Tom Harkin - YOU GO, BOY!

Damn, the gloves are off. Dick Cheney just got bitch-slapped by Tom Harkin.

The rhetoric has gone nuclear (that's pronounced NOO-klee-ur, mr. preznit) on the war stuff and it's only going to get worse.

Last week Cheney takes Kerry's comments out of context on a "more sensitive war on terror" and claimed Kerry doesn't understand how to fight a war. Harkin emptied both barrels in response:

"It just outrages me that someone who got five deferments during Vietnam and said he had 'other priorities' at that time would say that," said the Iowa Democrat, a former Navy fighter pilot.

"They're running scared because John Kerry has a war record and they don't," said Harkin. "What he (Cheney) is doing and what he is saying is cowardly. The actions are cowardly."

Harkin, a 20-year veteran of the Senate, was a Navy flier from 1962-67, including stints at Atsugi Naval Air Station in Japan and Guantanamo Bay. He served 1968-74 in the Reserves.

He said Cheney has little standing to question the war record of Kerry, who was repeatedly wounded and decorated while serving as a swift boat commander in Vietnam.

The issue first arose when Harkin joined with Des Moines police officials protesting the call-up of a police officer who already had completed his eight year military commitment.

Harkin said that it angered him to hear tough talk from Cheney.

"When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil," said Harkin.

"He'll be tough, but he'll be tough with someone else's kid's blood," said Harkin.

I worked in DC for 5 years and never once did I hear Tom Harkin use his military bona fides, and never once did I ever hear Tom Harkin criticize anyone for their position on war. Not once. But he's pissed, and I think you're going to be hearing more of him. Read the rest of this post...

Chris Matthews accuses Bush campaign of lying

Chris Matthews recently skewered Matthew Dowd of the Bush-Cheney campaign for outright lying about something John Kerry had recently said on Matthew's TV show. Atrios has the link where you can go to read the transcript and see the video clip of the show.

In a nutshell, Kerry was asked if he was one of the anti-war candidates, and he said yes, if you mean does he think Bush prosecuted the war in the wrong way. The Bushies then took only a portion of the clip - cutting out the part where Kerry explains that he only oppose THE MANNER in which Bush ran the war - and put the out-of-context clip into an 11-minute attack video that claims Kerry "admitted" to being the anti-war candidate, when in fact Kerry only said that he opposed the way Bush has handled the war. The video has reportedly been sent out to 8 million Americans, and is being promoted via the Bush-Cheney Web site "KerryOnIraq.com" (as I noted a while back, if you click on KerryOnIraq.org you get sent to John Kerry's campaign home page - the dufus Bushies forgot to buy the .org so I bought it and pointed it to Kerry).

Anyway, Matthews, not very pleased at all that the Bushies are using him to lie about Kerry's statement on Matthews' own show, let the Bush drone have it, big time. You really need to read the transcript or see the clip - it's towards the end, you can simply search the transcript for the name Dowd and you'll see where he starts being interviewed. The debate over this comes up shortly after that. Read the rest of this post...

Pentagon FINALLY delays payments to Cheney Corp.

AP is reporting the Dept of Defense is holding back 15 percent of its payments of future invoices to Halliburton because the company can't describe how it accounts for costs. Many of you know this has been going on for months and it's a complex web of incompetence and deceit. For those of you whose eyes glaze over when reading about the finer points of government procurement, let me try to simplify and summarize the problem in a brief series of (completely made up) phone call transcripts that may have happened here.

Let's just call the Dept of Defense person "Rummy," or R, for short, and the Halliburton guy "Son of Dick," or SOD, for short. The first call takes place quite a few months back.

-ring-

SOD: hello?

R: SOD, R here. Just a question about that latest Iraq invoice you sent.
SOD: yes?
R: well, it's a little high. I can't exactly see why you charged so much. What exactly are we spending this money on?
SOD: let me get back to you.

- months pass -

SOD: hello?
R: Hi SOD, I was wondering if you could tell me where we are on that invoice thing. I know we've paid you a few billion now, but I have these Congressmen asking questions.
SOD: let me get back to you.

- months pass -

SOD: hello?
R: Hi SOD, it's R again. any word on that invoice thing?
SOD: oh, sure, we... umm... well, we just spent it, is all. But it's cool.
R: SOD, I need a little more detail than that.
SOD: let me get back to you.
R: SOD, seriously, I can't keep paying you if -
SOD: whatever. I'll get back to you.

