Media Mayhem

The same thing goes down in St. Louis at the Riverfront Times every day and nobody ever gets busted. Ever stop to wonder why? ...

The Tennessean, Dec. 17, 2004:

An advertising salesman with the Nashville Scene was arrested yesterday, accused of knowingly placing ads for prostitution services in the weekly newspaper.

Nels Noseworthy of Bellevue Road is accused of selling ads to undercover Metro officers who made it known they were promoting prostitutes, police said. The escort-service ads included suggestive phrases like ''XXX,'' ''Sex In The City Escorts,'' and ''$200/hr.''

Noseworthy, 29, was indicted by a Davidson County grand jury on six felony counts of promoting prostitution. He faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. ...


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Los Angeles Times, Dec. 28:

Despite a clear-cut reelection and the prospect of lasting GOP dominance in Congress, President Bush (news - web sites) prepares to start his second term with the lowest approval ratings of any just-elected sitting president in half a century, according to new surveys.

That distinction, which pollsters and analysts blame on public discontent over the war in Iraq (news - web sites), comes as Bush begins drafting two major speeches that could quickly recast his image: an inaugural address Jan. 20 and the State of the Union soon after. Bracketed between them is the Jan. 30 election in Iraq, another milestone that could affect public impressions of Bush.


His performance in those speeches and the outcome of the Iraqi vote could determine whether Bush regains the momentum from his Nov. 2 election victory in time to push through controversial initiatives such as revamping Social Security (news - web sites), rewriting the tax code, limiting lawsuits and trimming the budget deficit, analysts said.


A Gallup survey conducted for CNN and USA Today puts Bush's approval rating at 49% — close to his preelection numbers. That's 10 to 20 points lower than every elected sitting president at this stage since just after World War II, according to Gallup, which has been tabulating such data since Harry S. Truman won a full term in 1948.


Bush's Gallup rating echoed a survey published last week by ABC News and the Washington Post, which put his approval rating at 48%. That poll also found that 56% of Americans believed the Iraq war was not worth fighting. Time magazine also put Bush's overall approval at 49%.


"The question is, what happened to the honeymoon?" asked Frank Newport, editor of the Gallup survey.


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From the newspaper that betrayed him:

San Jose Mercury News, Dec. 12:

by Jessica Portner

Gary Webb, a former Mercury News investigative reporter, author and legislative staffer who ignited a firestorm with his controversial stories, died Friday in an apparent suicide in his suburban Sacramento home. He was 49.


The Sacramento County coroner's office said that when A Better Moving Company arrived at Mr. Webb's Carmichael home at about 8:20 a.m. Friday, a worker discovered a note posted to the front door which read: ``Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance.''


Mr. Webb, an award-winning journalist, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, Sacramento County Deputy Coroner Bill Guillot said Saturday.


Mr. Webb's friends and colleagues described him as a devoted father and a funny, dogged reporter who was passionate about investigative journalism.


As a staff writer for the Mercury News from 1989 to 1997, he exposed freeway retrofitting problems in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and wrote stories about the Department of Motor Vehicles' computer software fiascos.


Mr. Webb was perhaps best known for sparking a national controversy with a 1996 story that contended supporters of a CIA-backed guerrilla army in Nicaragua helped trigger America's crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. The ``Dark Alliance'' series in the Mercury News came under fire by other news organizations, and the paper's own investigation concluded the series did not meet its standards.


Mr. Webb resigned a year and a half after the series appeared in the paper. ... (yeah, right. They demoted a Pulitzer-prize winner to covering zoning commission hearings)
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How does a coroner rule a death a suicide without further investigation, when the deceased received two shots in the head? And why would any reporter believe such bullshit?

Sacramento Bee, Dec. 15:

by Sam Stanton

Facing a barrage of calls from the media and the public, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office issued a statement Tuesday confirming that former investigative reporter Gary Webb committed suicide with two gunshots to the head.

"The cause of death was determined to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head," the coroner's statement said.

"Information and evidence gathered at the scene of death, including a handwritten note indicating an intention on the part of the decedent to take his own life, resulted in 'suicide' as the determined manner of death.

"The investigation is continuing and will take an estimated additional six to eight weeks to complete."

The statement was issued because of the number of calls that had flooded the Coroner's Office since The Bee reported Sunday that Webb's death was caused by more than one wound.

Webb, a former San Jose Mercury News reporter, was found dead in his Carmichael home Friday morning.

Webb, who most recently had been writing for the Sacramento News & Review, is survived by his ex-wife and three children.

Such a case normally would have sparked little notice. But Webb gained notoriety in the 1990s after writing a series of stories for the Mercury News linking the CIA to Nicaraguan Contras seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government and to drug sales of crack cocaine flooding South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s.

His newspaper and others later questioned the conclusions in Webb's reporting, and he left the San Jose newspaper in 1997 after being moved to a suburban bureau.

But Webb's allegations spawned a following, including conspiracy theorists who have worked the Internet feverishly for days with notions that because Webb died from two gunshots he was killed by government agents or the Contras in retribution for the stories written nearly a decade ago.

Webb's ex-wife, Sue Bell, discounted such theories Tuesday, saying the 49-year-old Webb had been distraught for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper.

"The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," Bell said.

She said that before he died Webb wrote and mailed notes to family members and placed his baby shoes in his mother's shed.

Webb had paid for his own cremation earlier in the year and had named Bell months ago as the beneficiary of his bank account, she said. He had sold his house last week, because he could no longer afford the mortgage, and was upset that his motorcycle had been stolen last week.

He had apparently laid out his driver's license before taking his father's .38-caliber pistol, which he kept in his nightstand, to shoot himself.

Coroner Robert Lyons said his office had been swamped with calls. "It's unusual in a suicide case to have two shots," he said, "but it has been done in the past, and it is in fact a distinct possibility."
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Prison Planet, Dec. 15:

by Alex Jones

Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered
Webb Spoke Of Death Threats, 'Government People' Around His Home


Alex Jones & Paul Joseph Watson | Updated December 15 2004


UPDATE: Only In Arkansas: Webb 'Double Gunshot Wounds' Explanation Defies Belief


We will simply not let the issue drop. How on earth can somebody have two different gunshot wounds and their cause of death still be passed off as suicide?


UPDATE: Coroner: Gary Webb's Death Confirmed as Suicide


First it was multiple gunshot wounds, then it was just one and now it's multiple again. Would somebody stealing your motorcycle really drive you over the edge?


UPDATE: Do you really think someone can shoot themself in the face twice? How stupid do they think we are? (WARNING EXTREMELY GRAPHIC)


Credible sources who were close to Gary Webb have stated that he was receiving death threats, being regularly followed, and that he was concerned about strange individuals who were seen on multiple occasions breaking into and leaving his house before his apparent 'suicide' on Friday morning.


Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide.


Webb's 1996 series in the Mercury News alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine in Los Angeles and funneled millions of dollars in profits to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s.


Today's Alex Jones Show, aired on the GCN radio network featured interviews with Chico Brown and Cele Castillo. Castillo is author of "Powder Burns", Cocaine, Contras & The Drug Connection. A retired DEA agent, Castillo personally witnessed CIA drug smuggling operations. Chico Brown, was former business parter and co-defendent with 'Freeway' Ricky Ross, the biggest drug dealer on the west coast supplied by the CIA.


Ricky Ross, one of Gary Webb's primary sources had spoken to Gary in the days before his death. Gary told Ricky that he had seen men scaling down the pipes outside his home and that they were obviously not burglars but 'government people'. Gary also told Ricky that he had been receiving death threats and was being regularly followed. It was also mentioned that Gary was working on a new story concerning the CIA and drug trafficking.


Gary described the men around his home as 'professionals' who jumped from his balcony and ran away when Gary confronted them ...
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While the leftist American press lamented Gary Webb's death, it was left to an anarchist web site in Europe to raise the question as to how Webb managed to finish himself off by shooting himself twice in the head.

Bellaciao, Dec. 21:

by Charlene Fassa

’Move-On - Nothing To See Here’


How convincing is this statement:


Coroner Robert Lyons said his office had been swamped with calls. "It’s unusual in a suicide case to have two shots," he said, "but it has been done in the past, and it is in fact a distinct possibility."


This milquetoast declaration sounds like the pathetic utterance of someone who’s trying to cover his career ass, all the while crossing his fingers behind his back. Maybe - just maybe, it’s also indicative of someone who wants to keep his own life intact. I’d say it’s a distinct possibility! While the coroner spews his Webb suicide fallacy to the numbed down and distracted (pre-holiday) masses - he simultaneously implores any doubters of the official mythology to immediately discard their tin-foil hats along with their conspiracy theories and just move on cause there’s nothing to see here. Nope, there’s nothing to SEE or KNOW here.
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Counterpunch, Dec. 20:

by Bill Conroy

It's funny how things come back to you when you lose a friend.


As I was smoking a cigarette on my patio the other night, thinking about Gary Webb and how everything I stood for in journalism was now quaking under my feet, I recalled that Gary told me there was one person, in particular, that he trusted completely: journalist Chuck Bowden.


Gary had once told me that he would "trust Chuck Bowden with his life."


So in the wake of Gary's recent death, I decided to look up Bowden and give him a call.


Bowden is the author of some 15 books, including Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder and Family. Bowden also penned an article for Esquire magazine in 1998 that backed up the findings of Gary's 1996 San Jose Mercury News expose on the CIA/Nicaraguan Contra crack connection. That meant Bowden was one of the few journalists in Gary's corner when he fell victim to the media-jackal feeding frenzy that enveloped him in the wake of his investigative series.


Bowden's 1998 Esquire article starts with the following lead in:


Two years ago, Gary Webb wrote a series of articles that said some bad things about the CIA and drug traffickers. The CIA denied the charges, and every major newspaper in the country took the agency's word for it. Gary Webb was ruined. Which is a shame, because he was right.


When I got Bowden on the phone this week in Tucson, where he lives, it was clear he was upset over Gary's death. Bowden, 59, said he believed Gary took his own life, despite the two gunshot wounds involved. ...

Canyon News, Dec. 19:

by Henry Meyerding

Many readers may recall the crusading journalist Gary Webb, the man who broke the astounding story in the mid-1990s about the CIA involvement in the US cocaine trade. His book, "Dark Alliance," and his Pulitzer Prize winning pieces for the San Jose Mercury News stirred up considerable controversy within the press establishment. Most "responsible" journalists accused him of being a "conspiracy theorist" and he was effectively banned from participation in the mainstream media. This professional shunning occurred despite the quiet admissions by CIA operations staff before Congressional hearings (and elsewhere) that the majority of Gary Webb's allegations were true.


The crime here is not that a journalist should have broken an unpopular and dangerous story -- that is supposed to happen, it is one of the principal reasons for supporting a "free and vigorous press." Neither is the crime that this story was loudly denounced by government officials as bunk, and then much later and much more quietly admitted to -- that happens all the time, too. What is the crime here is that the professional life of a dedicated reporter was ruined by the very liars he denounced (and by collaborators within the press), totally without comment. ...
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In These Times, Dec. 20:

by Salim Muwakkil

In September 1998, Esquire ran an article chronicling the sad saga of investigative journalist Gary Webb, who had uncovered a story of government skullduggery that proved to be too vast for his own good. Webb’s big story was a three-part series arguing that the CIA was complicit with right-wing Nicaraguan Contras as they sold the cocaine that accelerated the crack-cocaine epidemic. One of the subheadlines of the Esquire article was “A Good Man Destroyed.”


Six years later, on December 10, 2004, the 49-year-old Webb died by a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.


Webb’s controversial series, which appeared in the San Jose Mercury News during August 1996, detailed how the Contras sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs and used the profits to finance their terrorist campaign against Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista government. He provided a well-researched and powerfully written chronicle of how anti-communist fervor got our government involved in helping to propagate one of the most damaging drug epidemics in modern history.


The black community was particularly outraged by the information contained in Webb’s stories, which were widely circulated on the Internet. The crack-cocaine epidemic had spread across black America, wreaking devastation in its wake. Charges that both the FBI and CIA were out to get blacks have long circulated within the African-American community, and the Mercury News series alleging CIA involvement in this deadly epidemic resonated strongly.


