OPEN THREAD

While the frogs are still sleeping, discuss amongst yourselves. Read More......

God Bless the Brits

Read More......

More VERY creepy evidence of voter fraud, now in Florida

Ok, this is getting very creepy.

Brad at BradBlog.com reports on a very troubling analysis done of votes in Florida that were tallied by machines produced by Diebold (the company run by the big Republican) and ES&S; (a company reportedly founded by the CEO of Diebold).

It's a bit complicated, but in a nutshell, you can look at registered voters for each party in a precinct and guesstimate how many votes each party might get in that precinct. Then you compare that guesstimate with how many people actually voted for each party in that precinct.

I know, complicated. But in the end what they found was a shocking number of the Diebold and ES&S; precincts logged WAY MORE Republican votes than expected and WAY FEWER Dem votes than expected. Whereas the other precincts, not nearly such a divergence.

That's creepy. Especially when you consider that Diebold and ES&S; supposedly tallied 80% of the nation's vote. You see where this is going.

After you read what Brad has to say, then check out this tally of the voting machines. Read More......

Assessing the needs of our troops

Before I feel too sorry for them, I'd like to know if it's true that some 70% of our troops actually voted to keep the guy in office who left them in this pitiful situation.

I started hearing months ago about Humvees without armor plate, trucks that don't run, radios that don't work and guns without bullets.

It had to be a temporary glitch, I said to myself when I heard about these omissions way back in April. Surely the great minds of the military brass would have figured out right away that they needed to change the way they were supplying the troops.

One of those stories in April -- from United Press International -- cited a report that said 20 percent of the U.S. troops killed in Iraq "might have lived had there been more armored, heavier vehicles available to them."

And yet the stories persisted. Sunday's New York Times says the problem "is extensive," and that the National Guard and Reserves are particularly affected.

This week, when I went online, good old Google came up with more than 34,000 hits -- mostly new -- on G.I.s lacking armor.

There was the story in the Oct. 25 issue of Time magazine about young soldiers -- a young woman and a young man -- phoning their parents, begging them to get in touch with Congress for help getting the life-saving supplies they need.

They used phrases like "suicide mission" to describe their daily lives. The worst part of that story was the comment that military officials planned "an investigation to determine whether any of the soldiers violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice" by asking their parents for help.

Read More......

The only "mandate" Bush has is with a guy name Fred

That was a bit of a joke. Mandate. Man-date. Get it? Anyway...

Media Matters points out that Bush's victory on Tuesday was one of the smallest in recent history (kind of like his IQ). He didn't get a mandate for anything.

Among what they found:

• With the exception of the 2000 election, Bush's popular vote margin of about 3.6 million votes (out of approximately 115 million total votes cast) was the smallest since 1976, when then-Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter (D) defeated President Gerald R. Ford (R) by about 1.7 million votes.

• Though Bush won more votes -- 59.2 million -- than any presidential candidate in U.S. history, Kerry's vote total -- 55.7 million -- was still greater than any U.S. presidential candidate in history prior to 2004. That means more Americans cast their vote against Bush than against any other presidential candidate in U.S. history.

• As Wall Street Journal Washington editor Albert R. Hunt pointed out (WSJ.com subscription required) on November 4, "It was a GOP sweep, but it also was the narrowest win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916."

• Percentage-wise, Bush's victory was the narrowest for any wartime incumbent president in U.S. history. (For the purpose of this calculation, Media Matters for America counted the following presidential elections as wartime incumbent elections: 1848, 1864, 1900, 1944, and 1972. Popular vote data for 1812 is unavailable.)

• A Gallup poll conducted just after the election found that 63 percent of voters would prefer to see Bush pursue policies that "both parties support" compared to only 30 percent who want Bush to "advance the Republican Party's agenda."

Read More......

Oh, and I've decided...

So I've decided that any Democrat, ANY Democrat that goes into President Bush's cabinet is NO LONGER A DEMOCRAT. Period. Read More......

Did Bush really win?

