Uncle Horn Head

..."It's like the TV show 'Fear Factor,'" (President Bush's mother, Barbara) Bush said. "And there are times when I'd rather sit in a tank of snakes and eat bugs than watch TV or read the newspapers."...

An alliance of 100 prominent Americans and 40 family members of those killed on 9/11 today announced the release of the 911 Truth Statement, a call for immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur. The Statement supports an August 31st Zogby poll that found nearly 50% of New Yorkers believe the government had foreknowledge and "consciously failed to act," with 66% wanting a new 9/11 investigation.

Focusing on twelve questions, the Statement highlights areas of incriminating evidence that were either inadequately explored or ignored by the Kean Commission, ranging from insider trading and hijacker funding to foreign government forewarnings and inactive defenses around the Pentagon. The Statement asks for four actions: an immediate investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Congressional hearings, media Analysis, and the formation of a truly independent citizens-based inquiry.

Dude, where’s my car bomb? Can’t find a weapon of mass destruction – or a thing to wear? Rest assured that no one will call for your
resignation in these duds – Abu Ghraib ’em while they’re hot!

There are known unknowns grey tank top $27
And there are known unknowns grey pants $45
Listen to me, I know what I’m talking about glasses $75

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, on a mission to restart talks on North Korea's nuclear program, on Sunday branded North Korea a "terrorist state" that shows "no respect whatsoever for human rights."...

...The discovery was not made public sooner because standard intelligence practice is not to let the enemy know such information, the official said...

An Australian journalist kidnapped in Iraq was freed after his captors checked the popular internet search engine Google to confirm his identity.

John Martinkus was seized in Baghdad on Saturday, the first Australian held hostage in Iraq since the US-led invasion.

But his captors agreed to release him after they were convinced he was not working for the CIA or a US contractor.

He was reported to be making his way home to Australia on Tuesday.

His executive producer at Australia's SBS network, Mike Carey, said Google probably saved freelance journalist Martinkus.

"They Googled him and then went onto a web site - either his own or his book publisher's web site, I don't know which one - and saw that he was who he was, and that was instrumental in letting him go, I think, or swinging their decision," he told AP news agency...

...Everyone seemed optimistic ... right up until Damon was thrown out at home in the first inning, thanks to yet another bone-headed decision from the immortal Dale Sveum. If this guy was a school crossing guard, little kids would be getting pancaked by SUVs like Tony Mandarich in his prime. ..

According to a political poll by the Pere Partnership advertising agency, 31 percent of voters claim that if Paris Hilton endorsed a candidate they'd be tempted to vote for the opponent instead.

Two St. Paul Pioneer Press reporters who were suspended for attending the recent "Vote for Change" political fund-raising concert have filed a union grievance against the newspaper.

Reporters had been asked not to attend the Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M. concert because ticket sales benefited an affiliate of the liberal group MoveOn. Newspaper management said attendance would compromise the politically neutral stance expected of journalists.

...The Inquirer believes Specter should get another six-year term. Preserving the legality of abortion plays no small part in this decision. Sometime in the next four years, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee will very likely find himself in the pivotal role of scrutinizing at least one new Supreme Court nominee. Assuming that Republicans are in charge of the Senate, it would be better to have the chairman's seat filled by Specter, who says Roe v. Wade is "inviolate" as the law of the land. If Specter loses, next in line among Republicans to be chairman is Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, who opposes abortion rights.

It's highly unlikely that Specter's challenger, Democratic Rep. Joe Hoeffel, would find himself on the Judiciary Committee anytime soon. He may receive better marks from abortion-rights groups than Specter, but the implications of Specter not being in the Judiciary chair are hard to ignore...

President George W. Bush rebuffed a plan last month for a Muslim peacekeeping force that would have helped the United Nations organize elections in Iraq, according to Saudi and Iraqi officials.

As a result, the UN continues to have a skeletal presence in Iraq, with only four staff members working full time on preparing for elections set for the end of January. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has refused to establish a new UN headquarters in Baghdad unless countries commit troops for a special force to protect it...

