. military, the sources said.

In that investigation, Shaw found problems with operations at the port of Umm al Qasr, Pentagon sources said. In another, he criticized a competition sponsored by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to award cellphone licenses in Iraq.

In both cases, Shaw urged government officials to fix the alleged problems by directing multimillion-dollar contracts to companies linked to his friends, without competitive bidding, according to the Pentagon sources and documents. In the case of the port, the clients of a lobbyist friend won a no-bid contract for dredging.

Shaw's actions are the latest to raise concerns that senior Republican officials working in Washington and Iraq have used the rebuilding effort in Iraq to reward associates and political allies.
(via LA )

Mercy!

After lying, looting is what Republicans do best!

Remember back on Monday when those folks wore the "anti-Bush T-shirts" to the Bush rally and got, not just tossed out but arrested (briefly) for "trespassing"? And we all said how cool it would be to do something like that, particularly if a (properly patriotically-clad) friend was undercover nearby with a videocamera?

Have at it, comrades.

(via Hagerstown MD Herald-Mail)

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - More than 200 tickets were available Tuesday afternoon at Franklin County Republican Headquarters for a campaign stop by President Bush in York, Pa., on Friday.

"We probably have 250 out of an allotment of 332," county Republican Chairman Roger Beckner said Tuesday afternoon. Bush will be appearing in Toyota Arena at the York Expo Center, he said.

Tickets are limited to two per person and are being given away on a first-come, first-serve basis, Beckner said. The headquarters are at 293 Southgate Mall. Headquarters are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. or until the tickets are gone, Thomas said.

Residents of south-central PA, MD, WV areas particularly wanted, at least to pick up the tickets. Bonus points if you have, know or are a civil-liberties attorney.

A hilarious moment on CNN this morning. Bill Hemmer had Mr. "$100 Haircut" Cliff May from NRO and Victor Kamber on to talk about the selection of John Edwards as Kerry's running mate.

At the end of the time slot, May, trying to get in the last word, said something to the effect of "The selection of John Edwards is all sizzle and no steak." At this point Hemmer (a stuffed shirt if I ever saw one) got this grin on his face and asked Cliff May if he'd read the Wall Street Journal this morning. Hemmer then read the last line of a WSJ editorial which, predictably, matched exactly what May had just said. Hemmer asked May, rather abruptly, if he was ripping off the WSJ. May, obviously embarrassed, said, "Um, gee, I'm sorry about that if I did it. Um..."

At this point, Victor Kamber interrupted and got the last word in, saying something like this:

"If this is true about the Edwards decision, that it's more sizzle than steak, I'll tell you one thing. Edwards certainly brings a great deal more steak to the table than George W. Bush did four years ago, I'll tell you that."

Indeed.

If I can remember, I'll try to post a transcript in an update to this post later today.

It didn't take more than 30 minutes for the Beltway corporate enclave media courtesans at CNN and MSGOP to begin nailing the GOP talking points frame to the wall. See, it's like this: John Edwards = trial lawyer! John Edwards = inexperience in foreign policy! John Edwards = Democrat's attempts to appeal to Southerners because the South has always been ignored by the unappealing anti-southern Democrats!

And on and on the RNC script managed message goes.

The Republican Party is not required to demonstrate to anyone at CNN or MSGOP that their excitable charges against Edwards are anything but pre-fabricated cartoon characterizations founded in hyper-spin, semantic propaganda, and old off the shelf canard. CNN and MSGOP certainly are not going to ask the right wing dope peddlers for any such detailed explanation of the pre-bottled medicine show potion they are hustling. Oh heavens no! Because, like all cagey corporate marketing shills, CNN and MSGOP make the rockets go up - who cares where they come down - that's not our department - say the clowns on the town. (sorry Tom Leher)

The Cakewalk News Network (CNN) and their little sidekick pip MSGOP are essentially nothing but pitch doctor potion bottlers themselves. Ya know the old snake oil concoctions: WMD! Yellowcake! Killer Drone Plane Invasion! 45 Minute Mushroom Cloud! Mission Glossy Flower Tossy! and on and on.... so much conspiracy theory and romantic moony-eyed insta-cures bottled up and peddled by Pentagon network media embeds, right wing think tank alchemists, elitist Beltway cocktail party voodoo-politick pundit pimps and wannabe celebrity Dartmouth Kool Aide Kiddy Kultists. All eventually delivered into millions of living rooms each afternoon by an unquestioning easily bewitched cacaphony of slutty corporatist cable TV "News" network cosmetic counter groovies and studio tanned automatons.

Like, yah know what, sometimes when I watch Judy Woodruff on CNN I begin giggling like a hapless nervous ninny because I imagine go-go fetch dancer Judy as a lithe bikini clad sunken-eyed skull shrunk anti-version of Goldie Hawn wriggling about on a Laugh In stage as the camera zooms in on a smooth milky thigh that displays the techno-colored tattoo flashback "SOCK IT TO ME BABY!". I know, it's a perverted muse, but, well, hey, I've smoked myself a forest of wet curly-bud and gobbled up pages of serrated paper dreams so what the Dick-F#%!-U-Self-Cheney do I know? Nuttin. Nuttin a'tall.

Anyway, lets flash back to the whole appeal to the South thing that I mentioned earlier. You know, the pill that the Kool Aide Kids in the corporate media and their RNC groove daddios want you to swallow. The smooth plastic pill that conjures hallucinations describing Dems as hostile to that whole "southerner" thingee. You know how that old times here is not forgotten come on goes.

So, I decided to look up the history of the Democratic Party's choice of "southerners" as contenders for the Dem Party's top slots. (as if this one required some great exercise in documentary journalism). Here goes:

Number of "southern" Presidential and Vice Presidental candidates - excluding Texans - that have been advanced by the Democrats since 1944: Answer: 13

Number of "southern" Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates - excluding Texans - (which, by the way, would constitute ONLY ONE particular "Texas" family ONLY!) that have been offered up to the faithful by the Republican Party since 1944: Answer: 0 (ZERO - NOT ONE SINGLE SOUTHERN STATE CANDIDATE!)

So, I don't suppose the potion peddlers in Atlanta (CNN) might be interested in this historical numerology given the way some southerner's (you know who you are) entertain traditional hankerins' for heapin' helpins' of romanticized historical hokum and boo-hoo woe is me lost cause mythology. Whatever.

In any case, here's the real historical dope on the Democratic Party's candidate selection record as it caters to that whole tender "southern" candidate sensibility thing.

Maybe a few dandy "southerners" (again, you know who you are) would take to revisitin' tangible reality one day? That sure would be a monumental Civil Wow reenactment occasion. At least when it comes to analyizing which political party has most often advanced candidates representing the "South" over the past 60 years. Not that any of the corporate confederate reality benders at CNN or MSGOP will abandon their company store party hookah, climb down off of their shit fed mushroom stump, and wander amongst the fields of flowery statistics below. Oooo-nooo! That would be so like square man! Like think outside the box man! Ooo-Baby!

Yeah right.

Anyway, below is a brisk rundown of the presidental candidate election crop planted since 1944. Harvest at will, sit back, bask in that warm southern summer sun, and light up fat bone for me.

