Diebold's vote tabulators have built in mechanism for changing votes. It takes seconds to tamper with the votes and no one would ever know.

In other news, Diebold's president has promised to deliver electoral votes to Bush this November.

link

Scum. There's no other word for it. They. Are. Scum.

Bush now says we can win the war again. I wonder what changed?

"We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start yet one that we will win."
-George W. Bush, August 31, 2004

I don't think you can win it.
-George W. Bush, August 30, 2004

Saw a replay of the biggest crowd reaction of the night- Michael Moore. Hilarious that a democrat can get these folks more excited than their own leaders.
Meanwhile I'm betting F911 ticket sales get a bump.

Well done, McCain!

"The Office of Special Plans is and has been our chief object of interest," an FBI official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Stephen Green, author of two books on U.S.-Israeli relations and former CIA counter-terrorism chief, alleges that in March 1983 Feith was fired from the National Security Council by Judge William Clark after Feith was discovered to be the object of an FBI probe alleging that he had passed classified information to Israel.

Former CIA counter-terrorism chief Vince Cannistraro confirmed to UPI the firing of Feith in the 1980s.

Feith did not return repeated phone calls.

Suddenly Feith isn't answering his phone.

These fuckers guys are Bush's personal propaganda machine. Bush claims, "Everyone thought Saddam had WMDs." What he doesn't say is that it's Feith's office that made everyone think that. He was able to insert so much propaganda into our intelligence that it clouded the entire situation. Feith's propaganda made invasion of a sovereign nation seem like a reasonable proposition to many people. It was all a lie.

These guys have got to go down. I'm talking federal pound-you-in-the-ass prison... and let's not forget who was ultimately responsible for their work. Hint: It rhymes with "George W. Bush"

An FBI source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told UPI, "This investigation of OSP has by no means ended."

A congressional source said, "We may be dealing with a rerun of Iran Contra with some of the original cast."

link

I think we should cut the "Neo" and just call them Cons, because that's what they'll all be when they get caught.

FOX News Primetime Convention Speech Coverage

-George W. Bush, May 1, 2003

I don't think you can win it.
-George W. Bush, August 30, 2004

I could go on... but I won't. Unless I do.

There will be no quick victory in this war. But if we persevere, our victory is certain.
-George W. Bush, October 16, 2003

I don't think you can win it.
-George W. Bush, August 30, 2004

We will not be distracted, and we will prevail.
-George W. Bush, July 1, 2003

I don't think you can win it.
-George W. Bush, August 30, 2004

I assure you, this will not be a campaign of half measures, and we will accept no outcome but victory.
-George W. Bush, March 19, 2003

I don't think you can win it.
-George W. Bush, August 30, 2004

So Bob Novak's son is marketing director for the Swift Boat Vets for Bush's book... gosh... almost seems like a vast right-wing conspiracy...

link

When asked “Can we win?” the war on terror, Bush said, “I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”

link

C-SPAN has a crane that's taking all these sweeping shots of the crowd- I never thought I'd be raving about C-SPAN's camera work, but damn... that's good stuff.

1. Bob Dole loses his dignity (as previously posted)
2. Ben Barnes got W. to the front of the line for the Texas Air National Guard.(Thanks thedudetim)
3. An Israeli spy may have a hand in the forged uranium documents. The spy is apparently an analyst close to Wolfowitz and Feith- I wouldn't have been surprised if one or both of them were implicated. It's clear (to me, at least) that they both were working against our best interests in any case...

I thought I missed this, but Kimmel replayed it.

Here's a torrent link if you want to see it.

Turns out Bush hasn't decided whether or not to show up for any the proposed debates yet.

From the LA Times:

The Commission on Presidential Debates has scheduled three Bush-Kerry debates: Sept. 30 in Miami, Oct. 8 in St. Louis and Oct. 13 in Tempe, Ariz.

The panel has slated another for Vice President Dick Cheney and Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, on Oct. 5 in Cleveland.

Kerry's campaign has accepted that schedule, Bush's has not.

Weekly debates would be great. To bad our President isn't man enough to show up.

• John F. Kerry's DD214

• George W. Bush's DD214

Dan Froomkin brings us up to date this morning on the AP's lawsuit demanding access to Bush's military records.

The "Justice" Department says they don't have any new documents beyond what's been previously released. Should we take this at face value? I mean, it's not like there's a partisan hack in charge of the Department... oh.. wait... ugh... nevermind.

The AP lawsuit focuses on the period between May 1972 and May 1973. In May 1972, Bush stopped showing up for drills at his Texas Air National Guard unit, four years into his six-year commitment to fly fighter jets. He later skipped his physical and was grounded.

The White House has maintained that Bush met his service obligations, or he would not have been honorably discharged. The public records show that Bush tried to get transferred to an Alabama unit. There are no records -- other than one dental exam -- to show that Bush ever showed up at an Alabama Air National Guard base.

Bush refuses to release his DD214 and a detailed analysis of all other available documentation clearly points to desertion. Previously I doubted the claim of desertion- AWOL seemed more likely.

Now, with all the evidence out there, I've come to believe desertion is the only logical conclusion.

The AWOL Project
AWOLBush.com

Bush says no. What a wimp.