...evidence of what one might call the creeping Putinization of American life (the Sinclair incident, the threatening letter to Rock The Vote, the specter of the top official in the House of Representatives making totally baseless charges of criminal conduct against a major financier of the political opposition [shades of Mikhail Khodorovsky], the increasing evidence that the 'terror alert' system is nothing more than a political prop, the 'torture memo' asserting that the president is above the law, the imposition of rigid discipline on the congress, the abuse of the conference committee procedure, the ability of the administration to lie to congress without penalty, the exclusion of non-supporters from Bush's public appearances, etc.) are beginning to make me think this assessment may have been misguided. Terrorist forces operating in and around Chechnya have done some horrible things -- I was in Moscow for the big apartment bombings -- but ultimately the most harmful thing they have done was to enable Putin to tighten his grip on power.

A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday.

The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq — north of Baghdad — because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.

Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County Detention Center, and the 16 other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C., were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents, Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call about 5 a.m. Thursday...

...The Iraqis, who were arrested Jan. 2 after trying to report on the downing of an American helicopter near Falluja, said they were physically abused while being held for about three days at Forward Operating Base Volturno. They said American soldiers hit them, deprived them of sleep and made them assume painful positions. They said they were threatened with sexual assault and photographed while being forced to simulate sex acts...

"If I have to go down, I'm willing to do it..."

"Obviously our dad would make a great president."

New France international Rio-Antonio Mavuba has an unusual African background. The Bordeaux midfielder, who made his debut for France in August, has no country of birth. Mavuba, son of former Zaire international Ricky Mavuba Ndokia Ndombe - who featured at the 1974 World Cup finals - was born on a boat, off the coast of Angola, on 16 March 1984.

Now that the three debates belong to history, furnishing boring anecdotes from Michael Beschloss and Doris Kearns Goodwin for years to come, I'm struck by a single defining element that permeated each encounter: Bush's cavalier lack of preparation. Forget the cosmetics for a moment: the menagerie of mannerisms Bush displayed. He simply didn't come loaded with ammo. I assumed that he'd have some killer line at the ready, some surprise dug up from Kerry's record to spring, a practiced bit of eloquence that would lift the debate at a dramatic moment out of the recitation of facts and figures. He not only didn't have the eloquence, he barely had the facts and figures. For some bizarre reason best left to future psychologists, Bush doesn't seem to have approached these debates seriously. He refused to acknowledge he couldn't get by with simply rehashing his stump speech. When I saw on the news that Bush has prepared for this final debate by rehearsing during his spare moments on the campaign trail in Air Force One and the limo drives, I thought: that's now true preparation, that's lazy last-minute cramming...

Hollywood actress Renee Zellweger found a recent trip through Toronto airport more stressful than usual, when she was asked to put her cat through an X-ray machine.

The 35-year-old, who was filming forthcoming movie "The Cinderella Man" in the Canadian city, was alarmed when overzealous airport security asked her to place pet Grady on the conveyor belt.

Zellweger says, "I was a little panicked at the notion at having to take her out at the airport because she'd already made it clear she wasn't appreciative of the mode of transportation or her living quarters.

"My cat likes to express her opinions."

...Oh and by the way, that suggestion currently being floated by some in the GOP that the Iraq war has become so nasty and desperate that we might very well need to reinstate the military draft? That draft includes young women. And oh yes, Bush has already upheld the ban on abortions for servicewomen stationed overseas, even if they were raped, even if they pay for it themselves. Feeling patriotic yet?

(...)

Here's the bottom line: 50 million eligible women didn't vote in 2000, and 22 million of them were single and nearly every one of them probably thought their vote doesn't matter and it isn't really worth it and who cares anyway because no matter who wins, everything's still pretty much run by rich powerful men anyway. Which is, you know, sort of true. But not quite.

Because as Oprah knows, there are powerful men who get it and who love women and who understand their issues and who have cool articulate daughters and opinionated self-defined multilingual firebrand wives (Hi, Teresa), and there are aww-shucks antichoice white guys with lifeless token wives who think your body is government property and you should just pipe down and keep your damn legs closed and go pray to an angry Republican God to forgive your plentiful vagina-induced sins.

Hey, it's your choice. But not for long.

Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.

Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected...