=====
UH-OH!!! DATA UPDATE/CORRECTIONS AHEAD!
Thanks to Andy (see comments) for pointing out that Ike ran from NY in both the 52 and 56 election and that Nixon also ran from NY in both 68 and 72. I screwed up some figgers below so I've made corrections where needed. (I hope) - Year by year election stats available via: this place
=====

Southernerners named to national tickets since 1944: (excluding Texas as a southern state)
Republicans = 0 - as in ZERO!!!!!!!!!! NONE! NOT ONE.
Democrats = 13

Southerners named to national tickets since 1944: (when including Texas as a southern state)
Republicans = 6 - Each one named George Bush. George HW Bush 4 times / George W Bush twice.
Democrats = 16

Texans named to national tickets since 1944:
Republicans = 6 Each one named George Bush.
Democrats = 3

Lefty Coasters (Californians) named to national tickets since 1944:
Republicans = 8 correction: 6
Democrats = 0 - as in ZERO!!!!! NONE! NOT ONE.

Snooty elitist New Yorkers named to national tickets since 1944:
Republicans = 4 correction: 7 (5 correction: 8 if Nelson Rockefellar included)
Democrats = 2

Snooty elitist intellectuals from New York and Massachusettes named to national tickets since 1944:
Republicans = 5 correction: 8 (6 correction: 9 if Nelson Rockefellar included)
Democrats = 5

Zany Hollywood Left Coaster actors named to national tickets since 1944:
Republicans = 2 (Reagan, twice)
Democrats = 0

Southern states represented on national REP Party tickets since 1944: (excluding Texas)
Represented on Republican tickets = NONE

Southern states represented on national DEM Party tickets since 1944: (excluding Texas) = North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky.

RAW SEEDLESS DATA:

1944:
REPUBLICAN candidates
P - Thomas Dewey (NY)
VP - Earl John William Bricker (Ohio)

DEMOCRAT candidates
P - Franklin D. Roosevelt (NY)
VP - Harry Truman (Missouri) Southern State

1948:
REPUBLICAN
P - Thomas Dewey (NY)
VP - Earl Warren (California)

DEMOCRAT
P - Harry Truman (Missouri) Southern State
VP - Alben William Barkley (Kentucky) Southern State

1952:
REPUBLICAN
P - Dwight D. Eisenhower (NY)
VP - Richard Nixon (California)

DEMOCRAT
P - Adlai Stevenson (Illinois)
VP - John Jackson Sparkman (Alabama) Southern State

1956:
REPUBLICAN
P - Dwight D. Eisenhower (now from PA) correction: (NY)
VP - Richard Nixon (California)

DEMOCRAT
P - Adlai Stevenson (Illinois)
VP - Carey Estes Kefauver (Tennessee) Southern State

1960:
REPUBLICAN
P - Richard Nixon (California)
VP - Henry Cabot Lodge (Mass)

DEMOCRAT
P - John F. Kennedy (Mass)
VP - Lyndon Johnson (Texas) Southern State Texan

1964:
REPUBLICAN
P - Barry Goldwater (Arizona)
VP - William Edward Miller (NY)

DEMOCRAT
P - Lyndon Johnson (Texas) Southern State Texan
VP - Hubert Humphrey (Minnesota)

1968:
REPUBLICAN
P - Richard Nixon (California) correction: (NY)
VP - Spiro Agnew (Maryland)

DEMOCRAT
P - Hubert Humphrey (Minn)
VP - Edmund Muskie (Maine)

1972:
REPUBLICAN
P - Richard Nixon (California) correction: (NY)
VP - Spiro Agnew (Maryland) resigns 1973
VP - Gerald Ford (Michigan) replaces Agnew as VP.

DEMOCRAT
P - George McGovern (S. Dakota)
VP - Thomas Eagleton (Missouri) Southern State
VP - Sargent Shriver (Maryland) replaces Eagleton on ticket.

***
1973 - Nixon resigns:
VP - Gerald Ford (R - Michigan) becomes President.
1974:
GOV - Nelson Rockefeller (R - NY) appointed Vice President.
***

1976:
REPUBLICAN
P - Gerald Ford (Michigan)
VP - Bob Dole (Kansas)

DEMOCRAT
P - Jimmy Carter (Georgia) Southern State
VP - Walter Mondale (Minnesota)

1980:
REPUBLICAN
P - Ronald Reagan (California)
VP - George HW Bush (Texas) Southern State Texan

DEMOCRAT
P - Jimmy Carter (Georgia) Southern State
VP - Walter Mondale (Minn)

1984:
REPUBLICAN
P - Ronald Reagan (California)
VP - George HW Bush ("Texas") Southern State Texan

DEMOCRAT
P - Walter Mondale (Minn)
VP - Geraldine Ferraro (NY)

1988:
REPUBLICAN
P - George HW Bush (Texas) Southern State Texan
VP - Dan Quayle (Indiana)

DEMOCRAT
P - Michael Dukakis (Mass)
VP - Lloyd Bentsen (Texas) Southern State Texan

1992:
REPUBLICAN
P - George HW Bush (Texas) Southern State Texan
VP - Dan Quayle (Indiana)

DEMOCRAT
P - Bill Clinton (Arkansas) Southern State
VP - Al Gore (Tennessee) Southern State

1996:
REPUBLICAN
P - Bob Dole (Kansas)
VP - Jack Kemp (Maryland)

DEMOCRAT
P - Bill Clinton (Arkansas) Southern State
VP - Al Gore (Tennessee) Southern State

2000:
REPUBLICAN
P - George W Bush (Texas) Southern State Texan
VP - Dick Cheney (Wyoming)

DEMOCRAT
P - Al Gore (Tennessee) Southern State
VP - Joe Lieberman (Connecticut)

2004:
REPUBLICAN
P - George W Bush (Texas) Southern State Texan
VP - Dick Cheney (Wyoming)

DEMOCRAT
P - John Kerry (Mass)
VP - John Edwards (North Carolina) Southern State

NOTE: For the purpose of this post I've used the old Confederate States of America model to define what constitutes a "southern" state. I've also included Kentucky and Missouri on the "southern" roster. Although each remained officially loyal to the Union during the war many residents from both KY and the Show Me State remained sympathetic to the Confederate cause and did appoint governments in exile which supported the CSA. Additionally, for cultural and geographic reasons, I've included Missouri and Kentucky in the "southern" states column since I consider each of them more "southern" than Texas; which, despite its inclusion in the CSA, and the fact that Sam Houston was heaved overboard for refusing to support the Lost Cause, remains to a some extent geographically and culturally on the "western" edge of what I'd define as a genuinely "southern" state.

Therefore, "southern" states for the purposes of this post will include: SC, MISS, FLA, ALA, GA, LA, TX, VA, ARK, TENN, NC, KY and Missouri. I'll leave others to haggle over the fate of Maryland. I personally don't consider Maryland a "southern" state any more than I'd consign southern New Jersey or Dover Delaware to the mellon patch of Dixie. But, again, I'll leave the matter of Maryland's manly deeds and womanly words - fatti maschii, parole femine - to the mercy of others.

*

So, the same law that lets slots into Philly, so we can budget for the schools on the backs of gambling addicts, also lets legislators invest in gambling firms.

Boy, that's beautiful, isn't it? I wouldn't mind if they just voted themselves a raise, but to vote themselves a piece of the corrupting enterprise they brought into being through their own laws, and will then pretend to regulate.... Well, it's a classic case of the self-sucking ice cream cone, isn't it? More than a little crass. Even for our Republican legislature.

Gee, I like "crass," though. Gotta work "Crass warfare" into a headline....

Faugh.

Really unbelievable even for these guys.

