Cheney says Kerry is encouraging violence

Is it illegal to tell the vice president to go fuck himself?

"John Kerry is trying to tear down all the good that has been accomplished, and his words are destructive to our effort in Iraq and in the global war on terror," Cheney said. "As Prime Minister Allawi said in his speech, and I quote, 'When political leaders sound the siren of defeatism in the face of terrorism, it only encourages more violence.' End quote."

And when political leaders lie to the nation in order to save their own asses, it only encourages them to fuck us over again and again and again. You gotta love it when the man responsible for a quagmire that has killed over 1,000 US soldiers and 20,000 Iraqi civilians, all for a lie, has the nerve to lecture us about inciting violence.

By the way, how's Mary? Read More......

Headline of the Week

AFP: "Iraq 'succeeding' says Allawi, as family pleads for hostage" Read More......

Bush says more Iraqis think their country is on the right track than Americans do about ours

Great. Bush can go over there and be their president. Read More......

The feds have rules about drafting transgendered people

I kid you not. I just found this. Kind of surprising that they get into this kind of detail. Also odd that they don't draft gays because that would hurt unit cohesion, but they think the macho military men would be a-okay with a male-to-female transgender person in their unit. Yeah. And then they say you can get an exemption anyway. Weird shit.

From the Selective Service Web site:

How does the Military Selective Service Act apply to individuals who have had a sex change? Individuals who are born female and have a sex change are not required to register. U.S. citizens or immigrants who are born male and have a sex change are still required to register. In the event of a resumption of the draft, males who have had a sex change can file a claim for an exemption from military service if they receive an order to report for examination or induction.

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White House gets away with it again

On a party-line vote, the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee today voted AGAINST asking the White House to turn over its records regarding the estimated cost of the Medicare prescription drug benefit bill passed last year by the slimmest of margins. The white house GUARANTEED conservative republicans -- their own people! -- the bill would cost no more than $400 billion.

You may recall stories about an actuary named Rick Foster working at HHS who told his boss that the cost of the bill would be considerably bigger than promised. You may also recall that Foster said his boss, Tom Scully, threatened to fire him if he went public.

Now we know the program will cost at least 20 percent more than originally advertised. But GOP doesn't want you to know what the white house knew and when they knew it. Just the latest example of this administration getting away with lies.

George Bush: zero truth, zero accountability.
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Bush Plans Add to U.S. Red Ink -- CBO Study

Reuters:

President Bush's budget plans, including making tax cuts permanent, would contribute to a rise of more than $1 trillion in the federal deficit over the next decade, according to a congressional report requested by Democrats and criticized by Republicans.

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Do I smell terrah-rists?

Let's invade. Read More......

Vote for Bush, or die

Same old bs. Read More......

We may all die, but at least "the Pledge" is safe

Republicans in Congress wasted no time today in protecting us from the war on... the war on... the war on... well, apparently they're protecting us from the Bill of Rights and the US Supreme Court. Good thing they have nothing better to do at the same time they're warning us a major terrorist attack is imminent. Read More......

Bush's press conference today - scary

Atrios excerpted us the "best of Bush" from the transcript:

- The first part of the question was how come we haven't found Zarqawi? We're looking for him. He hides.

- I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. It was pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future.

[AS ATRIOS POINTS OUT, THIS IS A GOOD THING?]

- Talk to the leader. I agree, I'm not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live in America where it's nice and safe and secure.

- The Afghan national army is a part of the army.

- I've seen firsthand the tactics of these killers.

And I have a few of my own excerpts to add:

- If we stop fighting the terrorists in Iraq, they would be free to plot and plan attacks elsewhere, in America and other free nations.

[SO, WE'RE USING OUR SOLDIERS AS CANNON FODDER?]

- Nearly 100,000 fully trained and equipped Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel are working today and that total will rise to 125,000 by the end of this year. The Iraqi government is on track to build a force of over 200,000 security personnel by the end of next year.

[THIS WAS A LIE - AP EXPOSED THIS EARLIER TODAY. ALAWI THEN REPEATED THIS LIE: "The Iraqi government now commands almost 100,000 trained and combat-ready Iraqis, including police, national guard and army."]

- It's important that we train Iraqi troops. There are nearly 100,000 troops trained.

[BUSH LIES AGAIN.]

- We've already spent more than $1 billion on urgent reconstruction projects in areas threatened by the insurgency.

[MEANING, THE CONGRESS GAVE HIM $18BN A YEAR AGO AND HE'S ONLY SPENT 5% OF THE MONEY.]

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Oops, I did it again...

Bush lies AGAIN about Iraq. Ok, in all fairness, a "lie" requires you to actually understand and comprehend the concept of "truth," and to KNOW the actual truth of a given situation, in order that you can misstate that truth. In Bush's case, I think he honestly has no idea what the facts are because his simple little brain can't handle more than a sound-bite. He's a 64k processor in a 3 GHz world.