WASHINGTON-- Sen. Mark Dayton said Tuesday he is closing his Washington office because of a classified intelligence report which made him fear for the safety of his staff.

Dayton, D-Minn., said the office will be closed while Congress is in recess through Election Day, with his staff working out of his Minnesota office and in Senate space off Capitol Hill.

``I take this step out of extreme, but necessary, precaution to protect the lives and safety of my Senate staff and my Minnesota constituents, who might otherwise be visiting my Senate office in the next three weeks,'' he said on a call with reporters.

``I feel compelled to do so because I will not be here in Washington to share what I consider to be an unacceptably greater risk to their safety,'' he said.

Dayton said he could not describe the contents of the top-secret intelligence report, which was presented to senators at a briefing two weeks ago.

``None of us can predict the future,'' he said. ``I hope and pray that the precautions I've taken will prove unnecessary.''

Asked what advise he would have for Minnesotans who want to travel to Washington over the next few weeks, Dayton said, ``I wouldn't advise them to come to Capitol Hill. I would not bring my two sons to the capitol between now and the election.''

COALITION commanders in Afghanistan have begun playing down the importance of Osama Bin Laden — in sharp contrast to the statements made earlier this year that he would be caught by the end of 2004.

“From the Afghan point of view we don’t want to focus too much on Bin Laden,” said Major-General John Cooper, deputy commander of the American-led coalition forces.

“He is not necessarily the major player. He will be caught one day but his whereabouts today won’t have a huge effect.”...

...In the hours leading up to debate, Bush huddled with top aides at the home of a St. Louis Cardinals owner where he is staying and went fishing in the rain to relax...

On why the U.S. became involved in the second war against Iraq:

"Because the rabid environmentalists felt it was more important to jeopardize the lives of our brave American servicemen than risk the death of a single snail darter. The greenies have led us into the crisis in the Middle East. Not only are they responsible for the huge amount of American dependence on foreign oil, but if an open war develops in the sweltering heat of the Saudi Arabian desert, the tragic result will be on their heads."

An editor at the paper suggested that I use this week's column to try to make the most honest and persuasive case I could for President Bush's reelection. At first I was skeptical. To say that I consider Bush a "bad" president would be a severe understatement. I think he's bad in a way that redefines my understanding of the word "bad." I used to think U.S. history had many bad presidents. Now, my "bad" category consists entirely of George W. Bush, with every previous president redefined as "good." There's also the fact that, on a personal level, I despise him with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. What I'm saying is, advocating Bush is kind of tricky.

But then I thought, what the heck. Why not try it for the sake of intellectual experimentation? After all, lawyers often defend some pretty repugnant clients, right? In keeping with that, I won't attempt to deny that my client has done some awful things. What I'll argue instead is that his very awfulness is the reason he deserves reelection....

...When our world is shaken, we seek safety. And who better to protect us than the big, strong, tough-talking leader who has been in charge all along. The competence or morality of our leader becomes less relevant. We are afraid. Change might make things worse. As Vice President Dick Cheney has so eloquently claimed, we'd better not vote for John Kerry or we may be hit again by terrorists, this time even worse. Never mind that Cheney's former company is a big benefactor from the hit that occurred on his watch...

..."(Saddam) retained the knowledge, the materials, the means, and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction," Bush said, adding that Saddam was trying to undermine international sanctions "with the intent of restarting his weapons program once the world looked away."

"In a world after Sept. 11, he was a threat we had to confront," Bush added in his first public comment on the Duelfer report...

Kerry seemed poised and well rested for the debate because all he has to do right now is campaign. Bush, while trying to campaign, still has a job to do as President. If you were to spend the countless hours he dopes (sic) every day pouring over intelligence and in conversations with foreign leaders and military generals, wouldn't you look a little worn and weary too?

...Speaking of both radar and stupid government, for a truly pathological example of how ideological fixations and denying reality can cost us dearly, to the $200 billion for the disaster in Iraq add at least $150 billion to deploy the unproven and unworkable missile-defense system, nee Star Wars. Since Star Wars was a pet scheme of Ronald Reagan's, Republicans insist on trying to carry out this nutty idea, the equivalent of hitting a bullet with a bullet. Ye olde military-defense complex also has a rather large stake in keeping this dog of a program going.