In a lighter moment, the Cheney tour stopped at a farm stand owned by Ray Levan, 65, in the small town of Catawissa. Cheney and his wife went to buy fruit and vegetables, while daughters Mary and Elizabeth went with the Cheney grandchildren to watch cows being fed.

The Cheneys purchased nine apples, five large tomatoes, three green peppers and a dozen ears of corn. Cheney pulled a $10 bill from his pocket and gave it to Levan. Asked by a reporter whether the $10 covered the cost of the produce, Levan indicated that it did not. But he said it was an "honor" to sell the fruits and vegetables to the vice president, even if at a discount.

link

I guess this just shows to go you... people actually enjoy getting fucked over by the Bush administration. In fact, they feel "honor[ed]" by it. People are such sheep.

Wouldn't you just love to be able to pull out a random amount of cash, lay it on the counter and walk away with a bag of groceries? That amount of stuff... ten bucks... It's apparently been a long time since Dick's gone to buy food without it being staged.

The Census Bureau reports that for the third straight year the number of Americans living in poverty has ballooned. They also report that the number of Americans who are uninsured grew by 1.3 million, which makes this the third year in a row that there's been an increase in that category as well.

Approximately 35.8 million people lived below the poverty line in 2003, or about 12.5 percent of the population, according to the bureau. That was up from 34.5 million, or 12.1 percent in 2002.

The rise was more dramatic for children. There were 12.9 million living in poverty last year, or 17.6 percent of the under-18 population. That was an increase of about 800,000 from 2002, when 16.7 percent of all children were in poverty.

The Census Bureau's definition of poverty varies by the size of the household. For instance, the threshold for a family of four was $18,810, while for two people it was $12,015.

Heh... this is pretty interesting too:

Even before release of the data, some Democrats claimed the Bush administration was trying to play down bad news by releasing the reports about a month earlier than usual. They normally are released separately in late September - one report on poverty and income, the other on insurance.

The Bush administration? Doing something underhanded? Shocking.

Three years in a row of rising poverty levels while at the same time the number of uninsured people skyrockets. Maybe the way to deal with a misbehaving President is to be firm. "Bad President! No! Bad President!"
link

The International Olympic Committee and the USOC have the authority to regulate the use of anything involving the Olympics.

An act of Congress, last revised in 1999, grants the USOC exclusive rights to such terms as "Olympic," derivatives such as "Olympiad" and the five interlocking rings. It also specifically says the organization "shall be nonpolitical and may not promote the candidacy of an individual seeking public office."

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WASHINGTON -- The chief critic of John Kerry's military record told President Nixon in 1971 that he had been in Cambodia in a swift boat during the Vietnam War -- a claim at odds with his recent statements that he was not.

"I was in Cambodia, sir. I worked along the border," said John E. O'Neill in a conversation that was taped by the former president's secret recording system. The tape is stored at the National Archives in College Park, Md.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, O'Neill did not dispute what he said to Nixon, but insisted he was never actually in Cambodia.

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Here is the brilliant opening segment from Monday's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" exploring the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the connections between the group and the Bush administration. This clip also includes a report from Rob Corddry which Atrios excerpted earlier this week.

They do a masterful job of exposing this story for what it is- a dishonest smear job.

BitTorrent link (Size: 20.3 MB, Length: 8:34)

Yet another connection between Bush and the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth.

I happened to catch a kind of weird press gaggle style interview with Jerry Patterson on CNN today. Jerry Patterson is the Veteran that Bush brought in to cower behind when Max Cleland showed up to kick some ass at the ranch.

CNN's transcript of the gaggle changed the name Bob Perry to Bob Kerrey- that's an important distinction, especially since Bob Perry is the main backer of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Jerry Patterson admits to receiving in excess of $150,000 from Bob Perry.

'Nuff of my yackin'- let's hear Jerry tell it:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who called you today to begin to put this letter together?

JERRY PATTERSON, TEXAS LAND COMMISSIONER: I was driving to Dallas for another function, and I was called by -- I forgot who it was -- a guy in the Bush campaign in Waco, that said. "You're a veteran. You are a Vietnam veteran." And I said, "Yes."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)?

PATTERSON: I don't know who -- I got a -- you know, when those phones ring and you've got the funny noise and you don't have the rear -- you don't have the number on it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he give you his name?

PATTERSON: He did. I think it might have -- he works for Ken Mehlman. You know? So, you figure -- OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what time was this?

PATTERSON: I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was this morning.

PATTERSON: It was this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And sir, can you describe what he said to you?

PATTERSON: He said that Mr. -- Senator Cleland, an honorable -- clearly an honorable -- an American hero, a guy who gave far more than I gave -- and I was only there six months and the war ended. I left the day of cease-fire.

But was going to come and deliver a letter. And -- that they had a letter signed by veterans and if I would be also a signatory. And I said, "Yes." And he read me the letter. And I've got it right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who wrote...

PATTERSON: And that basically -- that basically says what we're talking about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I thought you spoke to the president.

PATTERSON: And I spoke to the president after this was all, you know, done deal, letter drafted. And he said, "Thank you for your service." And I know the president because he was governor when I was a state senator here in Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who wrote the letter?