In a secret operation, the United States last month removed from Iraq nearly two tons of uranium and hundreds of highly radioactive items that could have been used in a so-called dirty bomb, the Energy Department disclosed Tuesday.
(via AP)

1. "Last month"?! What took them so long?

2. How do we know that we got all of it? The answer is, that we don't, because one of the many things that Bush botched in the occupation was leaving nuclear sites unguarded, so that they could be looted.

It's crystal clear that this is a cover-your-ass, election year gimmick, with no substantive impact whatever.

If these clowns were serious about loose nukes, this would have been the first thing that they took care of. Instead, they waited many months. Guess they finally figured out that even though Manhattan and Boston are Blue, it would look really bad if we lost one during a convention. So they cook up this transparent piece of flummery.

Where's the outrage?

We're casting pearls before swine and not even getting a damn pork chop in return.

(via Juan Cole), who is venturing further into politics these days:

Edwards may be the Anti-Cheney in ways that could be important to the campaign. Cheney's use of foul language on the Senate floor and increasing testiness suggest that he feels vulnerable on the Halliburton issue.

One of the scandals that has been reported but hasn't really broken yet is the way in which Halliburton gained contracts to provide services to US troops in an emergency but has been unable actually to provide those services. The summer of 2003 was hell on the troops because they had no quonset huts or air conditioning. Their shaving cream cans were exploding in the desert.

Why didn't the army just build them quonset huts? Because that task had been contracted out to civilians. And why didn't civilians do the job? Because civilians cannot be ordered into a war zon, and Halliburton and KBR often simply could not put enough civilian personnel into the field to do the jobs contracted for in a timely manner.

Who suffered? The US troops. Why? Because the Bush administration gave a soldier's job to wealthy civilian corporations unequipped to handle it. Edwards is well placed to make hay with this sort of thing if he is canny about it.

If you never put Juan Cole on your bookmarks/favorites list, you really should. If you have him there but don't read him every day, you really should as well. The SCLM are still covering iWreck but it's no longer the lead on the networks every night. The whole point of the "turnover" was to get the US press out and your attention elsewhere.

Quoting the AP story in its dead-pan entirety:

The Sept. 11 commission is standing by its finding that al-Qaida had only limited contact with Iraq before the terrorist attacks, a determination disputed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

The 10-member, bipartisan panel issued a one-sentence statement Tuesday saying it had access to the same information as Cheney, who suggested strong ties between ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.

Those ties were a central justification the Bush administration gave for going to war with Iraq and were called into question after the commission released a preliminary report last month. The report cited contacts between Saddam's regime and Osama bin Laden but said there was no "collaborative relationship."

Cheney criticized the commission's finding in an interview with CNBC and said there "probably" was information about Iraq's links to terrorists that the commission members did not learn during their 14-month investigation. The commission statement disputed that.

"After examining available transcripts of the vice president's public remarks, the 9/11 commission believes it has access to the same information the vice president has seen regarding contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq prior to the 9/11 attacks," the commission said.

The commission invited Cheney to offer any evidence that he thought it didn't have but never received any information.
(via AP)

Call these guys, and they don't even have the grace to back down. They just go on as if nothing had happened.

Hey, who put the "lie" in "liability"? Dick "Dick" Cheney, that's who!

Let's hope Bush doesn't dump him. Cheney means votes for us.

I sure know where I want to be in the summer. The Riviera? Forget it. Dallas.

What I don't understand is why the wingers need to up a film festival when they've already got FUX, 24/7.

As Xan points out, it's a thumb in the eye for Republican operatives who claim we write off the south. The Nation has other reasons:

• Consistency With Kerry: For better or worse, Kerry and Edwards are cut from the same ideological cloth, as their Senate records illustrate.


• Small-town Appeal: Democratic fortunes collapsed in rural and small-town America in 2000, tipping the balance to Bush in a number of key states.


• Southern Possibilities: Polls suggest that, while it's an uphill struggle, Kerry could win as many as four southern states: Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas and North Carolina.


• Some Liberal/Left Appeal


• A Real Challenger for Dick Cheney

Above all, however, Edwards brings to the Kerry campaign something that has been missing to this point: a recognizable and appealing domestic-policy message. Kerry secured the nomination by playing on his record as a veteran and his foreign policy and national security experience. Democratic caucus and primary voters bet, perhaps wisely, that those strengths would be needed in a race with Bush. But Kerry never developed a functional, let alone inspiring message for the home front. With his talk about the need to close the economic gap between what he referred to as the "two Americas," and with his emphasis on developing programs to aid the working poor, Edwards renewed old Democratic Party themes that will play very well--especially with wavering Democrats and independents--in a year when pessimism about the economy could yet decide the direction of the presidential race.
(via Nation)

I agree with the The Two Americas thesis. And I think it rings true with a lot of people's experience. Wouldn't it be great of health care emerged as the ultimate wedge issue?

"That boy's talkin' sense, Merle!"

About time. And lest we forget:

The FBI considers the anthrax investigation its most complex ever. Letters laced with anthrax that were mailed to government and news media offices, including to Sens. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and to The New York Post and NBC anchor Tom Brokaw. No one was charged.
(via AP)

I've always wondered why no Republican Congressmen were attacked...

Here's the latest of Inerrant Boy's shifting justifications for the war:

[BUSH] Our immediate task in battle fronts like Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere is to capture or kill the terrorists ... so we do not have to face them here at home," Bush told a cheering crowd outside the West Virginia Capitol.
(AP via News Tribine)

Except... Except... Let's look at some numbers:

Only 90 of the more than 5,700 people in custody in Iraq as security risks are foreign fighters, defense officials said on Tuesday, a figure that suggests the Bush administration may have overstated the role of outside militants in the deadly insurgency.

The officials, who asked not to be identified, said the U.S. military command handling security detention facilities in Iraq confirmed a report in USA Today that fewer than 2 percent of those in custody were foreigners.

The small percentage indicates the war in Iraq may not have attracted very many Islamic militants from other countries.
(via Reuters)

So, who exactly where these "terrorists" we would "face at home" if we didn't fight the war?

1. The 5,700 Iraqis? (Assuming, of course, that all of the Iraqis in our jails ought to be there)

2. The 90 foreign fighters?

And was it worth it to spend $161 billion (so far) to capture either the 5,700 or the 90?

Maybe we should have just carpet-bombed the middle east with dollar bills. It probably would have been cheaper, and I bet it would have been more effective.

More sizzling numbers from the Bush team! Ha. Fooled ya. Or not, eh?

The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing data [i.e., services] showed new orders and employment components gaining ground, but the overall index fell to 59.9 in June from 65.2 in May. Economists had been looking for a dip to 63.0.

Gee, once again the economists are surprised when the numbers are worse than they thought.

Taken in the context of a recent pullback in the economic data, some economists viewed the report as more evidence that growth, while still solid, has started to ebb.

Yet a separate report showed that while the number of planned layoffs had fallen in June, the level of planned hirings also declined.

Employment research firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas said planned layoffs in the United States slipped to 64,343 in June, down from May's 73,368.

But corporate hirings, which Challenger began tracking in May, fell to 38,377 workers, down 31 percent from May's 55,307.

"The decline in June job cuts is good news, but it would not be surprising to see a rise in monthly job-cut announcements during the second half of the year," John Challenger, the firm's chief executive officer said in a statement.