From Reuters today:

Bush said nearly 100,000 fully trained and equipped Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel are working and this would rise to 125,000 by the end of this year. The Pentagon said on Monday, however, that only about 53,000 of the 100,000 Iraqis on duty have undergone training.

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VIDEO: Kerry on Letterman, it's online

You can see it here.

UPDATE: I just watched the video, Kerry ROCKED. I'm serious. He was THAT good. Relaxed, funny, and, as Michael in NYC noted, Kerry was OBVIOUSLY familiar with the show - he even interrupted himself at one point to thank Dave for the shows he did immediately following September 11. It was clear he had the audience EATING out of his hand, and Letterman pretty clearly enjoyed the interview as well. Do watch this entire video (you'll need a high-speed connection) and send the link for it to your friends - this is the kind of thing that wins people over. Finally, there's a GREAT new song from Green Day in the fourth clip on the site - it 's quite good, and politically relevant. (I'm a big Green Day fan.) Read More......

Now that we finally caught Cat Stevens, who's next?

(Click here to see a larger version) Read More......

Meeeow!

"It is the height of absurdity for Dick Cheney, a chief architect of the Iraq quagmire, to talk about the leadership needed to fix the mess in Iraq that he created." - John Edwards, 9/23/04

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POLL: Voters prefer Kerry to Bush on #1 issue of concern, the economy

From Reuters:

President Bush has a small lead over Sen. John Kerry six weeks before the presidential election, but voters favor the Democratic candidate on jobs and unemployment, a new poll showed on Thursday.

Fifty-one percent of respondents to the survey conducted for the Wall Street Journal and NBC News said they disapproved of the Republican Bush's handling of the economy, which they consider the most important election issue....

The poll found 28 percent of registered voters think the most important issue leading into the Nov. 2 election is the economy, 23 percent said the top issue was terrorism and 20 percent said the war in Iraq.

Voters' views on the economy were bleak, the poll showed. Thirty-six percent believe the economy has gotten worse over the past 12 months, up from 33 percent a month ago.

Twenty-nine percent of voters think the economy has gotten better over the past 12 months, it said.

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BushCheney praise DC's dine-and-ditch homo on their Web site

Three issues here:

1. Wonder how the religious right feels about Bush praising a big fag (Armando Cortinez) as his number-two all-time campaign volunteer?

2. What a moron that any gay man would actively work to help this president. I hope this guy never gets laid again.

3. The all-time-number-two volunteer has been accused of running a dine-and-ditch campaign event for Bush in DC. This is what the Bush-Cheney ticket is crowing about? Though he and Bush do have something in common. The president ran the biggest dine-and-ditch operation in US history - on the US budget.

More from our friend, Jesus' General. After reading JG's backgrounder on the dine-and-ditch, why not call the Bush-Cheney '04 headquarters and ask them why they're praising on their Web site folks who stand accused of running a dine-and-ditch on behalf of the campaign:

Bush-Cheney Campaign HQ in Virginia:
(703) 647-2700 Read More......

McCain: Bush screwed up in Iraq

Via David Corn:

[O]n Fox News Sunday, McCain whacked Bush on Iraq. He accused Bush of making "serious mistakes after the initial successes by not having enough troops there on the ground, by allowing the looting, by not securing the borders. There was a number of things that we did. Most of it can be traced back to not having sufficient numbers of troops there." When he said "we," McCain actually meant Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Condoleezza Rice. He noted that the Bush administration has allowed insurgents to establish sanctuaries--such as in Falluja--where anti-American rebels or terrorists can be trained and harbored. McCain, saying he still supports the US mission in Iraq, was making a serious charge: that Bush and his gang have screwed things up tremendously.

Anchor Chris Wallace then asked what seemed to be a Bush-friendly question: "Some have suggested that what we're seeing, to use a Vietnam analogy, is kind of a rolling Tet offensive to try to break the will of the American and Iraqi people and to play a role in defeating President Bush. Do you think that's what's going on?"

While other GOPers have tried to make such a point to shore up support for Bush among potential voters, McCain would not. "I don't think they're interested so much," he replied, "in defeating President Bush."

I love this last part. McCain says the insurgency is not about influencing the US election. Priceless. Read More......

The excuses continue

Every Thursday, the Department of Labor issues the number of first-time claims for jobless benefits. That number is seasonally adjusted. This week, the number went up. They blame it on the hurricanes in Florida. Those happened over two weeks, so you'd think they'd trot out this excuse earlier, but whatever.