PATTERSON: We all -- the letter was drafted by Bush-Cheney '04, and we, all of us signatories, which are myself, Duke Cunningham, Duncan Hunter, Sam Johnson, General Palmer, Robert O'Malley (ph), a Marine medal of honor recipient, James Fleming (ph), another medal of honor recipient, and Colonel Richard Castle (ph) agreed to have our names on it. And we're saying basically in the letter that you can't have it both ways. I could read it to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before -- were you working on veteran strategy with the Bush campaign before today?

PATTERSON: I've never worked on anything for the Bush campaign. I'm a volunteer and will probably do more volunteering.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it the first time you talked to the president since...

PATTERSON: The first time I talked to the president since the -- in over -- maybe since the last campaign. He knew I had twins six months ago, though. He knew that I'm a 58-year-old father of six- month-old twins, and he made comment about that. How did he know that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)?

PATTERSON: Yes, they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know Bob [Perry]?
[Note: CNN transcript incorrectly says "Bob Kerrey"]

PATTERSON: Yes, I do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What -- how do you know Bob [Perry]?

PATTERSON: He's been a major contributor to my campaigns. I was a state senator, as I said, for six years. And he was a major contributor to my campaign. The interesting thing about Bob Perry, he never called and asked me for anything.

Until today, it would appear.

Looks like Kerry/Edwards are already on this. Good.

...here we go!

(Okay... sorry, that was just a reference to the "How's Your News" crew. Check out the track yourself. While you're at it, check out their movie.)

So Max Cleland is heading to Bush's vacation ranch in Texas- aka "Compound W" to deliver a letter asking Bush to condemn the recent attack ads which were coordinated with Bush's campaign. This should be interesting.

Link

Update: Josh Marshall has a good point- Will George W. Bush sneak off to Alabama and disappear until this whole "Vietnam War" thing dies down?

NYT:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 - For Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign over the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib would be a mistake, the four-member panel headed by James M. Schlesinger asserted Tuesday. But in tracing responsibility for what went wrong at Abu Ghraib, it drew a line that extended to the defense secretary's office.

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*shock* But... I thought Rummy was doing a superb job! What the who what?!?

John Kerry was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight. Here's the video. (WMV file via a BitTorrent link)

Yet another connection between the Bush campaign and the Swift Boat Vets for Revenge. Almost certainly not the last...

Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's re- election campaign lawyer said he is giving legal advice to the veterans group that is challenging Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's account of his service in the Vietnam War, the Associated Press reported.

more...

Good catch, thedudetim!

Anyone who saw the mini-press conference yesterday saw that Bush, while trying to stick to his talking points, got tripped up by a reporter and ended up singling out the Swift Boat Vet ads and saying he wants both "that ad, [and] every other ad" to stop.

So the reporters get it wrong and report Bush has condemned the ad and is calling on Kerry to do the same for all independent ads.

Later Press Secretary Scott McClellan made clear that nothing is clear, except for the fact that the Bush camp is no closer to singling out that ad or condemning it:

Q But does he condemn the actual charge within the ad?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's why I said --

Q Can I assume that, then?

MR. McCLELLAN: He condemns all of these ads --

Q So I can assume he condemns the content.

MR. McCLELLAN: Deb, he condemns all of these ads --

Q -- and the content?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me answer your question. The President condemns all of these ads.

How did we get to a point in society where people can get away with this kind of evasive bullshit? The reporters should be calling for Scott's head after pulling this kind of crap, instead they all look adoringly at that lovable bumpkin in the Oval Office, hoping against hope he'll bless them with a nickname.

I'm of the crazy opinion that you can't be an effective White House reporter while simultaneously sucking up to the administration for access.

NYT:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 - A high-level outside panel reviewing American military detention operations has concluded that leadership failures at the highest levels of the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff and military command in Iraq contributed to an environment in which detainees were abused at Abu Ghraib prison and other facilities, Defense officials said Monday.

I hope they can get to the bottom of all this. All the internal investigations seem to conveniently blame very few people and insist that the corruption didn't go up the chain of command. It takes an outside panel to break through all the ass-covering.

More:

"The Schlesinger panel has the power to look up the civilian chain of command, and is not limited," a Senate Republican aide said Monday. "It is a key report."

I'm slightly more optimistic than I was this morning, but after nearly four years of corruption from the top down I'll take more of a wait and see attitude for now.

Link

Dole told CNN's "Late Edition" in relation to Kerry: "I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out."

Crewmate Sandusky said today, "I was there when he got wounded. I saw the blood. I don't care what Dole said."

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I saw Dole's interview yesterday and came away from it amazed at how quickly a war hero will whore himself out for political gain. Dole is an attack dog for Bush/Cheney '04, and they've sicced him on Kerry's military record since Bush himself is embarrassed by his own.

I really had nothing to say on this topic, but Sandusky's response deserves as wide an airing as Dole's lies.

Dole should apologize for this smear and for claiming (incorrectly, obviously) that two of the purple hearts John Kerry earned happened on the same day. These are easily verifiable facts. Dole didn't misspeak, he lied.

Meanwhile, if anyone knows about what needs to happen for you to be awarded a purple heart it's Dole- he threw a grenade that took an unfortunate bounce off a tree and exploded near him, sending shrapnel his way. He was awarded a purple heart for that incident. I don't have a problem with that. In my book it's well deserved. However, if he wants to remain consistent with what he's been saying about John Kerry's awards, Bob Dole should give back that purple heart.