We have spent $90 billion on it since 1983, with much more to come. The thing is supposed to be deployed this year, but it will have no demonstrated capability and would be ineffective against a real attack by long-range missiles. Between 1999 and December 2000, the thing has been five for eight against targets WITH the information of the time and place of the launch and the missile's trajectory fed to the interceptor. In other words, totally rigged tests...

...With the Republican Convention extending into September, never has a trailing ticket had so little time to fight its way back into the race. Democrats desperately needed to regain and maintain control of the election agenda. Kerry had to knock Bush back on his heels in the first debate so he could broaden the discussion to domestic policy. Edwards had to do the same to Cheney, ideally generating new story lines about the administration's difficulty with reality. It's like a ninth-inning rally. Kerry got the lead-off hit. Edwards singled him to third. How will it end? Pass the popcorn.

From: Michael W
Sent: Tuesday July 13 2004 12.28pm
Subject: Dude, Iraq sucks

My name is Michael W and I am a 30-year-old National Guard infantryman serving in southeast Baghdad. I have been in Iraq since March of 04 and will continue to serve here until March of 05.

In the few short months my unit has been in Iraq, we have already lost one man and have had many injured (including me) in combat operations. And for what? At the very least, the government could have made sure that each of our vehicles had the proper armament to protect us soldiers.

In the early morning hours of May 10, one month to the day from my 30th birthday, I and 12 other men were attacked in a well-executed roadside ambush in south-east Baghdad. We were attacked with small-arms fire, a rocket-propelled grenade, and two well-placed roadside bombs. These roadside bombs nearly destroyed one of our Hummers and riddled my friends with shrapnel, almost killing them. They would not have had a scratch if they had the "Up Armour" kits on them. So where was [George] W [Bush] on that one?

It's just so ridiculous, which leads me to my next point. A Blackwater contractor makes $15,000 [£8,400] a month for doing the same job as my pals and me. I make about $4,000 [£2,240] a month over here. What's up with that?

Beyond that, the government is calling up more and more troops from the reserves. For what? Man, there is a huge fucking scam going on here! There are civilian contractors crawling all over this country. Blackwater, Kellogg Brown & Root, Halliburton, on and on. These contractors are doing everything you can think of from security to catering lunch!

We are spending money out the ass for this shit, and very few of the projects are going to the Iraqi people. Someone's back is getting scratched here, and it ain't the Iraqis'!

My life is left to chance at this point. I just hope I come home alive.

The Pentagon said yesterday it was investigating cockpit video footage that shows American pilots attacking and killing a group of apparently unarmed Iraqi civilians.

The 30-second clip shows the pilot targeting the group of people in a street in the city of Fallujah and asking his mission controllers whether he should "take them out". He is told to do so and, shortly afterwards, the footage shows a huge explosion where the people were. A second voice can be heard on the clip saying: "Oh, dude."

The existence of the video, taken last April inside the cockpit of a US F-16 fighter has been known for some time, though last night's broadcast by Channel 4 News is believed to be the first time a mainstream broadcaster has shown the footage.

At no point during the exchange between the pilot and controllers does anyone ask whether the Iraqis are armed or posing a threat. Critics say it proves war crimes are being committed.

...Asked to describe the connection between the Iraqi leader and the al-Qaida terror network at an appearance Monday at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pentagon chief first refused to answer, then said: ''To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two.''...

...Bush has promoted the system while campaigning for re-election.
 
"We want to continue to perfect this system, so we say to those tyrants who believe they can blackmail America and the free world: You fire; we're going to shoot it down," he said during a stop at Ridley Park, Pa., on Aug. 17.
 
Military officials are less sanguine, stressing that the initial system will be modest and limited in capability but will improve over time.
 
Critics of the system, such as Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's former chief of testing, say Bush is wrong.
 
"Of course we don't have any capability to do that," he said. "For the president to sort of dare them (to fire missiles) is really misleading and even reckless."...

