HHS: let's help people get married

The federal government wants you to get married. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has given a $900,000 grant to the National Council on Family Relations to develop a national clearinghouse on marriage research, to make sure aspiring spouses have the information they need to have a healthy, lasting marriage.

Wade Horn, the Director of the Administration for Children and Families at HHS, was very clear about the clearinghouse's intent:

"Marriage is not a dirty word to most Americans," he said. "It doesn't work out for everyone, but most Americans aspire to it ... All we're saying is let's be on the side of people's aspirations."

Unless you're gay, of course.

Even so, Horn insists the new clearinghouse isn't about gay marriage.

"If someone calls us or goes to the Web site, there's not going to be a question, 'What's your sexual orientation?'" he said. "It is not a referendum on gay marriage."

NCFR is actually a really good group -- they stick to the facts when it comes to same sex marriage. Funny how when you stick to the facts gay marriage seems to be ok.

We'll be watching this clearinghouse very closely to make sure the right-wing wackos don't try to take it over.
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The terrorists prefer Bush, are afraid of Kerry

The International Herald Tribune reported in March on a statement issued by the Islamic terrorist group that claims responsibility for blowing up the trains in Madrid earlier this year:

"We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections," it said.

Addressing Bush, it said: "We know that a heavyweight operation would destroy your government, and this is what we don't want. We are not going to find a bigger idiot than you." The statement said Abu Hafs al-Masri needs what it called Bush's "idiocy and religious fanaticism" because they would "wake up" the Islamic world. Comparing Bush with his Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry, the statement tells the president, "Actually, there is no difference between you and Kerry, but Kerry will kill our community, while it is unaware, because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish infidelity and present it to the Arab and Islamic community as civilization."

(Kudos to Kathlyn for spotting this.) Read the rest of this post...

France, much?

Democrat John Kerry wrongly questioned the credibility of the interim Iraqi leader, and "you can't lead this country" while undercutting an ally, President Bush said Friday. - ABC

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[Insert 'Caption Here]

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Iraq taking its toll on Bush's poll numbers

UPDATE: Had the wrong link, took my medicine, better now ;-)

This is the first sign that all the Iraq bad news, and Kerry's attacks, may be taking a toll on Bush's poll numbers.

Among registered voters, 48 percent said the United States was right to go to war against Iraq, down five points from two weeks ago.

According to the poll, 37 percent of registered voters said that Bush has been "truthful in describing the situation" in Iraq, and 55 percent said the "situation is worse than Bush has reported."

A 5 point drop in whether we were right to go to war, and only 37% think Bush is being truthful about Iraq. That is EXACTLY Kerry's message. It plays into concerns about where all of this is headed, the draft, increased deaths, hostages, etc.
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Liars, liars, liars

From Reuters:

Fewer Iraqi security forces will be fully trained by the end of this year than cited by President Bush and it will take until July 2006 to fully train the police force, according to Pentagon documents.

With interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi at his side, Bush said on Thursday that nearly 100,000 fully trained and equipped Iraqi soldiers, police officers and other security personnel are already working and this number would rise to 125,000 by the end of this year.

But documents prepared by Defense Department officials and given to lawmakers show that fewer than 100,000 will be trained by the end of this year.

The Pentagon also said on Monday that only about 53,000 of the 100,000 Iraqis on duty now have undergone training.

The documents, obtained by Reuters, show that of the nearly 90,000 currently in the police force, only 8,169 have had the full eight-week academy training. And it will be July 2006 before the administration's new goal of 135,000 fully trained police is met.

The White House stood by the 100,000 figure cited by Bush, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

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$49 and Counting

Oil's back up to about $49 per barrel.

You know the administration is panicking just a bit over this. First, they opened the strategic petroleum reserve -- which John Kerry recommended weeks ago -- but of course this was too little, too late. Next, we see more attacks on Iraqi pipelines. to accompany kidnappings (six today). Of course, there is the nightmare known as the illegal Russian seizure of Yukos Oil -- that country's largest oil company and one of the biggest in the world. Even the Chinese (the CHINESE!) have expressed concern about Russia's handling of this mess.

Putin has jailed the leaders of this company for speaking out against him and supporting opposition candidates. But our President can't say anything because he needs Putin's support on Iraq.

This is gonna translate into higher prices at the pump.
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Even MORE White House disarray

Bush has been telling us repeatedly that our troops are going to stay the course in Iraq until the mission is over. Apparently, Rumsfeld didn't get the message. Rumsfeld said today that our troops are going to stay in Iraq until, well, until the mission isn't over at all, but rather, they'll leave even if Iraq is still in trouble. WTF? Someone is waffling for votes. And I'll bet Alawi's plane just did a U-turn over the Atlantic. Read the rest of this post...

