Bark Bark Woof Woof

President Bush Cites 'Personal Reasons' in Announcement

WASHINGTON, June 3 — George J. Tenet has resigned as director of central intelligence, President Bush said today in an announcement that stunned Washington by its timing.

"Today, George Tenet, the director of the C.I.A., submitted a letter of resignation," Mr. Bush said on the South Lawn of the White House. "I met with George last night in the White House. I had a good visit with him. He told me he was resigning for personal reasons."

But while Mr. Bush said he had told Mr. Tenet he was sorry to see him go and that he had done "a superb job on behalf of the American people," there was immediate speculation that there was much more behind the departure than Mr. Tenet's wish to leave the demands of a post he has held since 1997.

I was wrong. I was, I was just... I was wrong. Come on, we know that. Lots of times we don't know what right or wrong is, but lots of times we do, and come on... this is one. I may not have had sinister intent at the outset, but there were plenty of opportunities for me to make it right. No one in government takes responsibility for anything any more, we fuster, we obfuscate, we rationalize. "Everybody does it", that's what we say. So we come to occupy a moral safe house where everyone's to blame, so no one's guilty. I'm to blame. I was wrong.

MIAMI -- Police trampled civil rights and left this city living "under martial law" for a brief period during the Free Trade Area of the Americas conference, according to a draft report from a Miami-Dade County panel tasked with examining police conduct during the November meetings.

Though the panel's main focus was the Miami-Dade Police Department, chairman Jorge Reynardus said the report is an evaluation of the more than 35 law enforcement agencies that monitored protests.

"It's a comment on what we saw overall. And some of what we saw is shocking and deplorable," Reynardus said.

The draft included strong language to criticize "the unrestrained and disproportionate use of force," and offer "heartfelt apologies to the visitors who came to our city to peaceably voice their concerns, but who were met with closed fists instead of open arms."

From the beginning, George W. Bush has made his own credibility a central issue. On 10/11/00, then Governor Bush said: "I think credibility is important. It is going to be important for the president to be credible with Congress, important for the president to be credible with foreign nations." But President Bush's serial flip-flopping raises serious questions about whether Congress and foreign leaders can rely on what he says.

1. OPEC

BUSH PROMISES TO FORCE OPEC TO LOWER PRICES..."What I think the president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots...And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price." [President Bush, 1/26/00]

...BUSH REFUSES TO LOBBY OPEC LEADERS With gas prices soaring in the United States at the beginning of 2004, the Miami Herald reported the president refused to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds." [Miami Herald, 4/1/04]

2. Iraq Funding

BUSH SPOKESMAN DENIES NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE REST OF 2004..."We do not anticipate requesting supplemental funding for '04" [White House Budget Director Joshua Bolton, 2/2/04]

…BUSH REQUESTS ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR IRAQ FOR 2004 “I am requesting that Congress establish a $25 billion contingency reserve fund for the coming fiscal year to meet all commitments to our troops.” [President Bush, Statement by President, 5/5/04]

3. Condoleeza Rice Testimony

BUSH SPOKESMAN SAYS RICE WON'T TESTIFY AS 'A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE'...“Again, this is not her personal preference; this goes back to a matter of principle. There is a separation of powers issue involved here. Historically, White House staffers do not testify before legislative bodies. So it's a matter of principle, not a matter of preference.” [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 3/9/04]

…BUSH ORDERS RICE TO TESTIFY: “Today I have informed the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Against the United States that my National Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, will provide public testimony.” [President Bush, 3/30/04]

4. Science

BUSH PLEDGES TO ISSUE REGULATIONS BASED ON SCIENCE..."I think we ought to have high standards set by agencies that rely upon science, not by what may feel good or what sounds good." [then-Governor George W. Bush, 1/15/00]

...BUSH ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS IGNORE SCIENCE "60 leading scientists—including Nobel laureates, leading medical experts, former federal agency directors and university chairs and presidents—issued a statement calling for regulatory and legislative action to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking. According to the scientists, the Bush administration has, among other abuses, suppressed and distorted scientific analysis from federal agencies, and taken actions that have undermined the quality of scientific advisory panels." [Union of Concerned Scientists, 2/18/04]

5. Ahmed Chalabi

BUSH INVITES CHALABI TO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS...President Bush also met with Chalabi during his brief trip to Iraq last Thanksgiving [White House Documents 1/20/04, 11/27/03]