Ever since a congressional investigation revealed the scope of the government’s COINTELPRO program, which was intended to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize” black leaders across the political spectrum, black activist organizations have cast a wary eye toward federal intelligence agencies. And, in fact, some radical groups long had charged the government was proliferating drugs as a form of “chemical warfare,” to demobilize black activism. Webb’s series seemed to corroborate all of this and he was hailed as a hero by many in the black community. Webb told me that such adulation made him very uncomfortable. ...
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The word of reporter Gary Webb's death earlier this month came by email on literally the darkest days of a very bleak year. I Since the presidential election and its tragic results, I've been paying less attention to the news. The war goes on. Americans and Iraqis continue to die and the madman in the White House spews out nonsense and platitudes.

Meanwhile, media moguls such as my old boss Mike Lacey, owner of the New Times "alternative" newspaper chain go about the business of overseeing their empires, enriching themselves and ignoring the news. Those in his employ who do otherwise soon find themselves in the unemployment line. And so it goes.

That's essentially what happened to Webb's career at the San Jose Mercury News, after Walter Pincus of the Washington Post and other guardians of the Mighty Wurlitzer trashed Webb for his 1996 investigative series entitled "Dark Alliance," which uncovered the CIA's role in supporting cocaine traffickers for the purpose funding right-wing death squads in Nicaragua in the 1980s. Webb was able to track how the drugs moved from Central America to the streets of East LA. The scandal pushed community activists in Los Angeles to call for reforms and a government investigation. Eventually, much of Webb's reporting was substantiated by the CIA itself in a belated report the agency published. But by that time, the Mercury News had fired Webb. Though he subsequently published a book on the subject, his career in journalism was dead.

On Dec. 10, Webb died of an apparent suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A colleague and I interviewed Webb in August 1998 around the time that his book came out. My friend sent me a copy of the transcript. Looking it over, I'm struck by how little has changed since 9/11. The CIA is still getting away with murder and doing the bidding of the Bush dynasty.

So as I mull over what to do with the transcript, I've decided to begin posting some of the Webb's obits, beginning with Robert Parry's, which appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. I'm sure the fact that Parry's work appeared in the Guardian and not its weak New Times' competitor SF Weekly is by no means an accident. That's because Mike Lacey is a right-wing asshole.

Bay Guardian, Dec. 22:

IN 1996, journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of articles that forced a long-overdue investigation of a very dark chapter of recent U.S. foreign policy: the Reagan-Bush administration's protection of cocaine traffickers who operated under the cover of the Nicaraguan contra war in the 1980s.

For his brave reporting at the San Jose Mercury News, Webb paid a high price. He was attacked by journalistic colleagues at the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the American Journalism Review, and even the Nation magazine. Under this media pressure, his editor, Jerry Ceppos, sold out the story and demoted Webb, causing him to quit the Mercury News.

On Dec. 10, Gary Webb, 49, died of an apparent suicide, a gunshot wound to the head.

Whatever the details of Webb's death, American history owes him a huge debt. Though denigrated by much of the national news media, Webb's contra-cocaine series prompted internal investigations by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Justice Department, probes that confirmed that scores of contra units and contra-connected individuals were implicated in the drug trade. The probes also showed that the Reagan-Bush administration frustrated investigations into those crimes for geopolitical reasons.
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... According to the 19 December edition of the LA Times, lawyers for Custer Battles security firm argued they could not be sued for a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme in Iraq because the allegedly stolen money belonged to Iraqis, not Americans.


 "The potentially precedent-setting case could undercut fraud claims involving billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts that were issued by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority and paid for with money belonging to the Iraqi people," the LA Times said. ...

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- As head of foreign relations for Nicaragua's principal opposition party, Samuel Santos has frequently visited the United States and met with State Department officials twice in the past three years. He visited Miami in January. His sisters live in California.

But in transit to Rome in February, Santos was detained at Miami International Airport by U.S. immigration officials. Held for 20 hours, he was questioned, his U.S. visa was canceled, and he was deported home.

The reason was stated in a document given to him by U.S. officials: He is a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the leftist movement headed by Daniel Ortega that took power in 1979, fought a decade-long war against U.S.-funded contra rebels and is now one of Nicaragua's two main political parties.

One of several Sandinistas whose visas suddenly were revoked, Santos alleges his ordeal is a result of U.S. officials using post-Sept. 11 security measures to settle old scores with Cold War enemies that have nothing to do with current terrorism concerns.

I don't know if this is a good idea or not. Turning your back on a snake like Bush could be risky business.

The election is over. The fight is not.


Elections are only one part of democracy. We need to think strategically about direct action, learn from a rich history of nonviolent activism, and develop new tactics to take on this administration.




Let's start from the start: Inauguration Day.


On January 20th, 2005, we're calling for a new kind of action. The Bush administration has been successful at keeping protesters away from major events in the last few years by closing off areas around events and using questionable legal strategies to outlaw public dissent. We can use these obstacles to develop new tactics. On Inauguration day, we don't need banners, we don't need signs, we just need people.


We're calling on people to attend inauguration as they are: members of the public. Once through security and at the procession, at a given signal, we'll all turn our backs on Bush. A simple, clear and coherent message.
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The typical Web log is an online diary written by a teenage girl to inform her friends, in bimonthly updates, how she has been spending her time. But a tiny upper tier of bloggers produce daily commentary that can influence domestic politics, set agendas for the news media, and perhaps even sway global affairs, say Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell, two bloggers and political scientists at American universities.

According to a New York University study cited by the authors, the top dozen bloggers account for about 20 percent of traffic to blogs. "When less renowned bloggers write posts with new information or a new slant," the authors write, "they will contact one or more of the large-focal-point blogs to publicize their posts."

"This self-perpetuating, symbiotic relationship," Mr. Drezner and Mr. Farrell continue, "allows interesting arguments and information to make their way to the top of the blogosphere" -- and thence to the media at large.

When little-known bloggers write from repressive states like Iran and China, the authors write, the blogosphere stands a chance of shining light on hitherto unknown abuses in places where there is no free press.

Mr. Drezner, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago, writes a daily blog at http://www.danieldrezner.com

Mr. Farrell, an assistant professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, writes for a group blog at http://www.crookedtimber.org



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Census data shows that there is one pick up truck for every six people in Missouri and one SUV for every 15 people. In addition, 89 percent of Missouri drivers are behind the wheel of a SUV, pickup or mini van, according to the census data. SUVs and pickups, of course, don't have to conform to federal fuel standards because they are exempted under an antiquated law that designates them as farm vehicles. These gas guzzlers are a major source of air pollution and the cause for a majority of traffic accidents. To read the report click below.
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Washington Post, Dec. 1:

Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign asked an Ohio judge yesterday to allow it to join a legal fight there over whether election officials in one county may sit out the state's impending recount.

A pair of third-party presidential candidates, who said that reports of problems at the polls on Election Day are not being addressed, are forcing the Buckeye State to recount its entire presidential vote. But David A. Yost, a lawyer for Delaware County, just outside Columbus, won a temporary restraining order last week blocking any recount there. He told the Columbus Dispatch that a second count would be a poor use of county resources. President Bush won the mostly Republican area handily, unofficial results show.

Lawyers for the Kerry campaign asked to join Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik and the National Voting Rights Institute in the fight to force the county to participate in the recount. "If there's going to be a recount in Ohio, we don't want it to exclude Delaware County or any other county that might decide to follow Delaware County's lead," Kerry lawyer Dan Hoffheimer said. "It should be a full, fair and accurate recount."

Bush won the critical battleground state by approximately 136,000 votes, a victory that also won him a second term. ...

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Well, whatya expect department:

St. Louis Business Journal

...The Small Business Administration's most popular loan program no longer will get a federal subsidy.

In approving a bill to fund most of federal government over the next year, Congress eliminated $79 million in funding for the SBA's 7(a) loan program. That means the higher fees paid by lenders and borrowers that went into effect in October will remain in place.

The Bush administration strongly supported ending the 7(a) subsidy. Congress decided the money was needed elsewhere.

Now that the subsidy has been eliminated, fees on borrowers and lenders must cover all the program's costs, including any defaults on the government-guaranteed loans.


Critics say the higher fees are making the loans too costly for many small businesses.

"These higher costs, which are nothing more than a new tax, will put small business loans out of reach for many of our nation's entrepreneurs," says Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Small Business Committee.

... Helen, go ahead.

Q Why are we killing people in Iraq? There are many men, women and children being killed there. I mean, what is the reason we are there, killing people, continuing. It's outrageous.

MR. McCLELLAN: The reason we are there is the same reason the international community is, is united in helping Iraq -- the international community is united in helping Iraq move forward on a free and peaceful and democratic future. I think you can look to the recent commitments from the United Nations, from the European Union, from the recent meetings in Sharm el-Sheikh last week, there is a united front from the international community in working together to help the Iraqi people realize a free and peaceful future. There are terrorists and other Saddam loyalists who continue to seek to derail that transition to democracy, but they will --

Q They are fighting for their own country.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- they will not prevail. And we are there to partner with the Iraqi people as they work to realize a better future, one that stands in stark contrast to the past of Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime.

pot sale

Computerworld, Nov. 18:

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, said today that they have uncovered statistical irregularities associated with electronic voting machines in three Florida counties that may have given President George W. Bush 130,000 or more excess votes. The researchers are now calling on state and federal authorities to look into the problems.

The study, "The Effect of Electronic Voting Machines on Change in Support for Bush in the 2004 Florida Elections," was conducted by doctoral students and faculty from the university's sociology department and led by sociology professor Michael Hout. ...


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Associated Press, Nov. 19:

More than 12 million families last year, about the
same as in 2002, either didn't have enough food or worried about being
able to feed everyone, the government reported Friday.
The report originally was scheduled for release in late October, but
was delayed, prompting the campaign of Democratic presidential
candidate John Kerry to accuse the administration of withholding bad
news. A department spokeswoman said at the time that researchers had
questions and wanted additional time for review.

... There are more than eight million uninsured children in our nation.

That's eight million reasons for us to stay together and fight for a new direction. It is a disgrace that in the wealthiest nation on earth, eight million children go without health insurance.

Normally, a member of the Senate will first approach other senators and ask them to co-sponsor a bill before it is introduced -- instead, I am turning to you. Imagine the power of a bill co-sponsored by hundreds of thousands of Americans being presented on the floor of the United States Senate. You can make it happen. Sign our "Every Child Protected" pledge today and forward it to your family, friends, and neighbors:

http://johnkerry.com/EveryChild

This is the beginning of a second term effort to hold the Bush administration accountable and to stand up and fight for our principles and our values. They want you to disappear; they are counting on that. I'm confident you will prove them wrong, and you will rewrite history again.

Here is what I want you to know. I understand the strength, commitment, and passion that are at the core of what we built together -- and I am determined to make our collective energy and organization a force to be reckoned with in the weeks and months ahead.

Let's roll up our sleeves and get back to work for our country.

Thank you,

John Kerry
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Associated Press, Nov. 21:

SANTIAGO, Chile - President Bush (news - web sites) stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night.


Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. The incident happened after Bush and his wife, Laura, had just posed for pictures on a red carpet with the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (news - web sites) summit, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife, Luisa Duran.


As Bush stepped inside, Chilean agents closed ranks at the door, blocking the president's agents from following. Stopping for more pictures, Bush noticed the fracas and turned back. He reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum and into the building.

Now if I wanna commit a murder, I ain't gotta break no county law.
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Bush's Way or the Highway

New York Times, Nov. 17:

New CIA chief Porter Goss has told employees that they are expected to "support the administration and its policies in our work," a copy of the internal memorandum shows.

"As agency employees we do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies," Goss said in the memo circulated Monday at the Central Intelligence Agency. He added that he was seeking "to clarify beyond doubt the rules of the road." ...


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What's up with these ribbon decals, anyway? Really. The absurdity is beyond comprehension. By buying a decal at a gas station, you're somehow "supporting our troops?" The latest ribbon decals I've seen also support the St. Louis Rams. Are the Rams and the U.S. troops in Iraq on the same plane? Yes, they are -- the plain of insanity. The most terrifying discover in post 9/11 America is that I am surrounded by a bunch of fucking idiots.

CNN, Nov. 19:

... 51 U.S. troops and eight Iraqi security forces have died in the Falluja offensive, while 425 U.S. and 43 Iraqi forces have been wounded. ...

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Associated Press, Nov. 19:

Congress sent President Bush an $800 billion boost in the federal borrowing limit on Thursday, spotlighting how the budget has lurched out of control in recent years and how hard it will be to afford future initiatives.

