Thursday, November 30, 2006

Right Wing Authoritarian In Action


"I'm going to tell you something, and whether or not it's plausible given the world you come out of is your problem," he tells Fortune. "I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen." So he's running, only without yet formally saying so."

Coming from the man who earlier this week put forth the thought that we have to limit free speech to win against the terrorists or what ever threat that may or may not come up is quite scary.

But then, if Right Wing Authoritarians and Social Dominators like Newt Gingrich don't scare you, nothing really will.

The Raconteurs - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) Live Video



The Raconteurs covering the Sonny Bono (yes it's true) tune made popular by Cher.

Everyone seems to think it was a Nancy Sinatra tune, including me, for some strange reason.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Pete Townsend & Jack White - The Seeker Live Video



Jack gets instructions from Pete on how to play The Seeker correctly.

Fun little jam.

A Great Response To Yet More Bush Administration Insanity Courtesy Of Mark Morford


"I think I get it now.

The latest pitiable GOP plan, from what I can tell, goes something like this: To make the remaining Bush administration proposals and doctrines and cultural stratagems so outlandish and silly and degrading and insulting to your mind, heart and your very own beleaguered genitalia that you cannot help but laugh and cringe and sit back and go, "Oh my God these people have got to be kidding."

At which point (they hope) you will turn to your spouse or your significant other or your dog and say, "Hey honey, check this out, did you see the latest moronic and horrible dictum from the Bush administration? We should totally try it, just for kicks!"

Then the GOP will gloat and say: "See? The world still loves the GOP! Yay us!" And then they shall proceed to smack themselves in the face with a brick.

It is the only viable explanation. It is the only way to account for something like, say, the latest twist in the Abstinence Education Program from Bush's increasingly laughable Department of Health and Human Services, a $50 million slice of embarrassing government detritus that is now actually encouraging all states to tell their single, youngish residents that they should -- how to put this so you don't shoot coffee through your nose? -- that everyone should avoid sex entirely until they turn 30.

It's for real. It's an actual HHS dictum and there are people who actually believe it should be adhered to, and I'm right now guessing you broke this rule this very morning and if you didn't, you really, really wanted to, and if you're older than 30 and/or married, chances are you are sitting there right now wishing you were still single and/or younger than 30 just one more time just so you could squishily, juicily break that rule again, oh my God yes please. Just a guess."

More here.

Have you ever seen a more perfect example of a people, this time religious fundamentalists, exposing their fears and hatred more than this?

The loathing they must feel towards their own bodies and desires must be just unbearable. But, then again, if you are among the living dead then maybe you don't actually feel anything at all.

You should read Mark Morford on a regular basis.

It's good for your sanity.

Really, it is.

How Ignorant Are People # 2

I was on the phone earlier today with one of the big wireless companies to see if we would get roaming charges if we use our cell phone while we are on vacation in Puerto Rico next week.

The person asked me if Puerto Rico was in Mexico when I asked the question.

How Ignorant Are People #1?




"Last week, a couple were threatened with fines of $25 a day by their homeowners association unless they removed a 4-foot wreath shaped like a peace symbol from the front of their house.

The fines have been dropped, and the three-member board of the association has resigned, according to an e-mail message sent to residents on Monday.

Two board members have disconnected their telephones, apparently to escape the waves of callers asking what the board could have been thinking, residents said. The third board member, with a working phone, did not return a call for comment.

In its original letter to the couple, Lisa Jensen and Bill Trimarco, the association said some neighbors had found the peace symbol politically "divisive."

A board member later told a newspaper that he thought the familiar circle with angled lines was also, perhaps, a sign of the devil."

It turns out that they are that fucking ignorant.

More here.

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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

More Holiday Cheer Concerning Global Warming

"The world has less than a decade to take decisive action in the battle to beat global warming or risk irreversible change that will tip the planet towards catastrophe, a leading U.S. climate scientist said on Tuesday.

And the United States, the world' biggest polluter but major climate laggard, has a vital role to play in leading that fight, James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told Reuters on a visit to London.

"The biggest problem is that the United States is not taking an active leadership role -- quite the reverse," he said.

"We have to be on a fundamentally different path within a decade," said the man who earlier this year caused an outcry when he revealed that scientific warnings on the climate crisis were being rewritten by White House officials.

