"I,Republican"

I stile this from Billmon it is brilliant.

Billmon: "
The three laws:
1. A Republican may not injure a corporation, or, through inaction, allow a corporation to come to harm.
2. A Republican must obey the orders given it by corporations except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A Republican must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law."

Bill Moyers -The real show

WorkingForChange-The real show
Bill as usual gets right to the point. Why pay to see Michael Moore's moviw when the reality beats it hands down. This is just one example:
"Michael Moore's outrageous, but not as outrageous as George W. Bush and Tom DeLay conspiring to let the ban on killer assault weapons expire. Bush says he doesn't like all that loaded hardware lying around, but it's up to the House of Representatives to vote. The aptly named Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader, on the other hand, says -- wink, wink -- he can't let a vote happen because Bush hasn't asked him to."

A People's Democratic Platform

Quoting below from the editors at The Nation is a realistic alternative Democratic platform.

A People's Democratic Platform: "The Democratic Party platform to be presented at the upcoming convention has been tailored to suit the positions of the presidential nominee and to raise as few contentious issues as possible. That may be good strategy as defined by political pollsters and strategists, but to our mind it represents a missed opportunity to put forward and debate some fresh, possibly unconventional ideas. So we've asked a disparate group of people--ranging from retired newsman Walter Cronkite to hip-hop activist Bakari Kitwana--what plank each of them would like to propose. Their answers were by turns provocative, quirky and unexpected. We offer them in the hope that voters will be stirred to come up with their own 'planks' and then try to turn them into reality. --The Editors"

Just a reminder

One in six children in the United States continues to live in poverty. One in eight - 9.3 million - children have no health insurance. ... Almost one in ten teens ages 16 to 19 is a school dropout. Eight children and teens die from gunfire in the U.S. each day - one child every three hours.

Children's Defense Fund

Averaging over 2 deaths a day

It is daily creeping farther and farther from the front pages. People seem to have the impression that something changed with the so called transfer of soveriegnty. It didn't. In case anyone has forgotten, we are still averaging over two U.S. dead each day. That is 901 Americans dead, 121 allied, and countless Iraqis. And don't forget the 5,394 wounded and maimed. We won't even try and count the psychologically scarred?

Iraq Coalition Casualties

Feces in the ventilator

The blogosphere is going to go ape over the latest from Mr. Krugman. I can't wait to see the 101st fighting keyboards get a hold of this and starting shitting bricks.....ain't we got fun.
Paul Krugman: The Arabian Candidate

This op-ed is so right it is painful.

Digsby has hit the target again

Digsby in the following link points us to articles by Charles Pierce at MSNBC and Jonathan Chait at TNR. As awlays he say it better than I but I do want to reiterate a point. When you consisder the unbridled unrepentant lawlessness of the current administration take a moment and think about Bush and Cheney and their potential when they don't even have to pretend to care about another election. It makes the blood run cold. Hullabaloo: "They Don't Like Democracy"

Edwards is doing what he needs to do

As this article in the Nytimes points out that Edwards is rebranding Kerry and is a very positive move. Kerry has some trouble selling himself and having Edwards do the job is an excellent idea.The New York Times

Kos reminds us that people are still dying in Iraq

Daily Kos : "Just a reminder that people are still dying. 36 already in July, just halfway into the month, for a total of 1,012 allied deaths, 892 of them American. Nevermind the countless Iraqis who have perished in Bush's War, the tens of thousands of maimed and wounded on both sides, and the forgotten (and unfinished) war in Afghanistan (another 130 dead)."

Surprise, Surprise!

Now I wonder why the Whitehouse is withholding the Un audit findings on all the Halliburton contracts. Could it be that it is not all super? As Corrente points out, maybe the problem is related to the following.

corrente: "KPMG outlined a series of other shortcomings, including the coalition's failure to install meters on Iraq's Persian Gulf export loading platforms, making it impossible to determine how much oil Iraq was exporting."

Perception Gap in Iraq

The following graph from the Washington Post by Jim Hoaglund makes a very good point. The reality is that the Whitewash House, by faking the return of soveriegnty to Iraq, are managing to distance themselves from the ugly realities of what is happening. There has been no abatement in the violence either on the locals or on the coalition forces. The sad part is that the U.S. media are allowing then to get away with it. Whores.

Perception Gap in Iraq (washingtonpost.com): "To the relief of the White House, the American public and media seem to be slowly trying to tune out Iraq's continuing violence. Accounts of all but spectacular assaults slide deeper into network news broadcasts and the inside pages of newspapers as the summer and the U.S. presidential campaign progress. "

The Big Dog reminds us of some stuff

Bill Clinton in an interview with PBS reminds us that not only Bush screwed the pooch with respect to Iraq adn Afgahnistan but the whole show is shit.