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The propaganda or bullshit, whichever you want to call it, is getting thicker, folks, much thicker. You can hear it in the radio reports on NPR every morning, when they drop words like "progress" into stories about the rape of Fullujah. Although the disinformation has reached mamouth proportions, they are, of course, still eclipsed by the lies coming directly out of George W. Bush's mouth.

The funny thing about liars like Bush is that you can detect the severity of the lies by the inflection in their voices. In this case, the Bush soundbite I heard this morning was about "reforming" the tax code. But it really doesn't matter what the issue might be.

When I worked as a Teamster warehouseman at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, I remember hearing the same inflection from my shop steward. Our union was in the middle of a contentious labor dispute with the company, but instead of focusing on the common enemy, the shop steward was more interested in protecting his chosen cronies by giving them cushy jobs at the expense of the rest of the union workers. By surrounding himself by his supporters, the shop steward, like Bush, hoped to insulate himself and prolong his power. The company recognized his selfish interest and gave him enough rope to hang himself and the rest of us. In the end, management essentially busted our union. It doesn't exist anymore. Jobs have been outsourced. The work force has been drastically reduced. The seniority system abolished. Two and three tier wage scales have been implemented.

My point is that whenever the shop stewart addressed us, either one-on-one or in a group, he had a certain manner of speaking. The lilt of his voice seemed to ascend toward the end of each sentence, leaving his final words of indecsion and deceit dangling. His minions adapted a similar way of speaking. The shop stewart and his ilk were trying to act like they had everything under control; that they were looking after all of us equally. Those of us on the other side, who were constantly being dumped on, knew differently. That's exactly the way Bush's voice sounds nowadays. Anybody who has ever been bullshitted can hear it in his voice.

Progressivetrail.org, Nov. 11

by Thom Hartmann

Having lived in Germany and extensively interviewed many (now elderly) former members of Hitler's Nazi Party (and one spy for him) for a book I was writing on the religion of the Nazis, I can say categorically that Hitler had (or at least his people believed he had) a Vision. It was a vision of a world at peace (for 1000 years, no less), a world purified of disruptive or "undesirable" people, a world united in what Hitler called "A New Christianity," a world where things worked smoothly and people were happy because of "strong, steady leadership" (even during times of change), a world guided by a leader who held tenaciously to a singular vision. ...

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Blue Lemur, Nov. 11:

Bush-Cheney campaign ‘pressured papers’ to kill story suggesting Bush chair was gay
Filed under: General— site admin @ 11:33 am Email This
By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

Two New York newspapers received calls from the Bush-Cheney campaign during the Republican National Convention urging them not to run a story suggesting that the campaign manager and public face of the campaign was gay, RAW STORY has learned.

Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman, who is now in the running to be chairman of the Republican Party, has repeatedly refused to answer questions about his sexuality in both public and private settings. ...

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The Moderate Independent, Nov. 10:

... So, if you were thinking like a Bush goon, you would expect that either Kerry would stand up to the mischief that went on, not conceding in the meantime, and so your booby trap would work perfectly, or that he would just give up and let it go, as wimpy Democrats are prone to do.

But John Kerry chose a smarter course. Ask yourself the question, what if John Kerry were to do both, concede publicly but, at the same time, look into every instance of mischief, and see if in fact the election was fair or fixed.

This would be a no lose situation for him. The booby trap set up for him would become irrelevant, as he would have done the right thing for the nation, not putting it into turmoil while its troops are in battle.

But at the same time, he is still just as free to look into any voting irregularities as he would have been had he not conceded. Even better, he could do it without the press going insane and the nation being kept on tension-creating edge. All of the lawyers he could have sent to look into things still could be sent to look into things, and if the election is truly called into question, he could then, with ample justification so as to make it legitimate, come out publicly and retract his concession. It is the prosecutor, also one of Kerry’s previous jobs, who knows well enough to thoroughly prepare and investigate his case be leveling charges. You may have a real hunch that someone is responsible for a murder, but until you believe you can win that case in court, you do not make the allegation.

This is called fighting smart. ...

[read more]

Wikipedia is scheduled to delete a page on voting irregularities during the presidential election.

Wikipedia online encyclopedia

This page has been listed for deletion.
Please see this page's entry on the votes for deletion page for justifications and discussion. If you don't want the page deleted, read the deletion policy and vote against its deletion. You may first wish to review some of the common deletion phrases. Please do not remove this notice or blank this page while the question is being considered. However, you are welcome to edit this article and improve it. Here are some possible outlets for rejected articles.




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After the U.S. presidential election on November 2, 2004, some pro-Kerry sources have made allegations that data irregularities and systematic flaws occurred during the election. The overall official result of the election is not at this time being challenged by the U.S. Senator John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, who is the only possible winner if the unofficial results change. This is however not relevant to the US electoral process in which the Electoral College not the candidate has the final say, and which may 'draft' him even unwillingly to serve unless he actually refuses, in which case they may select John Edwards as President.

At the moment any change in the result of the election highly unlikly due to that fact that Bush's margin of victory was greater than the number of alleged fraudulent votes. However, some people and groups (including the media, independent candidate Ralph Nader, Kerry's brother and legal advisor Cameron Kerry, members of the House Judiciary Committee, and many Democratic groups) are currently analyzing the available data.

Dan Hoffheimer (http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/politics/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1100164141194251.xml&storylist;=politics), the statewide counsel for the Kerry campaign, has said the Kerry campaign is not trying to challenge the election. "We're not expecting to change the outcome of the election," Hoffheimer said.

No comprehensive analyses have yet been produced, but there is a large volume of both primary and secondary data, and preliminary analyses, reports and observations have been made by a variety of commentators ranging from computer scientists to voting rights organizations, and many others. One preliminary attempt to analyze the issue (http://vote.caltech.edu/Reports/VotingMachines3.pdf) from Caltech concluded that "there is no evidence, based on exit polls, that electronic voting machines were used to steal the 2004 election for President Bush." However, this analysis used exit polls that had been weighted by the final vote count, thereby assuming the conclusion.

One part of the controversy are electronic and optical-scan voting machines, which were used in greater numbers than before as a result of concerns over the reliability of manual machines raised during the 2000 election. Other reported problems relate to abnormally high voter turnout (more votes in many precincts than registered voters in said precincts), discrepancies between exit poll data and actual results especially in swing states and the complications which arose due to long lines; particularly in high-population areas and in closely contested states. ...


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by Bob Dylan

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

[read more]

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[read more]

While the mainstream media trashes the bloggers for being conspiracy theorist, one of them, at least, takes the time to explains the problems of electronic voting.

Schneier on Security, Nov. 10:

The Problem with Electronic Voting Machines

In the aftermath of the U.S.’s 2004 election, electronic voting machines are again in the news. Computerized machines lost votes, subtracted votes instead of adding them, and doubled votes. Because many of these machines have no paper audit trails, a large number of votes will never be counted. And while it is unlikely that deliberate voting-machine fraud changed the result of the presidential election, the Internet is buzzing with rumors and allegations of fraud in a number of different jurisdictions and races. It is still too early to tell if any of these problems affected any individual elections. Over the next several weeks we'll see whether any of the information crystallizes into something significant.

The U.S has been here before. After 2000, voting machine problems made international headlines. The government appropriated money to fix the problems nationwide. Unfortunately, electronic voting machines -- although presented as the solution -- have largely made the problem worse. This doesn’t mean that these machines should be abandoned, but they need to be designed to increase both their accuracy, and peoples’ trust in their accuracy. This is difficult, but not impossible.

Before I can discuss electronic voting machines, I need to explain why voting is so difficult. Basically, a voting system has four required characteristics:


Accuracy. The goal of any voting system is to establish the intent of each individual voter, and translate those intents into a final tally. To the extent that a voting system fails to do this, it is undesirable. This characteristic also includes security: It should be impossible to change someone else’s vote, ballot stuff, destroy votes, or otherwise affect the accuracy of the final tally.


Anonymity. Secret ballots are fundamental to democracy, and voting systems must be designed to facilitate voter anonymity.


Scalability. Voting systems need to be able to handle very large elections. One hundred million people vote for president in the United States. About 372 million people voted in India’s June elections, and over 115 million in Brazil’s October elections. The complexity of an election is another issue. Unlike many countries where the national election is a single vote for a person or a party, a United States voter is faced with dozens of individual election: national, local, and everything in between.


Speed. Voting systems should produce results quickly. This is particularly important in the United States, where people expect to learn the results of the day’s election before bedtime. It’s less important in other countries, where people don’t mind waiting days -- or even weeks -- before the winner is announced. ...

[read more]

This is pathetic. The Onion, the satiric online newspaper, has more accurately reported the presidential election results than the mainstream media.

The Onion, Nov. 10:

WASHINGTON, DC—The economically disadvantaged segment of the U.S. population provided the decisive factor in another presidential election last Tuesday, handing control of the government to the rich and powerful once again.

"The Republican party—the party of industrial mega-capitalists, corporate financiers, power brokers, and the moneyed elite—would like to thank the undereducated rural poor, the struggling blue-collar workers in Middle America, and the God-fearing underpriviledged minorities who voted George W. Bush back into office," Karl Rove, senior advisor to Bush, told reporters at a press conference Monday. "You have selflessly sacrificed your well-being and voted against your own economic interest. ....

[read more]

With calls by thousands of Democrats for an investigation into the flawed results of the presidential election, mainstream media, including NBC News and National Public Radio, are taking the Bush administration's side on the issue and labeling anybody who questions the results a "conspiracy nut."

Both of these news organizations didn't question the Bush administration's lies concerning Saddam Hussein's non-existent weapons of mass destruction, either. Apparently, nothing has changed. NBC and NPR are both still fawning lap dogs for an administration that has been proven to lie over and over.

True to form, the mainstream media, including NBC News and National Public Radio, have dismissed reports of voting irregularities without next to no investigation into the allegations. Moreover, in both NBC and NPR's reports the news outlets failed to interview anybody who alleges voter fraud took place. Instead, NBC relied on an "authority," who said the allegations of voting irregularities in Ohio and Florida were nothing more than unsubstantiated "conspiracy theories." The NBC reporter went so far as to compare Internet reports on the issue as being in a "parallel universe."
[read more]

Questions are swirling around whether the election was conducted honestly or not. We need to know -- was it or wasn't it?

If people were wrongly prevented from voting, or if legitimate votes were mis-counted or not counted at all, we need to know so the wrongdoers can be held accountable, and so we can prevent this from happening again.

Members of Congress are demanding an investigation to answer this question. The decision on whether or not there will be an investigation could come as soon as Monday. Join us in supporting the call for one now, at:

http://www.moveon.org/investigatethevote/

Then please invite your friends and colleagues to sign, as well. We need to show Congress that hundreds of thousands of Americans are serious about protecting the integrity of the vote.
We're all hearing the stories and wondering what's true and what isn't. But at least two cases of serious problems are accepted beyond doubt:


In Broward County, Florida, electronic voting machines counted backwards: as more people voted, the official vote count went down. [1]


In one Columbus, Ohio suburb, election officials have acknowledged that electronic voting machines credited Bush with winning 4,258 votes, even though only 638 people voted there. [2]


These are just cases where we know something went wrong. There were also lots of reports of people being denied ballots on Election Day. So far, these reports remain anecdotal, but they must be compiled and examined. And the Internet is abuzz with theories about why the official counts were so different from the exit polls.

Do you have a story? Were you prevented from voting? Tell us, at:

http://www.moveon.org/investigatethevote/

Six prominent members of Congress have called for an investigation. Representatives Conyers (D-MI), Holt (D-NJ), Nadler (D-NY), Scott (D-VA), Watt (D-NC) and Wexler (D-FL), have demanded that the U.S. General Accounting Office:

immediately undertake an investigation of the efficacy of voting machines and new technologies used in the 2004 election, how election officials responded to difficulties they encountered, and what we can do in the future to improve our election systems and administration. [3]
We've got to support their call by asking our own Representatives and Senators to join them.

If you have a personal story of disenfranchisement, tell us. These members of Congress have agreed to include our stories and comments in their call for an investigation. Please sign now -- we'll deliver our compiled statements to them on Friday.

Even if you don't have a personal story, your signature on our petition will still help build support for an investigation.

To keep our faith in democracy, we need to know the facts. Your signature, and your story if you have one, will help.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

--Carrie, Joan, Lee, Marika, Noah, Peter, Rosalyn, and Wes
The MoveOn.org Team
November 11th, 2004


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Join the Marines, see the world, kill people so assholes in the U.S. can drive gas-sucking SUVs ...