- months pass -

SOD: hello?
R: Hi SOD, R again. Listen, I can't pay you like I have. I don't know what I'm buying here.
SOD: I don't know what the big deal is. We've done it this way for years, way back to when Dick was here. You know Dick, right?
R: Yeah, I know Dick.
SOD: So it's cool, right?
R: No, it's not cool.
SOD: Hey -- you lost over $2 billion in Iraq. It's not like I'm alone here.
R: actually...
Read the rest of this post...

The Create Your Favorite NYC Protest Contest

Bloggers sparked this idea. Everyone come up with your favorite protest idea for the Republican National Convention.

Emphyrio has a spooky, terrific idea: a display of mannequin limbs, one for every limb lost in Iraq.

Phill and Bdawg suggest a reading of "The Pet Goat," with the Andy Warhol twist that readers deliver one word and then stare into space for seven minutes. To make it more media friendly, I'd suggest having a team of protestors read it out loud en masse and then stare into space with bewildered looks on their faces for seven minutes. That would definitely make the local news.

Came up with something better? Tell us here.
Read the rest of this post...

More On Planned NYC Protests of Repub Convention

The Washington Post has a very good story on the tug-of-war between safety and civil liberties during the Republican National Convention in NYC. They detail a lot of planned protests and do a round-up of recent events where the police went overboard and squashed appropriate protests.

But my favorite bits include descriptions of some of the clever events protestors have planned:

One "Paul Revere" protest will have a person riding through the city with the warning, "The Republicans are coming! The Republicans are coming!" (God, that's funny.)

Another will feature the world's longest unemployment line.

But one they missed is also sure to gain lots of attention: it's a one-day genuine vomitorium, with volunteers being served endless amounts of food and then throwing up so they can keep eating. All in the spirit of comparing Bush to the Roman Empire and its hubris in overextending itself, gorging the filthy rich and so on.

Hopefully, these are the sorts of events the media will focus on, rather than any hooligans, which cops describe as expected in the hundreds (as opposed to the half a million or more protestors overall).
Read the rest of this post...

Playing Politics With The Military

Here's a damning NYT editorial about the reshuffling of our military. They argue that most of the moves (pulling troops out of Germany and South Korea) weaken our alliances, will cost us money (Germany apparently shoulders much of the cost of those troops), and gives up freely something the North Koreans dearly wanted and might have made concessions to achieve. In short, they argue that the main purpose of the reshuffling was not to realign the military for new realities but to punish allies who disagreed with us on Iraq.
Read the rest of this post...

NYC Mayor Threatens Protestors

Mayor Bloomberg has been tussling with all sorts of protestors -- policemen and firemen have been dogging him for a raise; numerous groups coming to protest during the Republican Convention are pushing for specific sites to stage their rallies. The group United for Peace and Justice -- an overarching group repping many smaller groups -- has been repeatedly denied access to the Great Lawn for its rally. The city says the Great Lawn can't handle the expected 250,000 marchers; organizers quite reasonably point out the long history of far larger groups meeting on the Great Lawn for rock concerts by Paul Simon, Garth Brooks et al hitting 500,000+ and how the Lawn has even been rented out for relatively private events like Disney's Pocahantas premiere. (Tickets were handed out to some 100,000 plus New Yorkers.) The city said the maximum it could handle would be 80,000. An Arab American group promptly requested the Great Lawn for a rally of 75,000 but were promptly turned down as well.

Now getting frustrated, Bloomberg said today:

"he expected most protesters who come to the event later this month would 'be reasonable,' but he warned that 'if we start to abuse our privileges, then we lose them.'"

Hmm, so political protest is now a privilege? I guess so, when the FBI comes knocking on your door to intimidate you for daring to take part in a rally.

By the way, NYC is anticipating protestors well into six figures and perhaps more than a million to descend on the city. It's sure to be the biggest convention protest since Chicago in '68. Here's hoping everyone behaves themselves and it can stun the Republicans into realizing the passionate opposition they face from mainstream Americans and wake up the undecideds. A bad result would be for the media to focus on the fringe elements that are sure to take part or for rallies to turn into WTO-style vandalism.


Read the rest of this post...

Bush refuses to pray in public, lest it cost him votes

Oh, to be a fly on Jerry Falwell's wall right about now. President George W. Bush afraid to pray in public because it might cost him a few votes. What would the good Lord - or the good Reverend - have to say about that? Well, it shouldn't shock them. This is a president who has made it painfully clear that after four years of courting the religious right he's now terribly afraid of even being seem with them in public (thus the reason no one even vaguely religious-right is speaking at the convention, and certainly none of them during prime time). Bush has realized that the mainstream Americans don't like these intolerant bigots. It's only a question of how long before the intolerant bigots catch on that Bush is using them.