He said reliance on -- and growing use of -- fossil fuels like coal both in the United States and in boom economy China had to be stopped and reversed to avoid the planet's climate tipping into catastrophe with floods, droughts and famines."

Read more here for your holiday cheer.

This is what I have read in other articles, that for some reason don't seem to originate in the U.S., about how catastrophic climate change is going to be if we don't do something quick.

And we are not talking about starting 20 or even 10 years from now either.

Now means now and it will create jobs and grow the economy too.

Todd Rundgren - Black Maria Live Video



Dig Todd's early 70's glam outfit and guitar.

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Curious George Bush Goes To Vietnam Video

Strangely Amusing First Daughter Incident


"First Daughter Barbara Bush had her purse and cell phone stolen as she had dinner in a restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina, even though she was being guarded by a detail of Secret Service agents, according to law enforcement reports made available to ABC News.

It was not the only mishap on the two-week trip to Argentina by Barbara and her twin sister Jenna.

A Secret Service agent on the advance detail got into an "altercation" with someone after a night out and was badly beaten, according to the law enforcement reports. The Secret Service said today the incident was an attempted mugging that occurred while the agent was on his own time. The agent is doing fine.

The purse snatching took place on Barbara's first night in town while she was dining in the picturesque San Telmo neighborhood. According to the reports, the Secret Service agents failed to notice the incident."

Read more here.

Is it just me or do you find it alarming and amusing that the Secret Service failed to notice a purse and cell phone being stolen?

In a foreign country.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Robert Altman - RIP


I just saw a report that director Robert Altman has died. Known for some of his films to have a large ensemble cast and his trademark "overlapping" dialogue which can be hard to watch and listen to but is, of course, much closer to what real life is like. He had a distinctive feel and a personality behind his films and you could say almost a slightly cynical, anarchist view to them.

I have seen some of his movies including MASH, The Player, The Long Goodbye, Gosford Park, California Split and Nashville but I consider Short Cuts to be the best.

Absolutely brilliant film, in my opinion.

You can read more here.

Check out his filmography here.

Ken Adelman - Factually Wrong Neocon...Just As They All Are


"Adelman's hypocrisy is stunning. In 2002 it was he who famously predicted that American forces would enjoy “a cakewalk” in Iraq, and during the run-up to the invasion he derided war critics for their stupidity and naiveté. “There's always the chicken littles, running around and saying 'oh my God, it's terrible,'” he said on Hardball, six days before the war began, when asked about the possibility that things might not go as smoothly as he and his fellow-hawks had predicted.

The following month, he was gloating to the New York Times that his “cakewalk” prediction had been remarkably prescient. Adelman, according to the story, “scorned recent complaints by retired generals and military analysts that the Pentagon had deployed too few troops” to Iraq. “I always thought that was ridiculous,” Adelman told the newspaper. “It turned out they were factually wrong. I never understood what having three times as many troops would have done.”

More here.

I guess this "creating your own reality" stuff didn't work out to well for them.

That's ok they are all washing their hands of the lies and blood and walking away.

This guy named Scott Ritter was right though. I wonder why they are not interviewing him on tv?

Thanks to Talking Points Memo for the tip.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Aging Population & The Problems That Come With It


Here are two stories, about aging, that compliment each other quite well.

The first is an upcoming report on aging and the impact on healthcare and quality of life on Frontline.

The second involves the sentencing of the man who ran over and killed 10 people in Santa Monica, CA a few years ago.

Synchronicity in action.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Who Is Kathryn Jean Lopez?


I really have no idea who she is except it appears she gets paid to write insane, nutty, you have to read it to believe it stuff like this:

"Passing out contraception without any deeper context or conversation is degrading and disrespectful — to men and women. Tell me I'm crazy."

Yes, you are fucking crazy.

That was easy.

Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the tip.

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Friday, November 17, 2006

Family Planning Chief Is Political Pick

"The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family planning programs at the Health and Human Services Department who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women".

Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman's Concern, a nonprofit group in Dorchester, Mass., will become deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the next two weeks, department spokeswoman Christina Pearson said Thursday."

More here.

If contraception is "demeaning to women" what is having an unplanned pregnancy or having too many children to women?

Is Nuclear Power The Answer To Global Warming?

The answer is no. I would think most people would know this because of the problem of the waste from power plants, as in what do you do with this stuff that is poisonous for 250k years, but there are other reasons:

"Nuclear energy is not the panacea for tackling global warming, says one of the world's most celebrated climate change campaigners, former US vice-president Al Gore.