I know, I don't want to go there, but I've started reading some of the articles, and this is very disturbing. For example:

1. The electronic voting system in one county in North Carolina lost over 4,000 early votes (votes made before election day). As Dems in many parts of the country outnumbered Repubs in early voting - well, you can see where this is heading.

2. The discrepancy between the exit polls and the actual "electronic ballot" results:

...while exit polling is unreliable, the odds of President Bush having gaining an advantage from every exit poll in swing states is an extremely improbable coincidence.

In Florida, Bush led exit polling by CNN's exit polling consortium by just 5355 votes (when the exit polling information is multiplied by the actual vote). Yet he led by 326,000 in the end result. This morning, CNN changed their exit polling to favor Bush, saying that had overweighted African American voters.

In Wisconsin, where exit polls put Kerry up seven percent, Bush has a lead of one percent, an unexplained difference of eight percent.

In New Mexico, Kerry led Bush by 3.8 percent, yet Bush leads Kerry by 3 percent in actual reported voting.

In Minnesota, where a new law sharply restricts reporters’ access to polls, Kerry led 9.6 percent in exit polling. Actual voting counts found that Bush trailed by 5 percent, with a 5 percent discrepancy favoring Bush.

Ohio, which does have paper trail capability but does not mandate receipts, had exits showed Kerry and Bush in a dead heat; in the near-final results, Bush led by three percent.

Exit polls put Kerry up by 8 percent in Michigan; actual results show Bush trailing by just 3 percent.

Nevada, which also has electronic voting – though should have mandated paper trails, had a variance of 4.2 percent. Kerry led the exit polls by 1.2 percent, while Bush led reported votes by 3 percent.

3. Read more analysis here at the Democratic Underground.

I find myself casting a doubting eye at conspiracy theories. Then again, would I put it past GOP operatives in the various states - the kind of right-wing-nuts who have been posting the hate-filled vitriol on this blog the past 2 days - to cheat? Hardly. Do they have a record of cheating? Yeah. So is it possible they cheated enough to steal the election? Well... yeah it is.

It doesn't mean they did cheat, but I'm kind of creeped out by the fact that I honestly couldn't swear that Bush won for real this time. Is this a great country, or what? Read More......

University Wire covers ENJOYtheDRAFT.com

I can't say I'm real excited to see this article come out two days AFTER the election, but my favorite part is the GW student saying our Web campaign could have been really effective if it had come out sooner. Just so you know, we had a proposal ready over a month ago, but none of the liberal-powers-that-be-with-lots-of-money wanted to fund it. But hey, that draft issue didn't matter to young people anyway, and, I mean, it's not like we lost the election or anything? But I'm not bitter.

GW Hatchet - U-Wire DC Bureau
Issue: 11/4/04

Military draft addressed with humor
By Kate Ackerman

(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON - The potential of a military draft has acquired limited attention in the presidential election, but a new Web site addresses the issue with humor in an attempt to reach young voters. The Web site, www.ENJOYtheDraft.com, features Bush's twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, in military fatigues, "Spring Break Fallujah 2005", and a trip planner for "that very special junior-year abroad" which includes a one-way ticket to Baghdad and the option of body armor for an extra $50. "Of course these are serious issues we're debating, but no one wants to listen to doom and gloom all day long, even if in reality there are some pretty gloomy things on the horizon," said John Aravosis, one of the site's three creators. "We thought taking a 'Jon Stewart' approach to the issue might be the best way to get our message out."

Aravosis, and top liberal bloggers Matt Stoller, 26 and Kyle Shank, 20 launched the website last week. In its first week, the site has received almost 150,000 hits, including visitors from over 100 colleges and universities throughout the country such as Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, and Washington University. "While we've also had visitors from every major TV network and newspaper, what matters most to us are the college visitors, and in that area alone we've been really successful in getting our word out," Aravosis said. "The website grabs your attention that's for sure," said Lindsay Mandell, a senior at George Washington University. "If it had come out earlier, I think it could have been more effective and gotten even more publicity."