Bush's usual month long vacation was cut short this year since he's running for reelection. It's important to note he didn't cut short his vacation when he recieved word on August 6, 2001 that Osama bin Laden was planning an attack with our own airplanes within the United States. I guess a guy's gotta have his priorities.

Kos points us to this Democratic Underground thread.

It appears Bush didn't earn two medals that are awarded essentially for showing up for duty. I think you can connect the dots from there.

Lambert @ corrente:

The voting machine manufacturers are Republicans...

The voting machine testers are Republicans...

The testing process is entirely secret....

The voting machine software is entirely secret...

Swing states Ohio (home of Diebold) and Florida (fraud in 2000, already) are using electronic voting machines that are manufactured, tested, and run by Republican firms...
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The conflicts of interest are dizzying.

The Rocky Mountain News story:

At Greenwood Village-based CIBER, employees and some spouses have donated more than $72,000 to GOP candidates and groups during the 2001-2002 and 2003-2004 election cycles, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

Democratic donations linked to the firm were $3,000 during that time.

Such donations from CIBER are "perfectly legitimate," said Rebecca Mercuri, a computer security expert with Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study.

"What should raise eyebrows is that our U.S. government and state governments allow this to happen," she said. "There's been nothing done to dissuade the perception that there's partisan control over the voting process."

CIBER isn't the only company in the voting machine business at which people are actively involved in politics. Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Ohio-based Diebold Inc., the parent of electronic voting machine maker Diebold Election Systems, has helped raise funds for President Bush. O'Dell attracted attention last year after sending a letter to Ohio Republicans to raise money for the GOP, noting his commitment "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

Washington Post:

MANNHEIM, Germany, Aug. 22 -- A memo issued last summer by a U.S. Army military intelligence officer appealed for suggestions on how to extract information from prisoners in Iraq and called for tougher means of getting intelligence.

"The gloves are coming off gentleman regarding these detainees," said the memo, which carried the signature of Capt. William Ponce Jr. The source of the memo, who refused to be identified, said it was sent by the intelligence staff of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who was then commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, to all concerned military intelligence personnel in Iraq.

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We've been hearing over and over, "The corruption went no higher than these seven part timers. These awful, awful people- they were out of control, unsupervised, untrained... but at least it was just these seven and not their superior officers. Make that 24. 24 intelligence officers... but the orders didn't come higher than those 24 intelligence officers, no siree. Their superiors had nothing to do with it. Oh... uh... that came from Sanchez's office? Er... uh..."

I'm tired of the military investigating itself. It's all about covering their own asses, not finding the truth.

Here's a clip from last Wednesday's Daily Show exploring George and Laura's stances on stem cell research.

link

Welcome to George W. Bush's America.

link

...between the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the Republican party. Right?



Sounds like Bush's people are lying again. What a fucking shock.

Huh... and these are the guys we picked...

On the plus side, American company Halliburton made a very nice profit on the fraud. So there's that.

link

The New York Times today connects the dots and finds that the swift boat smear-job can be traced right back to Bush's doorstep. Bush won't denounce it because he's responsible for it.

The Times has a handy chart so you can follow along.

From the article:

A series of interviews and a review of documents show a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile Texas political figures and President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove.

Records show that the group received the bulk of its initial financing from two men with ties to the president and his family - one a longtime political associate of Mr. Rove's, the other a trustee of the foundation for Mr. Bush's father's presidential library. A Texas publicist who once helped prepare Mr. Bush's father for his debate when he was running for vice president provided them with strategic advice. And the group's television commercial was produced by the same team that made the devastating ad mocking Michael S. Dukakis in an oversized tank helmet when he and Mr. Bush's father faced off in the 1988 presidential election.

This week, as its leaders spoke with reporters, they have focused primarily on the one allegation in the book that Mr. Kerry's campaign has not been able to put to rest: that he was not in Cambodia at Christmas in 1968, as he declared in a statement to the Senate in 1986. Even Mr. Brinkley, who has emerged as a defender of Mr. Kerry, said in an interview that it was unlikely that Mr. Kerry's Swift boat ventured into Cambodia at Christmas, though he said he believed that Mr. Kerry was probably there shortly afterward.

Does it really matter if the covert CIA operations Kerry was participating in happened at Christmas? Doesn't the fact that Kerry showed up and did his duty with honor and distinction outweigh the possibility that the secret missions he was sent on were not actually at Christmas but New Years?

Kerry, of course, still compares very favorably to his opponent through all of this- Kerry was getting shot at on a swift boat in Cambodia, Bush was in Alabama in the throes of a coke binge.

And isn't that the real point? Kerry showed up and did his duty while others were busy getting drunk, missing physicals, and getting coked up in Alabama?

Several members of Iraq's soccer team have spoken out against the latest round of Bush campaign ads:

In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," [midfielder Salih] Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."

Ahmed Manajid, who played as a midfielder on Wednesday, had an even stronger response when asked about Bush's TV advertisement. "How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?" Manajid told me. "He has committed so many crimes."

"My problems are not with the American people," says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. "They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the [national] stadium and there are shootings on the road?"

"I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?" Manajid says. "Everyone [in Fallujah] has been labeled a terrorist. These are all lies. Fallujah people are some of the best people in Iraq."