Mr Gore also shrugged off Prime Minister John Howard's recent claim that his film An Inconvenient Truth showed "a degree of the peeved politician".

"It may be one of those elements that's in the eyes of the beholder," he told The Age yesterday.

Mr Gore said nuclear power was unlikely to play a significantly bigger role in the climate change battle. "Even if you set aside the problem of long-term waste storage and the danger of operator accident and the vulnerability to terrorist attack, you still have two others that are more difficult," he said.

The first problem was one of economics.

"Nuclear power plants are the costliest to build and they take the longest time and at present they come in only one size — extra large."

The second was nuclear weapons proliferation. "For eight years when I was in the White House, every problem of weapons proliferation was connected to a reactor program," he said."

You can read more here.

Republican Senator James Inhofe - Lying Nutcase On Global Warming

"In an interview with Fox and Friends this morning, outgoing Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works James Inhofe (R-OK) argued that the current wave of unprecedented warming is due to “natural changes.” “God’s still up there,” Inhofe said, and to the extent there is warming going on, it is “due to the sun.”

How do you respond to someone like this?

Besides take him to a mental health facility that is?

Go to Think Progress to watch the video.

Zodiac Movie Trailer



This is a really good movie trailer for the new David Fincher film about the Zodiac serial killer who taunted the police, really liked writing letters to the San Francisco Chronicle and scared the hell out of the bay area for a couple of years.

Fincher is probably the ideal director for this movie and seems to be drawn to the dark subject matter with films like Seven, Fight Club and The Game (which is also set in San Francisco and a favorite of mine) on his resume.

Having grown up just outside the bay area in a place that was called the "Murder Capital Of The World" in the 1970's (my grandparents lived in the small town, Soquel, mentioned in the first paragraph of the story, my uncle's family and my family lived a couple of miles away) I was aware of all these crazy serial killers running around, basically, in my backyard.

All of this explains why in the movie The Lost Boys, which was filmed partly in Santa Cruz, the name of the town was changed to Santa Carla.

So you could say I have a slight interest in the film with my vague childhood memories of this time.

The film is due out in March 2007.

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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Robert Fripp & David Sylvian - God's Monkey Live Video



I really like this record The First Day and have had it since it came out in 1993. The tour was quite good, they are great musicians but are not the most dynamic on stage as you can see from the video.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Bill O'Reilly's Opera Coming To Your Area Soon


In the "it couldn't happen to a better guy" department we get word of an opera called Mackris v. O’Reilly that should be a high point of Bill's beloved western culture.

All I can say to Bill "sexual harasser" O'Reilly is Merry Christmas. I know how much you hate "happy holidays" Bill.

Nothing like settling those "frivolous" lawsuits settled, before they get to court, so that nothing gets out to the public.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Dennis Kucinich Is Absolutely Right About Iraq

"We need to have hearings on Iraq again. We need to go over again why we went there. We need to review the statements and all the errors that were made, and from that we bring the country together to take a new direction. It’s all fact-based. And then we start to heal our nation. But we cannot heal America if we continue with policies that are based on lies. We’ll never be able to bring closure to this Iraq matter unless we tell the truth about what happened. So America needs a new approach of truth and reconciliation. This isn’t a Democratic or Republican matter. This is a matter that relates to the conscience of this country. This is a matter of the heart—the heart of democracy itself. This is a matter of whether we’re going to a sober reflection about the events that have transpired since 9/11, with respect to Iraq. And until we do this, we will be trapped not only physically in Iraq, we’ll be trapped emotionally and spiritually in Iraq. We may never get out of Iraq if we don’t tell the truth."

More at Truthdig.

Thanks to This Modern World for the tip.

I agree with Kucinich completely on this. I don't know anyway to deal with any situation based on lies and have it come out good. Do you? If you don't know the truth and the facts what are you going to base any kind of response to the situation on?

Senator Jon Tester Of Montana Should Be A Regular On Meet The Press....Right?

You would think Senator Tester would be a natural fit to be a regular on Tim Russert's show wouldn't you? I mean Tim is the product of a working class family from Buffalo, NY and his roots supposedly have never been left behind even as he spends his weekends in Nantucket and obviously Tester still is working class as you can tell from the photo posted above.