...BUSH MILITARY ASSISTS IN RAID OF CHALABI'S HOUSE"U.S. soldiers raided the home of America's one-time ally Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday and seized documents and computers." [Washington Post, 5/20/04]

6. Department of Homeland Security

BUSH OPPOSES THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY..."So, creating a Cabinet office doesn't solve the problem. You still will have agencies within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn't solve anything." [White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 3/19/02]

...BUSH SUPPORTS THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY "So tonight, I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America and protecting the American people." [President Bush, Address to the Nation, 6/6/02]

7. Weapons of Mass Destruction

BUSH SAYS WE FOUND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION..."We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories…for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." [President Bush, Interview in Poland, 5/29/03]

...BUSH SAYS WE HAVEN'T FOUND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION "David Kay has found the capacity to produce weapons. And when David Kay goes in and says we haven't found stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where the weapons went. They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq. They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we'll find out." [President Bush, Meet the Press, 2/7/04]

8. Free Trade

BUSH SUPPORTS FREE TRADE... "I believe strongly that if we promote trade, and when we promote trade, it will help workers on both sides of this issue." [President Bush in Peru, 3/23/02]

...BUSH SUPPORTS RESTRICTIONS ON TRADE "In a decision largely driven by his political advisers, President Bush set aside his free-trade principles last year and imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel to help out struggling mills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, two states crucial for his reelection." [Washington Post, 9/19/03]

9. Osama Bin Laden

BUSH WANTS OSAMA DEAD OR ALIVE... "I want justice. And there's an old poster out West, I recall, that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.'" [President Bush, on Osama Bin Laden, 09/17/01]

...BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT OSAMA “I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him… I truly am not that concerned about him.” [President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02]

10. The Environment

BUSH SUPPORTS MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE... "[If elected], Governor Bush will work to…establish mandatory reduction targets for emissions of four main pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide." [Bush Environmental Plan, 9/29/00]

...BUSH OPPOSES MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE "I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a 'pollutant' under the Clean Air Act." [President Bush, Letter to Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), 3/13/03]

11. WMD Commission

BUSH RESISTS AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE... "The White House immediately turned aside the calls from Kay and many Democrats for an immediate outside investigation, seeking to head off any new wide-ranging election-year inquiry that might go beyond reports already being assembled by congressional committees and the Central Intelligence Agency." [NY Times, 1/29/04]

...BUSH SUPPORTS AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE "Today, by executive order, I am creating an independent commission, chaired by Governor and former Senator Chuck Robb, Judge Laurence Silberman, to look at American intelligence capabilities, especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction." [President Bush, 2/6/04]

12. Creation of the 9/11 Commission

BUSH OPPOSES CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION... "President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." [CBS News, 5/23/02]

...BUSH SUPPORTS CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION "President Bush said today he now supports establishing an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." [ABC News, 09/20/02]

13. Time Extension for 9/11 Commission

BUSH OPPOSES TIME EXTENSION FOR 9/11 COMMISSION... "President Bush and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have decided to oppose granting more time to an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." [Washington Post, 1/19/04]

...BUSH SUPPORTS TIME EXTENSION FOR 9/11 COMMISSION "The White House announced Wednesday its support for a request from the commission investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks for more time to complete its work." [CNN, 2/4/04]

14. One Hour Limit for 9/11 Commission Testimony

BUSH LIMITS TESTIMONY IN FRONT OF 9/11 COMMISSION TO ONE HOUR... "President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have placed strict limits on the private interviews they will grant to the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that they will meet only with the panel's top two officials and that Mr. Bush will submit to only a single hour of questioning, commission members said Wednesday." [NY Times, 2/26/04]

...BUSH SETS NO TIMELIMIT FOR TESTIMONY "The president's going to answer all of the questions they want to raise. Nobody's watching the clock." [White House spokesman Scott McClellan, 3/10/04]

15. Gay Marriage

BUSH SAYS GAY MARRIAGE IS A STATE ISSUE... "The state can do what they want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's issue like you're trying to get me into." [Gov. George W. Bush on Gay Marriage, Larry King Live, 2/15/00]

...BUSH SUPPORTS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING GAY MARRIAGE "Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife." [President Bush, 2/24/04]

