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Friday, July 30, 2004

Spare Time

When not formulating his health plan or foreign policy the next President likes to engage in kiteboarding.



What would happen if George Bush tried this?

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Convention Speeches

There were some great moments this week in Boston. Several of the speeches were excellent. To read/listen again here are some links:

Bill Clinton

Barack Obama

Ron Reagan

Teresa Heinz Kerry

John Edwards

General Wesley Clark

Max Cleland

John Kerry

To listen your computer will need to support RealAudio.

Enjoy.

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Catching Up

Long day yesterday. Day off from work. Doctor's appointment for the baby (alls well, 85th percentile for all the stats), emptying boxes from storage facility and several trash runs. Whew!

I didn't expect much from my first foray into the land of the "Open Thread" (see previous post.) I wasn't disappointed.

I enjoyed Kerry's speech last night. He set the right tone while poining out some of Bush's shortcomings (without actually saying it, a GOP specialty.) Kerry's daughters were great too. It will be interesting to see what type of poll bump he gets.

Finally, Fahrenheit 911 was screened in Crawford, TX last night to a crowd of 3,000 in a parking lot near our President's home. The turnout was 3x what was expected. Michael Moore also announced he will be taking his cameras to Florida on election day. Must see TV.

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Thursday, July 29, 2004

Iraq's On Fire

Kos has all the details.

Feel free to use this as an open thread.

What's on your mind?

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Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Breaking News from the Borowitz Report

A good idea:

"Bush Names Mountain Bike To Axis Of Evil"

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Um...About Those Voting Records...Well...Uh

Link.

Almost all the electronic records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost, stoking concerns that the machines are unreliable as the presidential election draws near.

The records disappeared after two computer system crashes last year, county elections officials said, leaving no audit trail for the 2002 gubernatorial primary. A citizens group uncovered the loss this month after requesting all audit data from that election...


I really think electronic voting machines are a bad idea.

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We're All Illini Today

The New York Times with a good look at Barack Obama's speech last night.

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Tom Burka from the Convention

The proprietor of Opinions You Should Have reports John Kerry just picked up a huge endorsement.

Tough to see Bush rebound from this.

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Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Tuesday Night

I've seen the furture of the Democratic Party and his name is Barack Obama. What an unbelievable speech.

The blogosphere is in love. It's a little early for Edwards/Obama 2012, but that's the kind of expectations the Dems are placing on him.

He exceeded those expectations tonight. By far.

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Simpsons Movie



It's going to happen:

During the Simpsons panel at San Diego's Comic Con International, executive producer and longtime Simpsons contributor Al Jean announced the news that many fans have been waiting for: "There will be a movie," putting enough "English" on the word "will" to leave no doubt among the faithful that they will be able to see the yellow-hued denizens of Springfield on the big screen. Jean did not provide a release date, saying only that the show's producers were taking the time to get it right.

Thanks to boingboing for the...D'OH!

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Convention Quote

From Al Gore's speech:

"I know from my own experience that America is a land of opportunity, where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote"

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Monday, July 26, 2004

Scary Business

A look into the future. Courtesy of the ACLU.

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Monday Night

It's the first evening of the Convention and I'm staying away from the TV, save the occasional check of the Phillies score, and sitting outside. It's a beautiful evening in North Wilmington. Mid 70s, a light breeze and the crickets are in full voice. I recently bought a flexible light that plugs into the USB port on my iBook so I don't have to turn on the porch light. And the entire family are snug in their nests. Peaceful.

Through a DNC blog aggregator I just came across a very cool site. Librarian.net is written by a librarian in central Vermont who has specific views, as you might expect, about the situations our Country currently faces, including the Patriot Act. I will be exploring it further in the days & weeks to come. I've added her site to my blogroll. Enjoy.

Crap. The Phils are losing 8-3 and it looks like we'll be 1.5 out after tonight. Well, as long as we finish ahead of the Angels...