Unless you think Tester chucks hay bales around for fun.

But I suspect we will see the same old inside the beltway guests like the "maverick" John McCain or the "bipartisan" Joe Lieberman and all the others spouting the usual and extremely conventional "wisdom" of how things really are in the world.

Having a real down home kind of guy like Jon Tester on would be a little too real especially when he is not a conservative and starts talking about real populist issues that are affecting the average people of the country. You know that crazy stuff like health care, jobs, "free" trade agreements, the environment and alternative energy.

Who knows maybe I am wrong about this but I would guess not.

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Man Arrested For Sending Anthrax To Keith Olbermann & Others

"A California man suspected of mailing threatening letters containing a suspicious white powder to celebrities and U.S. politicians has been arrested and could face federal charges on Monday, the FBI said.

Investigators identified Chad Castagana, 39, of Woodland Hills, California, as the person suspected of sending more than a dozen threatening letters to media outlets and the homes of public figures in various cities, the FBI said in a statement on Sunday evening.

According to a federal search warrant, among those who received threatening letters were Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show;" talk show host David Letterman; Keith Olbermann of MSNBC; Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who is set to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, both Democrats."

More of the report here.

Would you be surprised to learn that Chad is a conservative?

Didn't think so.

Crooks and Liars has more and it gets even better.

Right Wing Authoritarians as terrorists isn't a surprising thing, or it shouldn't be.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

2006 Election Comedy Roundup Video

Saturday, November 11, 2006

How Crazy Are Religious Right Extremists In The U.S.?

They are this fucking crazy:

"Conservative Christian organizations are contacting supporters to urge a Thanksgiving weekend boycott of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. because the company is offering to pay a commission to a small nonprofit gay organization for sending buyers its way.

Each purchase made by clicking through the Washington D.C. Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People's Web site to Wal-Mart's retail site generates a payment to the group worth 5 percent of the sale.

Donald Wildmon, chairman of the Mississippi-based American Family Association, said Friday that his group has sent e-mails to 3 million supporters urging a boycott because the deal suggests Wal-Mart executives believe "the homosexual agenda is worthy of their support".

Operation Rescue, a Christian conservative group based in Kansas, also is calling for a Thanksgiving boycott of the retailer.

Michael Sessa, president of the D.C. Center, said he was "not familiar with the brouhaha" because his group's Web links are so rarely used.

Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said that since the link was established with the group in 2002, it has attracted one purchase at Wal-Mart, worth $41.73. That purchase generated a payment of $4.17, apparently because Wal-Mart was offering a 10 percent commission at the time, he said."

Read more of the insanity here.

Jack Palance Is Dead But Not Forgotten



Just watch Jack Palance accept the Academy Award.

This says it all.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Democrats Take Control Of The Senate And John McCain Is Still Alive?


Yes, John McCain "jokingly" said he would commit suicide if the Democrats take over the Senate.

He is so funny for a "maverick".

Is the "maverick" and "independent" conservative Republican who is just like all the other conservative Republicans going to bow down to the fanatic extremists in his party to try and become President because there is nothing he will not do or say to get elected?

See this picture of John McCain with his good buddy Jerry Falwell and just remember it when he runs for President.

What a lovable pair.

Billy Joel - Allentown Promo Video



Dedicated to all the K Street Republicans who are losing their jobs. It couldn't happen to a better or more deserving group of people in the world.

Remember to "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" as the door hits your ass on the way out.

Republicans Don't Believe In Unemployment Benefits...Right?

"With hundreds of Republican aides set to lose their jobs as Democrats take over Congress, K Street veterans tell Roll Call that some may have to file for unemployment benefits.

"The hundreds of Republican staffers — not to mention more than a few Members — who will lose their jobs in the next few weeks are going to face a hostile marketplace on K Street as unemployed Republicans flood the market," Kate Ackley writes for Roll Call."

More here.

Because Republican ideology and political philosophy is completely against Democratic liberal government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Workmens Comp and drum roll please ......Unemployment Insurance I expect every single one of them to not apply for and of course not recieve any benefits at all from such a horrible, liberal program such as this. Remember it is a "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps", "I did it all on my own and don't need anyones help" and "ownership society" kind of world that you want and believe in so fiercely that I am sure you will have no problem getting along just fine without liberal government help like a weekly unemployment check.

Isn't this what you have been fighting for ever since the New Deal was enacted by FDR?

Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the article tip.

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Thursday, November 09, 2006

Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy Completely Vindicated

I was a big fan of his 50 state strategy for the Democrats when Howard Dean took over the DNC unlike say.....

Paul Begala "He -- yes, he's in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it's a long-term strategy. But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That's not how you build a party. You win elections. That's how you build a party."

or like...

Rahm Emanuel "Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have clashed angrily in recent days in a dispute about how the party should spend its money in advance of this fall's midterm elections.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who is leading the party's effort to regain majority status in the House, stormed out of Dean's office several days ago leaving a trail of expletives, according to Democrats familiar with the session."

More here.

These two inside the beltway DLC, Republican - lite, out of touch "centrist" Democrats supposedly are on the same team as the rest of us but they didn't believe in this strategy and Rahm definitely didn't believe in many of the candidates who won in the house. How do we know this? Because he supported other candidates who ran in the Democratic primary and he didn't help out many financially as head of DCCC. Pretty easy to figure out.

Howard Dean was right and Paul Begala and Rahm Emanuel were wrong.

I wonder who will take credit for the victory?

Howie Klein over at Down With Tyranny has more on Rahm if you are interested. He doesn't like Rahm for all the right reasons I might add.

Ed Bradley Of 60 Minutes Has Died Of Leukemia


As a kid in the 1970's I started watching 60 minutes with my parents on Sundays. I have always liked Ed Bradley's work on the show and was surprised to hear about his death. I did watch a piece he did recently and noticed in the voice over that his voice seemed hoarse and quite different than the past but I didn't know he was battling cancer. Having gone through it myself I know how hard it is even though we had two very different types of cancer.

President Bush's "Changing Course"

I don't think he can admit to anything not going well, which is the first step in "changing course", especially when it comes to Iraq. When the ship should have never left the harbor in the first place "changing course" is the least you can do.

Craig Ferguson "Interviews" President Bush



Pretty funny little bit by Craig.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare Promo Video Dedicated To The Bush Administration



Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare is dedicated to the Republican party and to all those who voted for them.

There are going to be investigations into a great many things come January.

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Republicans Idea Of "Bipartisanship"


"White House allies suggest there is little reason to think Bush and the Democrats will work together. Bush has tied himself closely to conservative movement leaders who bitterly disagree with Democrats for their opposition to tax cuts and to privatizing Social Security — two of the administration's top goals.

"When we want to go up and they want to go down, we want to go right and they want to go left, there's no compromise," said anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, a close advisor to the White House.

Norquist said the Republicans' primary goal for the next two years should be making the case for GOP control — not bipartisanship.

"Nancy Pelosi will do for the Republicans what [Bill] Clinton did for the Republicans — become the lightning rod to explain that their congressman who they thought was a reasonable guy was really a left-wing wacko," he said."

As a behind the scene leader of the Republican party or if you prefer, or an extremist fanatic as I call him, one Mr. Grover "I want to get the government down to the size I can drown it in the bathtub" Norquist has just given us the answer.

Make no mistake about it these guys are not about what is best for the majority of the country only what is best for the rich and fulfillment of their own extremist ideological ambitions.

And what are those you may ask?

Which is that they essentially want to take the country back to where it was in say 1890, when a union, environmental protection, no social safety net and many other things didn't exist. It was an "ownership society" and what that really meant is that you really were on your own.

Thanks to Talking Points Memo for the tip.


"Bipartisanship is another name for date rape," Norquist, a onetime adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said, citing an axiom of House conservatives."

A Truly Frightening Thing Is Watching C-Span After An Election

Just listening to the people calling in this morning who are so delusional and simple minded, yes I am talking about conservative Republicans, and who live in some kind of alternate reality that has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of empirical facts is simply mind blowing.

If you don't believe me just turn on the television and take a look right now.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Gore Vidal Video - "Most Important Election In My Lifetime"



"Because should this gang of thugs continue in the two houses of Congress, there isn’t any chance of getting the Constitution back

cut.

This is the last chance, really, by getting some new chairpersons to head committees in the House ... to have a clean sweep, which, in normal times, if we’d ever enjoyed them, would have happened by now. Now it has got to happen, or welcome to the Third Reich."

I hope you don't need an 81 year old novelist to tell you to vote but if you do then watch this video.

State By State Info On Identification Needed To Vote

Go to Electiononline for voting identification information.