"Now if I wanna commit a murder, I ain't gotta break no county law."
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No joke, apparently. This woman, who lives with her mother, had her home raided by the Secret Service after posting a derogatory remark directed at Bush following a presidential debate. Normally, this blogger delves into the vailed homosexual relationships in the Harry Potter novels. Is there a connection? Is Bush in the closet, too, sucking on Harry's underage weenie? After her bust, she warned others not to divulge Bush's secret lusts.

Is it against the law to pray that Bush dies for this sin? When his decisions result in the murders of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, what kind of karma does he expect to receive, love and kisses?

Live Journal, Oct. 27:

For all my LJ (Live Journal) -loving friends, this is a word of warning, a word to the wise, and a word of utter exhaustion after the wringer I've been put through in the last twenty-four hours.

A couple of weeks ago, following the last presidential debate, I said some rather inflammatory things about George W. Bush in a public post in my LJ, done in a satirical style. We laughed, we ranted, we all said some things. I thought it was a fairly harmless (and rather obvious) attempt at humor in the face of annoyance, and while a couple of people were offended, as is typical behavior from me, I saw something shiny and forgot about it, thinking that the whole thing was over and done and nothing else would come of what I said.

I was wrong.

At 9:45 last night, the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case. However, I do now have a file with the FBI that includes my photograph, my e-mail address, and the location of my LJ. This will follow me around for the rest of my life, regardless of the fact that the Secret Service knows that I am not a threat. ...



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Ashcroft is buddy-buddy with Karl Rove, one of the suspects in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. The next attorney general is expected to be the Alberto Gonzales, the chief architect in the White House stonewalling on the Plame investigation. Curiouser and curiouser. That should slow down the FBI and special prosecutor -- for a while, at least. ...

Washington Post, Nov. 10:

John D. Ashcroft, the combative attorney general whose anti-terrorism policies made him the focus of a fierce national debate over civil liberties, resigned yesterday along with Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans, one of President Bush's closest friends.

Ashcroft, 62, has been one of the most controversial and influential figures of Bush's first term. Ashcroft provided reliable fodder for Democrats on the campaign trail and served as a visible representative of the evangelical Christians who played a crucial role in reelecting the president.

Administration sources said Ashcroft's successor is likely to be White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales.


[read more]

Washington Post, Nov. 10:

Congressional Democrats returned to Washington in a defiant mood yesterday, making no apologies for the campaign in which they lost congressional seats and the presidential race and vowing to hold President Bush accountable for his handling of the deficit, the Iraq war and other issues.

In his first public comments since conceding defeat to Bush, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) did not rule out a bid in 2008 and promised to keep pushing the issues he championed this year.

"Let me tell you one thing that I want to make clear," Kerry said in a brief meeting with reporters in the Capitol. "Fifty-four-plus-million Americans voted for health care, they voted for energy independence, they voted for unity in America, they voted for stem cell research, they voted for protecting Social Security. We need to be unified, and we have a very clear agenda. And I'm going to be fighting for that agenda with all of the energy that I have and all the passion I brought to the campaign." ...

[read more]

When Madonna makes more sense than the U.S. foreign policy establishment -- it's a sure sign the world is in serious fucking trouble.

AFP, Nov. 10:

Lady Madonna: "... Global terror is in California. There's global terror everywhere and it's absurd to think you can get it by going to one country and dropping tons of bombs on innocent people. ..."


[read more]

Apologies accepted.

Now disobey every possible assinine edict that the prick who calls himself president decrees. Don't be fooled by Ashcroft's resignation. It's Bush's preemptive strike, his effort to forestall the inevitable civil unrest in the U.S. that will result from his bungling of past, present and future foreign and domestic policies. Do you morons who voted for this asshole really believe the sane half of the U.S. population is going to put up with this bullshit for another four years? Get serious. This guy has no more of a mandate than he did the last time -- when the Supreme Court appointed him emperor.
[read more]

fuckthesouth.com

Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep.

And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?

Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your assault weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard? ...

[read more]

Texas Lawyer, Sept. 2, 2004:

Billion-Dollar HIV Suit Raises First Amendment Issues
Miriam Rozen



The Dallas Observer, its parent company New Times Inc. and others have been targeted in a $1.1 billion suit by a plaintiff who alleges the alternative weekly wrongfully disclosed his HIV-positive status, referencing him by name in a published article last December.

In a motion for summary judgment filed on Aug. 20, three of the defendants seek the dismissal of the plaintiff's petition, which several First Amendment lawyers say raises significant constitutional questions never before ruled on by a state judge in Texas.

Filed in Dallas' 192nd District Court, the three defendants' motion asks Judge Merrill Hartman to dismiss Joe Doe v. New Times Inc., et al. (In his petition, the plaintiff does not disclose his name.)

The plaintiff doesn't dispute that he is HIV-positive; rather, his complaint is that the newspaper didn't have the right to disclose that information without his consent. By doing so, the plaintiff contends in his petition, the Observer violated 81.103 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. Section 81.103 forbids disclosures -- without a patient's written consent -- of medical test results to other parties, except certain government health agencies, and provides for recovery of damages when such disclosures occur.

Historically, lawyers on both sides of the litigation agree, most attorneys have assumed the statute applied to parties in the medical and insurance industries -- not media organizations.

James N. Henry and Edward P. Perrin Jr., partners in Dallas' Hallett & Perrin, filed the petition for an HIV-positive member of the Dallas-based Cathedral of Hope church. Freelance writer J.D. Sparks identified the HIV-positive member by name in the article "Fallen Angel," published on Dec. 4, 2003. The Observer article focused on the Rev. Michael Piazza, who led the Dallas church.

In addition to New Times and the Observer, the petition names as defendants Sparks and Jean Morris, a former church administrator whom Sparks cited as a source in the article. James Hemphill, a partner in Austin's Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody who represents New Times, the Observer and Sparks, as well as Martha Hardwick Hofmeister, who represents Morris, say their clients deny they violated 81.103.

"The First Amendment gives us the right to print the truth, especially when it's not private," Hemphill says.

Section 81.103 allows for civil penalties of not less than $5,000 and not more than $10,000 per disclosure. The Observer has a circulation of 110,000, the plaintiff alleges in his petition, which entitles him to $1.1 billion or more in damages.

Moreover, Henry says the Observer continues to keep the article posted on its Web site, and he says every time the article gets a hit, his client is entitled to more damages.

The Observer's editor, Julie Lyons, says although the "Fallen Angel" article remains posted on the weekly publication's Web site, www.dallasobserver.com, the paper's management considered removing it at one point. Lyons says she does not want to comment on why they decided to keep it posted.

In their motion for summary judgment, New Times, the Observer and Sparks say the newspaper did not release a test result and that they published "true, non-private, lawfully obtained information," and therefore are protected by the First Amendment.

But plaintiff's lawyer Henry says, "I think they are misreading the statute as to how test results are defined. The statute is not just referring to a piece of paper on which a test result is printed."

In its summary judgment, the three defendants further maintain that the HIV-positive plaintiff's identity was "far from 'private.'" Specifically, attached to the motion are exhibits that include a cover and liner for CDs featuring "Positive Voices," a choral group to which the plaintiff belonged. One of the CD covers includes a photograph of the plaintiff, and he is referred to by name in the liner seven times.

Jennifer Poe, a senior attorney with Hallett & Perrin who also represents the plaintiff, says the previous disclosure is irrelevant. She notes that 81.103 allows an individual to choose to whom and when to disclose his or her test results.

New Times, the Observer and Sparks further claim in the motion that the Texas Legislature never intended for the statute to apply to the media. Rather, the Legislature was targeting parties with access to "actual HIV blood test results such as medical laboratories." If the Legislature wanted to target the media, Hemphill says, lawmakers certainly weren't thinking about a fine applying to every single newspaper on the stand.

"Our position is that the court should not even reach that question because there is no liability. But if the court does, certainly it is not the Legislature's intention for multimillion-dollar lawsuits against newspapers," Hemphill says.

Poe stresses, however, that her client is concerned with the principle of the matter, not just the large sum cited in the damages section of his petition. Even if a court agrees with the defendants' position that the publication of the Observer article constitutes only one disclosure -- not 110,000 -- subject to a fine of $5,000 to $10,000, Poe says, her client will proceed with his suit for that dwarfed sum.

Hofmeister, who represents Morris, the former church administrator, says her client has engaged in settlement talks, although she declines to elaborate further. "Jean is not the primary target of this lawsuit," Hofmeister says.

A partner in Dallas' Shackelford, Melton & McKinley, Hofmeister says that Texas lawmakers had no intention when they drafted 81.103 for it to apply to the media or sources. And she says Doe, given his alleged previous disclosures of his HIV status, is "not the perfect plaintiff" to test the new application of the statute.

APPLY TO THE MEDIA?

Three First Amendment lawyers not involved in the suit say they believe an appeals court will eventually have to decide whether 81.103 is constitutionally deficient.

"It's kind of a screwy deal," says Bill Ogden, a partner in Houston's Ogden, Gibson, White, Broocks & Longoria. "This statute was not intended to apply to the news media. To the extent that someone intends to apply it to the media, it is unconstitutional, and it violates the First Amendment."

Thomas Leatherbury, a partner in the Dallas office of Vinson & Elkins who practices media law, agrees. "The case relies on a very broad statute that the plaintiffs are trying to push to the limit, and it could raise constitutional questions," he says.

Historically, courts nationwide have ruled repeatedly that newspapers have a constitutional right to publish lawfully obtained, truthful information of public interest.

There are exceptions. Ogden notes that a juvenile's privacy rights are considered heightened and, therefore, rise above public interest. Could it be that 81.103 affords that same kind of protection for HIV-positive individuals?

"It is a very broad statute," Leatherbury says, noting that a plaintiffs lawyer could advance that argument.

But Leatherbury and Ogden believe that ultimately the constitutional protections of free speech will serve the Observer well if the public interest was at stake in releasing the plaintiff's identity.

New Times, the Observer and Sparks argue in their summary judgment motion that the public interest was at stake. The December 2003 article, attached as an exhibit to their motion, generally focused on Piazza's church stewardship. In the course of evaluating his performance, Sparks also discussed in the article alleged insurance irregularities at the church involving attempts to put volunteers on Cathedral of Hope's group health plan -- allegations church officials denied.

"I considered the issue of putting unpaid volunteers on the church's health insurance policy to be a potential case of insurance misconduct by a tax-exempt entity and a matter of legitimate public interest and concern," Patrick Williams, the Observer's managing editor and the final editor on the December 2003 article, states in his affidavit, filed with the summary judgment motion.

An exchange of e-mails between then-church administrator Morris and Piazza arguing about the plaintiff's employment status also is attached to the motion. In the e-mails, Morris identifies the plaintiff as a volunteer, and Piazza describes him as a full-time staff member who does not receive a salary.

Henry alleges the article misrepresented his client as a volunteer of the church.

Writer Sparks counters by saying, "Everything I put in that article was accurate to the best of my knowledge."

But Henry says at the time the plaintiff was added to the insurance rolls at Cathedral of Hope, he was a paid employee. However, in his petition, Doe does not assert any allegations about factual errors in the Observer article.

Asked why he has not pursued any claim related to an alleged factual error in the story, Henry does not rule out the possibility that he will pursue a defamation claim in the future and says, "The focus for our lawsuit is that you can't disclose someone's test results and that's the focus of our lawsuit right now."

Associated Press, Nov. 4:

Jacksonville, N.C. – More than 4,500 votes have been lost in one North Carolina county because officials believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did. Scattered other problems may change results in races around the state.

    Local officials said UniLect Corp., the maker of the county's electronic voting system, told them that each storage unit could handle 10,500 votes, but the limit was actually 3,005 votes.

    Expecting the greater capacity, the county used only one unit during the early voting period. "If we had known, we would have had the units to handle the votes," said Sue Verdon, secretary of the county election board.

    Officials said 3,005 early votes were stored, but 4,530 were lost.
[read more]

Palm Beach Post, Nov. 4:

Fort Lauderdale - It had to happen. Things were just going too smoothly.

    Early Thursday, as Broward County elections officials wrapped up after a long day of canvassing votes, something unusual caught their eye. Tallies should go up as more votes are counted. Thats simple math. But in some races, the numbers had gone . . . down.

    Officials found the software used in Broward can handle only 32,000 votes per precinct. After that, the system starts counting backward.