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More Nader

A portion of a letter from today's Altercation from a DNC volunteer in Philadelphia:

Today in downtown Philly, we were approached by a canvasser. He was collecting signatures to get Nader on the ballot. Not a good thing to be sure, but it gets more disturbing. It turns out that this guy was in a homeless shelter when some people came there offering $200 a day for them to collect signatures for Nader. As you know, Nader's campaign is being funded in large part by the GOP. That makes this guy's situation so sadly ironic that my mind reels. The economic and social policies created in large part by Bush and other conservative leaders have produced a willing supply of people like this guy- a black homeless man who claimed to have college degree. Now he is being cynically used by the same people who in large part are responsible for the situation he represents. His efforts will work only to divert the electoral power of people who want real progress in America, but are too stupid to ignore Nader's Siren's song. It's a sad state of affairs.

Ugh.

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Nader's Party

Link:

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader's quixotic presidential campaign says it submitted about 5,400 signatures to get on the Michigan ballot, far short of the required number of 30,000. Luckily for him, approximately 43,000 signatures were filed by Michigan Republicans on his behalf, more than meeting the requirement...

Makes me angry. Very very angry.

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Forward Thinking



If I were to be buried, it would look a little something like this. I'm hopeful of the date too. My grandmother is 97 and still sharp as a tack.

Courtesy of the Tombstone Generator, via Biz Stone.

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Commentary

“For whatever it’s worth, I think Iraq is a total circle jerk, I couldn’t think of how to do it worse.”

Siegfried Engelmann supplied these words of wisdom. Who is he?

He authored The Pet Goat.

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Fahrenheit 911 Reaches $100 million

After an additional $5 million this weekend, Michael Moore's epic pile-driver of the Bush Administration is up to $103.35 million. For those scoring at home, that's five times the amount earned by any documentary, ever.

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Sunday, July 25, 2004

Weekend

Another blog free weekend, alas getting our house situated after being out for six-months has been a larger task than I anticipated. Add a precocious 14 month old (who just started walking) to the mix and you get very little computer time.

I'm looking forward to the convention this week and seeing how the Democratic Party along with our nominee will position themselves for the run-up to November.

I'm hoping to get my Kerry/Edwards sign within a week and post it on my lawn. I'll be in the minority as several of my neighbors already have BC04 signs on their property. I don't know any of these people but I sometimes wonder what connects them to the GOP and the President. I can't say for certain, but they don't seem like Bush's base, "the haves" they seem closer to the polar opposite.

Why support someone who doesn't have your interests at heart?

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Friday, July 23, 2004

Condi on NPR News

In reaction to the release of the 9/11 Report I just heard Condi say, "The President is a man of action."

And he doesn't listen to show tunes either.

In the esteemed words of Bill Simmons: That's off the UCF* scale.

*Unintentional Comedy Factor


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Advice for John Kerry

As Big John prepares for the speech of his life next week, former Gore speech writer Kenneth Baer has some ideas.

An excellent article with five things to avoid/exploit.

1. Speak to the audience at home.
2. Mesh biography with destiny.
3. Do not be bold.
4. Mention Ronald Reagan (!)
5. Less John F. Kennedy and more John Wayne.

Salient points made for all.

If you read one thing today, make it this.

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Openness

E.J. Dionne hits the nail on the head today.

In the wake of the 9/11 Commission Report, Dionne points out that the American people deserve to know how and why a terror attack on our shores happened. This isn't just a Bush thing, mostly, it's a government thing. Secrecy is important to an extent, but our government's responsibility to the Constitution should supercede that, by far.

Congratulations to Tom Kean and his commissioners in doing an amazing job under ahem difficult circumstances. They were constantly stonewalled but put together recommendations that have the potential to make us much safer.

Will they be enacted? That's another question.

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Thursday, July 22, 2004

DINO = Democrat in Name Only



My wife's uncle, a notorious spammer and GOP fantatic, forwarded this picture to me and I wanted to share it.

Good looking dogs. Insert your own Old Yeller joke below.

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Wednesday, July 21, 2004

C'mon You Nittany Lions!



After years of using family friend memberships I've finally been able to secure Penn State Football season tickets through my own Nittany Lion Club membership. A huge relief because I wasn't sure if my point levels would allow me to get the tickets.

The only problem is the location of the seats (pictured above), not that I'm complaining. That section is where the visiting team's supporters reside. So it should be an interesting season, particularly if we suck less than we did last year.

I don't think I'll need the sock-full of nickels, but you never know.

If you're in Beaver Stadium near section EJU, row 78, seats 14 & 16 stop by say hello.

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900 American Dead

No end in sight. Shit.