It's refreshing to hear from actual Iraqis, even if it's not something you necessarily want to hear- it's important to listen. The administration might want to try that some time.

On the plus side, they're all glad Uday is gone. So there's that.

link

Thanks TheDudeTim

Those on Bush's side say the Kerry campaign is insisting on having briefings outside of Washington -- a hardship for top CIA officials during a time of heightened threats -- and is demanding that an unusually large number of Kerry advisers be permitted to participate in the highly classified sessions. Those on Kerry's side say it is the Bush administration that has been slow to deal with the logistics, including security clearances, needed for the briefings.

The result is that at a time when access to sensitive intelligence is more important than ever for national leaders, a skirmish between the White House and the Kerry campaign has postponed the sort of intelligence-sharing that has been standard during presidential races over the past half-century.

This is interesting, because George H. W. Bush gets regular CIA briefings, as is the right of any ex-president. I would bet he's not flying in to D.C. every week to get them.

Jenna has decided not to teach in Harlem until after the election.

Barbara has also put her career plans (reportedly comforting AIDS infected puppies) on hold until after the election.

Link

"Swift Boat Veteran For Truth" Larry Thurlow has, in effect, renounced his Bronze Star decoration simply because John Kerry earned the same award in the same battle.

These guys are just blinded with hatred for this guy- they'll stoop to disparaging their own service just to thrash Kerry.

It's not working.

Every time anyone brings up the words "Vietnam" and "Kerry" in the same sentence it's a plus for Kerry.

Kerry showed up.

Reuters:

Boykin touched off a firestorm last October after giving speeches while in uniform in which he referred to the war on terror as a battle with Satan and said America had been targeted "because we're a Christian nation." He said later he was not anti-Islam or any other religion.

Boykin was obliged to clear the speeches, given "the sensitive nature of his remarks concerning U.S. policy and the likelihood that he would be perceived by his audiences as a DOD spokesman based on his official position and his appearance in uniform," the report said.

It amazes me that such an incredibly dumb guy can be the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Isn't it ironic? Don'cha think?

If you read the full article they mention the possibility that he had a hand in the torture scandals currently still bubbling up. In fact, just yesterday a preliminary report accused two dozen soldiers in a military intelligence unit of "abusing" (torturing) prisoners. Boykin is ultimately responsible for that unit. (Well, if you want to get technical, Bush is ultimately responsible... and don't forget Rummy!)

More from BBC News:

In one speech, he recalled a Muslim fighter in Somalia who said he had the protection of Allah against US forces.

"Well you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his," said Lt Gen Boykin. "I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."

Well isn't that convenient?

So Boykin will get a slap on the wrist after spewing all this hate against Muslims. Just imagine for a moment if the situation were reversed and a Muslim Army General was talking trash about Christians- he'd be drummed out of there at the speed of light.

This guy has every right to be a moron in his private life- while on the job you just can't be a hate-filled goon. He was putting on his uniform and spewing hate. You just can't do that!

Boykin is still employed in an incredibly sensitive position after all of this... just one more reason to get these right-wing religious nuts out of the White House.

The question: Which presidential campaign better tolerates dissent?

The experiment: A college professor wears a Kerry-Edwards shirt to a rally for President Bush, then a Bush for President shirt to a John Kerry rally.

Result: Bush people make the subject remove his shirt, then give him the boot. The Kerry people don't make a peep.

link

Bush's new name for the Terra War:
"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"

...so says Wired.

That's a terrible idea.

I mean, you either belive in free speech or you don't. If your enemy doesn't believe in free speech (as is quite apparent from recent events) I don't see how sinking to their level accomplishes anything.

From a CNN article yesterday:

Bush took a tour in a helicopter assembly building. He climbed inside a Chinook 47 helicopter that was being refitted and, at one point, used a wrench to tighten or loosen a screw.

I saw the video- it looked like he tightened it. Woulda been funnier if he loosened it.

"The family of Daniel Pearl respectfully requests that his legacy remains non-partisan," The Wall Street Journal reporter's relatives said in a statement responding to Cheney's comments.

"We would like him to be remembered for what he was in his life, a passionate American and humanist who rose above political, religious and cultural divisions," the family said.

"We ask that Daniel's tragedy and legacy be used to bring people of all parties together against the hatred that took his life and thousands of others."

Cheney's such a scumbag.

State regulators have revoked the license of a North Carolina dentist accused of abusing female patients by injecting his semen into their mouths during dental procedures.

The order issued Sunday said Dr. John Hall of Cornelius was to stop practicing dentistry no later than noon Monday.

Sucks for you if you had a Monday afternoon appointment.

Link

Here's a short clip from last Thursday's Daily Show exposing some hypocrisy (gasp!) in the Bush administration. Here Dick Cheney scolds John Kerry for using the word "sensitive." The very next day Bush says we need to be sensitive in war.

Kerry was not only right, he was right first. Bush appears to be doing a John Kerry impression these days- taking every idea (even if his VP ridicules it) and making it his own. I'm all for the president listening and taking advice from people smarter than himself, but won't it be great to have a leader who can think this stuff up himself?

I think people are starting to figure out that this is an incumbent who is promising a change from the awful leadership we've had the last few years. That's always a sign of a losing candidacy. As much as W dreads being like his father, he can't help it- he is his father's son.