    Why a voting system would be designed to count backward was a mystery to Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman. She was on the phone late Wednesday with Omaha-based Elections Systems and Software.

    Bad numbers showed up only in running tallies through the day, not the final one. Final tallies were reached by cross-checking machine totals, and officials are confident they are accurate. ...
[read more]

Truthout.org, Nov. 6:

When I spoke with Jeff Fisher this morning (Saturday, November 06, 2004), the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 16th District said he was waiting for the FBI to show up. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida election was hacked, but of who hacked it and how. And not just this year, he said, but that these same people had previously hacked the Democratic primary race in 2002 so that Jeb Bush would not have to run against Janet Reno, who presented a real threat to Jeb, but instead against Bill McBride, who Jeb beat.

  "It was practice for a national effort," Fisher told me.

  And some believe evidence is accumulating that the national effort happened on November 2, 2004. ...

Others offer similar insights, based on other data. A professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, noted that in Florida the vote to raise the minimum wage was approved by 72%, although Kerry got 48%. "The correlation between voting for the minimum wage increase and voting for Kerry isn't likely to be perfect," he noted, "but one would normally expect that the gap - of 1.5 million votes - to be far smaller than it was."

  While all of this may or may not be evidence of vote tampering, it again brings the nation back to the question of why several states using electronic voting machines or scanners programmed by private, for-profit corporations and often connected to modems produced votes inconsistent with exit poll numbers.

  Those exit poll results have been a problem for reporters ever since Election Day. ...

[read more]

Or How Kerry Voters Got Fucked and Didn't Know It

BlackBoxVoting.org, Nov. 7 2004:

We’re awaiting independent analysis on some pretty crooked-looking elections. In the mean time, here’s something to chew on.

Your local elections officials trusted a group called NASED -- the National Association of State Election Directors -- to certify that your voting system is safe.

This trust was breached.

NASED certified the systems based on the recommendation of an “Independent Testing Authority” (ITA). ...

What no one told local officials was that the ITA did not test for security (and NASED didn’t seem to mind).

The ITA reports are considered so secret that even the California Secretary of State’s office had trouble getting its hands on one. The ITA refused to answer any questions about what it does. Imagine our surprise when, due to Freedom of Information requests, a couple of them showed up in our mailbox.

The most important test on the ITA report is called the “penetration analysis.” This test is supposed to tell us whether anyone can break into the system to tamper with the votes.

“Not applicable,” wrote Shawn Southworth, of Ciber Labs, the ITA that tested the Diebold GEMS central tabulator software. “Did not test.” ...

... Black Box Voting has taken the position that fraud took place in the 2004 election through electronic voting machines. We base this on hard evidence, documents obtained in public records requests, inside information, and other data indicative of manipulation of electronic voting systems. What we do not know is the specific scope of the fraud. We are working now to compile the proof, based not on soft evidence -- red flags, exit polls -- but core documents obtained by Black Box Voting in the most massive Freedom of Information action in history.

We need: Lawyers to enforce public records laws. Some counties have already notified us that they plan to stonewall by delaying delivery of the records. We need citizen volunteers for a number of specific actions. We need computer security professionals willing to GO PUBLIC with formal opinions on the evidence we provide, whether or not it involves DMCA complications. We need funds to pay for copies of the evidence.



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Associated Press, Nov. 5:

Columbus, Ohio - An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

    Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct. Bush's total should have been recorded as 365. ...
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TomPaine.com, Nov. 4:

by Greg Palast

Kerry won. Here's the facts.

I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad. But I don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry.

    Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry. CNN's exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women by 53 percent to 47 percent. Kerry also defeated Bush among Ohio's male voters 51 percent to 49 percent. Unless a third gender voted in Ohio, Kerry took the state.

    So what's going on here? Answer: the exit polls are accurate. Pollsters ask, "Who did you vote for?" Unfortunately, they don't ask the crucial, question, "Was your vote counted?" The voters don't know.

    Here's why. Although the exit polls show that most voters in Ohio punched cards for Kerry-Edwards, thousands of these votes were simply not recorded. This was predictable and it was predicted. [See TomPaine.com, "An Election Spoiled Rotten," November 1.]

    Once again, at the heart of the Ohio uncounted vote game are, I'm sorry to report, hanging chads and pregnant chads, plus some other ballot tricks old and new.

    The election in Ohio was not decided by the voters but by something called "spoilage." Typically in the United States, about 3 percent of the vote is voided, just thrown away, not recorded. When the bobble-head boobs on the tube tell you Ohio or any state was won by 51 percent to 49 percent, don't you believe it ... it has never happened in the United States, because the total never reaches a neat 100 percent. The television totals simply subtract out the spoiled vote.

    And not all vote spoil equally. Most of those votes, say every official report, come from African American and minority precincts. ...
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Wired News, Nov. 5:

Three congressmen sent a letter to the General Accounting Office on Friday requesting an investigation into irregularities with voting machines used in Tuesday's elections.

The congressmen, Democratic members of the House of Representatives from Florida, New York and Michigan, cited a number of incidents that came to light in the days after the election. One was a glitch in Ohio that caused a memory card reader made by Danaher Controls to give George W. Bush 3,893 more votes than he should have received. Another was a problem with memory cards in North Carolina that caused machines made by UniLect to lose 4,500 votes cast on e-voting machines. The votes were lost when the number of votes cast on the machines exceeded the capacity of the memory cards.

    There were also problems with machines that counted absentee ballots in Florida. Software made by Election Systems & Software began subtracting votes when totals surpassed 32,000. Officials said the problem affected only certain countywide races on one of the last pages of the ballot. Elections officials knew about the problem two years ago, but the company failed to fix the software before the election this year.

    Reports from voters in Florida and Ohio also indicated that some of them had problems voting for the candidate of their choice. When they tried to vote for John Kerry, they said, the machine either wouldn't register the vote at all or would indicate on the review page that the vote was cast for Bush instead.

    In their letter, representatives John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, Jerrold Nadler of New York and Robert Wexler of Florida asked the GAO to "immediately undertake an investigation of the efficacy of voting machines and new technologies used in the 2004 election, how election officials responded to difficulties they encountered and what we can do in the future to improve our election systems and administration. ...
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The hot story in the Blogosphere is that the "erroneous" exit polls that showed Kerry carrying Florida and Ohio (among other states) weren't erroneous at all - it was the numbers produced by paperless voting machines that were wrong, and Kerry actually won. As more and more analysis is done of what may (or may not) be the most massive election fraud in the history of the world, however, it's critical that we keep the largest issue at the forefront at all time: Why are We The People allowing private, for-profit corporations, answerable only to their officers and boards of directors, and loyal only to agendas and politicians that will enhance their profitability, to handle our votes? ...
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GOP Headquarters Vandalized; Arrests Made

Associated Press,Nov. 6, 2004:

RALEIGH, N.C. -- An apparent mob of vandals attacked
the North Carolina Republican Party headquarters, causing
minor smoke damage, breaking windows and leaving vulgar
messages, police said.

Three people were arrested.

In addition to the damage, the vandals left a burned effigy
depicting President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, police said.

A police officer reported Friday night that about 100
people wearing masks and gloves were walking down a street
near the headquarters, police Capt. D.S. Overman said.

Officers investigating that report found a second group
``vandalizing and damaging'' the GOP headquarters, said
police Maj. D.R. Lane.

The vandalism was a ``planned and orchestrated event,''
police spokesman Jim Sughrue said.

``This is not a political statement,'' Sughrue said. ``A
political statement is what we made Tuesday. This is a
crime.''

The officers found several spent fireworks, poster boards
with slogans and spray-painted expletives on the walls. At
least two windows were broken and police said it appeared
that the vandals tried to put incendiary devices inside the
building.

``The people who did this are sick,'' said Kevin Howell,
communications director for the state Republican Party.
``People don't understand that debate and elections are
part of the process. This isn't how you act.''

Scott Falmlen, executive director of the North Carolina
Democratic Party, also denounced those responsible for the
incident.

The three people arrested were charged with malicious
damage to property using an incendiary device, a felony,
Lane said. They remained in custody Saturday afternoon in
lieu of $50,000 bail each, a jail spokeswoman said.

Bush War Planners Allowed Looting of Munitions Now Killing U.S. Troops, LA Times Reports

Los Angeles Times, Nov. 5:

by Mark Mazzetti

In the weeks after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove the material off the al Qaqaa ammunition site, according to a group of U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen who said they witnessed the looting.

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

The witnesses' accounts of the looting are the first provided by U.S. soldiers, and support claims that the American military failed to safeguard the munitions. Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency - the U.N. nuclear watchdog - and the interim Iraqi government reported that approximately 380 tons of high-grade explosives had been taken from al Qaqaa after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003. The explosives are powerful enough to detonate a nuclear weapon.

In the past week, when revelations of the missing explosives became an issue in the presidential campaign, the Bush administration suggested that the explosives could have been carted off by Saddam Hussein's forces before the war began. Pentagon officials later said that U.S. troops systematically destroyed hundreds of tons of explosives at al Qaqaa after Baghdad fell.

Asked about the soldiers' accounts, Pentagon spokeswoman Rose-Anne Lynch said Wednesday, "We take the report of missing munitions very seriously. And we are looking into the facts and circumstances of this incident." ...

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CANADA REPORTS HUGE JUMP IN IMMIGRATION

Over 55,000,000 Requests for Citizenship Since Tuesday Night
Canadian immigration officials have reported a huge increase in the number
of requests for Canadian citizenship in the past twenty-four hours, with
over fifty-five million such inquiries pouring in since late Tuesday night.

Of those fifty-five million requests, well over 99.99% of them came from
U.S. citizens, the lion's share residing in such states as New York,
California, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and the
District of Columbia.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that he was
"flabbergasted" by the fifty-five-million-plus requests for Canadian
citizenship, adding that it was difficult to pinpoint the precise reasons
for the staggering increase.

My only theory is that after many years of exposure in the U.S., hockey is
finally starting to catch on," Mr. Pettigrew said.

He cautioned, however, that it is impossible to know exactly what is
sparking the sudden interest in America's frozen neighbor to the north:
"People answering our immigration hotline say that it is hard to understand
many of the American callers because they are sobbing uncontrollably."

In other news, President Bush used his acceptance speech Wednesday to reach
out to supporters of Sen. John Kerry, telling them, "You can run, but you
can't hide."

Meanwhile, in his first statement since being voted out of office Tuesday
night, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said, "Do you want fries with
that?"

Elsewhere, experts said that exit polls may have falsely predicted a Kerry
victory because Kerry voters exited while Bush voters stayed behind and
voted again.

That's a rich one, isn't it? Yalie-turned-cowboy-dumb-fuck George W. Bush asking for our trust. Why should we trust him? Well, if you are a true believer, you'd have to say, as an article of faith, that he has been given direct instructions from God on how to lead this nation. God, of course, is known to act in mysterious ways. So mysterious, in this case, that he has endowed a stupid son of a former president, CIA director and oil executive ("Who's your daddy?) to be given the power and glory to order the invasion of ancient Babylon and kill an estimated 100,000 heathens. So what if they're women and children and old folks? As true believers, we know now that George W. Bush ordered the slaughter of these non-believers on direct instructions from JESUS Christ. JESUS has also instructed him the run the national deficit up to trillions of dollars, gut Social Security, bust unions, allow drug companies to overcharge for prescription drugs, outsource millions of jobs to Mexico and China, freeze the minimum wage, and eliminate millions of high-paying manufacturing jobs in the U.S. The devil didn't make him do these things -- JESUS did. JESUS also told him to let the assault rifle ban law expire and that with the help of God and Karl Rove, idiot voters in Middle America would be drawn towards him like flies on shit in defense of their precious "moral values."

Evidentally, JESUS, has a plan. And that plan calls for the destruction of the United States through White House-resident-idiot George W. Bush. Get with the program, children, or die, motherfuckers.
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That's a rich one, isn't it? Yalie-turned-cowboy-dumb-fuck George W. Bush asking for our trust. Why should we trust him? Well, if you are a true believer, you'd have to say, as an article of faith, that he has been given direct instructions from God on how to lead this nation. God, of course, is known to act in mysterious ways. So mysterious, in this case, that he has endowed a stupid son of a former president, CIA director and oil executive ("Who's your daddy?) to be given the power and glory to order the invasion of ancient Babylon and kill an estimated 100,000 heathens. So what if they're women and children and old folks? As true believers, we know now that George W. Bush ordered the slaughter of these non-believers on direct instructions from JESUS Christ. JESUS has also instructed him the run the national deficit up to trillions of dollars, gut Social Security, bust unions, allow drug companies to overcharge for prescription drugs, outsource millions of jobs to Mexico and China, freeze the minimum wage, and eliminate millions of high-paying manufacturing jobs in the U.S. The devil didn't make him do these things -- JESUS did. JESUS also told him to let the assault rifle ban law expire and that with the help of God and Karl Rove, idiot voters in Middle America would gather towards him like flies on shit in defense of "moral values."