"It's not just Iraq. They got out of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a treaty supported
by every Republican and Democratic president since Eisenhower. They got out of the
Kyoto Climate Change Treaty. They were opposed to the International Criminal Courts,
to strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention. They bagged the Antiballistic Missile
Treaty to build a missile defense even though we don't know whether it works or not.
And maybe most troubling and least known to the American people, they're trying to develop
two new nuclear weapons, smaller nuclear weapons, and it changed our nuclear doctrine for
the first time since the end of World War II, to say that, well, maybe we will be the first to use
nuclear weapons if we use these small ones. "

It's getting worse

Thoughtcrimes are the issue in this post at the Donkey. The Bush administration is getting more open about its refusal to allow the first amendment rights of the opposition. This is tatamount to a dictatorship. Read it and weep.

Fafblog distills the essence of why Edwards won't do

Fafblog! the whole worlds only source for Fafblog.: "He is too inexperienced! With only six years of experience in politics John Edwards is not qualified for the vice presidency. Now, if those six years were as Texas governor and if he were running for president, things would be totally different. But as it stands, he is too inexperienced!

He is a trial lawyer! As a trial lawyer Edwards repeatedly stole money from poor corporations to give to greedy children crippled by their products! Do we really need a vice president who is a lackey of Big Children?"

Let's be real here!

This obcenity is going on in the international press and the lead story in the Sunday edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is about teenage girls getting breast implants. Can I just ask a question here? What the hell! Does the AJC have no responsibility to inform it's readers? There is nothing about Iraq until page 3. No mention of the casualties of the last three or four days. No reminders that over a 1000 coalition soldiers have died and that over 5000 have been wounded.
There is no mention of the people with Kerry T-Shirts being removed and arrested from a townmeeting in Pennsylvania where Bush was scheduled.
It is sickening.

Just what is Tom RIdge doing?

Does it make sense to tell your enemies, you know the ones supposedly trying to kill us, that they have leaks in their security and that we know they are up to something and that we are going to find out what? Is it smart to alert these enemies to the fact that we are beefing up security as a result? Seems to me that giving them these "little clues" is about the dumbest thing you would want to do.
I only spent 8 years in military intelligence but I did learn a few things. A cardinal rule is not to compromise your sources or reveal how good or bad your success is at gathering intelligence. If your target knows your successful then they will change methods if they don't know if you are successful they will stay with their compromised methods a little longer.

David Sirota has a good question.
Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenants, operating from hideouts suspected to be along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, are directing a Qaeda effort to launch an attack in the United States sometime this year. - NY Times, 7/9/04
QUESTION: If this is the case, and we face an imminent threat of a terrorist attack in America, why do we have 140,000 troops in Iraq, and just 13,500 troops in Afghanistan? "

How Convenient

"Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.
It said the payroll records of 'numerous service members,' including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. No back-up paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25."


"The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question.

Only those few months that are in question? Again, how convenient.

"There was no mention of the loss, for example, when White House officials released hundreds of pages of the President's military records last February in an effort to stem Democratic accusations that he was 'AWOL' for a time during his commitment to fly at home in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.
Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director who has said that the released records confirmed the president's fulfillment of his National Guard commitment, did not return two calls for a response."

I believe this pretty much guarantees that Bush's service records were tampered with. Too much coincidence for my taste.

Gobsmacked!

I think something important is beginning to intrude into my understanding. I keep asking myself how so many otherwise reasonably intelligent people continue to support Bush and company and nothing makes sense. That is until the last day or so. I think they are “in denial” if that’s the right term. Never before in anyone’s life or historical understanding has a president been so completely unprepared or other wise incapable of performing the job. Never before has a president displayed such an incredible lack of intellectual curiosity or flexibility. Even if people are aware of the details of policy and budgets and current accounts they are still “struck dumb’ as it were. Here is a president that in spite of numerous warnings from very serious folks stood by and let the greatest terrorist attack in history happen. According to polls some half of the country thinks he is doing a good job in war on terrorism when in fact no one can actually point out anything accomplished.
What it boils down to is that a large mass of the American public flatly refuses to believe the truth—it is just too hard to believe that the most powerful man in the world is a complete putz and utter failure, not only at being president but in everything he has ever done.
I think what brought this realization to a head was the selection of John Edwards as Kerry’s running mate. The immediate RNC spin was that he was too inexperienced to be vice-president which completely ignores that Bush’s pre presidential experience was four years as the Governor of Texas which by most measures is the least powerful governorship in the U.S. To top it all off the only pre governor experience had been at failing at everything including being a disgusting drunk until 40.
That is my guess.