/rant

link

At least, that's what I got out of this Rolling Stone article.

So John Kerry says America should be sensitive to our allies concerns in war. This sends Dick Cheney off on a red-faced Kerry-hating rampage.

I was starting to hunt around for some examples of Bush and Cheney expressing the exact same sentiment, but the Center for American Progress beat me to it.

Could Cheney's beef with Kerry be that Kerry actually means what he says? It'll be interesting to see if Cheney responds. I mean, what can he say? "I may have said the same things as Senator Kerry, but I was just saying them to manipulate the political process. I wasn't actually going to follow through on any of the promises I made."

What a predicament.

If this stuff from the Bush camp isn't desperation it's gotta be mental illness.

CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash reported a few days ago that Bush has abandoned his "Turning The Corner" catchphrase on the campaign trail:

Essentially, Bush aides privately again saying they get it. They get that it was probably a mistake to have the president use this phrase. They even admit that it does expose some of the internal debate -- the internal debate about the challenge that they have, being an incumbent president, talking about the fact that he understands things aren't necessarily as good as they should be, but wanting him to have an optimistic tone.

One aide even said you can make people believe something and you can try to make them believe something as much as possible, but if they don't believe it, saying it over and over again probably won't change it

link via Dan Froomkin

Report Finds Tax Cuts Heavily Favor the Wealthy
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: August 13, 2004

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 - Fully one-third of President Bush's tax cuts in the last three years have gone to people with the top 1 percent of income, who have earned an average of $1.2 million annually, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to be published Friday.

link

George and Laura were on Larry King last night and they were asked about stem cell research. Mrs. Bush stands in stark contrast to the President, who thinks scientific study of stem cells makes the baby Jesus cry.

Mrs. Bush claims she has no moral problem with stem cell research. She says she has reservations about it because the research is so preliminary. That's right folks, the logic is that cures for common diseases may not come from the research for years and years, therefore, it's not worth funding.

Obviously that's a fairly indefensible position.

From my point of view, if these discoveries are years of research away... let's get started now.

I don't remember Lou Pasteur being all, "This is hard. I quit. I want to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation, but this experiment alone won't do it, therefore it's not worth persuing."

Gah...

Bush doesn't suprise me much these days, but his recent comments about the rich dodging taxes crossed into the surreal. I found them so strange I wasn't sure I heard them right. But David Corn, of The Nation, confirms that our president has given up trying to appeal to anyone who can't afford a Major League Baseball team. Here's the salient quote, from a so-called town hall meeting:

"That's why you've got to be careful about this rhetoric, we're only going to tax the rich. You know who the--the rich in America happen to be the small business owners. That's what that means. Just remember, when you're talking about, oh, we're just going to run up the taxes on a certain number of people -- first of all, real rich people figure out how to dodge taxes. [Laughter.] And the small business owners end up paying a lot of the burden of this taxation."

Even if this is a joke, though I give Bush no such credit, how is this funny? The rich dodge taxes that the rest of us have to pay, and the president cites this as a reason to cut tax cuts on the rich? If they're so good at avoiding them, why bother with the tax cuts in the first place? I realize this is bordering on hysterical raving, but why would any president, short of some smug asshole, even have this thought in his head? Of course, the real punchline will come when the president invokes the "class warfare" argument against anyone who suggests that his tax cuts be rescinded to pay for health care or jobs initiatives. The audacity is unbelievable.

A couple of First Amendment attornies are predicting the Plame affair winds up before the Supreme Court.

"I think we are headed for a showdown and it would not surprise me in the least to see half a dozen reporters sitting in a jail in D.C.," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which monitors such cases. She believes Time magazine and other media outlets "will be willing to take this all the way to the Supreme Court because the atmosphere here has become so difficult for journalists to promise confidentiality that the stakes are too high."

(Snip)

Sandra Baron, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center, warned that the prosecutor's ongoing efforts to demand information from reporters in the Plame case could create a dangerous atmosphere for journalists, and cause some sources to dry up. "My fear is they will continue to subpoena reporters looking for sources," she said. "Whenever you have that, it puts the entire reporting community and sourcing community on edge. It suggests open season for prosecutors who are looking for a short cut for answers in a grand jury investigation."

Again, what's important to remember here is the chilling effect a crackdown on confidential sources could have across the media. Fair or not, abused or not, the media has to be trusted to keep its word. The only way this happens: by the media keeping its word. If reporters are compelled to testify, or simply rollover out of convenience, how could anyone trust the media to "blow the whistle" on scandal or abuse of power? Daniel Ellsberg never would have come forward with the Pentagon Papers if he couldn't trust the media to publish the report without fear of reprisal from authorities. Today, it's 50/50 whether a reporter would dutifully bow to the federal government or risk their careers, even lives, to point out injustice. If Russert and Cameron are any indication, we're in trouble.

Also, in the comments section, someone mentioned Oliver Wendell Holmes' famous "Yelling fire in a crowded theater" line. This is commonly misunderstood as a limit on free speech. In fact, Holmes simply meant that yelling "Fire!" to induce panic, rather than thought or reflection, was not speech -- and is therefore not protected by the First Amendment.