Oh, and here's an interesting aside. Bush wasn't afraid to pray in public when it was a Muslim prayer at the White House.

"I particularly want to thank Imam Faizul Khan, who will lead us in prayer."

I doubt Jerry Falwell is going to miss that little contradiction - Muslim prayer good, Christian prayer bad? :-) Here's the Wash Post's reporting on Bush's prayer-o-phobia:

Bush had to calm the ardor of the crowd at Southridge High School in Beaverton. One woman noted that Oregon has one of the nation's highest percentages of "unchurched" citizens and asked the president to "take a minute to pray for Oregon."

Bush, who had won loud applause earlier when noting his Christian faith, told the woman "I appreciate what you say" but then seemed to rebuke her statement. "People can choose church or not church, and they're equally American," he said, adding that it is important that "we jealously guard" the tradition of protecting religious freedom.

The crowd, seemingly surprised by Bush's refusal to endorse the woman's statement, responded with only a smattering of applause.

Isn't that interesting. A president who wants to put prayer in school finds prayer inappropriate at a campaign event. A president who quotes the Bible when attacking gays from the White House runs from the his own Christianity at a campaign event. And a president whose attorney general holds prayer groups in his government office is now afraid of prayer when it might cost him a few votes with moderates.

For a president who is so fond of the Bible, and fond of using it to bolster his policies and his popularity, he sure doesn't heed the Bible's lessons on denying thy God in order to save thy own skin. It seems that Bush is only a flaming Christian when he thinks it will get him votes - when he fears his faith will cost him votes, Bush runs for the atheist hills. Read the rest of this post...

Watch out for those crazy Canadians! Who knows what kind of drugs they're selling?

Who knows what kind of drugs the Canadians are trying to push to American seniors? We all know that Canadian drugs are bad and have a terrible reputation so we must protect our citizens against this terrible invasion. Buying drugs from shifty countries such as Canada, England and France is going to cause great harm to us all. It's a good thing that the FDA is there to protect us.

A Canadian pharmacy began sending out new shipments this week to replace prescription drugs seized by U.S. Customs officials in Miami. About half of the 350 orders seized were intended for members of the Minnesota Senior Federation, officials said Tuesday.

"We want to know a little more about these drugs, where they're coming from," said William Hubbard, FDA associate commissioner for policy. "We're very concerned about the potential for harm from mislabeled or counterfeit drugs."

Read the rest of this post...

Marriage in Mass, part three

part three of the Boston Globe series on two brothers, two marriages -- one gay, one straight.
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More inanities from Bush

The Wash Post has a great review of Bush's latest malapropisms, including:

1. "We actually misnamed the war on terror," he said. "It ought to be the Struggle Against Ideological Extremists Who Do Not Believe in Free Societies Who Happen to Use Terror as a Weapon to Try to Shake the Conscience of the Free World."

2. Bush offered this definition of policy toward Native Americans: "Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. I mean, you're a -- you're a -- you've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities."

3. Bush offered a curious wish for his audience in Oregon: "I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?' "

4. There was this discussion of Iran policy last week: "As you know, we don't have relationships with Iran," Bush said. "I mean, that's -- ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions -- you can't -- we're out of sanctions."

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Is John Ashcroft going to be investigating MoveOn.org next?

I'm not saying it's going to happen, but the Bush campaign is now calling MoveOn.org "an extremist organization." That's the kind of code used to describe terrorist organizations in the Middle East who we don't want to call terrorists outright, but who really are. Is Bush's spokesman suggesting that MoveOn.org is akin to a terrorist organization (say, like, teachers)? Or is it now "extremist" to suggest any criticism at all of President Bush? What exactly has MoveOn.org said or done that has been "extremist" in the eyes of the Bush campaign? Time for some answers, or the Bush campaign should stop branding their political opponents as fags and terrorists. Read the rest of this post...

Bush Camp Controlling Admission to Events

Because nothing sells like a lie.

Brings to mind a favorite Simpson's episode:

Advisor: Little girl, do you think you can memorize this by dinnertime tomorrow?

Lisa: ``Mr. Burns: your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?''

Advisor: Very good.

Lisa: Mm. Well, as long as I'm asking something, can I ask him to assuage my fears that he's contaminating the planet in a manner that may one day render it uninhabitable?

Advisor: No, dear. The card question'll be fine.

Marge: Well, I think the non-card question is a valid...

Homer: Marge! ... Don't worry. My daughter's very bright, and I'm sure she'll be able to memorize your question by dinnertime tomorrow.

Read the rest of this post...

Michael Moore to Release F-911 DVD on Oct. 5

I love this man. Read the rest of this post...