Today, Michael J. Fox stood up and courageously spoke up that "George Bush's decision has dramatically reduced the chances for finding a cure for Alzheimers, for Parkinsons, for various kinds of cancersfor so many terrible diseases." Yet the Bush Administration continues to deny that there is any issue with their policy. As Fox said: "he so restricted the stem cell lines available to us that it was kind of like he gave us a car and no gas and he congratulated himself on giving us the car and we sat there and we sit there still"

The fact is that George W. Bush has put his ideological agenda ahead of the interests of the American people by placing a ban on embryonic stem cell research. His ban has prevented the use of 99.999 percent of potential stem cells from being used, standing in the way of possible cures and therapies. This research is supported by a broad coalition, including Orrin Hatch, John McCain and Nancy and Ron Reagan. It is time to put politics aside and allow our researchers to do their crucial work..."

Poland will withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of 2005, Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said on Monday.

"In my opinion, the deadline (for Poland's mission) should be the expiry date of resolution 1546 of the UN Security Council," Szmajdzinski told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

Resolution 1546, passed in June, provided for the handover of power to the Iraqi authorities and includes democratic transition steps that will run through 2005.

Poland, a staunch US ally in Europe, now commands an 8,000-strong multinational force, including about 2,400 Polish soldiers,in south-central Iraq.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewsk, who is on a visit to France, confirmed the announcement in Paris on Monday...

...The president likes to tell us that "freedom is winning" in Iraq, that democracy is on the march. But Americans are coming to realize that Iraq is, in fact, a country in agony, beset by bombings, firefights, kidnappings, beheadings and myriad other forms of mayhem. The president may think that freedom is winning, but television viewers in the U.S. could see images over the weekend of distraught Iraqis pulling the bodies of small children from smoking rubble - a tragic but perfect metaphor for a policy in ruins.

Mr. Bush got his big bounce in the public opinion polls from the Swift boat nonsense and the mocking, nonstop criticism of Senator Kerry at the Republican National Convention. Those were distractions from the real world. But reality cannot be kept at bay indefinitely. Readers of The Washington Post got a disturbing dose of it yesterday from a front-page article about the strain being put on the overloaded systems of veterans' disability benefits and health care by the thousands of American troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with physical injuries and mental health problems.

The article noted that "President Bush's budget for 2005 calls for cutting the Department of Veterans Affairs staff that handles benefits claims."

A staff sergeant who was paralyzed in a mortar attack near Baghdad was quoted as saying: "I love the military; that was my life. But I don't believe they're taking care of me now."

The real world is President Bush's Achilles' heel. He can't keep his distance from it forever.

...At FreeRepublic.com, the bastion of far-right cheerleading, the faithful were fashioning nooses. "It's really painful listening to Bush," said one Godebert. "Kerry has had him on the defensive from the beginning. Kerry sounds confident while Bush has a pleading defensive tone. Not good so far."

"Kerry looked much more experienced," said one whadizit. "He appeared to be relaxed and in control. W looked weary and worn and sounded weary and worn."

"Unfortunately," saith The Sons of Liberty, "Kerry looked more prepared. He seemed to have more facts, however questionable, at his command and he delivered his message succinctly. Even when confronted on his flip-flops, he had plausible explanations. On the other hand, The President seemed to lose his train of thought at times. He continued to repeat the same things, and he looked tired and a little haggard. He needs to do much better next time."

The comments went on and drearily on in this vein, in conversation thread after conversation thread, until a forum participant named areafiftyone threw the distraught legions a lifeline: "I had that feeling that Kerry had the questions beforehand. He seemed to have his answers right on target. Bush seemed like he was surprised by the questions. I wish they could investigate to see if the DNC got a hold of the questions beforehand."...

...President Bush spoke clearly and from the heart last night about the path forward - toward victory and security - in the War on Terror.  The President spoke candidly about the difficulties facing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as these countries prepare for their first free elections.  The terrorists will continue to fight these steps toward freedom because they f! ear the optimism and hope of democracy.  They fear the prospects for their ideology of hate in a free and democratic Middle East.

President Bush detailed a path forward in the War on Terror - a plan that will ensure that America fights the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan - not in America's cities.

John Kerry failed the one test he had to pass last night: he failed to close the credibility gap he has with the American people as his record of troubling contradiction and vacillation spiraled down to incoherence...