Folks, it's seasonally adjusted. Hurricanes happen in the late summer and fall. Look, 350,000 first-time claims isn't a great number by any means, but it isn't as bad as previous months. My guess is they're setting up the hurricane as an excuse when the new unemployment numbers come out on the first Friday in October. You know, just in case they need something other than failed economic policies and a war to blame for another month of anemic job growth.

Remember, this white house blamed 9-11 for "a million job losses," which was, of course, a bold-faced lie that not even their own Department of Labor could back up. This administration gives us excuses, lies, fantasies, and stories. Everything but jobs.
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"Naked Yoga Guy" allowed in SF, nipples still bad but dead Iraqi civilians still OK

I am hardly a nudist but I've had it with the moralists who attack any showing of the human body yet don't find equal disgust with war. With CBS now getting hit with a $550,000 fine for Nipplegate, I am glad to see that San Franciso is dropping a lawsuit against the Naked Yoga Guy for performing in public. So what if he's naked? It's the human body and we all have one. If only we would see more indignation at the slaughter of innocent civilian casualites in war we might all be better off. Cheers to San Francisco.
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Afghanistan democracy: "this election is just a show"

Who would have guessed that there is even more trouble in the Bush showcase account for democratic change? If Americans wake up and actually start paying attention to this "success story" they're going to see that it's yet another failure of this administration. We've already been reading about massive voter fraud (more registered voters than actual voters) and we know that we can't control the countryside beyond Kabul and now we're looking at US election manipulation to make sure that the right people win. Sounds like a Bush family reunion.

Mohammed Mohaqiq says he was getting ready to make his run for the Afghan presidency when U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad dropped by his campaign office and proposed a deal.

Mohaqiq was still determined to run for president — though, he said, the U.S. ambassador wouldn't give up trying to elbow him out of the race.
"He left, and then called my most loyal men, and the most educated people in my party or campaign, to the presidential palace and told them to make me — or request me — to resign the nomination. And he told my men to ask me what I need in return."

"It is not only me," Mohaqiq said. "They have been doing the same thing with all candidates. That is why all people think that not only Khalilzad is like this, but the whole U.S. government is the same. They all want Karzai — and this election is just a show."

The charges were repeated by several other candidates and their senior campaign staff in interviews here. They reflected anger over what many Afghans see as foreign interference that could undermine the shaky foundations of a democracy the U.S. promised to build.

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Democrats Cave On Tax Cuts

As the US spends $200 billion (and counting) on the quagmire that is Iraq while shouldering a record federal debt and record annual deficit of $420 billion (and counting), no one seems to suggest that war isn't the best time to enact huge tax cuts without any way to pay for them.

The Democrats and fiscally mdoerate Republicans like John McCain were holding the line, but Democratic leaders caved to election year fears of looking weak on tax cuts and agreed to terms far worse than what the Republicans were offering just a few months ago. Nice going, guys. As the New York Times noted,

"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that debt will climb by $2.3 trillion over the next 10 years, and that making all Mr. Bush's tax cuts permanent would cost an additional $1.9 trillion by the end of 2014."

That's an ADDITIONAL $1.9 trillion, for a total from these cuts alone of $4.2 trillion. I'd love to see say $200 billion spent on a Manhattan Project to develop alternative energy sources within the next ten years and end our dependency on not just foreign oil but ALL oil. (If we can put a man on the moon....) Think of the dramatic savings long-term in not having to prop up huge dictatorships or letting our economy be held hostage by overseas countries. But this money is just being frittered away without any reason, without any acknowledgement that we're at war and deep in debt and maybe this isn't the time to show largesse to a segment of the population. It's time to dig deep and pay a price to secure our future.
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Kerry Is Doing Great

Forgive me if others have already weighed in. But I just watched my tape of John Kerry on David Letterman and he was terrific! I wish he could appear on the show every day until the election. He was appropriately relaxed but very Presidential and very serious at times. Letterman asked some very substantive questions and Kerry was clear and forceful. He even read a Top Ten list about Bush's tax proposals (my favorite was the one that said Cheney could write off Bush as a dependent) and then proved he'd actually watched Letterman by tossing the postcard over his shoulder through the set behind, as Letterman always does. That combined with his strong speech on Iraq and focused, serious demeanor make me feel the most confident I've felt since the Republican convention.
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A Coalition Of One

The United States has 150,000 troops in Iraq. (Not nearly enough to get the job done.) Great Britain has the next highest number of troops. Their total? 7,000. And Maureen Dowd mentions in her latest column that the London Observer reports the UK is going to cut that number a third to under 5,000. That means soon 97% of the troops in Iraq will be ours and ours alone. Some coalition.
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Woman accused of crime for saying "No" to Dick Cheney

We're going to need lots more jails to deal with all the mothers BushCheney are arresting lately. Read More......