Evidentally, JESUS, has a plan. And that plan calls for the destruction of the United States through the our president and White House-resident-idiot George W. Bush. Get with the program, children, or die, motherfuckers.

In proclaiming his win in the presidential race, George W. Bush said he was humbled by his victory. Millions of Americans from coast to coast couldn't agree more. We are all humbled by the fact that our leader is a vicious liar and coward, who has once again managed to dupe a majority of the electorate, which remains ignorant are your true policies and agenda. You don't deserve and will not receive the trust of those of us who see through the thin veneer of your hypocritical deceit.

Those of us who cherish of this country truly is supposed to represent feel dispossessed and abandoned in the land of our birth. No lame bullshit lies spewing from your mouth will change that now. You and your ideological henchmen can never represent us. The only way these wounds will heal are when you leave office. By the grace of God and sake of the future of this country and the world, that day will come before your second term expires
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Insane Clown Posse Returned to Power

There is palpable sense of grief on the Washington University campus today, tempered only by the youth of the mourners. Outside the walls of academia, the heavily Democratic city of St. Louis has also been stunned by the apocalyptic prospect of four more years of degenerate rule by the Bush Bund.

It is no surprise that this northern city finds itself surrounded by ignorant, backward-thinking Republicans who live in rural and suburban areas of the state. Missouri has been a border state since the Civil War and remains so. The only difference is that since the passage of the Civil Rights Act and legalized abortion in the 1960s and 70s the state has gradually been taken over right-wing conservative Republicans who have discarded the constitutional separation of church and state in favor of an exclusionary theocracy.

The absurdity of their ethos is borne out by their zealous protection of the "unborn" at the same time that their own sons and daughters are being sacrificed to an unjust war in which more than 100,000 innocent civilians have already died.

There is no rationale to explain these contradicting positions, of course, because there is nothing rational about believing that the inept president of the United States is somehow endowed directly with divine guidance. Since 9/11 this normally neurotic base of the Republican Party has been pushed into the abyss, resulting in a majority of the population in Missouri and other Republican-dominated states descending into a kind of mass psychosis unparalleled in American history.

Those of us who oppose this insanity find ourselves huddled into a ghetto of sorts, hemmed in by the Mississippi River, with few avenues of escape. The free state of Illinois lies but a few scant miles away, but how long will it be before officials in the Land of Lincoln seal off the borders to stem the tide of refugees seeking asylum? Surrounded by Know-Nothings and nativist babble, there is much gnashing of teeth in the Gateway City today and talk of self-imposed exile. The only city filled with more angst on this November doomsday would have to be Cleveland, and they are blessed by their proximity to Canada.

Praise Jesus, and pass the ammo.

"Agnes, you need to initial it right here." The voice came from over my shoulder as I stood in line this morning at my precinct polling place in St. Louis. Agnes was the octogenarian Republican polling judge, who had only moments earlier demanded to see my driver's license to confirm my eligibility to vote. I suppose Agnes believed she was being diligent on behalf of God and George W. Bush, but the advisory that she received only moments after I had been standing in front of her struck fear in my heart. Had she challenged my vote? Is she blind? Is she senile? Agnes had told me when I signed my required signature on the polling rolls that she "thought that was the right line." She wasn't sure? She's the friggin' polling official, for Christ sake. The person telling Agnes where place her initials was one of the designated polling judges. What the hell was going on?

My concern increased when I exited the polling place and a UAW lawyer working for the Dems asked if I had encountered any problems voting. I told her no, adding that I was required to show my voter's registration card and driver's license.

"They're not supposed to ask to see your driver's license," the lawyer said. So now I'm not really sure whether my vote will even be counted. And I know the Republicans are breaking the election laws in a heavily Democratic ward in the city of St. Louis. This same kind of bullshit is probably going on all over the country at this very moment.

If Bush weaseles his way back in through voter fraud and bogus challenges, again, it will be time for the revolution to start now.

Political Animal, Nov. 1:

The early voters are breaking pretty heavily for Kerry: 51%-43% in Florida and 52%-41% in Iowa.



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Of course not. I mean these "security moms," if they really exist, have to be insane if they think sticking with Bush is going to somehow protect us. The 9/11 attacks happened under Bush, remember? Prior to the attacks, Bush spent the majority of his time vactioning at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. On the day of the attacks, the commander-in-chief sat stunned in an elementary school in Florida reading pablum to children as the twin towers and Pentagon were attacked. Following the attacks, our commander-in-chief ran to Louisiana and then Nebraska in a display of unprecedented cowardice. Since then, he has spent more than $140 billion on an unneccecary war in Iraq that has made the U.S. even less secure and created complete chaos in that region of the world. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden remains at large. No wonder he's endorsing Bush.

George W. Bush is undoubtedly the worst U.S. president in modern history. The truly scary part is that half the U.S. electorate still back him. You really have to wonder about the average IQ of the U.S. population.

Boston Globe, Oct. 30:

President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are virtually tied in the Electoral College count, fighting over eight to 10 states so close and unpredictable that anything is possible Tuesday night.

After months campaigning and a half-billion dollars spent on attack ads, Bush and Kerry are still at the whim of unexpected events such as Osama bin Laden's sudden emergence on Friday, a videotape appearance that sent both candidates scrambling to pledge victory in the fight against terrorism.

''Under normal circumstances, undecided voters break against the incumbent this late in an election. However, these are not normal circumstances. This is a time of war,'' said Michigan pollster Steve Mitchell.

''The question then becomes, will this be different than most years? Will swing voters decide they don't want to change horses in midstream?'' he said.

The answer comes in two days or more, if there is a repeat of the 2000 recount for a Republican incumbent and his Democratic challenger who are marshaling two vastly different and unproven get-out-the-vote operations in the battleground states, principally Florida and in the Midwest.

Polls suggest the nation is evenly divided or leaning toward Bush, but the popular vote does not determine who wins the presidency. The White House goes to whoever earns 270 state electoral votes, a majority of the 538 available.

According to an Associated Press analysis, 26 states are solidly behind Bush or lean his way for 222 electoral votes. Kerry has 16 states plus the District of Columbia secured or leaning his direction for 211 electoral votes.

It is down to this: Bush needs to scrape together at least 48 of the remaining 105 electoral votes to keep his job. Kerry needs 59 to move into the White House. ...


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News Hounds, Oct. 30:

According to Sean Hannity, there is no voter supression in this country and he has been asking anyone to bring him proof that voter fraud by Republicans exists, especially in Florida. Tonight Greg Palast brought him that proof and Hannity was very annoyed. 10/29/04 9:30 PM

Palast told Colmes about the lists found in RNC headquarters in Florida with names of newly registered voters to be stricken from voter rolls. All of the people were African American Democrats. Palast said they denied the claim saying they were fundraising lists and then changed it to a list of address corrections. Palast said that the Florida police could not make any arrests for a couple of weeks because they were too busy.

Palast told another story about students in Pennsylvania who thought they were signing a medical marijuana petition but were actually tricked into signing voter resistration forms. The fraudulent forms made them double registrants and therefore ineligible to vote.

Hannity, unable to debate with facts, used his usual strategy with Palast.
"Are you voting for Kerry" claiming that Palast was not a reporter but a Democratic operative. Palast continued to hit back with the facts and Hannity was out of his league.

Comment: Greg Palast tonight and Phil Donahue last night. These are the people that Fox usually avoids like the plague. Did they think that Hannity would discredit them? Is it about that recent article where Murdoch denies that Fox is pro Bush or did Colmes demand some fairness. Just speculating. ...


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Here's a deeply creepy manifestation of the Patriot Act: A writer of "mainstream women's fiction" was working on an adventure novel set in Cambodia and involving terrorists. For research, she was buying books online, checking them out from the library, and looking at Cambodia-related websites.

Her home was raided and her writing material confiscated (including her computers, her files, her contracts, and even her music CDs). She still hasn't gotten most of her stuff back.

I got this information from the November 2004 issue of Romance Writers Report, the monthly magazine of Romance Writers of America. I can't find the article online to link you to, but it's worth reading, so I'll put it under the cut. ...

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bluelemur.com, Oct. 29:

In a last ditch bid to win Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, where Democratic Sen. John Kerry is leading is most polls, President George W. Bush has engaged in mailings which contain myriad graphic images of the burning World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

The ad is three-fold. RAW STORY has acquired scans of two and a half pages.

On the front side, the ad asks in red print, “How Can John Kerry Lead America In A Time of War?” It adds three subsequent lines, “Kerry: Changing Positions,” “Kerry: Cutting Defense” and “Kerry: Slashing Intelligence.”

Following that, there are nine images of the front pages of Sept. 12, 2001 newspapers (shown below), all of which display the smoking towers of the World Trade Center before they collapsed, killing some 2,600 people. One includes the approach of the plane.

While the Bush-Cheney campaign has routinely used 9/11 as a keystone of their campaign, these are the first print advertisements this site is aware of which actually display multiple images of the burning twin towers. The ad states that it was paid for by the Republican National Committee, with the approval of Bush-Cheney ‘04.

The second side blames Kerry for “slashing intelligence,” though it neglects to note that the CIA did not believe there was a solid case for war. President Bush took America to war over the CIA’s objection, leaving it unclear what the relevance of Kerry’s alleged “slashing intelligence” means in this election.

The third side details the programs Kerry allegedly voted “to cut.” These programs were part of broad Defense Department packages, which Kerry is believed to have voted against in protest of excessive Pentagon spending. ...



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moshthevote.com

There are already hundreds of alarming stories this election year, and as a public service, I've immersed myself in this hideous sump of pond scum. It's deep here. So deep, that to give you even a bare sense of the sheer profundity of this abyss, I'm going to have to resort to one of the oldest gimmicks in radio broadcasting. That's right, speeded up music.

[begin music]

Nevada: Dan Burdish, former director of the state's Republican Party, filed a complaint to remove 17,000 voters from the rolls because they had failed to file a change of address card. State law doesn't require it and, in fact, allows you to vote after moving. When asked why he did it Burdish told the press, "I am looking to take Democrats off the voter rolls."

Florida: Senior citizens in Democratic precincts are calling their election boards by the hundreds reporting that strangers claiming to be from the elections office are offering to "hand deliver" their absentee ballots for them, even though there is no such program.

Wyoming: Secretary of State Joseph Meyer interpreted the statutes there to outlaw voter registration drives, like the kind where a group sets up a card table at a mall or library. One of Meyer's oldest friends, a classmate in both high school and college, is Dick Cheney.

Philadelphia: Three weeks before the election, a white Republican alderman named Matt Robb requested that 63 polling stations in African American neighborhoods be relocated, thereby making it more confusing for 37,000 Democrat leaning voters.

Florida: Once again, as in the 2000 election, the state compiled a list of felons to be barred from voting. Throughout this election year, Governor Jeb Bush's administration struggled to keep this list secret. After a lawsuit forced it into the open, people quickly saw that, while some 23,000 Democrat leaning black felons were barred from voting, almost the same number of hispanic felons in Florida, who tend to vote Republican, were somehow not on the list.

Ohio: Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has ruled that anyone showing up in the wrong precinct will not be able to vote there, even by provisional ballot. Immediately afterward, people begain to report odd phone calls telling voters that their voting place had changed, sending them to the wrong precinct.

Arizona: Students at Arizona State University were told by a reporter at Fox News and the Republican county vote registrar that registering students was a federal crime unless students planned to stay in Arizona "indefinitely" after graduation. The Supreme Court of the United States long ago ruled otherwise.

[end music]

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How convenient.

World Socialist Web Site, Oct. 30

On the eve of the 2004 presidential election, allegations about the corrupt relationship between the Bush administration and Halliburton Corp., the company formerly run by Vice President Richard Cheney, have taken center stage once again. Press reports Friday said that the FBI has expanded an ongoing investigation into contracts obtained by Halliburton’s subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), in Iraq and Kuwait.