Last week, the Labor Department said June U.S. non-farm payrolls grew by 112,000 jobs, less than half the level economists had forecast. Also job gains in April and May were revised lower, painting a much less favorable employment picture.
(via Reuters)

Whimper.

"Steady growth.". Translation: Whimper.

A factlette from Democrat Henry Waxman:

Compare the following: Republicans in the House took more than 140 hours of testimony to investigate whether the Clinton White House misused its holiday card database but less than five hours of testimony regarding how the Bush administration treated Iraqi detainees.
(via WaPo)

So what's the point?

Michael Isikof and Mark Hosenball, in Newsweek, write an article attacking F911's portrayal of the Carlyle Group, and get the company founder wrong. Not the wrong spelling--the wrong guy.

Way back when (probably sometime in March, but that feels like the Late Jurassic these days) we had some Fun With Haiku. The time has come again and we have MUCH to celebrate today. Since we shot off all the fireworks already, and some people are also probably still hung over, something quieter seems called for.

To get you started we offer this, from dtriptv.com which has been running a Happy Birthday George! Haiku Contest. Swiped off an Atrios comment thread:

George is fifty-eight
Bet when he is fifty-nine
John is forty-four

(submitted by Julia M.)

I just know Our Readers here can do better than this, good as it is. Remember the rules: 17 syllables, first and last lines five each with seven in the middle.

Oh, and a sincere Happy Birthday, along with our condolences, to anyone with the misfortune to share a natal day with Dear Leader. I myself am stuck with sharing a day with Arnold Schwartzenegger so I know entirely how you feel.

UPDATE: And Da Winnahs ARE--

Go fuck yourself, Dick.
And the horse you rode in on?
Fuck you, too, George Bush.
gabe


Kerry/Edwards win
A landslide in November
Mission Accomplished
Tinfoil Hat Boy

The August warning.
My friend, pet goat,
Remembers.
My friend, my pet goat.
Sovereign Eye

And No. 1 with a bullet, as they say:

Candles on the cake
Flames gone, dead little soldiers
No photos allowed

+++
MJS

Thanks to everyone who participated. The judge is me, the decisions arbitrary, the talent level high, the challenge great, the amount of alcohol consumed during judging substantial. We shall do this again on some suitably significant occasion.

So, if this is a recovery, where are the jobs? Paul Krugman explains:

If you want a single number that tells the story, it's the percentage of adults who have jobs. When Mr. Bush took office, that number stood at 64.4. By last August it had fallen to 62.2 percent. In June, the number was 62.3. That is, during Mr. Bush's first 30 months, the job situation deteriorated drastically. Last summer it stabilized, and since then it may have improved slightly. But jobs are still very scarce, with little relief in sight.

Bush campaign ads boast that 1.5 million jobs were added in the last 10 months, as if that were a remarkable achievement. It isn't. During the Clinton years, the economy added 236,000 jobs in an average month. Those 1.5 million jobs were barely enough to keep up with a growing working-age population.

In the spring, it seemed as if the pace of job growth was accelerating: in March and April, the economy added almost 700,000 jobs. But that now looks like a blip — a one-time thing, not a break in the trend. May growth was slightly below the Clinton-era average, and June's numbers — only 112,000 new jobs, and a decline in working hours — were pretty poor.

Where is the growth going? No mystery: after-tax corporate profits as a share of G.D.P. have reached a level not seen since 1929.

Economic growth is passing working Americans by. The average weekly earnings of nonsupervisory workers rose only 1.7 percent over the past year, lagging behind inflation.
(via the only reason-to-read-them-is-Krugman New York Times)

So, what to make of this mysterious failure of Americans to appreciate the Bush recovery? It's not mysterious at all: Taking inflation into account, the people with jobs are worse off, since wages have stagnated.

Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

We can but hope that John Warner is an honest Republican—and that Seymour Hersh doesn't agree to meet anyone in a vacant house in the woods.

The prospect of bombshells and damaging investigative reports coming out during the height of the political campaign or around the conventions is a concern for both the Bush administration and the Republicans who control both houses of Congress. But complicating it all is the contentious case of documents allegedly missing from an investigative report by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba on abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Relations have soured between the Pentagon and senators who insist that they have been denied key documents in the investigation promised since May.

Among the missing documents, according to a Senate source, are two of 12 enclosures attached to a transcript of an interview of Col. Thomas M. Pappas, commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade at Abu Ghraib. One of them, Enclosure 9, addresses how the unit handled reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Well, well, well. No wonder they're stonewalling this one, since it makes a prima facie case for a coverup if they read it—and passed it up that oh-so-carefully-confused chain of commmand?

The other, Enclosure 11, outlines at least three investigations for possible nonjudicial punishment after the alleged abuse of two girls, ages 13 and 14, taken to the prison in the middle of the night by CIA agents, the Senate source said.

Suffer the little children, eh? Retch. Wonder who has the photos on this?

However, Pentagon managers insist there are no missing documents. They said there was a perception that documents were missing because some items were not provided to the committee when they were publicly accessible — such as the Army's field manual, later provided on a computer disk at the committee's request, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

References to some annexes in the main report were simply mislabeled, making it look as if they weren't there, he added.
(via LA Times)

Oh, puh-leeze! The dog—or in this case, the dogs—ate my homework?

And they even have a picture of the Kerry and Gephardt together. Isn't that precious?

At 8:20AM, the New York Post still hasn't taken the story down. If winger "journalists" were capable of embarassment, this piece of reportage would certainly do it.

Say, too bad about having to pulp that press run...

Yeah, it's Edwards. WHEW! Johnny Sunshine and Johnny K.

(via NYT)

Or any paper of your choice. Except the NY Post, although if you're in the area run out quick and grab a copy of their "Dewey Beats Truman" edition to save for your grandchildren.

Other musical selections in this morning's heavy rotation: "Ode to Joy" by Ludwig Von; "Happy Happy Joy Joy" by Ren & Stimpy; and "Street Fightin' Man" just for luck.

Oh yeah...good morning. Very very good morning indeed.

So you're the WaPo reporter assigned to do a story about Blogs At The Conventions, right? You labor upon a holiday weekend and bring forth this:

More than 15,000 people will converge on Boston later this month to cover the Democratic National Convention -- including, for the first time, bloggers. The Democratic Party plans to give media credentials to a select group of bloggers who want to cover the event, where Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) is expected to accept his party's presidential nomination. The group has not announced which bloggers might get the passes, but that information will come in the "next few weeks," an event spokeswoman said.

Now is it just me, or does it make sense to you that if you were assigned a story like this, one place you might check is the bostonDparty Democratic Party Official Convention Blog?? If he had he would have found this data point:

What is it time for then?

The time has come to officially credential bloggers. Starting tomorrow, we will be notifying the bloggers who applied for credentials and letting them know if they’ve been accredited.

It took us a little longer than we hoped, but then again, we got more applications than we imagined. The response was incredible. So I want to thank all of you. I know you’re all used to getting and sharing information as fast as your ISP allows, but thank you for the patience and understanding that is often a prerequisite in politics when doing something meaningful for the first time.

So forget the Kerry VP race, who do we want for Dem Convention Blogger? The story doesn't give numbers but let's say they hand out five. Figure Atrios and dKos are a lock, so who would you like for the other three? Voting begins....now.

Sheesh, what a slow news day. I was even reduced to checking out Drudge.