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Joseph Wilson fires Back

From today's Los Angeles Times. The GOP smear machine will never quit.

Wilson's last rebuttal:

...it has been suggested that my work for the CIA, rather than debunking the Niger claim, supported it. Although some analysts continued to believe that the Iraqis were interested in purchasing Niger uranium, that is a far cry from Bush's claim in the State of the Union: 'British intelligence has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.' My report said there was no evidence that such a thing occurred in Niger...

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Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Remember FL in 2000?

How about a 2004 voter purge in Ohio?

Note that over 105,000 voters were purged because they had not voted in 4 years, including 2 federal election cycles....

If 110,000 voters can be purged from the rolls in one critical county, how many were purged in the other 87 Ohio counties since the 2000 election? Are the same tests used in every other county? Who has access to the list of purged names? What percentage were black or Hispanic? How do they match the felony conviction to the registered voter?


Good question.

And yes, the Buckeye state has all Republican leadership.

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How Can He Promise That?

Sounds like begging to me:

'After four years more in this office I want people to look back and say, 'The world is a more peaceful place,'' Bush told supporters at a community college in Iowa. 'Four more years and America will be safer and the world will be more peaceful.'

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Duke Students To Get iPods

Almost makes me wish I went to Duke. Almost:

'Whoa!' said rising Duke freshman Mollie Tucker of Raleigh when she learned she'd pocket an iPod. 'It sounds like a good idea. It sounds really cool.'

When she arrives Aug. 19, her iPod will be loaded with all kinds of useful information, including orientation schedules, calendars, campus tours, even the Duke fight song.

Students also can use them for course content, such as recorded lectures, music, language lessons and audio books. Throughout the year, they will be able to download information through a Duke Web site modeled after Apple's iTunes site, where people can download songs legally.


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Playing Electoral God

If you could choose one Senator to lose this fall, from your own party, who would it be? Get in on the action over at Berry's World.

I'd have to say Daschle. (Zell's seat will be vacant, don't think I wasn't on him like flies on spam.)

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Monday, July 19, 2004

Don't Let It Be Said...



...that The Economist doesn't tell it like it is.

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Loss Prevention Chic



From Cool Hunting, the above gold-plated security sensor will still leave a pin hole in what you're stealing purchasing.

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Bush's Harvard Business School Prof Speaks

And it's not pretty:

Tsurumi—now a professor of international business at Baruch College in the City University of New York—said he remembers the future president as scoring in the bottom 10 percent of students in the class...

...Tsurumi said he particularly recalls Bush’s right-wing extremism at the time, which he said was reflected in off-hand comments equating the New Deal of the 1930s with socialism and the corporation-regulating Securities and Exchange Commission with “an enemy of capitalism.”

“I vividly remember that he made a comment saying that people are poor because they’re lazy,” Tsurumi said.

Tsurumi also said Bush displayed a sense of arrogance about his prominent family, including his father, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush.

“[George W. Bush] didn’t stand out as the most promising student, but...he made it sure we understood how well he was connected,” Tsurumi said. “He wasn’t bashful about how he was being pushed upward by Dad’s connections.”

Tsurumi said that the younger Bush boasted that his father’s political string-pulling had gotten him to the top of the waiting list for the Texas National Guard instead of serving in Vietnam. When other students were frantically scrambling for summer jobs, Tsurumi said, Bush explained that he was planning instead for a visit to his father in Beijing, where the senior Bush was serving at the time as the special U.S. envoy to China...


They should get this guy on Air America radio.

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Saturday, July 17, 2004

Catching Up

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you'll notice that the past week has brought the lowest level of posting since it's inception. Several things have conspired to make it difficult to post at the level I have in the past. I'm hoping to get back on my regular schedule soon. In the meantime here are a couple of updates:
I may have time to catch up with the Bushes later today. Have a great weekend.


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Friday, July 16, 2004

Bush Denounces Human Trafficking

Link:

President Bush vowed today to crack down hard at home and abroad on human trafficking, calling it a new form of slavery and 'one of the worst offenses against human dignity...'

I wonder how this rates against the sodomized children at Abu Ghraib prison?