The FBI sought an interview with Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, a senior Army civil servant who objected to the KBR no-bid contract and complained that it represented preferential treatment. The Army gave KBR a secret $7 billion contract to restore Iraq’s oil fields just before Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Greenhouse is the chief contracting officer for the Army Corps of Engineers. In a letter to acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee on October 21, she said that Army officials had not justified the no-bid award by satisfying procedural requirements such as showing that KBR had “unique attributes” that no other contractor could match. She also charged that her repeated complaints were ignored, and that the Army allowed KBR officials to sit in on Pentagon meetings ...

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But consider this. If this is the real Osama, doesn't his appearance now prove that Bush has wasted two hundred billion dollars and a thousand American lives (plus 100,000 Iraqi lives) without making us any safer from Osama? Doesn't this tape, if it is genuine, prove that Bush is a total failure in his own "war on terror" ...
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Bin Laden's last video appearance was late in 2001. Howcome he hasn't aged? Why isn't his beard now totally grey - that's what generally happens over time.

"He's actually quite similar. I mean, in terms of his demeanor and his voice -- these kinds of things are quite similar. The big difference is that he's aged enormously between '97 and October of last year [2001].

This is a man who was clearly not well. I mean, as you see from these pictures here, he's really, by December he's looking pretty terrible. But by December, of course, that tape that was aired then, he's barely moving the left side of his body. So he's clearly got diabetes. He has low blood pressure. He's got a wound in his foot. He's apparently got dialysis ... for kidney problems."

Bin Laden "aged enormously" between 1997 & 2001, yet between 2001 & 2004 he's "unaged". Truly amazing...

Give the previous fake Osama tapes we have seen, the burden of proof is on the US Government to prove that this really is Osama and not a fake trotted out for Bush's re-election campaign. ...


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Kos.com, Oct. 30:

Hi. I'm Osama. I did 9/11, Not Saddam.
by DemFromCT
Sat Oct 30th, 2004 at 01:36:22 GMT


I'm still here. You haven't caught me. And you went after the wrong guy. I just thought I'd remind you.

Now, why that helps Bush is beyond me. For months, we saw the offense-is-defense idea pushed by every pundit you can think of who had access to RNC talking points that any discussion of Iraq, no matter how bad, was good for Bush. Whatever bad things surfaced that pointed out how screwed up Iraq was, it was good for Bush. Everything he did wrong was great publicity for him. Like the explosives story all this week. Like Halliburton investigations. Right. ...


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Whiskey Bar blog, Oct. 29:

If anyone had any doubts about which candidate al-Qaeda prefers in this election, I think you can put them to rest now. This tape -- coming hard on the heels of "Azzam the American" -- is obviously designed to have U.S. voters as obsessively worried about the terrorist threat as possible when they go into the voting booth next Tuesday. Osama, like Bush, understands the electoral value of zapping the deeper reptilian centers of the brain. Call it hypothalamus politics. Or, as one member of the media idiot chorus cheerfully told CNN a few days ago: "Fear works." ...


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Slate.com, Oct. 28:

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.—"I want you to stand, raise your right hands," and recite "the Bush Pledge," said Florida state Sen. Ken Pruitt. The assembled mass of about 2,000 in this Treasure Coast town about an hour north of West Palm Beach dutifully rose, arms aloft, and repeated after Pruitt: "I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States."

I know the Bush-Cheney campaign occasionally requires the people who attend its events to sign loyalty oaths, but this was the first time I have ever seen an audience actually stand and utter one. Maybe they've replaced the written oath with a verbal one. ...


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Salon.com, Oct. 29:

George W. Bush tried to laugh off the bulge. "I don't know what that is," he said on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, referring to the infamous protrusion beneath his jacket during the presidential debates. "I'm embarrassed to say it's a poorly tailored shirt."

Dr. Robert M. Nelson, however, was not laughing. He knew the president was not telling the truth. And Nelson is neither conspiracy theorist nor midnight blogger. He's a senior research scientist for NASA and for Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and an international authority on image analysis. Currently he's engrossed in analyzing digital photos of Saturn's moon Titan, determining its shape, whether it contains craters or canyons.
...

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This is George W. Bush, and I approved this message.

The Times (London), Oct. 29:

... Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware has been asked by Mr Kerry to become Secretary of State in a Democratic administration, according to Kerry campaign aides. Mr Biden, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the past four years, ran for President in 1988. His campaign ended abruptly when it was revealed that a key element of his stump speech had been lifted directly from Mr Kinnock’s general election speeches in 1987.

But Mr Biden has since emerged as a leading foreign policy figure in the Democratic party and is expected to take the job offered by Mr Kerry unless political factors intervene. Were the Democrats to retake control of the Senate, he might prefer to remain as a lawmaker, but those who know him think that unlikely. ...
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If this isn't a whitewash, the FBI will be knocking on Scooter Libby's door very, very soon. Scooter, for those who are unaware, is "Dick" Cheney's butt boy.

New York Times, Oct. 28:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether the Army's handling of a large Iraq contract with the Halliburton Company violated procurement rules, according to lawyers for an Army official who made the charges of improprieties.

F.B.I. agents have requested an interview with the official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, the chief of contracting with the Army Corps of Engineers, on her allegations regarding a 2003 contract with Halliburton to repair Iraqi oil fields, her lawyer, Michael D. Kohn, said in an interview yesterday.

Ms. Greenhouse, in an Oct. 21 letter to the acting Army secretary, charged that officials had shown favoritism toward Halliburton, the Houston-based conglomerate formerly led by Vice President Dick Cheney, in the awarding and oversight of the oil contract. She also said officials at the Army Corps of Engineers had tried to remove her as chief contract monitor after she raised persistent questions about Halliburton contracts. The Army says it has referred her letter to the Pentagon's inspector general for review.

The oil contract was awarded in early 2003 without competition to the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, as the American-led invasion of Iraq began, and was initially for five years and up to $7 billion. ...
[read more]

and Bush claims to be a Christian, which, of course, is a crock of undiluted bullshit.

Voice of America, Oct. 28:  

Medical Journal Estimates 100,000 Civilian Deaths in Iraq War

Baghdad woman weeping A new report in the British-based medical journal The Lancet estimates that more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the March, 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The survey found the major cause of death was from airstrikes, and many of the victims were women and children. A very small proportion of deaths in the study were related to terrorism.

The researchers did not include deaths in the volatile city of Fallujah in their final analysis, saying that would have skewed the death toll much higher.

There has been no official figure for the number of Iraqis killed since the beginning of the war, but some non-governmental groups have estimated it is between 10,000 and 30,000.

The survey team visited nearly 1,000 Iraqi homes last month. They concede that their results need further verification, but say the conclusion remains clear:  that violence is a major public-health problem in Iraq.


[read more]

Isbushwired.com, Oct. 26:

Finally, someone asked the president about the object on his back during Debate 1. And Bush lied straight-faced.

This is from Dan Froomkin's account at washingtonpost.com of Charles Gibson's Good Morning America interview with Bush aired today:

"Brandishing a copy of the photo, he asked: "Final question. What the hell was that on your back, in the first debate?"

Bush chuckled.

Bush: "Well, you know, Karen Hughes and Dan Bartlett have rigged up a sound system -- "

Gibson: "You're getting in trouble -- "

Bush: "I don't know what that is. I mean, it is, uh, it is, it's a -- I'm embarrassed to say it's a poorly tailored shirt."

Gibson: "It was the shirt?"

Bush: "Yeah, absolutely."

Gibson: "There was no sound system, there was no electrical signal? There was --"

Bush: "How does an electrical -- please explain to me how it works so maybe if I were ever to debate again I could figure it out. I guess the assumption was that if I was straying off course they would, kind of like a hunting dog, they would punch a buzzer and I would jerk back into place. I -- it's just absurd." ...
[read more]

If this doesn't prove that Bush is an incompetent, arrogant motherfucker, nothing will.

Washington Post, Oct. 28:

LESS THAN A POUND of the high explosive known as HMX was enough to destroy a Pan Am jumbo jet over Scotland in 1988 in one of the worst terrorist attacks against Americans before Sept. 11, 2001. So it can only be dismaying to learn that nearly 215 tons of the substance -- enough for hundreds of thousands of such bombs -- disappeared from an Iraqi weapons facility sometime after March 2003, when it was last seen by international inspectors. An additional 162 tons of the explosives RDX and PETN also are missing, according to a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency this month by the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology, which blamed a "lack of security" for the loss.

It's not clear whether the explosives vanished before or after invading U.S. forces reached the Qaqaa facility near Baghdad in April 2003, though it appears likely that the materiel was gone by May of last year, when the weapons-hunting Iraq Survey Group first visited the site. Nor is it evident that any of the explosives have since been used against U.S. forces in Iraq or any other target. It's possible that some or all of the HMX was destroyed by U.S. bombing. Nonetheless, the disappearance of the substance, which was sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency because of its potential use as a nuclear bomb trigger, must be counted as a potentially deadly cost incurred by the invasion of Iraq. ...


[read more]

Salon.com, Oct. 28:

Salon spoke to Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP, on Wednesday about Republican attempts to suppress the black vote in next Tuesday's election, including the placing of 3,600 election "challengers" at the polls in Ohio. The Republican secretary of state in Ohio, a crucial swing state with 20 electoral votes, asserts the challengers are needed to prevent voting fraud. But Bond countered that if fraud is really the issue, why are the GOP challengers focusing on cities like Cleveland, which have large Democratic-leaning African-American and Hispanic populations?

Nearly 40 years after passage of the Voting Rights Act, dirty tricks and intimidation tactics against black voters are alive and well, Bond said. ...


[read more]

ABC New, Oct. 28:

Iraqi officials may be overstating the amount of explosives reported to have disappeared from a weapons depot, documents obtained by ABC News show.

But International Atomic Energy Agency documents obtained by ABC News and first reported on "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" indicate the amount of missing explosives may be substantially less than the Iraqis reported.


The information on which the Iraqi Science Ministry based an Oct. 10 memo in which it reported that 377 tons of RDX explosives were missing — presumably stolen due to a lack of security — was based on "declaration" from July 15, 2002. At that time, the Iraqis said there were 141 tons of RDX explosives at the facility.


But the confidential IAEA documents obtained by ABC News show that on Jan. 14, 2003, the agency's inspectors recorded that just over three tons of RDX were stored at the facility — a considerable discrepancy from what the Iraqis reported.


The IAEA documents could mean that 138 tons of explosives were removed from the facility long before the United States launched "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in March 2003 ...



[read more]

Expect the Worst: George and Jeb are low-down slithering scumbags

BBC, Oct. 28:

Tens of thousands of postal ballots have gone missing in the US state of Florida, sparking fresh concern over irregularities in the poll campaign.
Authorities are investigating the apparent loss of 58,000 absentee forms in Broward County, north of Miami. ...

The missing ballots have fuelled an atmosphere of intense suspicion in Florida, with Democrats already backing nine separate lawsuits in the state, says the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington.

If the outcome is close and decides the result in the presidential race - and both of those eventualities are perfectly possible - it seems virtually certain that protracted legal battles will follow, our correspondent says. ...





[read more]

KSTP (Minneapolis), Oct. 28:

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew in Iraq shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein was in the area where tons of explosives disappeared, and may have videotaped some of those weapons.

The missing explosives are now an issue in the presidential debate. Democratic candidate John Kerry is accusing President Bush of not securing the site they allegedly disappeared from. President Bush says no one knows if the ammunition was taken before or after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003 when coalition troops moved in to the area.

Using GPS technology and talking with members of the 101st Airborne Division, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has determined the crew embedded with the troops may have been on the southern edge of the Al Qaqaa installation, where the ammunition disappeared. The news crew was based just south of Al Qaqaa, and drove two or three miles north of there with soldiers on April 18, 2003. ...

"We weren't quite sure what were looking at, but we saw so much of it and it didn't appear that this was being secured in any way," said photojournalist Joe Caffrey. "It was several miles away from where military people were staying in their tents".

Officers with the 101st Airborne told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the bunkers were within the U.S. military perimeter and protected. But Caffrey and former 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Reporter Dean Staley, who spent three months together in Iraq, said Iraqis were coming and going freely.
...

During that trip, members of the 101st Airborne Division showed the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS news crew bunker after bunker of material labelled "explosives." Usually it took just the snap of a bolt cutter to get into the bunkers and see the material identified by the 101st as detonation cords. ...


[read more]

Talking Points Memo, Oct.