16. Nation Building

BUSH OPPOSES NATION BUILDING... "If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road." [Gov. George W. Bush, 10/3/00]

...BUSH SUPPORTS NATION BUILDING "We will be changing the regime of Iraq, for the good of the Iraqi people." [President Bush, 3/6/03]

17. Saddam/al Qaeda Link

BUSH SAYS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEEN AL QAEDA AND SADDAM... "You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror." [President Bush, 9/25/02]

...BUSH SAYS SADDAM HAD NO ROLE IN AL QAEDA PLOT "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in Sept. 11." [President Bush, 9/17/03]

18. U.N. Resolution

BUSH VOWS TO HAVE A UN VOTE NO MATTER WHAT... "No matter what the whip count is, we're calling for the vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council. And so, you bet. It's time for people to show their cards, to let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam." [President Bush 3/6/03]

...BUSH WITHDRAWS REQUEST FOR VOTE "At a National Security Council meeting convened at the White House at 8:55 a.m., Bush finalized the decision to withdraw the resolution from consideration and prepared to deliver an address to the nation that had already been written." [Washington Post, 3/18/03]

19. Involvement in the Palestinian Conflict

BUSH OPPOSES SUMMITS... "Well, we've tried summits in the past, as you may remember. It wasn't all that long ago where a summit was called and nothing happened, and as a result we had significant intifada in the area." [President Bush, 04/05/02]

...BUSH SUPPORTS SUMMITS "If a meeting advances progress toward two states living side by side in peace, I will strongly consider such a meeting. I'm committed to working toward peace in the Middle East." [President Bush, 5/23/03]

20. Campaign Finance

BUSH OPPOSES MCCAIN-FEINGOLD... "George W. Bush opposes McCain-Feingold...as an infringement on free expression." [Washington Post, 3/28/2000]

...BUSH SIGNS MCCAIN-FEINGOLD INTO LAW "[T]his bill improves the current system of financing for Federal campaigns, and therefore I have signed it into law." [President Bush, at the McCain-Feingold singing ceremony, 03/27/02]

Gay prom is a happy affair in south Minneapolis
Mary Durden and Laura Grevas, Special to the Star Tribune

June 2, 2004

The beautiful old Blaisdell Manor in south Minneapolis is abuzz with excited teenagers and young adults streaming through the front door. Balloons and candlelit tables adorn the dance floor, providing a backdrop for the deejay's lively music and brightly colored lights. In the foyer, girls chat and make adjustments to their formal gowns while boys strut around in traditional black and retro pastel tuxedos. Friends hug and cameras flash. It's a typical all-American prom -- almost.

A closer look reveals a few differences. The balloons are in rainbow colors, a ballot box encourages attendees to vote for a male and female for both prom king and queen, and among those in attendance are girls sporting eyebrow-pencil mustaches and boys wearing sequined gowns.

It's the annual District 202 gay prom.

And this is one of its most fun activities. District 202's Web site announces, "We're Queer! We're Here! We're going to Prom!"

"A lot of kids don't get to go to their regular prom. They don't have to worry about prejudices here. It's a good time to forget about all of the hatred for four hours of the day," said Udgon Abdullahi, women's group coordinator. Later, she was crowned Queer Prom 2004's female prom queen.

"It's safer," said Ian Christiansen, a District 202 staff member. "They won't have to fear being stared at or beat up."

Not so long ago, the South provided a bleak landscape for Democrats. Struggling to recover from devastating defeats in the 2002 off-year elections, the party saw five of its incumbent senators announce their retirements — John B. Breaux in Louisiana, John Edwards in North Carolina, Ernest F. Hollings in South Carolina, Zell Miller in Georgia and Bob Graham in Florida.

Because President Bush won all five states in 2000, Republicans saw the vacancies as fertile ground for solidifying control of the Senate.

But now, some of those election contests are shaping up as unexpectedly spirited. With a sluggish regional economy, continued bloodshed in Iraq and a certain distance from their own party, Southern Democrats say they sense political daylight — and a slim possibility of recapturing the Senate.

Independent experts say there is more to the Democratic claims than election year spin.

"I think the Democrats are going to end up winning a few of these races," said Charlie Cook, editor of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan publication. "The president will certainly win in the South, but he's not going to be the asset for other Republican candidates that you might normally expect."