I can't believe they're going to put slots in Philly. What a vile way to raise money. And just like the suburban Republicans are choking the city with parking garages—and creaming off the revenues into a State authority—they'll try to slam a casino right into Center City, probably in Chinatown, since they couldn't destroy that neighborhood, poor only in money, but putting a football stadium there. And then hijack the money, so Philly comes out the loser again. Bastards.

Here's a little story of the entrepreneurial spirit crushed by the heavy hand of government interference:

The Whitehouse.com pornography Web site, which poked fun at its government namesake with parody sections about first ladies and interns, has been stripped of all political references.

Its owner, Dan Parisi of New York, agreed to the changes to comply with a recent ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicating his Web site may potentially win a trademark for "Whitehouse" - but only if he took steps to make sure visitors to his pornography site don't believe it was associated with President Bush's site, www.whitehouse.gov.
(via AP)

Well.

To begin with, surely www.whitehouse.gov is not Bush's site, but the American people's?

And who could possibly confuse the White House site with a pornography site? Unless, of course, Bush posted his personal collection of Abu Ghraib photos.

Or his goat album.

I read one time that in John F. Kennedy's famous speech in Germany, when he gave the line "Ich bin ein Berliner!" it got a huge roar from the crowd because half of them were falling down laughing. It seems that, due to either a bad translator or a local idiom, what he was saying was "I am a jelly donut." (The proper wording would have been "Ich bin Berliner" if he meant he was a resident of the city. If the speech had been given in Copenhagen instead he would have been saying "I am a Danish" rather than "I am Danish.")

That story has nothing whatever to do with this story, I just like to tell it.

(via Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) - Dozens of American and German supporters of U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry rallied in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to mark the U.S. Fourth of July holiday.

They carried banners in the center of the German capital criticizing President Bush and handed out leaflets urging U.S. expatriates in Berlin to register to vote in November.

"More than 10,000 live in Berlin," read a leaflet, printed in German and English. "They can vote but most don't. Do you want a new American president? Then tell an American to vote."

Among the anti-Bush banners carried was a poster saying "Freedom and Democracy, U.S.-American Style - Shame!" that included a picture of a hooded Iraq prisoner being abused. "Drop Bush, not Bombs" read another poster.

How ironic is it that people can protest against Bush with impunity in the heart of Berlin, but get arrested for it in West Virginia?

See, the problem is that the arithmetical process doesn't respond really well to ideological fervor. Here's the latest:

The Pentagon's American Forces Radio and Television Service is airing the first hour of Limbaugh's show, five days a week, on one of the 13 radio channels it offers.
(via AP)

OK, that's 60 minutes x 5 days x 1 channel = 300 channel/minutes per week.

"Liberals, moderates and independents contribute to funding for American Forces Radio through payment of their taxes, just like conservatives do," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who slipped a provision this month into a $447 billion defense bill to counter Limbaugh's presence on the Pentagon's airwaves.

Conservatives are determined to get Harkin's measure removed from the bill when lawmakers return in July and start working on merging House and Senate versions of the legislation into one package.

"This amendment is absurd, and we respectfully ask you to oversee its removal," Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, said in a letter, released June 28, to California Rep. Duncan Hunter, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Johnson said American Services Radio has plenty of programing to counter Limbaugh, including the talk show of Jim Hightower, a liberal populist and former Texas agriculture commissioner. Hightower's 90-second spots are aired on two Armed Forces Radio channels, six times a day on one, twice a day on the other.

So, assuming a 5 day week, that would be 1.5 minutes x 6 times x 5 days = 45, plus 1.5 minutes x 2 times x 5 x days = 15 minutes, for a total of 60 channel/minutes per week.

So, one of two things is true:

1. The Republicans believe that 300 = 60.

Now, given how the Republicans are handling the budget, justifying their tax cuts for the super-rich, and cooking the books generally, that may be exactly what they believe.

2. 5 minutes of Limbaugh = 1 minute of Hightower.

Which could also be true, given that Limbaugh's pill-fueled ramblings are virtually devoid of factual content.

Readers? Republican readers? Which is it?

In case you heard an earlier story suggesting that this guy "was also Al Gore's doctor, so you damn liberals can't say anything about this"...well, that turns out not to be the case.

(via WaPo)

WASHINGTON, July 4 - Vice President Dick Cheney's personal doctor, who four years ago declared Mr. Cheney "up to the task of the most sensitive public office" despite a history of heart disease, was battling an addiction to prescription drugs at the time and has recently been dropped from the vice president's medical team, according to officials at the hospital where he practiced.

Okay, which goes better here: Comparisons to Rush or similarities to Elvis? Compare and contrast. And oh yeah...if this doc has been "in treatment" and doing the pee-in-the-bottle routine since 1999, what exactly did he do with the $45k worth of narcotic nasal sprays he bought off the Internet? Wouldn't that show up in a pee test if HE was the one taking the stuff? Just wonderin'.

I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

The General, Jesus' General, J.C. Christian that would be, has had the genuis to recognize a defining moment in the on-going war on public education. The good General frames it perfectly, as is his wont; but don't get lazy, do click through to the original SFGate item.

And by all means, check out the comments thread to the post; so far, except for one, they are all stellar, and speaking of genuis, our generous, lyrically gifted reader/commentator, "MJS" has posted a non-lyric classic there.

While there, don't miss the General's prayer for V.P. Cheney, which we should all join in saying, probably on a daily basis. Scroll down a ways and you'll find this post, "Reclaiming Impotence," a classic of its sort.

This is a very long piece that I would probably not post were it not a holiday (for many) when we might have a little more time available.

The short: Despite the fact that the Supreme Court has not changed its membership in ten years, the internal dynamics are changing. The second half of this piece is an analysis of particular cases, but even those who are not legal wonks might enjoy the first part.

(via NYT)

WASHINGTON, July 4 — Although it has been 10 years since its membership last changed, the Supreme Court that concluded its term last week was, surprisingly and in important ways, a new court.
It is too soon to say for sure, but it is possible that the 2003-04 term may go down in history as the one when Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist lost his court.

With all the angst in progress over Kerry's possible choices for VP, this is a reminder that there are other, larger issues at stake. Whoever wins in November is likely to name at least two members of SCOTUS and very possibly more.

Just another day on the campaign trail for Kerry:

There were also scattered Bush signs, some Bush stickers on folks holding Kerry signs and at least one heckler, in a T-shirt that read "W in '04," who yelled, "Kerry go home."
(via WaPo)

Um, Kerry is home, right? After all, this is America. Though you'd never know it at Bush rallies, where people wearing the wrong kind of shirt get dragged away by the cops (here).

NOTE For the famous "morans" picture, see Orcinus.

But Kerry remains silent on actual choice.

Nope, now the Kerry camp says no choice has been made.

Huh?

Then again, Kos seems to think Gephardt's the one. Well, the winger's can't call Gephardt a wild-eyed radical, that's for sure. I mean, they will, of course, since that's all they know how to do, but the charge won't stick, or even muss up Gephardt's hair. Though heaven knows that would be hard to do....

UPDATE Bush is said to be close to naming a new CIA chief. Gee, I wonder if the announcement will happen right after Kerry announces his pick for VP?

UPDATE The non-story continues. Even FUX is getting into the act.

Happy fireworks, people!

Happy Fourth of July, citizens:

Two Bush opponents, taken out of the crowd in restraints by police, said they were told they couldn't be there [at a Bush campaign event] because they were wearing shirts that said they opposed the president.
(via AP)

Gee, the Declaration of Independence (thanks, Xan) might have some relevance here

To secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as
to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

"Deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed." Seems like Inerrant Boy is a little unclear on that concept.....