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Jimmy Breslin

Periodically Mr. Breslin lists the names of the American troops who've died in Iraq. Today he has this:

I want to tell you what it's like to type this list of names that runs below. You keep typing these ages of "20" and "19" and "22" and soon, you hear them. They are shouting over loud music. Laughing uncontrollably. Girls, girls, girls. Swearing viciously at their fates. And always with these young fast voices. Why should they die? What right have we to play God and send them to be blown to pieces? I finish typing this job and go to bed. These young should be living in the sounds of an American summer, of water rushing over rocks, or lapping a lakeshore pier, or crashing onto an ocean beach; of music in the soft nights or the elated cries of kids running through a field. If not a field, then enjoying nature's finest sight, a crowded city street.

Anywhere except a box on a plane arriving at Dover, Del., where morgue workers do autopsies and put dress uniforms on the dead bodies. This president, with a face of rich boy smirks and sneers, who lives on the dark side of truth, does not deign to be present. He is not a man for mourning, this George Bush. Life is best when he struts onto a stage in front of an overjoyed white audience in York, Pa., where he sputtered that the people fighting in Iraq had hijacked a great religion and now we would fight them anywhere. That great religion is Islam and it has 2 billion members worldwide and if he wants to fight them, let him go ahead; he likes it so much he was having his teeth cleaned when he was eligible to face bullets.


Yikes.

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Thursday, July 15, 2004

Blogroll Infusion

You may have noticed some additions to my blogroll recently. Through boingboing I've found some pretty cool sites on design, gadgets and the like. When I hit the Powerball, I will have at least two houses full of gadgets. A perfect example is from Fun Furde who present us with the word clock:

The clock doesn't use numerical notation to show you what time it is, it uses ... words. With the Word Clock, 11:55 becomes "Five minutes to twelve." And 11:57:02 becomes "It's about twelve."



Gadgets. Cool.

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Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Gay Marriage Ban Fails in the Senate

Here's a great quote from John McCain:

..."The constitutional amendment we are debating today strikes me as antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans," said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. "It usurps from the states a fundamental authority they have always possessed, and imposes a federal remedy for a problem that most states do not believe confronts them."...

Sounds like someone isn't putting their toe on the party line. I wonder if Senator McCain will be in any more campaign commercials for Bush?

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Monday, July 12, 2004

Nader in PA

I was just listening to a replay of locally produced Radio Times on my local NPR affiliate when I heard the following:

"If Nader gets invited to the debates I firmly believe he'll win the election."
Dan Martino
Nader Campaign Coordinator for PA

He also said there was no difference between Bush & Kerry. Not their parties, the candidates!

And Nader supporters wonder why their man isn't getting on ballots. They can't be taken seriously.

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Moving and the Stinky Meat Project

As I noted a couple of days ago my family and I intended to move today. Unfortunately, the weather gods in Wilmington, DE had other plans. It rained heavily all day with flooding in my neighborhood and the movers, noticing the river running down the hill outside our apartment, decided we'd play two tomorrow. So, with said weather gods calling for partly cloudy skies, we'll move the contents of a 3BR apartment (and furniture from a storage facility) into our new home:




(porta-pahty has been removed)

So now you must be thinking: What did you do with your day instead of moving? After dropping the kids at daycare and picking up some supplies for the house I embarked on my own Stinky Meat Project*.

To bring you up to speed... When the family moved to the apartment before Christmas the contractors assured us that the ante-room in the basement would have electricity during the entire renovation. This room is 4' x 6' and the only thing in it for the past six-months was our freezer. Because there was going to be electricity I didn't see any reason to unload all of the contents. (If I had more time when we moved out I probably would've moved the freezer and all of the contents. Or I'm a bit lazy.) You can probably guess where this going... So I found out last week that the power was cut off to the basement around Memorial Day and today I tried to make the freezer usable.

The stench was horrible as I unloaded seven garbage bags of thawed meat, fruit , vegetables and ice cream sanwiches (which, basically vaporized, all that was left were the wrappers. Weird.) It took two hours as I had to take air breaks. Each weighed about 20 pounds. It is a big freezer.

My mother-in-law suggested to put charcoal and baking soda into the vile appliance to help the odor subside. (How did she know that?) I did this and emptied the better part of a jumbo can of Lysol into and around the freezer. We'll find out if I was successful on moving day.