Both John Kerry and George W. Bush have said they would not implement a military draft but numerous websites say that Bush is secretly looking into it. "The notion that somebody's peddling out there that there is a secret plan to reinstitute the draft, hogwash, not true," Vice President Cheney said on NBC's Nightly News on Sept. 29.

Kerry has repeatedly called the heavy use of National Guard and reserve troops for extended duty in Iraq by the Bush administration a "backdoor draft".

"The draft has been the sleeper issue of this election," said Aravosis. "It's an issue that a lot of young voters care about and are justifiably worried about since they're the ones who will be drafted."

Some people have said that a draft seems inevitable under the Bush administration. "Right now -- with both our regular and Reserve soldiers stretched beyond the breaking point -- our all-volunteer force is tapping out," said retired Col. David Hackworth. If our overseas troop commitments continue at the present rate or climb higher, there won't be enough Army and Marine grunts to do the job."

The Bush administration continues to maintain that there is no need for a military draft.

"I hear there's rumors on the Internet that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period. The all-volunteer army works," Bush said in the second Presidential debate.

A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep, Charles Rangel, D-NY, and Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif. last January, was overwhelmingly defeated by a vote of 402-2 in October. If approved, the National Service Act of 2003 would have required all U.S. citizens between the age of 18 and 25 to serve two years of military service. ENJOYtheDraft.com has received both positive and negative feedback, its creators said.

"I think what has surprised me the most is that some people believe you can't be a good American if you are concerned about the war in Iraq," Aravosis said. "If you really honor the troops, you speak up."

Read More......

Red state or Blue state? You decide

A recent comment about the military draft, received on our ENJOYtheDRAFT.com Web site (copied and posted here verbatim):

Becuase it allows our army to remain powerfull enough to keep this country free and let assholes like you shit on it and not die for it. You would be shot if you live in Iraq two years ago and opposed the president.

Your confused and you know in your heart your wrong and probably evil. Only you can turn your life around at this point. You will die a lonely sad death. Which is fitting for someone who lives a lonely sad exsistance.

Your just looking for attention. Awww, come here I will give you the hug your daddy never did and maybe then you will see its yourself that you hate.

Read More......

Funny, if it weren't true

Read More......

We hate her

And here I thought the Bush Administration didn't want lesbians that close to children? Oh that's right, it's only safe when the lesbians and children are being used as props at political events.

Vice President Dick Cheney's family and friends watch as he speaks during a victory rally, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2004, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. Left to right are Cheney's daughter Mary Cheney, granddaughter Kate Perry, and Mary Cheney's partner Heather Poe. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Read More......

Note from a friend

A friend sent this email out today to friends and family:

I've always considered myself a political moderate. I am a southern Democrat -- yes, there are a few of us still around. I support free trade, balanced budgets, a strong defense and a foreign policy based on our national interest.

I am also gay. And today I live in a country whose just-elected President successfully built his electoral coalition on antigay prejudice.

Today I have to recognize myself as a minority, a second-class citizen with less than full rights and constitutional protections, a member of the last group of Americans who can be denigrated without political consequences.

What can I say to republican friends and family who voted for this man? What can they say to me?

After 9/11, George Bush served briefly as a unifying President. But he and his chief strategist, Karl Rove, felt he could win reelection with a base conservative vote, and that he could use polarizing cultural issues to motivate that base. Democratic leaders were shut out of legislative negotiations, the President ceased even lip-service to bipartisanship, and he pursued a strategy tailored to the conservative base of his party and, on economic issues, to the party's business interests. He became, quite deliberately, the great divider of the nation.

The strategy worked. Moral issues were sited as most important by voters Tuesday, more than the economy, terrorism, Iraq, education, environment. He got his base voters out, and they were enough to carry the day.

How were these voters mobilized? The chief tool was antigay prejudice. For the last 18 months, that was the unifying theme of the republican volunteer effort, and it included working to get "antigay marriage" constitutional amendments on the Nov. 2 ballot in as many states as possible. The antigay message was repeated in evangelical churches, independent and denominational, and in communications by many Catholic leaders as well; by the televangelists with their large national constituencies; and even in leaflets distributed by the Republican National Committee in several states, which claimed that Democrats would "ban the Bible."