We certainly hope not.

Okay, this is from a really crappy little whine (in the same paper that gives a paycheck to Robert Novak it should be noted) about "F/911."

The whiner, er I mean author's, main point seems to be that HE said mean things about the Saudis way back when, and yet nobody flocked in droves to praise him like they are currently doing for Michael Moore, who is also fat, and sloppy, and doesn't hate terrorists as much as he hates Bush (???) and blah blah blah, I told you it was a dumb column overall.

However it is worth quoting just one paragraph therefrom, as evidence for the old saying that "even a blind hog finds an acorn sometimes":

(via Chicago Sun-Times)

Here's the way it works: If Bush is wearing the blue boxer shorts, they're a suspicious personal gift from Crown Prince Abdullah. If Bush is wearing the red boxer shorts, it's a conspiracy to distract public attention from the blue ones he was given by Crown Prince Abdullah. If he's wearing no boxer shorts, it's because he's so dumb he can't find his underwear in the morning.

I now apologize, far too late to do any good, for putting that image in everyone's minds. But it was the one point in the whole column with which I think we can all wholeheartedly agree.

This is one of those words Bush has been trying to hijack for his own Orwellian purposes.

So, ever helpful, we at Corrente will translate it for you. In fact, I can think of two translations:

1. Think happy thoughts on the way down.

And, the bonus:

2. Lay back and enjoy it.

UPDATE Alert reader Beth suggests:

3. Seeing the glass as half full even after its been smashed into a million pieces.

UPDATE And alert reader MJS:

Optimism is ditching your National Guard obligation and knowing that somehow it will be made alright by others.

Optimism is seeing huge gas guzzlers spewing exhaust all over America and knowing that your closest business allies are sitting on top of oil reserves.

Optimism is when your party controls both houses of Congress, the Executive Branch, and is one Chief Justice away from holding the majority vote in the highest court in the land for years to come.

Optimism is controlling the leading media outlets but making it seem like you are a victim of mindless partisan attacks.

Optimism is knowing that much of your base needs only to hear the occasional manipulative code word to excite their loyalty.

Optimism is knowing that voting can be rigged, controlled, denied and obscured in ways that are seemingly beyond the reach of the law.

Optimism is never having to say you're sorry.

Look, even Dick "Dick" Cheney has eyebrows. And Biden... Well, I'm trying to remember anything he's actually done. Graham? Maybe if he'd actually unearthed a 9/11 body or two, instead of just saying he knew where they're buried. Chelsea Clinton is a little young, yet... I'd have to say I'd askance at anyone but Edwards. And I do like the idea of cramming a trial lawyer down the throats of the Tories.

UPDATE And Vilsack? What's that? Some brand of pickle?

Maybe the Times is, belatedly, albeit clumsily, trying to clean itself up. Barbara Ehrenreich is now on the OpEd page, though temporarily. (When the Times start heaving bodies out of the Augean stables of what would laughingly be called a "news" gathering operation, in particular their campaign operation, we'll know a clean up is really under way. Some retractions on Gore 2000, and Whitewater would be, of course, too much to hope for). Contrast what follows to the relentless triviality of MoDo's all-too-ironically named "liberties."

Anyhow, Barbara Ehrenreich takes a look at the Declaration of Independence:

When they first heard the Declaration of Independence [here] in July of 1776, New Yorkers were so electrified that they toppled a statue of King George III and had it melted down to make 42,000 bullets for the war. Two hundred twenty-eight years later, you can still get a rush from those opening paragraphs. "We hold these truths to be self-evident." The audacity!

Read a little further to those parts of the declaration we seldom venture into after ninth-grade civics class, and you may feel something other than admiration: an icy chill of recognition. The bulk of the declaration is devoted to a list of charges against George III, several of which bear an eerie relevance to our own time.

The signers further indicted their erstwhile monarch for "taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments." The administration has been trying its best to establish a modern equivalent to the divine right of kings, with legal memorandums asserting that George II's "inherent" powers allow him to ignore federal laws prohibiting torture and war crimes.

But it is the final sentence of the declaration that deserves the closest study: "And for the support of this Declaration . . . we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Today, those who believe that the war on terror requires the sacrifice of our liberties like to argue that "the Constitution is not a suicide pact." In a sense, however, the Declaration of Independence was precisely that.

By signing Jefferson's text, the signers of the declaration were putting their lives on the line. England was then the world's greatest military power, against which a bunch of provincial farmers had little chance of prevailing. Benjamin Franklin wasn't kidding around with his quip about hanging together or hanging separately. If the rebel American militias were beaten on the battlefield, their ringleaders could expect to be hanged as traitors.

They signed anyway, thereby stating to the world that there is something worth more than life, and that is liberty. Thanks to their courage, we do not have to risk death to preserve the liberties they bequeathed us. All we have to do is vote.
(via NY Times)

By contrast, Bush tells us to "go shopping." Translation: Be cowards. Moral clarity...

NOTE And a bonus: Ehrenreich gives us a new term of abuse for the wingers: Tories. I like it...

If you open it, close it!

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America

WHEN in the Course of human Events,

it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which
have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the
Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind
requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the
Separation.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to
secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as
to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not
be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience
hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they
are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute
Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such
Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has
been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the
Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of
Government. The History of the present King is a History
of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the
Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let
Facts be submitted to a candid World.

HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the
public Good.

HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be
obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts
of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation
in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants
only.

HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable,
and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole
Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly
Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to
be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of the Annihilation,
have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from
without, and the Convulsions within.

HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that
Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to
pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the
Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to
Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their
Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of
Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the
consent of our Legislatures.

HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the
Civil Power.

HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our
Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their
Acts of pretended Legislation:

FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us;

FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries,
so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing
the same absolute Rules into these Colonies:

FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and
altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and
waging War against us.

HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and
destroyed the Lives of our People.

HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to
compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with
circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

HE has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to
bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their
Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to
bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages,
whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all
Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

IN every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the
most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by
repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act
which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have
warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an
unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the
Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to
their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties
of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably
interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to
the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in
the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold
the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in
GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World
for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of
the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these
United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES;
that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that
all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is
and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES,
they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances,
establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT
STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a
firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to
each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

... Kerry should avoid that motorcycle.

Not that I'm paranoid.

Yes, it's been quiet, too quiet. All we've had today is the story that in Florida, they're still stealing Democratic votes, the story that Rummy and Sanchez signed off on torture (sayeth Karpinski), and the story that Bush's military records make a plausible case that he was, indeed, a deserter.

Yawn. Hey, how about them Olsen twins?

Business as usual in Bush's America. As pansypoo says: Operation Bohica summer.

Yawn, snarfle. To bed. Maybe tomorrow I'll watch the fireworks....

Oh, and hey—snark—will someone please tell Tena to close that italics tag?