*FULL DISCLOSURE: The SMP is a real web site described here and is out of service now, but will be up and running again here. Worth a look, if you find this type of thing funny.

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Sunday, July 11, 2004

Blogger gets the Middle Finger from Bush

All they were doing was holding up a sign.

If Cheney was there these kids would've been treated to an earful.

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Saturday, July 10, 2004

Moving



I'll be at my computer sporadically over the weekend. The renovations to our house are complete and I'll be spending the weekend getting everything ready for our move on Monday. We've been in a three BR apartment since before Christmas 2003, it will be great to get our house back. The above picture is from January, after they gutted the existing structure. I'll post the finished product later this weekend.

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Friday, July 09, 2004

Holy Crap

From today's presser on the Intelligence Committee findings:

Most alarmingly, after 1998 and the exit of the U.N. inspectors, the CIA had no human intelligence sources inside Iraq who were collecting against the WMD target.

Who cares if they don't implicate the Bush Administration. At the very least our government should have challenged a portion of the intelligence. Particularly, if they had the piece of information detailed above.

This failure occurred on Bush's watch and he should be held 100% accountable.

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Original Idea from Greg Palast

Criminals and their associates have to give up their cash, cars & luxury items when they are busted.

What should happen to the piles of dirty cash Ken Lay gave to George Bush & the GOP?

They should have to give the money back.

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Push to Amend Patriot Act Fails



So our rights will continue to be infringed upon.

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Bush Military Payroll Records "Inadvertently" Destroyed

Apparently there was a problem converting old microfiche and President's Payroll records were destroyed.

In an amazing coincidence, the records in question cover a period of three months in 1972 & 1973 when Bush claims to have been serving in Alabama.

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The Source for the NY Post Erroneous Headline?

Rupert Murdoch.

Heh.

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Intelligence Report Due Today

The focus will be on the actual intelligence gathering, and how the information drove us to war. Not surprisingly, there will be little focus on the interpretation of the intelligence by our trusted government or if the CIA was coerced into coming up with conclusions that matched administration conclusions.

Some Democrat members of the committee will write "alternative briefs" as addenda to the report. I bet that's where we'll find some truth.

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Thursday, July 08, 2004

Criminal Indictments Possible for Cheney

Link

Vice President Dick Cheney faces criminal indictments for illegal activities while CEO of energy giant Halliburton and also illegally intervened to secure a $7 billion no-bid contract for his former employer after his election to office, an analysis by the White House counsel’s office concludes.

The Vice President is currently under investigation by French authorities for bribery, money laundering and misuse of corporate assets while at Halliburton and also faces a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission probe of a $180 million "slush fund" that may have been used to pay bribes.

Although the White House Counsel analysis is not available to the public because of the secrecy of “attorney-client privilege,” it has generated speculation among senior White House aides who suggest the Vice President should step down as President George W. Bush’s running mate for the November Presidential elections. Such talk has increased in GOP circles lately with former New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato Wednesday calling on Bush to dump Cheney.

Those who have read the analysis say it presents a “devastating” case against the Vice President and concludes Cheney has violated both the “spirit and intent” of federal laws on conflict of interest.

Even worse, Cheney faces indictment by a French court on charges of bribery, money laundering and misuse of corporate assets because of fraud associated with the construction of a $6 billion petrochemical plant built by Halliburton in Nigeria in partnership with Technip, one of France’s largest petrochemical engineering companies.


Sure it's Capitol Hill Blue, but they're the same paper that said Bush was unstable. And we sure can't argue with that.

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Waxman on Congressional Oversight

A neat little commentary in Tuesday's WaPo written by CA Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman, comparing Congressional oversight during the Clinton and Bush years.

The article's essence:

Compare the following: Republicans in the House took more than 140 hours of testimony to investigate whether the Clinton White House misused its holiday card database but less than five hours of testimony regarding how the Bush administration treated Iraqi detainees.

Sounds about right.

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Wednesday, July 07, 2004

500th Post

this is an audio post - click to play


My inaugural audio-blog post as well.

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Down With Heinz (The Ketchup and The Wife)

Ladies & Gentlemen, I offer you a right leaning condiment with no premise of partisanship:

W Ketchup*

*May contain animal parts.

UPDATE: Changed asterisk to something less distasteful.


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Children Imprisoned at Abu Ghraib?