Orange County Electronic Voting Disaster

"I just got off the phone with Steve Young, the Democratic candidate in CA-48 (Orange County). He reports that his office is receiving calls from at least 8 precincts of voting machines down with no paper ballots available for voters. All, he says, in strongly Democratic areas of the otherwise conservative Orange County. I believe they use ES&S voting machines down there.

He says voters were either being turned away without being able to vote at all, or voting on Chinese and Vietnamese paper ballots — since English ones are not available — just so they are able to vote!

By the time we were done with the call, a staffer came in with a report from machines down in a Republican area, but said the machines were fixed quickly, whereas one of the reports you'll see below (transcribed during our quick phone conversation) shows poll workers repeatedly trying to get help from the Registrar to no avail."

Read more at Bradblog he is on top of all the voting problems around the country.

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More Maryland Republican Dirty Campaign Tricks

"Inaccurate sample ballots describing Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele as Democrats were handed out to voters in at least four polling sites in Prince George's County this morning.

The ballots were distributed by people who said they arrived by buses this morning from Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Erik Markle, one of the people handing out literature for Ehrlich, who is seeking reelection, and Steele, the current lieutenant governor who is campaigning to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D), said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia."

More info here.

You have to ask yourself why a political party would need to hand out phony sample ballots where they say they are from the opposition party in order to try and trick people into voting for them.

How awful and low is that?

How great is our political ideology that we are going to trick you into voting for us!

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The Sound Of Voter Suppression In Virginia Courtesy Of The GOP



Thanks to Tapped for the tip.

Apparently the person mentioned on this audio has voted in Virginia the last 4 election cycles and yet he gets a recording on his answering machine that says he is registered in New York and will be arrested if he tries to vote.

Will the media pick up on this?

Will the media cover that this is one party, the Republican party, doing this kind of voter intimidation?

Will pigs fly?

MSNBC Video On Republican Voter Suppression Robocalls



Watch the big mainstream media not do their job once again. Instead of asking someone at Republican headquarters if what they are doing is illegal why don't they investigate the claim from the Democrats and find out if it is true or not.

Is it illegal or not illegal?

Seems pretty simple.

Problems In Ohio, Indiana & Florida With Electronic Voting

"Programming errors and inexperience dealing with electronic voting machines frustrated poll workers in hundreds of precincts early Tuesday, delaying voters in Indiana, Ohio and Florida and leaving some with little choice but to use paper ballots instead.

In Cleveland, voters rolled their eyes as election workers fumbled with new touchscreen machines that they couldn't get to start properly until about 10 minutes after polls opened.

"We got five machines — one of them's got to work," said Willette Scullank, a trouble shooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board.

In Indiana's Marion County, about 175 of 914 precincts turned to paper because poll workers didn't know how to run the machines, said Marion County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler. She said it could take most of the day to fix all of the machine-related issues."

Read more here.

This was a predictable outcome of electronic voting machines. This is what happens with them.

Why would you replace an easy to use and understand paper system for this?

It should be the easiest thing in the world to vote and for some strange, unknowable reason, in this country it seems to be the hardest thing in the universe.

If you don't think that is the idea then I have a great bridge in San Francisco to sell you.

Vote Today

I know you may have to fight for it but please do it.

If you vote for a Republican don't have any illusions about what you are voting for....corruption, war, tax breaks for the rich, environmental degradation, Social Security privatization, spying on U.S. citizens and so on and so forth.

Quite a party.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Randy Newman - Political Science Live Video



From the show The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Brilliant song from a great album.

Vote November 7th.

"No one likes us
I don't know why.
We may not be perfect
But heaven knows we try.
But all around even our old friends put us down.
Let's drop the big one and see what happens.

We give them money
But are they grateful?
No they're spiteful
And they're hateful.
They don't respect us so let's surprise them;
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them.

Now Asia's crowded
And Europe's too old.
Africa's far too hot,
And Canada's too cold.
And South America stole our name.
Let's drop the big one; there'll be no one left to blame us.

We'll save Australia;
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo.
We'll build an all-American amusement park there;
They've got surfing, too.

Well, boom goes London,
And boom Paris.
More room for you
And more room for me.
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town.
Oh, how peaceful it'll be;
We'll set everybody free;
You'll have Japanese kimonos, baby,
There'll be Italian shoes for me.
They all hate us anyhow,
So let's drop the big one now.
Let's drop the big one now."