Wish I'd said this. But Brad DeLong did:

We don't have a sample size of one. We have Bush budget policy: a $#@!-up. We have Bush tax policy: $#@!-up. We have Bush employment policy: a $#@!-up. We have John Di Iulio's report on Bush social policy: a $#@!-up. We have Bush stem-cell policy: a $#@!-up. We have Bush global warming policy as reported to us by Paul O'Neill: a $#@!-up. We have Bush energy policy: a $#@!-up. No matter how hard Gregg Easterbrook tries to convince us that the only reason Bush environmental policy is lousy is because of liberal attacks on Bush, his environmental policy is still what it is: a $#@!-up. We have Bush's behavior on September 11, 2001: a $#@!-up. We have Bush's inability for a week afterwards to say "Pervez Musharraf" reliably (rather than "the leader of Pakistan"): a $#@!-up. We have Bush's decisions on how to fight the War in Afghanistan, ending at Tora Bora: a $#@!-up. We have the postwar reconstruction of Afghanistan: a $#@!-up. We have the Medicare drug benefit: a $#@!-up. We have the run-up to the war in Iraq: a $#@!-up. We have the role played by the INC: a $#@!-up. We have the diplomatic skill used to gather a coalition for the war: a $#@!-up. We have the postwar reconstruction effort: a $#@!-up. We have Abu Ghraib: a $#@!-up. We have claims of presidential powers to imprison never even claimed by Henry VII: a $#@!-up. And we have this week's Cuba policy: a $#@!-up.

By my count, the Bush administration is batting zero-for-twenty. If you are batting zero-for-twenty, it is highly likely that you will not hit a triple the next time you're up at bat.
(via Bradford DeLong)

Go on, Brad! Say what you really feel!

After Florida 2000, could they possibly be that crass? That shameless? Silly! This is the Bush family!

Many Floridians have been shocked to find their names on a new state list of nearly 48,000 people identified as felons who may be ineligible to vote, even though they have no criminal record or have been granted clemency.

"Weird. I've never been arrested for felonies," William Miller, 50, of Tampa.

The unemployed mechanic has no criminal record and is a registered voter. He apparently was confused with a man who has the same first and last name, plus the same birthday - but who has a different middle name and a criminal record.

State officials have said there are people on the list who are not felons, and elections workers have flagged more than 300 people listed who might have received clemency. Others on the list had registered to vote before they received clemency and need to register again, election officials said.

The new list, released Thursday, revives memories of the 2000 presidential election, in which many residents discovered at the polls that they weren't allowed to vote. An error-filled list had been produced by an outside company and elections supervisors removed voters without verifying its accuracy.

On Election Day, anyone who feels they have been inadvertently removed from the voter rolls will be allowed to use a provisional ballot that will be examined later to determine eligibility.
(via AP)

Oh, now I feel better. Examined by whom?

From the ever-essential Orcinus, we learn that Paul Lukasiak has issued a draft for feedback on Bush's military records. Lukasiak has examined Bush's military records in extreme detail. Too bad our millionaire MWs can't do this, but then they have BMWs, mortgages, children in private schools to consider....

Anyhow, it seems that Bush's fixers, with the usual mixture of arrogance and sloppiness that a compliant "free" press enables them to have, didn't know what they were released when they released "all" (heh) Bush's military records. Lukasiak's conclusion:

There is no question that Bush understood that he was obligated to continue to serve in the Armed Forces after he quit the Texas Air National Guard. The nature and extent of these responsibilities were part of the training of every Guardsman and Reservists. Bush was a commissioned officer, and pleading ignorance of his obligation would have been (and is) simply unacceptable. Finally, Bush acknowledged that obligation on a document he signed on July 30, 1973.

The Bush documents show that Bush took none of the necessary steps to fulfill those obligations. This leaves us with only two possibilities to consider. The first is that he thought he could get away with ignoring his responsibilities. The second is that he thought he could scam his way into a “Standby Reserve” position that he was not eligible to be in.

(via The AWOL project)

And, oh yeah, it looks like the discharge record has been tampered with—tear marks, and so forth.

Pass the popcorn!

Anyone else get that feeling? Not just for the Fourth of July weekend, but generally? Have the feeling that something is going to shake loose, but we just don't know what?

NOTE Props to Xan for putting the words to my feeling....

More bizarre theological ramblings from Inerrant Boy. It's starting to make me wonder if this "United Methodist" thing is just a cover story for whatever bizarre cult He does belong to. Aside from His own cult, that is:

In a magazine interview, President Bush said evil people can become good, but as for al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden, "This guy's soul is so corroded, there's just no way."

"As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing redeemable about him," the president told Ladies' Home Journal in an April interview.
(via AP)

Case closed, huh?

I guess it's good that Bush has given God Her marching orders, eh? Just to make sure there's no lack of moral clarity.

Then again, His reasoning (heh) does seem a little bizarre. I mean, if God's powers are infinite, surely She can redeem even Saddam? But what do I know, I, like Karl Rove, am a lapsed Episcopalian, if that's not a redundant expression....

Ecstasy.

Here:

Cheese made from organic raw milk.

Milk from grass-fed cows.

No chemicals, drugs, or hormones.

Absolutely world-class. I can taste the grass and the minerals from le terroir.

Good cheese is really the antithesis of terrorism, isn't it? One can't imagine any of our ideologues, on any of the multifarious sides, settling down to make better soft cheeses than the French.

Unfortunately.

Karpinski (as alert reader sid the fish puts it) is "singing like a canary." And isn't this a beautiful sound:

[Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski], the former head of the U.S. prison system in Iraq, told The Signal this week that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally authorized the same types of coercive interrogation methods for detainees at Abu Ghraib that he approved for use on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

The Pentagon denied the assertion Thursday.

[SIGNAL] Are there documents showing Donald Rumsfeld also approved particular interrogation techniques for Abu Ghraib?

[KARPINSKI] I did not see it personally (at the time), but since all of this has come out, I have not only seen, but I've been asked about some of those documents, that he signed and agreed to.

[SIGNAL] About Abu Ghraib?

[KARPINSKI] Yes. About using the same techniques that were successful in Guantanamo Bay, at Abu Ghraib.

[SIGNAL] Those documents have not been released yet?

[KARPINSKI] No.

[SIGNAL] What can you characterize about [documents authorizing special interrogation techniques]?

[KARPINSKI] I know that [Military Intelligence commander] Col. [Thomas M.] Pappas, on three occasions, sent a request to Gen. Sanchez to escalate their interrogations, and that involved using — and he lists them. And in one case he said they wanted to use dogs, and they wanted to increase the length of time that they could be isolated, food deprivation, that kind of — sleep deprivation. And in at least two of those cases, there is a signature of approval from Gen. Sanchez.

[SIGNAL] And you've seen those documents?

[KARPINSKI] Yes I have.

(via, of all places, The Santa Clarita Signal)

Hey, freedom's untidy!

Say, I wonder if Rummy got approval from Bush? And was the approval in writing?

Of course, journalism isn't so easy to outsource, so the MWs have been safe. But it looks like the SCLM is finally starting to question the jobs numbers, and what they mean. Sheesh! How long has Atrios been writing that "Lucky Duckies" headline? Over a year, I think. And how long as the Wecovery been a fake and a fraud—for everything except the corporate bottom line? As long as it's been happening. Anyhow, the idea that something might be wrong has finally started to penetrate the tiny brains of reporters at the Times:

Job growth slowed sharply in June, the government reported yesterday, pulling back from a recent period of strong employment gains and casting doubt on the vigor of the nation's economic expansion.

The Labor Department reported that employers added only 112,000 jobs in June, less than half the average monthly increase of the first five months of the year.

The reported increase, which includes adjustments intended to account for normal seasonal variations, was under the 150,000 threshold of jobs needed for employment to keep pace with natural labor force growth. It was also well below the 250,000 forecast on average by Wall Street economists, who have been consistently wrong about jobs for the better part of the last year.