The stakes are high and extend well beyond the South. Citing Mr. Bush's declining approval rating, Democrats have begun to talk openly about the possibility — slim though it may be — of the party's recapturing one or both houses of Congress in November. In the Senate, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 51 to 48 (there is one independent), even one or two victories in the South would be a major step toward that goal, giving the Democrats a cushion if they lose elsewhere.

"I think the Democrats are turning out to have a legitimate shot of winning back control of the Senate, maybe a 30 percent to 40 percent chance, and the South is going to be huge in that effort," Mr. Cook said.

[edit]

Nonsense, Republican strategists respond, the Democrats are just whistling Dixie.

"This is like Custer's Last Stand for them," the Republican chairman in South Carolina, Katon Dawson, said. "Look at how they're running from their nominee. I mean, their candidates in the South are just absolutely getting on a bus and running away from John Kerry. Meanwhile, we're hugging George Bush. "

The Republican candidate for Senate in North Carolina, Representative Richard M. Burr, put it this way, "I think Democrats are desperate to find a state or a region where they can say, "Look here, people have missed it, but we really are competitive.' "

[edit]

Democratic strategists acknowledge that the odds remain against them in most of these Southern contests, and they are compensating by emphasizing their independence.

"I don't think my ideas are Republican ideas and I don't think they're Democratic ideas," Erskine Bowles, the Democratic candidate for the Senate in North Carolina, recently told 12 voters at a restaurant. "I just think they're good ideas."

[edit]

In North Carolina, a Mason-Dixon poll of 625 registered voters conducted from May 14 to May 17 found 45 percent favoring Mr. Bowles, 35 percent for Mr. Burr and 20 percent undecided. Republicans shrug off those numbers as a temporary result of Mr. Bowles's statewide name recognition, a result of his unsuccessful Senate race against Elizabeth Dole in 2002. [New York Times]

A group of Vietnam veterans opposed to John Kerry's presidential campaign demanded Tuesday that he remove a photograph that appears in one of his television advertisements.

In Tuesday's "cease and desist" letter, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth called on Kerry's campaign to stop what it said was the unauthorized use of the images of some of them in a 60-second biographical spot titled "Lifetime." The ad began running nationwide in early May.

The U.S. Navy photo in question depicts 20 officers, including Kerry, and was taken January 22, 1969, on the island of An Thoi in Vietnam. The ad shows only a portion of the picture -- not all of the men are visible -- and is displayed for two seconds.

[edit]

A Kerry spokesman dismissed the group's claim, noting the Swift Boat Veterans used an enlarged version of the same photo at a news conference announcing the anti-Kerry group's formation in early May.

"Somehow they didn't call to ask if they could use John Kerry's image," Michael Meehan said. "When it was useful for their politics they show a big blow-up."

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- A radio station suspended its airing of an ad for black Republican congressional candidate Vernon Robinson that rails against illegal immigration and signs off in Spanish with the words "Yo, Gringo!"

WSJS-AM said it made the decision over the holiday weekend because it was unclear if the sponsor was clearly identified in the otherwise-English ad, which contends the prevalence of Spanish spoken in the United States can make Americans feel like they're in "The Twilight Zone."

Only the final line is in Spanish, in words that translate to: "Yo, Gringo! This episode of 'The Twilight Zone' was paid for by Robinson for Congress."

Robinson said Tuesday that the tag line was intended as a way to underscore his message, but he grudgingly agreed to let the station edit it into English. The catchphrase "Yo, Gringo!" - a contemptuous Spanish term for Americans - remains.

[edit]

In a statement, Robinson said the flap over the last line does not change the overall message of the ad: "To show the importance of securing our borders, stopping the illegal immigration invasion and making English the official language of the United States."

A Winston-Salem city councilman and regular candidate for office, Robinson is a black Republican seeking the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Richard Burr.

In campaign mailings, Robinson has often invoked the name of one of the state's conservative icons, proclaiming: "Jesse Helms is back! And this time he's black."

Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi leader and former ally of the Bush administration, disclosed to an Iranian official that the United States had broken the secret communications code of Iran's intelligence service, betraying one of Washington's most valuable sources of information about Iran, according to United States intelligence officials.

[edit]

The F.B.I. has opened an espionage investigation seeking to determine exactly what information Mr. Chalabi turned over to the Iranians as well as who told Mr. Chalabi that the Iranian code had been broken, government officials said. The inquiry, still in an early phase, is focused on a very small number of people who were close to Mr. Chalabi and also had access to the highly restricted information about the Iran code.