This post at Sadly, No! gives some details. Story related from German media outlets.

...One that knows something about this is Sergeant Samuel Provance, from the US Military. He spent half a year stationed at Abu Ghraib. Today, 5 months later, we meet him in Heidelberg. His superiors have strictly forbidden him to speak to journalists about what he experienced in Abu Ghraib. But Provance wants to talk about it nevertheless. His conscience troubles him. He discusses a 16-year old he handled:

"He was very afraid, very alone. He had the thinnest arms I had ever seen.

His whole body trembled. His wrists were so thin we couldn't put handcuffs on him. As I saw him for the first time and led him to the interrogation, I felt sorry. The interrogation specialists threw water over him and put him into a car, drove him around through the extremely cold night. Afterwards, they covered him with mud and showed him to his imprisoned father, on whom they'd tried other interrogation methods.

They hadn't been able to get him to speak, though. The interrogation specialists told me that after the father saw his son in this condition, his heart was broken, he started crying, and he promised to tell them anything they wanted." --Samuel Provance


I hope Sy Hersh gets hold of this story and makes Samuel Provance a hero for bringing this story to the fore.

Check out Sebastien's post an be sure to read the comments as well. It turns out this isn't a "new" revelation for our media.

*sigh*


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Dionne on Edwards

Fantastic column today by E.J. Dionne in the WaPo on why Edwards is The Best Choice.

Key grafs:

...The key to Edwards's twin appeal -- to upscale voters and to those trying to climb the ladder or helping their kids do it -- was explained many years ago by the great American sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset. Lipset argued that the two core American values were "equality" and "achievement." Americans want a level playing field and don't like people who put on airs. But they also admire strivers. Edwards can give his "two Americas" and "dad in the mill" speech as someone who used the education system to rise up and get rich. That's the American story.

Ah, but he got rich as one of those "trial lawyers," Republicans were quick to say. This fight over trial lawyers will be one of the campaign's great sideshows. The Republicans failed with the anti-lawyer gambit against Edwards when he was first elected to the Senate in 1998. Here's a bet that when trial lawyers are paired up against corporations that abuse their power, Edwards's profession will have a fighting chance.

(...)

Oh, yes, and one more point on that experience thing: "When it comes time to make the decision to send our young men and women into harm's way, that decision should be made by a leader who knows that such decisions have profound consequences. There comes a time when our nation's leader can no longer rely on briefing books and talking points." That was McCain in 1999. He was talking about the man who became our current president. You wonder which side will be most eager to cite that quotation.


Go read.

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Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Gagne Save Streak Ends at 84

Anyone that can save 84 games in a row is impressive. The fact that he did it for the Dodgers, well... Eric Gagne is a pretty good pitcher.

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Mr. Ashcroft Stopped By



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Kerry Picks Edwards

I look forward to Edwards' debates with Cheney.

The NY Post got it wrong here saying Gephardt was the Dem VP choice.

UPDATE: Someone over at the DailyKos save us the trouble:



The New York Post - Contains News Related Program Activity

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Monday, July 05, 2004

16,000 Wounded or Injured in Iraq

Recently confirmed by the Pentagon. These are American troop totals.

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The Fightins'

The Phillies moved three games clear at the top of the NL East tonight with a 6-5 win over the Mets. Burrell still swinging a hot bat and Thome is showing signs of snapping out of his slump.

I'll feel better when we get through a series with the Florida Marlins. They're struggling right now, but when they play the Phillies they look like the 1927 Yankees. (With worse haircuts.)

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Hunting of the President

Our good friend Keith over at Berry's World has a synposis of an amusing scene from the film on the sliming of, then President Clinton, The Hunting of the President based on the book by Gene Lyons & Joe Conason.

GOP hypocrites activate! Form of the "moral high ground."

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QOTD

For my wife, the day after Independence Day:

"A new day falls from the sky
Lands right on my head
Why do I punish myself so systematically?
 
Tremulously peeling back the curtains
Spring flowers crackle into life
Go away!  All of you
Or at least be a bit quieter
 
Now then, where's my left sock?"
Ezo, from madphilosophers.com

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Sunday, July 04, 2004

QOTD

"I have the consolation of having added nothing to my private fortune during my public service, and of retiring with hands clean as they are empty."
Thomas Jefferson

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Saturday, July 03, 2004

SecState as Village Person



How to get European respect after neo-con's alienation?