So, here we are. The President spoke movingly yesterday of coming together and healing the wounds, as did Senator Kerry. Those words ring very hollow with me.

I don't know what fate holds for our country, or exactly how history will judge this president. I do know what I think of him.

Prejudice in whatever form is immoral and dangerous, as it blinds people to the individual and makes it easy to act on hatred. Out of prejudice great wrongs have been committed. I know that there are moral consequences to every action. A president who fans the flames of prejudice, or allows them to be fanned by his electoral operatives, is not a moral person.

A few times in my life things have happened, or one-time opportunities were lost, and I knew immediately there would be consequences years into the future. On those occasions my heart gets a little heavier, and it never again gets quite as light and hopeful as it had been. This is one of those times.

Rand

Read More......

From Air America, today

"Now is a good time to stockpile both porn and gasoline. And to see Bruce Springsteen before his 'unfortunate accident.' Also, go see Mount Rushmore before Bush's face gets carved on it."

--Air America Radio, Unfiltered (11/4)

Read More......

Iraqis Challenge Bush to Do Better Than Saddam

Don't hold your breath. Read More......

Ashcroft prepping for a Supreme Court appointment?

It makes sense for him to leave now before Rehnquist dies. He's a former member of the Senate and they are regularly good to their own. From AP:

Attorney General John Ashcroft is likely to leave his post before the start of President Bush's second term, senior aides said Thursday.

Ashcroft, 62, is described as exhausted from leading the Justice Department in fighting the domestic war on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Stress was a factor in Ashcroft's health problems earlier this year that resulted in removal of his gall bladder.

Ashcroft is expected to resign before Bush's Jan. 20 inauguration, said aides who spoke only on condition of anonymity. They said there is a small chance he would stay on, at least for a short time, if Bush asked him.

The attorney general has not officially informed his staff of his future plans, spokesman Mark Corallo said.

You usually don't telegraph to the public when you're about to launch a coup. The Right is planning their little coup as we speak, let's get ahead of them on this one. Read More......

The Year Of The Christ

Two signal events bookend this year and they are inextricably linked. Early in 2004, Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" was an astonishing blockbuster throughout the country. It's one of the top-grossing movies of the year and it's in Aramaic for gosh sakes. The pundits on the coasts were astonished but people in the heartland lined up to see it again and again. (It made more than three times as much as "Fahrenheit 9-11" at the box office.)

And now George Bush is president. 56% of Catholics voted for Bush over the first Catholic nominee since John F. Kennedy! As a practicing Catholic who was furious with the Bishops that stumped for Bush, that breaks my heart. Right there, in that one group, you've got a margin for victory for Bush. (You can blame any group, really, since the race was tight enough to hinge on one state.)

Voters weren't most concerned with Iraq or terrorism or even the economy. They voted on moral issues. Pundits on both coasts were again astonished. Our young men and women are dying overseas and people at home are more worried about gay marriage.

"Democrats were left with the fact that in the past 28 years, only Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton among their ranks have made it, and both had Southern and evangelical support. Mr. Kerry, a lifelong Roman Catholic, often struggled this year to speak of his faith in public," says the New York Times.

""Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter got elected because they were comfortable with their faith," said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a former Clinton aide. "What happened was that a part of the electorate came open to what Clinton and Carter had to say on everything else - health care, the environment, whatever - because they were very comfortable that Clinton and Carter did not disdain the way these people lived their lives, but respected them."

"He added: "We need a nominee and a party that is comfortable with faith and values. And if we have one, then all the hard work we've done on Social Security or America's place in the world or college education can be heard. But people aren't going to hear what we say until they know that we don't approach them as Margaret Mead would an anthropological experiment.""

It's the year of the Christ. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
Read More......

Bush Sets New Record!

No, not during the election, silly. With his budget-busting ways.