Some of the people the F.B.I. expects to interview are civilians at the Pentagon who were among Mr. Chalabi's strongest supporters and served as his main point of contact with the government, the officials said. So far, no one has been accused of any wrongdoing.

The Chalabi virus was very widespread at the highest levels of this administration. So I'd say it's possible, though not likely, that the culprit or culprits could be very high-level administration figures, particularly if they turn out to hang their hats in the White House complex rather than at the Pentagon.

In case you missed it over the holiday weekend, there's an interesting nugget in Time raising more questions about Dick Cheney's cozy relationship with former employer Halliburton. The magazine obtained an internal Pentagon email that says Cheney's office coordinated a contract awarded to Halliburton for work on restoring Iraqi oil that was worth billions of dollars.

Boy, talk about burying the lead. In its Monday profile of the new liberal talk radio network Air America, the New York Times spent so much time dwelling on the financial woes that have reportedly plagued the start-up company that it wasn't until the 15th paragraph that readers learned this bombshell: Talk radio novice Al Franken's new Air America show beat conservative kingpin Rush Limbaugh in New York City where the two go head-to-head every weekday afternoon from noon to three o'clock. That's according to preliminary Arbitron rating estimates for April. Heard in New York on WLIB-AM, whose ratings were virtually non-existent prior to switching over to Air America's programming earlier this year, Franken and the rest of Air America's 10 a.m-to-3 p.m lineup grabbed a 3.4 rating among listeners age 25-to-54. By contrast, Limbaugh who has been the most highly rated political talk show host in America for the last decade, and who is heard in New York on talk radio powerhouse WABC, lead the station to just a 3.2 rating. There's more (although the Times forgot to mention it): Among listeners 18-to-34, Franken and WLIB won in a knockout, garnering a 2.9 ratings share compared to WABC's dismal 0.4 showing.

The New York Times may have gone easy on newsroom diva Judith Miller in its mea culpa over the paper's breathless -- and faulty -- pre-war coverage, but New York magazine isn't being so kind. In an unflattering profile that also condemns former Times editor Howell Raines for enabling Miller, writer Franklin Foer describes Miller as having "seemingly bottomless ambition" who walked all over her colleagues -- many of whom spoke anonymously and uncharitably about Miller for this piece.

Hung Butchers 'Take Me Out to Ball Game'

From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity
Scholars Say Campaign Is Making History With Often-Misleading Attacks
By Dana Milbank and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, May 31, 2004; Page A01

It was a typical week in the life of the Bush reelection machine.

Last Monday in Little Rock, Vice President Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry "has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all" and said the senator from Massachusetts "promised to repeal most of the Bush tax cuts within his first 100 days in office."

On Tuesday, President Bush's campaign began airing an ad saying Kerry would scrap wiretaps that are needed to hunt terrorists.

The same day, the Bush campaign charged in a memo sent to reporters and through surrogates that Kerry wants to raise the gasoline tax by 50 cents.

On Wednesday and Thursday, as Kerry campaigned in Seattle, he was greeted by another Bush ad alleging that Kerry now opposes education changes that he supported in 2001.

The charges were all tough, serious -- and wrong, or at least highly misleading. Kerry did not question the war on terrorism, has proposed repealing tax cuts only for those earning more than $200,000, supports wiretaps, has not endorsed a 50-cent gasoline tax increase in 10 years, and continues to support the education changes, albeit with modifications.

Scholars and political strategists say the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented -- both in speeches and in advertising.

Bush Keeps Saddam's Pistol As a Trophy

Gay-Rights Activists Denied Communion.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Several U.S. guards allege they witnessed military intelligence operatives encouraging the abuse of Iraqi prison inmates at four prisons other than Abu Ghraib, investigative documents show.

Court transcripts and Army investigator interviews provide the broadest view of evidence that abuses, from forcing inmates to stand in hoods in 120-degree heat to punching them, occurred at a Marine detention camp and three Army prison sites in Iraq besides Abu Ghraib.

That is the prison outside Baghdad that was the site of widely published and televised photographs of abuse of Iraqi detainees by Army troops.

Testimony about tactics used at a Marine prisoner of war camp near Nasiriyah also raises the question whether coercive techniques were standard procedure for military intelligence units in different service branches and throughout Iraq.