How To Control The Election

I'm addicted to the Los Angeles Times' electoral map. It shows all the states and how many electoral votes they offer. States which are clearly going to Bush or Kerry are shaded for that candidate.

The addictive part is two-fold. First, putting the arrow on any state calls up the latest polls to show where the candidates stand. Second, you can click on a state several times, changing their status in any way you like -- giving Florida to Kerry or Florida to Bush and seeing the change in the electoral vote totals. Go across the country and make your predictions on California (which the LA Times has just called for Kerry), Michigan, New Jersey and so on. You can map out any kind of scenario you want: Texas for Kerry! Massachusetts for Bush. The scary/exciting part is that once you swing enough states for a candidate, the site starts to play "Hail to the Chief." The first time it happened, I'd thrown a few states like California and Florida to Bush and when the music started playing I practically jumped out of my skin. In context, it's scarier than the theme from "Jaws."

Enjoy controlling the election -- you'll feel just like Jeb Bush!
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White House Disarray Over Iraqi Election

The Bushies are in total disarray over the Iraqi elections. It's just like everyone keeps quoting a different number on the Iraqi security forces that are fully trained -- anywhere from 22,000 to a couple hundred thousand depending on the speaker and the time of day.

The Iraqi elections WILL be held in January says Bush and his Iraqi lackey Allawi. And everyone will vote and everything is going fine.

The Iraqi elections will be held in January says Rumsfeld and of course there's so much violence that 20% or more of the Iraqi people may not be able to vote and that's just fine.

Now, the second in command in the State Department flatly contradicts Rumsfeld and says, no, it ISN'T fine to hold elections where a huge chunk of the population can't vote. Those are what's known as illegitimate elections that won't foster democracy in Iraq or legitimacy for the government anywhere in the world.

And as Steve Clemons points out on his blog, there will be virtually no election monitors in Afghanistan and no one is even talking about election monitors in Iraq. Again, by the basic standards of a functioning democracy, that means both of these elections will be illegitimate in the eyes of the world.

The Bushies are way off message and contradicting each other every day in a Keystone Kops manner. Wanna bet this latest blip is a small bit of revenge by Colin Powell?
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Honey I shrunk the Iraq security forces, AGAIN

"Allawi said yesterday in a White House press conference with Bush that there are 100,000 Iraqi forces ready to mount operations. Yet earlier in the day Allawi, speaking in a speech before a joint session of Congress, put the number at 50,000. A State Department briefing provided to members of Congress, meanwhile, put the number at 22,000, according to a Democratic congressional aide who received the briefing." - Boston Globe

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Now THAT'S my boy!

The Democrat's campaign also rolled out a new ad in which it uses Bush's words to criticize the incumbent. The spot shows Bush during a Rose Garden news conference saying, "I saw a poll that said the 'right track-wrong track' in Iraq was better than here in America."

The ad continues: "The right track? Americans are being kidnapped, held hostage, even beheaded. Over a thousand American soldiers have died. And George Bush has no plan to get us out of Iraq." - AP

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The Bush Voter

Be afraid, be very afraid. This is from a recent C-SPAN episode, via Blast Off!:

PETER SLEN, HOST: Kenner, Louisiana, good morning.

CALLER (in a very airy voice): Good morning. I’m going to vote for President Bush because, after all, you know, God made us there, you know, in His image, free from any black color and all [Host looks up, surprised]. The only church that Kerry can go to is where they say the Black Mass, and that is in the Merriam-Webster Pocket Book dictionary, where it says that that is the devil worshippers. [Host looks uncomfortably off-camera, at producer?] I would never vote for, you know, Senator Kerry.e every effort to give you the same booth again, or very nearSo, definitely, I would never vote for, you know, Senator Kerry.

And that isn’t the only reason. Also, in the Bible, God said … God … that, uh, also, like (unintelligible) and faggots, that he says, anybody that lays down with another man and has sex with his own sex, and any woman that lays down with another woman and has sex should be put to death and their blood upon them. It also says that about interracial marriages and everything. So that’s the reason why I’m voting for my president, Bush.
SLEN: What do you do in, uh …

CALLER: And that isn’t the only reason. They also have other reasons also. The other reason is political, because like the political terrorists, they’ve been out there for eight months, and they’ve been out on the road, and they’ve been talking about … they’ve talked against our president. They put him down in every way. And God knows that that is wrong. He’s out there doing God’s work. He’s taking care of all our children.
Like when Clinton was in, he made – he tried to make whores and faggots out of our little girls – whores out of our little girls. He put the pornography in the schools. And God’s gonna condemn him for that.