Alan Dershowitz explained it well in the Atlantic Monthly (conveniently cached by Google):

The man who shouts "Fire!" in a crowded theater is neither sending a political message nor inviting his listener to think about what he has said and decide what to do in a rational, calculated manner. On the contrary, the message is designed to force action without contemplation. The message "Fire!" is directed not to the mind and the conscience of the listener but, rather, to his adrenaline and his feet. It is a stimulus to immediate action, not thoughtful reflection. It is—as Justice Holmes recognized in his follow-up sentence—the functional equivalent of "uttering words that may have all the effect of force."
Indeed, in that respect the shout of "Fire!" is not even speech, in any meaningful sense of that term. It is a clang sound—the equivalent of setting off a nonverbal alarm. Had Justice Holmes been more honest about his example, he would have said that freedom of speech does not protect a kid who pulls a fire alarm in the absence of a fire.

Sorry for these tangents and diatribes. Don't worry, McClusky will be back soon with more Daily Show video. Thanks for the feedback.

With McClusky gone the next few days, I'll do my best to keep things updated. Sorry, no video though ... look for more later in the week. Here's something I've noticed in the past week: TV reporters are a bunch of source-burning sellouts. There seem to be two high-profile examples of this:

1. The Washington Post, and then everyone else, is reporting that Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron confirmed that Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., leaked classified information about the eve of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Cameron denies the charge that coughed up Shelby's name, while Shelby denies he leaked anything. Oddly, it was CNN who first reported the leak, which said Arabic messages that said "the match begins tomorrow" and "tomorrow is zero day" were intercepted on Sept. 10, but not translated until Sept. 12. Fox News did not report the leak, which makes Cameron's flipflop even worse -- reporters never discuss unpublished news.

2. It was reported in recent days that Tim Russert, of "Meet the Press," testified before a grand jury about leaks in the Intimigate/Plame Affair. Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper refused testify, and is now facing contempt charges that could land him in jail.

Here's the problem with disclosing sources: nobody will ever talk again. Everybody will be afraid to come forward with critical information, because they cannot trust reporters to put their careers on the line to defend their word. Now, in both of these cases, I'd be less than honest if I didn't admit I enjoyed seeing Shelby grilled and investigators moving closer to disclosing who leaked Plame's name as payback for Joe Wilson's troublesome findings. But this is a case where consistency is demanded over political gain. The federal government, regardless of who is in charge, is a powerful body with incredible potential for abuse. If people cannot come forward to the media with their concerns, that abuse moves a step closer to going unchecked.

It's my belief that print reporters understand this, and hold their relationships with sources as sacred. Thanks to Russert and Cooper, I'm not sure the same can be said for television reporters/pundits, which is of particular concern because recent studies have found television news to have the biggest increase in audience over the past year. The lines between journalist and entertainer are being blurred -- at a potentially great cost.

P.S. If a part-time sports reporter in Minnesota can withstand a court order to reveal sources, the same should be expected of the national media.

My internet access is going to be a little spotty for the next few days, so things might be a little slow around these parts... Here's a puppy:

This should be interesting.

Interesting developments today on Intimigate- the White House scandal in which Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent working to thwart the spread of WMDs, was exposed by a senior White House official to punish her husband for speaking out against the administration.

Washington Post:

Newly-released court orders show U.S. District Court Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan two weeks ago ordered Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Tim Russert of NBC to appear before a grand jury and tell whether they knew that White House sources provided the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to the media.

snip

Cooper still refused to answer questions after Hogan's July 20 order, and on Aug. 6 Hogan held him in contempt of court and ordered that he go to jail. Cooper has been released on bond pending his emergency appeal to a federal appeals court. Hogan has ordered that Time pay a $1,000 fine for each day Cooper does not appear before the grand jury. Sources close to the investigation said they believe Russert was not held in contempt Aug. 6 because he agreed to answer the questions after Hogan's July 20 ruling.

link

So all this is breaking today and then Chalabi calls in to CNN from Iran.

Remember Iran? The country that Chalabi was working for when he tricked Bush into invading Iraq?

I heard Bill O'Reilly cite evidence provided by Chalabi in the oil for food "scandal" yesterday. When are these morons finally going to give up and realize they were tricked?

Paul Krugman and Bill O'Reilly had a showdown on Tim Russert's CNBC show yesterday. Krugman clearly came out the victor while O'Reilly came off as an unstable buffoon (as ususal).

Here are the highlights. (9 minute Real Video file)

(I lowered the bitrate to make the video file smaller- please forgive the video quality, but the important stuff is the audio anyway.)

The administration exposes an al Quaeda operative working undercover for us in Pakistan. Then the terrorist chatter suddenly dies down.

Anybody else seeeing a cause and effect here?

Thanks thedudetim

"Could we have pills and cook the corn?"

/Mr. Lightman

Surprise, surprise.

From MediaMatters.org:

• Corsi on Islam: "a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion"

• Corsi on Catholicism: "Boy buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is okay with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press"

• Corsi on Muslims: "RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together"

• Corsi on "John F*ing Commie Kerry": "After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judiasm? He also has paternal grandparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?"

• Corsi on Senator "FAT HOG" Clinton: "Anybody ask why HELLary couldn't keep BJ Bill satisfied? Not lesbo or anything, is she?"

There's so much more, it's amazing. See for yourself.

Then yes, Mr. President, you've turned the corner.

Bush said something particularly stupid today that deserves special recognition.