"After four years of rapidly rising budget deficits, the Treasury announced on Wednesday morning that the government will borrow $147 billion in the first three months of 2005 - a new quarterly record, but one that is likely to be eclipsed before that year is out," says the New York Times.

And you thought your credit card bills were high. The article is filled with gloomy news about the economy and our long-term fiscal health.

"More ominiously, said Mr. Holtz-Eakin, who worked in the Bush White House before becoming head of the Congressional Budget Office, there is little room for error. Almost any unexpected shock - a new recession, or a new military crisis - could push budget shortages higher than the gloomiest forecasters are predicting now.

"And even if Washington gets through the current uncertainties, only four years remain until the oldest baby boomers start to retire and the costs of Social Security and Medicare benefits gradually eclipse those of every other part of the federal government."
Read More......

What the media need to do to change

Rant time. I'm pissed at the media. And for good reason. Get a clue guys! Reporting spin from one side and then spin from the other and saying it's a balanced look at the world IS NOT YOUR JOB. You are NOT an extension of political and corporate PR departments. Your job is to get at the FACTS and report them. Let both sides decide from there how they want to "spin" the facts, but in the end, the headline and the lead must be what the facts are. If you get spin from EITHER side that is bullshit, call them on it. If they tell you the same line of crap that you can see is a lie (yes, when you present facts and someone says you are wrong, they are LYING) don't run it. Do not run a lie! If you put it in print or television, people think that it's TRUE, even when you know it's not. If you get spin from both sides and don't know which is true, DO YOUR FUCKING JOB AND FIND OUT.

Do your job. Get at the FACTS. Stop acting as PR agency press release billboards. Read More......

Mid-Morning Open Thread

Chatters. Read More......

Time for Healing, part II

I understand that after four years of bashing gays, destroying the environment, trashing the Constitution, rescinding civil rights, ignoring the poor, ignoring minorities, ignoring women, raping science, deifying extremists, invading foreign lands, killing innocent civilians, and letting Osama get away, our illustrious president now thinks it's a time for healing and unity.

How do I say this nicely? Fuck him.

I'm all for unity. I'm all for healing. But I'm not an idiot. George Bush isn't our new president, he's our old president. We've had him for four years and we know how he works. He surrounds himself with ideologues and is too stupid, or uncaring, to do anything other than their bidding. He will attack and trash and pillage again and again like he has for four years. As Ronald Reagan would say: Trust, but verify. I'm all for George Bush being a uniter, and if he really proves he is, I'll join him. But until that time, I'm going to trust the George Bush I know. I know George Bush, George Bush has been my president for four years, and Mr. President... you're an asshole.

As George Bush himself once said:

"There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again."

Read More......

Senate 2006 - Santorum needs to go

A great summary over on DailyKos about Senate seats up in 2006. Being a Pennsylvania voter, I have my eyes on Santorum and want that punk to get bounced. How does such a raging righty keep his job in the Northeast or in a state that has voted against Bush twice? We have 17 seats and the GOP has 15 up in 2006 so we're going to need to organize early and be well positioned to win. It's time we make the Blue states no-go, hostile zones for the GOP.
Read More......

Gary Hart talks about keeping it simple

I generally like the Independent out of the UK and was just reading this article from Gary Hart which is worth a minute or two. Our core values are not the problem but whether it's a timing issue (war time) or it is a delivery issue (too complicated), we failed. Our new party leadership sure as hell better understand the art of marketing and message delivery because that is our biggest obstacle. Like any good marketing program, we need to be able to boil down an issue and make it simple and easy to understand.

On a positive note, how about Obama winning by such a large margin as well as Salazar in Colorado beating Coors? Two impressive wins for us in an otherwise tough day. We seemed to do OK as well with governors on Tuesday, so let's keep our eyes on those success stories and see how we can build on those and take those messages elsewhere.
Read More......