If you look through the right-wing media universe this morning you will hear that perhaps the explosives were never at al Qaqaa at all. Or if they were there perhaps Saddam's men carted them off in March. Or if Saddam's men didn't cart them off
for the insurgency then the Russians carted them off to Syria. Or if, God forbid, it really did happen as the critics say, well, President Bush wasn't there. It was the fault of the troops on the ground.

If you can't quite get your head around the audacity of that last one, that's what the president's surrogate Rudy Guiliani said this morning on one of the morning shows.

"The actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there," said Mr. Guiliani, "Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?"

But, please, let's see through the snowstorm of mumbojumbo the president's handlers and liegemen are trying to toss in our eyes and focus on the essence of the matter.

The president and his advisors insisted on a warplan that had far too few troops to secure even the key facilities in Iraq that were the reason for the invasion in the first place. ...

[read more]

BBC, Oct. 27:

Bush website blocked outside US; access to the site is blocked

Surfers outside the US have been unable to visit the official re-election site of President George W Bush.

The blocking of browsers sited outside the US began in the early hours of Monday morning.

Since then people outside the US trying to browse the site get a message saying they are not authorised to view it.

The blocking does not appear to be due to an attack by vandals or malicious hackers, but as a result of a policy decision by the Bush camp. ...



[read more]

Editor and Publisher, Oct. 26:



As editorial endorsements wind down along with the election campaign, only a few major papers remain on the sidelines, with their picks expected this Sunday or before. This small group includes, among others, The Providence Journal, The Sun in Baltimore, and the Saint Paul Pioneer Press.

But in today's updated E&P; list of endorsements, mainly adding small and midsized papers, President Bush made some gains, picking up 20 while Sen. John Kerry added 15. Kerry now leads in endorsements 142 to 123 and in the circulation of those papers (roughly 17.5 million to 11.5 million).

Kerry picked up two more "switches": both the Edwardsville (Ill.) Intelligencer and the Monterey County (Ca.) Herald were Bush backers in 2000. The president nabbed one Gore supporter from 2000, The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis. So Kerry now holds a lopsided margin in switchers (that we know of), picking up 37 flip-flops compared to Bush's six.

The Huntsville (Ala.) Times, which backed Gore in 2000, ran twin endorsements this year.

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, as we have noted elsewhere, chose not to endorse this year after backing Bush in 2000. In the same category: the Texas daily, The (Bryan) Eagle. ...

[read more]

In October 2003, the office that provides legal counsel to government
agencies began keeping the subject of all of its legal opinions secret,
contrary to previous practice.

The Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice regularly writes
opinions on important legal matters for not only the DOJ but also other
agencies in the government.

In the fall of 2003, the office changed its previous policy of "issuing"
(releasing) selected opinions. From this time on, no opinions were released
and the subject of all opinions is secret.


Statistics:

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION:

1998: 57 opinions, 30 secret, 27 released - 53% secret
1999: 37 opinions, 14 secret, 23 released - 38% secret
2000: 47 opinions, 27 secret, 20 released - 57% secret

BUSH ADMINISTRATION:

2001: 74 opinions, 67 secret, 7 released - 91% secret
2002: 54 opinions, 48 secret, 6 released - 89% secret
2003: 35 opinions, 28 secret, 7 released, 80% secret
2004: APPROX. 30 opinions to date, all secret, 0 released - 100% secret

You can obtain a list of opinions, in redacted form, from the Office of
Legal Counsel, at:

Paul P. Colborn, Special Counsel
Office of Legal Counsel
Department of Justice
Room 5515, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530-0001
telephone 202-514-2038

News organizations are stumbling all over themselves trying to refute revelations first posted on Talking Point Memo by Josh Marshall indicating that the U.S. military failed to secure hundreds of tons of highly explosive materials after the fall of Baghdad last year.

CNN earlier today broke the story that claims by the UN and the Iraqi interim government regarding the looting of the stockpiles were false, according to an NBC journalist embedded with the unit that made a "pit stop" at the facility in question in April 2003.

Those responsible for hunting down the missing materials actually didn't arrive at the scene until more than a month later, when they found the explosives missing.

The false CNN report was pushed by rumor monger and neo-conservative asshole Matt Drudge, the man who brought us Monicagate.
[read more]

CNN, Oct. 26:

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of 380 tons of powerful explosives from a storage depot in Iraq has taken a new twist, after a television news crew embedded with the U.S. military during the invasion of Iraq reported that the material could not be found when American troops arrived.

NBC News reported that on April 10, 2003, its crew was embedded with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division when troops arrived at the Al Qaqaa storage facility south of Baghdad. ...

[read more]

One -- Bush

Nelson Report via Talking Points Memo, Oct. 24:

Despite pressure from DOD to keep it quiet, the IAEA and the Iraqi Interim Government this month officially reported that 350-tons of dual-use, very high explosives were looted from a previously secure site in the early days of the US occupation in 2003. Administration officials privately admit this material is likely a primary source of the lethal car bomb attacks which cause so many US and Iraqi casualties. In the first presidential candidate debate, on foreign policy, Democratic nominee John Kerry charged that captured munitions and weapons were being turned against Coalition Forces, with US troops suffering 90% of the casualties. But the specifics of the losses from the Al Qa Qaa bunker and building complex, only now being reported, were apparently unknown outside of DOD and the US occupation authorities. The Bush Administration barred the IAEA from any participation in the Iraq invasion and occupation process, and blocked IAEA requests to help in the search for WMD and other dangerous materials. As part of the UN sanctions regime still in place when the US invaded, the IAEA had “under seal” 350 tons of RDX and HDX explosives, since singly, and in combination, these materials can be used in the triggering process for a nuclear weapon. However, the explosives were allowed to remain in Iraq due to their conventional use in construction, oil pipe lines, and the like. Since the explosives went missing last year, sources say DOD and other elements in the Administration sought to block the IAEA from officially reporting the problem, and also tried to stop the new Iraqi Interim Government from cooperating with the IAEA. But finally, on Oct. 10, the Iraqi’s formally notified the IAEA, and on Oct. 15, the IAEA formally notified the Bush Administration. In press guidance prepared for release in the event news got out, but not released until today, when requested by The Nelson Report, State Department spokesmen confirmed the Iraqi government and IAEA report dates, and that 350 tons of dual use high explosives could not be accounted for. State says DOD has now authorized the Iraq Survey Group to investigate the situation, which, by all accounts, took place in April, 2003. The official press guidance claims “no indications of WMD” at the Al Qa Qaa site, but concedes that the IAEA-sealed explosives were already missing at that time. Some sources say that in addition to the explosives, 20,000 RDX-armed rockets were lost, but we cannot confirm this. However, sources do say that parts of Iraqi Scud engines, and other metal components, have turned up in scrap metal yards in Amsterdam.
1. The Summary gives you the sum total of what we have been told, starting Friday, by informed observers and directly involved officials. There was an expectation of a major newspaper story on it this morning, and perhaps also a segment on tonight’s 60 Minutes, on CBS Television. The newspaper report failed to materialize, the TV show may yet appear...stay tuned.

-- the information confirmed by the State Department Press Guidance, prepared, but not called for Friday, is important in that it provides, for the first time, explicit details on exactly what was lost to “looters” of the Al Qa Qaa bunker and building complex in the early days of the Iraq invasion and occupation, in April, 2003. The importance of the information? A highly informed official offered the assessment that, “this is the stuff the bad guys have been using to kill our troops, so you can’t ignore the political implications of this, and you would be correct to suspect that politics, or the fear of politics, played a major role in delaying the release of this information.”



Further down in this evening's edition of The Nelson Report comes this ...

3. The Iraqi authorities were caught in a similar bind, observers feel. Under heavy pressure from their sponsors in DOD and US occupation authorities not to cooperate with the IAEA, by confirming that all 350 tons of sealed explosives could not be accounted for, the Iraqi’s had to wait until the formal turnover of authority before notifying the IAEA, sources here suggest. So the Iraqis failed to act until Oct. 10, and the IAEA did not formally notified the US, by letter, until Oct. 15, according to the State Department’s official press guidance.
-- “What the hell WE were doing in the year and a half from the time we knew the stuff was gone, is obviously a huge question, and you can imagine why no one [in the Administration] wants to face up to it, certainly not before the election,” an Administration source says. Other sources also noted the language of the State Department guidance, which they interpret as seeking to deflect from the gravity of the situation in two ways: first, by listing hundreds of thousands of tons of other munitions and weapons already discovered and/or destroyed, “the Guidance has the effect, for unsophisticated listeners, of lowering the profile of ‘only’ 350 tons of RDX and HMX explosives from Al Qa Qaa”.

Note: experts were reluctant to say exactly how much of this stuff it takes for a successful road side bomb, for example, but the guesstimates were “a few pounds, at most.” In other words, “with 350 tons out there, the bombing can go on for years...”

4. Second, several highly informed sources were careful to hint, the “implications” of RDX and HMX, singly, and in combination, “are also an extremely serious issue, which is why they were under IAEA-seal”. One expert pointedly added, “and that’s all I can say on that, even on background.” Another sources noted, however, “it’s interesting that the Press Guidance seems to want us to look past any WMD implications for what was taken.”

-- another obvious question is what’s been done with the 350 tons, if anything, outside of Iraq? Our sources were unanimous in thinking that for reasons noted below, “it’s still in Iraq, and this is the most likely primary source of the explosives which have been used to blow up Humvees and in all the deadly car bomb attacks since the Occupation began.” Sources also discount any possibility except that “this was a highly organized. ...

[read more]

Democracy Now, Oct. 25:

Voters in states across the country have already begun to vote as millions more prepare to head to the polls next week in what many are calling one of the most important presidential elections in U.S. history.
Four years after the battle for Florida in 2000, the country is hoping to avoid another post-election stalemate and with the latest polls showing George W Bush and John Kerry in a statistical dead heat, every vote counts.

But while this election looks likely to be extremely close, the voting system is far from flawless. Voting machines have already begun to break down, accusations of systematic voter suppression and fraud are rampant, and lawyers have flocked to half a dozen states to cry foul.

In addition, a team of international observers who are monitoring the elections for the first time in American history, released a pre-election report that calls for major reforms in the process to promote confidence the voting system. ...


[read more]

Gadflyer, Oct. 26:

Today John Kerry opened up a new line of attack on President Bush, charging that his policies and positions are a product of Texas, a state whose political culture lies far outside the American mainstream. "The former governor of Texas has governed like, well, like a former governor of Texas," said Kerry to the laughs and hoots of the crowd. "He's so far out on the right wing, he fell off the plane."

Kerry also brought up Tom DeLay, the ultra-conservative congressman from the Lone Star state. "George Bush makes Tom DeLay look like a Texas moderate!"
...

[read more]

Washington Post, Oct. 26:

The Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year, pushing total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year, Pentagon and congressional officials said yesterday. ...

[read more]

The New York Times, Oct. 26:

by Paul Krugman

... Aides to John Kerry say that if he wins, he'll replace Porter Goss as head of the C.I.A. Let's hope so: Mr. Goss has already confirmed the fears of those who worried about his appointment by placing Republican staff members from Capitol Hill in key positions and raising fears about a partisan purge.

But the flap over Mr. Goss is only a symptom of a much broader issue: whether the Bush administration will be able to maintain its culture of cover-ups. That culture affects every branch of policy, but it's strongest when it comes to the "war on terror."

Although President Bush's campaign is based almost entirely on his self-proclaimed leadership in that war, his officials have thrown a shroud of secrecy over any information that might let voters assess his performance.

Yesterday we got two peeks under that shroud. One was The Times's report about what the International Atomic Energy Agency calls "the greatest explosives bonanza in history." Ignoring the agency's warnings, administration officials failed to secure the weapons site, Al Qaqaa, in Iraq, allowing 377 tons of deadly high explosives to be looted, presumably by insurgents. ...


[read more]

New Yorker, Oct. 25:

... On Tuesday, November 7, 2000, more than a hundred and five million Americans went to the polls and, by a small but indisputable plurality, voted to make Al Gore President of the United States. Because of the way the votes were distributed, however, the outcome in the electoral college turned on the outcome in Florida. In that state, George W. Bush held a lead of some five hundred votes, one one-thousandth of Gore’s national margin; irregularities, and there were many, all had the effect of taking votes away from Gore; and the state’s electoral machinery was in the hands of Bush’s brother, who was the governor, and one of Bush’s state campaign co-chairs, who was the Florida secretary of state. ...

[read more]