Get Colin Powell dressed up and sing "YMCA" on stage.

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Is Andrew Fastow Finally Talking?

It looks like Energy Task Force member, GOP Super RangerPioneerAssbag and former Enron Chairman "Kenny Boy" Lay could face an indictment as early as next week.

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Scary But True

Moe Blues over at Bad Attitudes is a little down lately after talking to three friends. This is one's story:

The small business owner has seen his income slashed by almost half during Bush’s tenure, and he spent much of our conversation complaining about just how bad things are for small business owners. Yet, he was voting for Bush no matter what because everyone knows that Republicans are great for business and Democrats will do nothing but destroy businesses like his. (Never mind that this guy was only able to start his business because of the flush Clinton economy, or that his revenues doubled every year until the end of 2001.)

Blind faith pisses me off.

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Senior Perp Walk



There is an amazing rise in robberies by senior citizens. The man above was sentenced to 12 years in prison for an unarmed bank robbery. He stole almost $2,000 from a Texas bank.

He's also 91 years old.

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QOTD

"Familiarity breeds contempt - and children."
Mark Twain

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Friday, July 02, 2004

Iraq War Report on Intelligence Due Next Week

As if our friends in the Bush Administrations didn't have enough to worry about with the latest job numbers and the economy, the Select Senate Committee will release at least a partial report of their findings regarding pre-war intelligence failures.

Josh Marshall has an idea of what will be included. Remember the aluminum tubes?

If circumstances were different the whole thing would be released this afternoon at 4:45 p.m. as the country goes about their holiday business. Fortunately, this is much to important for a "Friday afternooning" and Rove will have no say in it's release. Pity, that. Heh.



Finally, I will be around a computer all weekend, but for those who aren't I wish you and your families a safe and happy holiday weekend.

There is much to be fearful of in these times but we have much to be thankful for as well. Take the time this weekend to reflect on what we still have and what can never be taken from us.

Our spirit.

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

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QOTD

"Nice guys finish last, but we get to sleep in."
Evan Davis

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Krugman on F911

A fair assessment of Moore's film.

A key graf:

...And for all its flaws, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' performs an essential service. It would be a better movie if it didn't promote a few unproven conspiracy theories, but those theories aren't the reason why millions of people who aren't die-hard Bush-haters are flocking to see it. These people see the film to learn true stories they should have heard elsewhere, but didn't. Mr. Moore may not be considered respectable, but his film is a hit because the respectable media haven't been doing their job...

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Thursday, July 01, 2004

Mozilla in Effect!

Blondesense with the excellent answer to one of my questions in the previous post.

Nice!

(Thanks!)

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Blogroll Additions

Ever since I got an iBook for Christmas I've been trying to learn as much as possible about the wonder world of Mac. In order to broaden my horizons I've added some Mac/Apple sites to my blogroll. I know some of my reader(s) work on an Apple and perhaps could answer a couple of questions:

In the Blogger interface, New Post window, the "link" button (icon with the chain links) doesn't show in Safari but it does work on my PC at work. Is there any way to make that work on my iBook?

How can you download TV images into Quicktime? Is there a special program? (I'm thinking Fox News or an SOTU address, if you get my drift.) It would also be nice to post a freeze frame of an image in this forum.

Any help would be appreciated.

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QOTD

"It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting."
Tom Stoppard

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Cassini Reaches Saturn



Not the designer, the NASA probe.

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CNN wins Right to See FL Voter List

A Florida judge ruled that CNN and other media outlets can examine the list of 50,000 suspected felons on the voter rolls.

I suspect this is not the last we've heard of this.

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Give Blood

I found out some very interesting information today while giving blood. First, let me share the percentage breakdown of blood types in the United States:

O Positive 38%
A Positive 34%
B Positive 9%
O Negative 7%
A Negative 6%
AB Positive 3%
B Negative 2%
AB Negative 1%

I found out my blood type, O Positive, (still with me Ashcroft?) can be administered to anyone with a "Positive" blood type. In addition if you have an O Negative blood type your blood can be administered to anyone. Apparently Type O is the universal blood type but I didn't realize how universal it was.

My point? Give blood!

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