Gee, I wonder why? Do they just want to support Bush, or are is it some form of market manipulation?

The unemployment rate, which essentially has not budged all year, remained unchanged from May at 5.6 percent.

"It's pretty clear the economy downshifted in June," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist of Wells Fargo & Company in Minneapolis.

Now comes the "balance" part:

"It will take more than one weak month to convince us that the economy is struggling," said Henry Willmore, chief United States economist at Barclays Capital.

At the White House, where President Bush spoke before a group of small-business owners, Mr. Bush sought to cast the new job figures in a positive light. "The jobs increased by 112,000 in June, which means we've had a total of 1.5 million new jobs since last August," the president said. "To me, that shows the steady growth."

N. Gregory Mankiw, the White House's chief economic adviser, dismissed the job report as an aberration.
(via the flaccidly written, slow to react, and unevenly edited not-the-Los Angeles Times)

Translation: Who you gonna believe? Me, or your lyin' eyes?

I don't know why I keep reading the Times, I really don't. (Except for Paul Krugman, and Metropolitan Diary.) It's a sort of horrified fascination. It reminds me of that Laurel and Hardy movie, where Stan and Ollie are moving a piano. You want to say, "No! Don't try to move the piano down the fifty-flight stair!" but they do anyhow, and of course they lose control of the piano, and down the hill the piano goes, jangling and pinging and twanging. And disintegrating. Just like the Times. There's been a lot of jangling and pinging and twanging on the Op-Ed pages lately, and Kristof provides a prime example of it today. In an otherwise unexceptional piece about the administration's ignorance of anything Iraqi, Kristof writes:

I'm not a big fan of Al Jazeera, which tends to be emotional and nationalistic.
(via the poor old Pulitzer light and increasingly marginal not-the-Los AngelesTimes)

Well.

Maybe Kristof can tell me what, in the run up to the war, the US press was, other than "emotional" and "nationalistic"? And utterly enabling of the Bush agenda for war? Sheesh!

UPDATE Alert reader sid the fish has an excellent desconstruction of the way our "free press" covered the story of pulling down Saddam's statue. Not a pretty sight.

And much as I've liked Ellen Goodman's work over the years, I thnk she's yearning for a time long past. Anyhow, she went to see F911 and this was her reaction:

But halfway through "Fahrenheit 9/11," I realized this wasn't an audience, it was a fan club. They weren't watching the movie, they were rooting for it.

If the right is after him, does the choir have to sing the filmmaker's praises as our own cuddly and amusing pit bull?

Michael Moore has been called the left-wing answer to Rush Limbaugh. Rush without the OxyContin. But is it heresy to ask whether the left actually wants its own Rush?

To which my answer is, "Hell yes!" The left doesn't need 10 million listeners? WTF?!

Politics isn't polarized between ideas as much as it is divided between teams in an endless color war. The famous geopolitical map of 2000 painted the states red and blue. Now we have added red and blue talkmeisters, red and blue books, red and blue movies.

Which happened... Well, why, exactly? What Goodman's overly balanced commentary ignores is that the winger authors were funded, by Scaife and the other VWRCers, and given loads of free publicity by media whores in all the major outlets. So, when liberals—surprise!—start using free market mechanisms—like selling books that don't rely on bulk purchases—to redress this unjust imbalance, somehow this is construed as "polarization." I don't buy this little piece of old-time liberal self-flagellation, thanks very much. I still want payback for the Clinton coup, since the people who perpretrated it are still benefitting from it. After we stomp them, then we'll forgive them.

Moore described his movie as an "op-ed piece," not a documentary. Well, I know something about op-ed pieces. Over the long run, you don't get anywhere just whacking your audience upside the head; you try to change the mind within it. You don't just go for the gut. You try, gulp, reason.

Well, politics is the art of the possible, eh? And looking at the record of the Bush administration and the wingers who back it, I don't see a lot of upside potential for reasoning with them. And if we are to reason with them, the first thing we're going to have to do is get their attention. Which Moore (and Stern, for that matter) are doing. More power to them!

I actually agree with P.J. O'Rourke, a conservative who writes in the Atlantic that he tunes out Rush because there's no room for measured debate: "Arguing, in the sense of attempting to convince others, has gone out of fashion with conservatives." But now liberals are trudging purposefully down the same low road.

Sure. After Rush and his ilk take over the airwaves, and after the wingers organize the coup against Clinton, and after the Bush operatives steal the 2000 election, typist O'Rourke wants a measured debate. Measure this, PJ....

In the election between Bush and Anybody But Bush, reason and civility are now designated for wimps. But what happens to the country when the left only meets the right at the American jugular?

The name of Moore's production company, you may recall, is Dog Eat Dog.
(via WaPo)

Your point, Ellen? Beyond a wistful feeling for what might have been?

Liberals didn't start this... But we may have to finish it. And if it's not a pretty sight... So what?

Karpinski fires a warning shot at the higher-ups who want to throw her to the wolves:

The U.S. general who was in charge of Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison said on Saturday she had met an Israeli interrogator in Iraq, a controversial allegation likely to irritate many in the Arab world.

A U.S. military spokesman in Washington said he had no information and an Israeli official denied Israel was involved.

Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, who was responsible for military police guarding all Iraqi jails at the time prisoners were abused by U.S. troops there, told the BBC she met the Israeli at a Baghdad interrogation center.

"He was clearly from the Middle East and he said: 'Well, I do some of the interrogation here and of course I speak Arabic, but I'm not an Arab. I'm from Israel'," she said.
(via UPI)

Well, well. And the Israelis, who also believe that we lost the Iraqi war a year ago, and have gone to their plan B, whatever it is, are also supporting Kurdish separatists.... It would be nice if the administration came clean on how tight its ties to Israel in the war are, wouldn't it? I won't hold my breath.

Pansypoo tipped me off to the statement below. Which she gleaned from a web comment forum, and was made, apparently, as I understand it, by someone calling into an NPR program during a discussion of electronic voting technology.

"I want to know why banks can put an ATM machine in every sleazy convenience store in the land, have them dispense money, take deposits, give you a valid receipt and do it all in 20 seconds and do it accurately and simply....... and yet when we voters ask for a simple receipt for our vote we get some crap about "It's to complicated".

Yeah, I'd like to know that too. Especially when some boiler room callbank telephone truckle, representing one or another thieving harpy credit card corporation extortion racket, can be on the horn the minute a late payment threatens to undermine the very existence of western "free market" corporate capitalism - and recall every financial transaction you've conducted since Ronald Reagan declared the savings and loan industry a unreined profligate greed grope - remind you what the name of your pet turtle was in 1983 (really, I had a turtle named Shelly!? I'd almost forgotten. Gee.) - and basically do it all from a sweaty Office Tiger bunker half way around the world. Well, ya know, one would think some cluck could at least fashion a way to verify who you voted for five fook-yerself Cheney minutes ago. One would think.

But oh no! Such a complex and expensive transaction would require mystical revelations hurled down upon us by the shiny blinking gods of high technology. Or the mining of some vast complicated wellspring of knowledge not yet tapped by modern humankind! Perhaps even undermining grave national security priorities like trying to colonize Mars with little remote control all terrain vehicles or rolling up criminal networks of twelve year old girls downloading pop ditties from shadowy undisclosed online outposts.

Plus, issuing receipts to voters would require just one more bloated government regulated social prorgam which would no doubt threaten the very existence of western "free market" capitalism as we know it. Yup. Sure it would.

*