Better and Better

Well the guessing is over and as you can see below I was notified by email about a quarter to nine. I was really pulling for Edwards and not just because I feel a southern side to the ticket can’t hurt. The few times I have heard him speak I have been very impressed. I think now he can turn his full attention on the Bush/Cheney disaster to real effect.
Putting Edwards on the ticket tells you something about what Kerry is thinking. Since Edwards is not a foreign policy wonk or a war hero like Clark Kerry sees the situation in Iraq as deteriorating to the point where anyone, regardless of the foreign policy experience will be able to challenge the results. Edwards also brings the other side of the tracks to the campaign. He can talk to the regular guys and gals as one who has been there and risen above it. He talks their language something Kerry can’t do. Edwards also takes class warfare out of the game. Additionally, since Edwards made his money suing big corporations he has the gravitas to take on the corporate connections as well.
It is interesting that the Bush campaign is already calling Edwards the second choice and accusing Kerry of flip-flopping over his choice.
If Rove and company aren’t “afeared” they should be. There will be a major campaign by the Repubs to discredit him as unqualified but it won’t fly.
I am feeling better and better about the elections.
Now if we can just get some sort of paper trail on the voting machines.

The Kerry Letter

For those of you who are not yet contributors or participants in the John Kerry campaign, here is the letter sent out to supporters this morning before the news conference.

In just a few minutes, I will announce that Senator John Edwards will join me as my running-mate on the Democratic ticket as a candidate for vice president of the United States. Teresa and I could not be more excited that John and Elizabeth Edwards will be our partners in our journey to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.

You are the heart and soul of our campaign. You've shattered records and expectations every step of the way. Every time someone said you couldn't do it, you proved them wrong. Because of your incredible grassroots energy and commitment, I wanted to make the first official announcement of my decision to you -- more than one million online supporters at johnkerry.com.

I want you to know why I'm excited about running for president with John Edwards by my side. John understands and defends the values of America. He has shown courage and conviction as a champion for middle class Americans and those struggling to reach the middle class. In the Senate, he worked to reform our intelligence, to combat bioterrorism, and keep our military strong. John reaches across party lines and speaks to the heart of America -- hope and optimism. Throughout his own campaign for President, John spoke about the great divide in this country -- the "Two Americas" -- that exists between those who are doing well today and those who are struggling to make it from day to day. And I am so proud that we're going to build one America together.

In the next 120 days and in the administration that follows, John Edwards and I will be fighting for the America we love. We'll be fighting to give the middle class a voice by providing good paying jobs and affordable health care. We'll be fighting to make America energy independent. We'll be fighting to build a strong military and lead strong alliances, so young Americans are never put in harm's way because we insisted on going it alone.

I can't tell you how proud I am to have John Edwards on my team, or how eager I am for the day this fall when he stands up for our vision and goes toe-to-toe with Dick Cheney.

This is the most important election of our lifetime, and a defining moment in our history. With you by our side every day of this campaign, John and I will lead the most spirited presidential campaign America has ever seen, and fight to lead our nation in a new and better direction.

Thank you,
John Kerry

Bush Boom is missing still!

As always Krugman hits the nail head on. The following graph is just a teaser.
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Bye-Bye, Bush Boom: "But Mr. Bush has already presided over a bust. For the first time since 1932, employment is lower in the summer of a presidential election year than it was on the previous Inauguration Day. Americans badly need a boom to make up the lost ground. And we're not getting it."

Things change.....

Amendment I: (written in the spring of 1778) Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Associated Press (July 4, 2004): "Two Bush opponents, taken out of the crowd in restraints by police, said they were told they could not be there because they were wearing shirts that said they opposed the President. "

Infectious Disease Trading Cards

Brad DeLong points out that there are actually trading cards for infectious diseases on the CDC website for kids. I am not so sure this is the proper way to kids up to speed on such thing as ebola.

Then again maybe I am just old fashioned.

Kerry's Campaign Slogan

For those of you who don't know the poem that is the source of John Kerry's campaign slogan - here it is.

Langston Hughes - The Academy of American Poets: "

Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!


From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright © 1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes.

Bush has pissed off the Baptists!

I can't imagine this is excellent news for the monkey's campaign.
Baptists Angry at Bush Campaign Tactics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative denomination closely aligned with President Bush, said it was offended by the Bush-Cheney campaign's effort to use church rosters for campaign purposes.
"I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
...
"We are alarmed that this initiative by the Bush-Cheney campaign could lure religious organizations and religious leaders into dangerous territory where they risk losing their tax-exempt status and could be violating the law," Gaddy said.

This is probably not going to affect the hardened evangelicals but the less whacky Baptists are sure to take notice. Net it should have a negative effect on the campaign.