Watch Out For Dick Cheney Hunting Tomorrow



Funny but true.

More Republican Voter Suppression?

I have been saying for months that the Republicans are not going to let the House be controlled by the Democrats no matter what it takes.

Is this a sign that they are going to do everything they can think of?

I wonder if the public is just going to let it happen if it becomes obvious that the election was stolen?

This week could get really, really interesting.

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Republican's Voter Suppression Robocalls

Something that should come as no surprise to anyone aware of the Republican's hatred for democracy is the harrasing robocalls designed to look like they come from Democrat's but are really from Republicans. I think they should just call themselves the voter suppression party, it has a nice ring to it.

Talking Points Memo is on the story.

Call the press and talk shows in your area and alert them to this story.

If you want to call the National Republican Congressional Committee and give them a taste of their own medicine here is the number 202-479-7000.

Why Should Poltical Ideology Have Anything To Do With Global Warming?

"Democrats are much more likely than either Republicans or Independents to think it is very to extremely important for candidates in the upcoming elections to have a plan to deal with Global Warming - 63% of Democrats compared to only 27% of Republicans and 47% of Independents. On the other end of the scale, Republicans (34%) are nearly three times more likely than Democrats (12%) to say Global Warming is either not very important or not at all an issue in the Nov. 7th elections."

More here.

The debate is over and Global Warming is very real despite what Michael Crichton might think and I know conservatives seem to only like science when it agrees with they already believe but this is ridiculous.

I mean do you think an economist just makes this stuff up for fun?

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Saturday, November 04, 2006

Rolling Stones - Undercover Of The Night Uncensored Video



An underrated song by the Stones and for some reason it feels right just before the election.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Bush Names Exxon Chief to Chart America's Energy Future

"Even for an administration dedicated to putting industry lobbyists in charge of the very agencies they have devoted their careers to undermining (coal and oil lobbyist J. Stephen Griles as Deputy Secretary of the Interior is one of dozens of examples), President Bush has recently outdone himself. He has named Lee Raymond, the retired chief of ExxonMobil, to head a key study to help America chart a cleaner course for our energy needs. Raymond currently chairs the National Petroleum Council (NPC), one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman says the study will address the supply and demand of oil as well as "assess the potential contribution of conservation, efficiency, alternative energy sources, and technology advances" and determine "the potential long term impact of alternative energies that are plentiful, affordable, reliable and transportable."

Energy Department Under Secretary David Garman, added that the NPC is "well qualified to provide a balanced and informed perspective on strategies and action affecting the energy future for both the U.S. and for every country on earth."

No, this is not a joke apparently.

This administration and the Neo-Cons are beyond satire.

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Republican Tim Murphy Grabs Documents Showing His Illegal Activity



I don't quite get why because he is a congressman "we all need to look up to him" at anytime (these people work for us) but especially when they are doing something illegal.

My favorite part is when he grabs the documents and says they are his and he is taking them back.
I guess he has never heard of a copy machine before.

To lie or not to lie, that is the question.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up Category

"By now you may have seen the lead story in today's New York Times. It turns out that the Bush administration's unprecendented -- and apparently foolish beyond belief -- decision to agree to post thousands upon thousands of raw and in some cases unexamined or untranslated documents captured in the 2003 invasion of Iraq on the Internet had a very unintended consequence.

Some of the Baghdad papers, from before the first war in 1991, included the most detailed instructions for making a nuclear weapon ever placed on the Internet:

The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams, equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well as the radioactive cores of atom bombs.

Experts worry that the documents could have been very helpful to a rogue state trying to assemble a nuclear weapon.

Especially Iran:

Ray E. Kidder, a senior nuclear physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, an arms design center, said “some things in these documents would be helpful” to nations aspiring to develop nuclear weapons and should have remained secret.

A senior American intelligence official who deals routinely with atomic issues said the documents showed “where the Iraqis failed and how to get around the failures.” The documents, he added, could perhaps help Iran or other nations making a serious effort to develop nuclear arms, but probably not terrorists or poorly equipped states. The official, who requested anonymity because of his agency’s rules against public comment, called the papers “a road map that helps you get from point A to point B, but only if you already have a car.”

That's the story, but the backstory behind how this happened is even more remarkable, in a way.