Step back, breath deeply and let's look at the future

As much as I may hate to recognize the results, they are what they are. Sure, Kerry could have pulled it off in Ohio but the fact is he didn't. He did not lose by 500 votes nationally either. I don't subscribe to the "mandate" theory but that is still not going to change how the GOP governs. We're going to have our noses rubbed in it for a while until we figure out how to take on these guys. Obsessing about a story or potential corruption here or there is an exercise in futility so I not going to do it and instead am looking at what we failed to do to win and what we can change in the future. If we lost by just a few votes sure, but it wasn't just a few votes.

Here are a few issues that I think we ought to look at in the future but please add more as well as comments and strategy ideas:

* So far I've seen some out there complaining that somehow gays were a problem. Bullshit. We may need to reconsider our approach but no way this is a loser for us. In the America that I know, we all deserve the same rights. For me it's an issue of fairness and civil rights. We need to show people the impact, the end result of failing to deliver civil rights for all Americans. How does this impact all of us? How does this impact our friends and families?

* Republican spending is without a doubt, out of control. Yesterday the news started to talk about the Republicans needing to raise the debt ceiling. The GOP hammered away for years at the Dem's for spending and now they are the people who spend like a bunch of drunken sailors. They are drunk with power and spend our money. Again, how does this relate to people back home?

* Republican extremism has been not been made a wedge issue since Newt left Congress. I believe that we failed miserably to exploit the polarizing characters such as DeLay, Frist and Santorum and now we have a few new characters on board such as Coburn and Martinez who are quite far right. Are we suddenly a nation of extremists? This issue needs to be worked hard.

* How do tax cuts and increased spending relate to average Americans? Sure this is going to be a local issue but we need to make it painfully clear what the numbers are for average Americans. National tax cuts give average families chump change in their pockets but what about local tax increases? What about university costs going up? What about healthcare costs rising? What about the proposed GOP program to create tax free healthcare accounts? Sure, now those $5000 (and up) per year costs are after tax, but it still works out to be a tax on working families that did not exist ten years ago. They can give it a fancy name and spin, but that is simply a tax cut.

* Increased price to pay at the pump. This is a tax on average Americans for the failure of this GOP team to have a viable foreign policy. Gas prices will stay high because of this war of choice which has made us more isolated. It is also directly the result of a failure to be serious about conservation. Drilling in Alaska will not cure this problem of overconsumption and poor foreign policy. To repeat, how exactly does this impact regular Americans? Let's make it clear.

* Corporate curruption is still out of control and connected to the highest levels of the GOP. These sweetheart deals to the likes of Halliburton as well as other corporate welfare have a cost to average Americans. What are those costs? The GOP demonized the "welfare mothers" living off American taxpayer money (without providing any real numbers or real impact) so we need to do this with the corporate welfare recipients and talk about the costs to average Americans.

* As John mentioned (I can't remember if this was here or in person) everything we have have today is owned by the GOP. The Democrats can't be blamed for these problems because this policy has been shoved down the throats of America by the Republicans. They own the problems such as Iraq, the deficit, the division of America, etc. Obstructionism is a joke and we are fools to think otherwise. The GOP has thrown us around like a rag doll and they own the current list of problems in America. It's time to make it clear to America who owns these problems.

What else?
Read More......

Time for healing?

I guess that's just one of those things that you have to say in times like this but in the face of this team that we're fighting it really means nothing. We're now going to witness more of the tyranny of the majority (slight as it may be) because they seem to think that even 500 votes are a mandate so it's pretty clear what 1% or so is going to mean to them. Despite massive chunks of America being against their programs for change, it's full steam ahead. Don't expect the GOP to take into consideration anything we have to say because they won't. They want 49% of the population to change their views and come to them.

For the time being, what we do within our own team is much more important than what they do. As mentioned below, it's time for changes in leadership and it's time to think about who can represent our party the best on a national level. I may be alone here, but I like Hillary. However, I also recognize that she is too much of a polarizing figure for reasons which may not even make sense. Bush gained ground with women, Latinos, seniors and a few other groups so we need to figure out how and who can help us take back those groups.
Read More......