At the Marines' Camp Whitehorse, the guards were told to keep enemy prisoners of war - EPWs, in military jargon - standing for 50 minutes each hour for up to 10 hours. They would then be interrogated by "human exploitation teams," or HETs, comprising intelligence specialists.

"The 50/10 technique was used to break down the EPWs and make it easier for the HET member to get information from them," Marine Cpl. Otis Antoine, a guard at Camp Whitehorse, testified at a military court hearing in February.

Kerry will run a campaign that positions him strongly as a military man, hoping to attract Republicans fed up with Bush's misadventures. That means that one of the swift-boat veterans who served with Kerry in Vietnam travels with him now from state to state. It means veterans frequently get a special seating area near the front of the stage. It means that events often begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. And it means that American flags dot Kerry's necktie, hover over him when he speaks and will soon grace his plane when he flies.

For liberal Democrats, it all takes a little getting used to. Conditioned over the last four years to associate the flag with Bush-Cheney bumper stickers on SUVs and the Pledge with the folks who shout out the "under God" clause, Democrats at Kerry events -- even those who support his approach to Iraq -- may find themselves in an uncomfortable embrace with the trappings of patriotism.

As a veteran who fought in Vietnam and then against it, Kerry gives them cover. In Seattle Thursday, Kerry reminded the veterans and graduate students invited to hear his national security speech that "patriotism doesn't belong to one party or one president." Thursday night in Green Bay, Wis., he told a crowd of Democratic partisans that the flag is a "symbol of our strength, and our strength comes from our ability to speak out and make America stronger."

While Kerry could probably be stronger if he weren't constrained by his own record -- and the lack of easy answers -- on Iraq, as he traveled through the Northwest and back again this week, it was hard not to feel the momentum building behind him anyway. Although some polls still show Kerry and Bush running neck-and-neck, the latest CBS poll shows Kerry leading by 8 points. Perhaps more encouraging for Kerry is a new poll showing rising favorable impressions among voters where it matters, in 20 key battleground states. And on Friday, his increasingly confident campaign announced that Kerry would even challenge the president in Republican-leaning Virginia, a state where Bush beat Gore in 2000 by a solid 8 points.

The silver-haired Virginian with courtly manners is a throwback to a forgotten era of congressional comity. But as he leads the Senate's inquiry into abuse of Iraqi prisoners, Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) also shows another side: a penchant for bucking his party, taking heat and surviving.

Warner says his committee has a "solemn responsibility" to discover what went wrong and to "make sure it never, never happens again." But some conservatives are angry about the high-profile televised hearings, saying the prisoner-abuse issue is overblown and threatens to undermine the United States' primary mission in Iraq.

As a result, the 77-year-old Virginian finds himself in an uncomfortable but familiar position: more at odds with the right flank of his own party on some critical issues than he is with Democrats.

"I think he should stop the hearings at this point; we've heard enough," said Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a committee member. "We have a war to win, and we need to keep our talents concentrated on winning the war as opposed to prisoner treatment."

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) complained that Warner and other Senate members have become "mesmerized by cameras." Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was irked when Warner, in a departure from normal committee practice, decided to put all abuse-inquiry witnesses -- including the secretary -- under oath, according to Senate sources.

But Warner shows no signs of backing off, arguing that the country wants and deserves a vigorous examination of the sexual humiliation, physical abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. He has held three televised hearings this month to question top Pentagon officials and military commanders -- two more televised sessions than the House has allowed -- and he is planning more.

Friends say Warner -- a sailor in World War II, a Marine during the Korean War and secretary of the Navy before he came to the Senate in 1979 -- is motivated by a strong belief that the reputations of both the military and the Senate are at stake unless they get to the bottom of the scandal. "To do otherwise would be contradictory to everything he has experienced in his professional life," said committee member John McCain (R-Ariz.). Besides, McCain added, "it would be incredibly stupid politically."[Washington Post]

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A man who sent 850 million junk e-mails through accounts he opened with stolen identities was sentenced to up to seven years in prison on Thursday.

Atlanta-based Internet service provider Earthlink Inc. said it hoped the sentence and an earlier $16.4 million civil judgment against Howard Carmack will deter other spammers.

Xan, the newest member of Corrente, pays tribute to David Dellinger, one of the Chicago 7.