It happened because after the White House invaded a Middle Eastern country based upon a web of lies about weapons of mass destruction and phony ties to al-Qaeda, the neoconservatives were desperate for any shred of evidence that might belatedly prove they were right after all, and enlisted their blogger backers to become amateur WMD Sherlock Holmes'.

It happened because a so-called "army of Davids" -- in reality, the 101st Fighting Keyboarders, the folks who never met a war in the Middle East they didn't like as long as there was someone else to enlist and take an IED blast for "the team" -- wanted to wage war on the homefront, from the pajama-clad safety of their Hewlitt Packards."

Read more of Will Bunch's take on this.

Thanks to This Modern World for the tip.

Essentially what is boils down to is that the neo-cons in and out of power, the true believers if you will, just knew that Saddam had WMD and just knew that Iraq had links to Al-Qaeda.

Of course it wasn't true but they just knew because Right Wing Authoritarians aren't wrong about anything.


1: Faulty reasoning — RWAs are more likely to:

* Make many incorrect inferences from evidence.
* Hold contradictory ideas leading them to ‘speak out of both sides of their mouths.’
* Uncritically accept that many problems are ‘our most serious problem.’
* Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs.
* Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear.
* Use many double standards in their thinking and judgements.

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Republicans Suppressing The Vote In Maryland

"A recently distributed guide for Republican poll watchers in Maryland spells out how to aggressively challenge the credentials of voters and urges these volunteers to tell election judges they could face jail time if a challenge is ignored.

Democrats said yesterday they consider the handbook, obtained by The Washington Post, evidence of a Republican effort to block people from voting Tuesday.

"The tenor of the material is that they are asking folks, if not directing them, to challenge voters," said Bruce L. Marcus, an attorney for the state Democratic Party. "It's really tantamount to a suppression effort."

Advocacy groups including the National Campaign for Fair Elections, Common Cause and the NAACP, as well as a George Washington University professor who is an expert on voter suppression, agreed with that assessment."

Cut.

"The GOP poll-watcher program, outlined in a 13-page document, states: "Your most important duty as a poll worker is to challenge people who present themselves to vote but who are not authorized to vote."

Read the rest of the story.

I am curious how they know who is authorized to vote and who isn't?

If you don't think this is going to be happening in other places then you are either very naive or just refuse to face reality.

As was pointed out in the article this happened in Ohio in 2004 along with many voters be "dropped" from the rolls.

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Wednesday, November 01, 2006

George Allen's "Handlers" Vs Mike Stark Video



Interesting take on this video by the mainstream media. I have watched it several times from different sources and in different lengths but I don't get the "heckling" or "protestor" label of Mike Stark. Do you? He doesn't appear to be raising his voice until after he is being physically pushed away and then put into a headlock on the ground.

Here is his response.

My name is Mike Stark. I am a law student at the University of Virginia, a marine, and a citizen journalist. Earlier today at a public event, I was attempting to ask Senator Allen a question about his sealed divorce record and his arrest in the 1970s, both of which are in the public domain. His people assaulted me, put me in a headlock, and wrestled me to the ground. Video footage is available here, from an NBC affiliate.

I demand that Senator Allen fire the staffers who beat up a constituent attempting to use his constitutional right to petition his government. I also want to know why Senator Allen would want his staffers to assault someone asking questions about matters of public record in the heat of a political campaign. Why are his divorce records sealed? Why was he arrested in the 1970s? And why did his campaign batter me when I asked him about these questions.

George Allen defends his support of the Iraq war by saying that our troops are defending the ideals America stands for. Indeed, he says our troops are defending our very freedom. What kind of country is it when a Senator's constituent is assaulted for asking difficult and uncomfortable questions? What freedoms do we have left? Maybe we need to bring the troops home so that they can fight for freedom at George Allen's campaign events. Demanding accountability should not be an offense worthy of assault.

I will be pressing charges against George Allen and his surrogates later today. George Allen, at any time, could have stopped the fray. All he had to do was say, "This is not how my campaign is run. Take your hands off that man." He could have ignored my questions. Instead he and his thugs chose violence. I spent four years in the Marine Corps. I'll be damned if I'll let my country be taken from me by thugs that are afraid of taking responsibility for themselves.

It just isn't the America I know and love. Somebody needs to take a stand against those that would bully and intimidate their fellow citizens. That stand begins right here, right now.

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