Regarding terrorists:

"They never stop thinkin' 'bout new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
-George W. Bush, August 5, 2004

Link Warning- Exploding Heads.

I didn't fully appreciate how inept the Bush folks were until now. I mean, not only is a loyalty oath moronic, the execution of it is laughable. Watch the video.

Link

The Washington Post reports today that Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., leaked classified information that the NSA intercepted on Sept. 10, 2001 but not translated until Sept. 12. The Arabic-language messages said "The match is about to begin" and "Tomorrow is zero hour." Couple of interesting things about the leak:
1. Shelby talked to reporters from Fox News and CNN during the break of a committee meeting. CNN had it on the air quick enough for a CIA official to ream out the committee when it reconvened the same day.
2. It's alleged that Shelby leaked the information to undermine the CIA's George Tenet.
3. The Bush administration used the leak to argue that it needed to withhold information from Congress, because senators and representatives couldn't be trusted to keep a secret.
4. Despite a two-year investigation, Shelby was never charged with a crime.
5. Fox News is a bunch of rat finks.

Put all this together, and you have the makings of an interesting conspiracy theory.

The White House, looking to keep everything secret, goes to their pal Shelby and says, "If you would leak a piece of sensational, but innocuous classified material, we could argue that nobody in Congress can be trusted and we won't have to release a thing. The public will blame everyone but us, and we'll strengthen our grip on the throat of democracy."

Shelby may have responded, "Isn't that illegal?" At that point, the White House and Shelby, knowing Ashcroft was in charge of the Justice Department, would enjoy a good, long chuckle.

Watch the Prez do one of those "flippy floppy" type maneuvers about the safety of the 'Merican people.

Link

Donna Brazile on Crossfire today asked Republican strategist Ed Rogers how many bills Dick Cheney passed in his decade plus in the Congress.

Two. Two bills. Two.

Kerry passed 57. If 57 bills equals an unaccomplished career, as Bush has been saying this week, what does that say about Cheney? (Obviously, for the moment we're putting aside the fact that he's a crook who cooked the books while CEO of Halliburton.) By Bush's standards, Cheney is incredibly unaccomplished as a legislator.

Kerry, however, has 57 Varieties!

Watch Donna set the record straight.

That would be a feat, since he lives in Maryland.

Here's a quote Donna Brazile dug up on today's Crossfire:

Jon busts Henry Bonilla (R- TX) on the misleading "political rankings" that have been used against John Kerry and John Edwards. Watch Henry desperately make shit up to cover his ignorance.

Here's a clip from Monday's Daily Show with Jon Stewart-
Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge issues a terror warning on the heels of the Democratic National Convention. But it's, like, totally not political!

"We must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president's leadership in the war on terror."
-Tom Ridge

Oh... wait... nevermind.

Link

After the terrorist attacks of September 11 we, the translators at the FBI’s largest and most important translation unit, were told to slow down, even stop, translation of critical information related to terrorist activities so that the FBI could present the United States Congress with a record of ‘extensive backlog of untranslated documents’, and justify its request for budget and staff increases.

[snip]

Over three years ago, more than four months prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks, in April 2001, a long-term FBI informant/asset who had been providing the bureau with information since 1990, provided two FBI agents and a translator with specific information regarding a terrorist attack being planned by Osama Bin Laden. This asset/informant was previously a high-level intelligence officer in Iran in charge of intelligence from Afghanistan. Through his contacts in Afghanistan he received information that: 1) Osama Bin Laden was planning a major terrorist attack in the United States targeting 4-5 major cities, 2) the attack was going to involve airplanes, 3) some of the individuals in charge of carrying out this attack were already in place in the United States, 4) the attack was going to be carried out soon, in a few months. The agents who received this information reported it to their superior, Special Agent in Charge of Counterterrorism, Thomas Frields, at the FBI Washington Field Office, by filing "302" forms, and the translator translated and documented this information. No action was taken by the Special Agent in Charge, and after 9/11 the agents and the translators were told to ‘keep quiet’ regarding this issue.

Read the whole thing.

Was it all a dream?

The info that prompted the alerts issued Sunday in New York and Washington D.C. is old. Four years old. That's what the Washington Post and NY Times are set to report tomorrow.

I think we all knew this was coming. I'm interested in what all those pundits are going to be saying tomorrow after foolishly taking the Bush administration at it's word while at the same time crucifying Howard Dean for his comments. Dean was right. Again.

Pre-9/11 Acts Led To Alerts- Washington Post

Reports That Led to Terror Alert Were Years Old, Officials Say- NYT

It was all a lie.

If you're surprised at this turn of events you haven't been paying attention.

Genius. Pure genius.

Link

via Waxy.org

So says Tommy Franks. We can't really call that a revelation, since we already knew that... but interesting none the less.

His memoir is loyal to the US President and his Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. The book is brutally contemptuous, however, of some lesser figures.

Service chiefs who sniped at him were "self-serving assholes"; and Douglas Feith, the cerebral Under-Secretary of Defence, is labelled "the dumbest f..king guy on the planet".

link via The Agonist

AJ asked the question last week- What's Josh Marshall working on? Today Josh Marshall lets everyone know. Coincidence?

He's been researching the origins of the forged Niger uranium documents. Fascinating article. Go read it.