Bryant at Make Me A Commentator observes the new national pastime.

Rivka at Respectful of Otters notes the reversal of the Texas comptroller's ruling on the tax exempt status of a Unitarian Church, and adds some thoughts on church finances in general.

Chris catches us up with 24, a show I've never seen (not because I'm not interested in good storytelling; I just never caught it.)

Steve Gilliard writes about Judith Miller and the culture of poor American journalism she represents.

Rook is thinking about classic British TV characters.

Did Bill Cosby go too far? See what bloggg has to say about that.

Scout at And Then... connects a lisping Spanish king to our current Oval Office occupant.

The Invisible Library goes after the New York Times's article on addictive blogging.

The Fulcrum links to a blog on physics by Sean Carroll that even I can understand.

edwardpig on Vietnam vets against Kerry, plus a bit of historical context on fighting a war and running for re-election.

Trish feels a bit of a draft.

Kick the Leftist on certain anti-malaria drugs and their calamitous side effects.

Collective Sigh encounters a well-known figure in her back yard.

Upyernoz learns how to say "baseball" in Arabic.

Jude at Iddybud wants to know which Monty Python character you are. I'm afraid to guess.

SoonerThought wants Rush off American Forces Radio.

Jeff at Speedkill wonders what the meaning of sovereignty is. (Hint: ask the Native Americans in the Southwest.)

Wanda says Be Alert! (Well, we all know the world needs more lerts.)

Have a nice weekend, Michael.

archy on the complexities of tearing down Abu Ghraib.

NTodd is shaking the cup for Kerry. Do it.

Tony at It's Craptastic is off for a couple of days, but he left this piece on compassionate conservatives in Mississippi.

Jesse at The Gotham City 13 has the transcript on JFK 2.0's foreign policy speech. Check it out.

Rick tries his hand at stand-up comedy.

Echidne of the Snakes makes coleslaw.

BlogAmy's David offers some stuff we should know.

Steve writes about the latest tactic being used to extract information: taking hostages. Even Klingons don't do that.

Finally, go wish Happy Furry Puppy Story Time a Happy Birthday!

Uh Oh

No, not me, but those words are undoubtedly being uttered around one presidential campaign tonight. I was just channel surfing and stumbled across "The O'Reilly Factor" where Bill was hammering...a bit gently, but still hammering...his guest's ascertains. He referred to them at various times as "strident," "an extremist," and my personal favorite, "wrong, wrong, and wrong again." The guest? Ann Coulter.

To her claims that the war is going "magnificently," Reilly gave his famous "Oh, pa leeez!" look and said "Our FOX correspondents in Baghdad are afraid to leave their hotel." When she claimed that WMD's had in fact been found...well, if not actual weapons, at least research facilities and documentation...Reilly fired back with "Well, labs and papers aren't what Powell went to the U.N. with," to which she could only sputter "of course he's the guy liberals like best," as though it was Colin Powell's idea to go to war, and the lack of proof of his claims shows that somehow the whole Iraqi thing was some sort of liberal conspiracy.

But I guess my favorite part came when she defended Rush Limbaugh's "Oh, it was only hazing" comments about the Abu Ghraib disaster. First she tried to claim he didn't say it, then said it was "one minute out of a three hour show," to which O'Reilly responded with some anger that he competes against Rush with his own radio show, is intimately aware of everything he says, and it was a lot more then a passing comment...it was the theme of that day's show. Ann got really bent at that point, doing the famous hair-flipping thing, and O'Reilly really got angry, saying he was in that business, she wasn't, and she was in no position to dismiss his knowledge of the competition with a wave of her hand. I thought she was either going to cry or slap him when he said as an author she appealed "to a niche market" and could widen her appeal if she wasn't so "strident and closed minded."

So...can we expect to see O'Reilly endorsing Kerry? Hardly, but it's more evidence of his supporters distancing themselves from the Boy Wonder. Throw in the lukewarm defense of Rumsfeld by a mere handful of the Republican majority, the substitution of "support the troops" for any talk of "support the president" when referring to the war, the lack of pundits touting his "accomplishments," and I think the handwriting, no matter how dimly, is starting to appear on the wall. Johnson knew it was over when he lost Cronkite over Tet and said as much. I doubt Dubya is perceptive enough to note what's happened, but that doesn't matter. It's happening whether he and his arrogant crew know it or not.