SLEN: What do you do in Kenner?
CALLER (talking over question): And that’s the reason why … he even went to the hospital and everything.

SLEN: Caller, what do you do in Kenner, Louisiana?
CALLER: Pardon me?

SLEN: What do you do in Kenner? Do you have a job?
CALLER: I’m a housewife.

SLEN: A housewife? Where do you go to church?
CALLER: I go to different churches. I go to, sometimes, in New Orleans, I go to the Cathedral. And I believe in my God, and I know that God is here to protect everybody. And if Kerry comes in … God helped the whole world, because God loved … Kerry … oh, that’s another thing …

SLEN (cutting her off): Thanks, caller. I’m afraid – I’m afraid we’re out of time. I wish I could let you go on, but I’m afraid we’re out of time.

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Same-Sex in the City

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Seperating the wheat from the chaff on Iraq and elections

It would be nice to see the SCLM actually step up to the plate and take on the lies that we've had regurgitated straight from the mouths of Rummy, Bush and Allawi. If you read their statements you would think that the elections will be fine and practically everyone will be able to vote, or at least 4/5ths of them. Check out Juan Cole's blog about this including his map of Iraq to see what areas are impacted and what areas are considered relatively safe. It's not exactly 3 out of 18 districts as Allawi said and the 1/5th who might not be able to vote happen to be in some critical areas.

While you're at it take a look at todays cartoon from Danzinger that everyone is talking about.
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Meanwhile, back on Earth...

The economy is slowing down again. So says The Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators. The Conference Board's membership is made up of large company CEO's. A prominent member among them was the current Treasury Secretary, John Snow. Snow's job now is to apply the bush fantasyland spin on current numbers.

I wonder what he thinks about his old group dissin' the economy for three straight months.
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What's everyone complaining about with the 4/5 vote in Iraq?

It's one fifth more than the 3/5ths plan that worked so well in the US so surely it will be better. Rummy is giving them more and some people just aren't happy with anything. This is the new democratic model for the new century.
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Oil still climbing

Another day in Iraq, another attack on oil lines. That's OK though because the war had nothing to do with oil and we definitely do not have a consumption problem and energy conservation is for girlie men. If you click your heels together and close your eyes China will stop consuming oil and OPEC countries will triple production overnight and we can all get back to driving our Hummers and live happily ever after.

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Allawi: "We are succeeding in Iraq"

Hmm, words can sometimes have such strong cultural meanings so perhaps "success" has a different meaning in Iraq.
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More Billionaires than ever in the US, the poor are growing as well

Another proud moment for the Bush administration. More rich and more poor.
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The Election Will Not Be Televised

Another story, this one from the LA Times, about the travails of all those faulty computer voting machines.

Now, here's a prediction: we won't know the winner of the election on Election Day. No, I'm not predicting another Florida-like imbroglio, though that's hardly out of the question. But a lot of factors make me believe it will be days if not longer after the election before a winner is agreed upon.

1. Both parties are encouraging absentee ballots - especially in battleground states like Florida. Absentee ballots take longer to count and don't even have to arrive by election day.

2. Personally, I believe Kerry will win substantially across the nation -- not by massive margins but consistently, a firm repudiation of Bush and a clear mandate for change. But poll after poll shows a very tight race in a number of states, so those absentee ballots might very likely hold the margin of victory if it is a close race.

3. Both parties are fielding a record number of lawyers and poll watchers, all of them ready to pounce on any irregularities and file court challenges.

4. The flurry of new computerized election equipment in the wake of Florida and the widespread problems with them in the primaries are going to crop up even more in the general election.

5. Black voters still seething with anger over anecdotal stories of pressure to stay away from the polls last time, of accurate reports of having their names improperly being removed from lists of valid voters, of accurate stories about state police in Florida being sent to "question" and intimidate elderly black voters are going to raise a holy noise at the slightest sign of similar tactics in November.

All of this will contribute to an election day with more challenges in more states to election results and more questions about whether tight races could be swung by the unknown quantities of absentee ballots and court orders for recounts and more and more confusion.

The result? We will NOT know who the next President of the United States is going to be on election day. Again.

You heard it here first.
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You Disagree With Bush? Congratulations! You're A Traitor!

The Washington Post does a good rundown of the despicable Republican smears calling John Kerry a traitor and providing aid and comfort to the enemy because he dares to question Bush's strategy in Iraq. You don't need to be told that in America it is every citizen's right and indeed duty to ask hard questions of our leaders when they take us to war.

But the Democrats need to kick back. Are John McCain, Orrin Hatch and Richard Lugar traitors or providing aid and comfort to the enemy? They too have asked hard questions. Ask Bush if they're traitors for disagreeing or just suggesting that things aren't going swimmingly. If he says no, ask why he doesn't apologize to Kerry and all Americans who disagree. If he tries to say there's a difference, ask what besides party affiliation. Ask Bush if the American citizens who marched in New York City during the Republican convention are traitors. Ask Bush if Canada is a traitor. Ask Bush who ISN'T a traitor other than his lackeys.

By the way, the otherwise decent article ends with a ridiculous coda.

"Whatever the merits, the charges that terrorists prefer Democrats have been echoed by independent commentators and journalists. CNN analyst Bill Schneider, asked about Hastert's remarks, agreed that al Qaeda "would very much like to defeat President Bush."

Really? Independent folk all agree that the terrorists would like to see a Democrat elected to the White House? And exactly how was that poll conducted? You think the average American is hard to reach due to caller id -- well, imagine trying to catch Bin Laden on his cell. And what an absurd statement -- as if there's some consensus among independent observers that the terrorists would prefer Kerry. That's a rather outrageous comment to make. I've seen numerous independent folk who've suggested that Bin Laden would prefer to see Bush reelected -- Bush is Public Enemy Number One in the Islamic world and therefore a great recruiting tool. Another President wouldn't engender the same hatred, would have a fresh start with our traditional allies and might actually be willing to make adjustments to a failed strategy. Why is the Washington Post stating as fact that Bin Laden wants Kerry elected?
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Cat Stevens: Stop Laughing

Okay, the story of Cat Stevens -- now known as Yusef Islam -- was a funny bit of filler. The one-time singer of "Peace Train" has at times been reported to support the fatwa against Salman Rushdie (Islam later said he was misquoted) and now the US accuses him of donating money to Hamas and other terrorist groups. So rightly or wrongly he's barred from the US. When he boards a flight headed here, the plane is diverted to a US city, Islam is interviewed and sent back to the UK. Homeland folk try to blame the airline for letting him in; the airline says Islam's name wasn't on the lists they've been given to check. (It's the old problem of multiple spellings for names translated from a foreign tongue.)

But what does this incident say about the safety of our airports and our screening of shadowy international terrorists? It says a lot and none of it is good. We are trying to stop unknown individuals presumably donning false identities from getting into the US and causing havoc. But we can't even spot Cat Stevens, a world-famous rock star and arguably the most famous Western convert to the Islamic faith of the last thirty years! He's basically the Bono of the Islamic faith and he's been active performing music and being in the public eye quite a lot in the last five or so years, especially after 9-11. If we can't even catch him before he enters the country, how can we possibly expect to catch people who aren't world famous and written about regularly in People magazine?

Feel safer now?

P.S. Note to Homeland head Tom Ridge: Osama Bin Laden is also sometimes spelled Usama. You might want to check for that name too on flight lists. Just a thought.
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Bush and Rumsfeld Can't Agree on Iraq

So Ayad Allawi -- the US-appointed head of Iraq (let's not dignify him yet with the title of Prime Minister, as if he was anything other than a CIA-paid figurehead Bush signed off on) -- anyway, Allawi insists the Iraqi elections are gonna happen in January. Allawi concedes they "may not be perfect." Bush blithely dismisses the "persistent violence" as nothing to worry about.

But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledges the obvious fact that if the US can't even enter major cities in Iraq without risking life and limb, they can hardly oversee an election. His even blither comment?

"'Let's say you tried to have an election, and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country, but some places you couldn't because the violence was too great,' Mr. Rumsfeld said at a hearing on Capitol Hill, according to the New York Times. 'Well, that's so be it. Nothing's perfect in life.'"

How true.
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We are SO going to have a draft

Pentagon-appointed panel of outside experts has concluded in a new study that the American military does not have sufficient forces to sustain current and anticipated stability operations, like the festering conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and other missions that might arise.

Portions of the study, which has not been officially released, were read into the public record on Thursday by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a leader of Democrats who want to expand the size of the military. During testimony by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his top commanders, Senator Reed said he found the study "provocative and startling." - NYT

Can somebody out there do a little digging and see if we can find what was put in the record? Read the rest of this post...

Republicans Admit Mailing Campaign Literature Saying Liberals Will Ban the Bible, Allow Gay Marriage

You read it here first, two days ago :-)

Maybe it's time to call back the Bush-Cheney headquarters and talk to that liar who told you guys the mailing could have been a Democratic plot. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Chat amongst yourselves until Chris in Paris wakes up to enlighten you with his outre-mer wisdom (unless Michael in NYC gets bored, then he may start blogging shortly).

'Nite. Read the rest of this post...