Uncle Horn Head

Happy Valley

Light blogging today & tomorrow as I'm in State College to see Penn State play Akron.

As you may or may not know Central PA is Bush Country, so my 'Got Fear?' pin (with milk mustache on Bush) should go over great.

I'll recount amusing stories in this space.

Go State!


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Bill Clinton Hospitalized

To have bypass surgery tomorrow.

Get well soon, Big Dog!

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GOP Distances Itself from Zell

Nice loyalty:

After gauging the harsh reaction from Democrats and Republicans alike to Sen. Zell Miller’s keynote address at the Republican National Convention, the Bush campaign — led by the first lady — backed away Thursday from Miller’s savage attack on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, insisting that the estranged Democrat was speaking only for himself.

Late Thursday, Miller and his wife were removed from the list of dignitaries who would be sitting in the first family’s box during the president’s acceptance speech later in the evening. Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said Miller was not in the box because the campaign had scheduled him to do too many television interviews.

There was no explanation, however, for why Miller would be giving multiple interviews during Bush’s acceptance speech, or what channels would snub the president in favor of Miller. Nor was it made clear why Miller’s wife also was not allowed to take her place in the president’s box 24 hours after his deeply personal denunciation of his own party’s nominee.

The change was made only a few hours after Laura Bush, asked about Miller’s speech, said in an interview with NBC News that “I don’t know that we share that point of view.” Aides to President Bush and his campaign said Miller was not speaking for all Republicans...

They were so proud to have Democrat Zell Miller give the keynote speech, especially because he introduced Clinton in 1992.
So what happens?
They give him a speech to read.
He reads it.
The reaction isn't what the GOP was looking for.
They ostracize him.

In the words of Rudy, from Fat Albert, "They're like school in the summer time. No class."

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Still Undecided?

Read this:

...And on education, Bush voiced an inherent contradiction, dating back to his 2000 campaign, in stating his stout support for local control of education, yet promising to toughen federal standards that override local decision-making.

"We are insisting on accountability, empowering parents and teachers, and making sure that local people are in charge of their schools," he said, on one hand. Yet, "we will require a rigorous exam before graduation."

On Iraq, Bush derided Kerry for devaluing the alliance that drove out Saddam Hussein and is trying to rebuild the country. "Our allies also know the historic importance of our work," Bush said. "About 40 nations stand beside us in Afghanistan, and some 30 in Iraq."

But the United States has more than five times the number of troops in Iraq than all the other countries put together. And, with 976 killed, Americans have suffered nearly eight times more deaths than the other allies combined.

Bush aggressively defended progress in Afghanistan, too. "Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders ... and more than three-quarters of al-Qaida's key members and associates have been detained or killed. We have led, many have joined, and America and the world are safer."

Nowhere did Bush mention bin Laden, nor did he account for the replacement of killed and captured al al-Qaida leaders by others.

He attacked Kerry for voting against an $87 billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan operations that included money for extra sets of body armor and other supplies, mocking his opponent for saying the issue was complicated. "There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat," Bush said.

But the bill in question was not solely about supporting troops and Kerry's campaign said he ultimately voted against it because, among other reasons, it included no-bid contracts for companies.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who tracks the accuracy of campaign rhetoric at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, said Bush overstepped on a few claims about Kerry.

"The speech distorts Kerry's positions by suggesting that he opposed Medicare reform when he instead favored an alternative, and opposed tax cuts for all when he in fact supported the middle class cuts and opposed cuts for those making more than $200,000," she said.

And on Bush's second-term domestic initiatives, she was not surprised to find missing dollar signs.

"One expects acceptance speeches to make grand promises without specifying the ways that the money will be raised to pay for them," she said. "This speech is no exception."

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Bush's Speech

Heh.



After three days of hate, Bush tried to put a pretty dress on the pig.

No dice.

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9/11 Pentagon Conspiracy Theory

Hmmmmm...

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Best Comment in response to Zell's Speech

Zell's speech reads better in the original German.

Link.

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Glaring Omission

What do the following Convention speakers have in common?

Rudy Giuliani
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Laura Bush
Jenna and Barbara Bush
John McCain
Zell Miller
Michael Reagan
Dick Cheney

Not one of them spoke the name Osama bin Laden.

I wouldn't bet on that to change tonight.

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Zell Miller

Wow. First this DINO gives a speech full of hate and inflammatory invective and then appears on Chris Matthews' Hardball where he completely lost his composure.

Zell Miller challenged the host of Hardball to a DUEL!!!

Must be seen. Go here and click the link to see the video.

First, the daughters Bush and now Zell. Karl is sweating it a little.

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Freeway Blogger 2

Someone was clever enough to post this sign on the day Bush Speaks at the Republican National Convention...




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Mitt Romney

There was buzz that Mitt is going to bring something tonight. But what?

Modified play-by-play follows...

A cynical start to the speech by the MA Governor attacking Kerry & Edwards with sarcastic barbs and one liners that bring zip to the discourse of the campaign. Obama, he ain't.

He's preaching that the, "tolerance to all of god's children." Right. The party of Trent Lott and Jesse Helms. Tolerance. Heh.

Mitt trots out 9/11. They're getting good political mileage out of the worst tragedy in our country's history. I bet Cheney & Bush will rub our faces in it. Hey! Over here! We're leaders!

That's it. I don't know what the "buzz" was about

Zig Zag Zell is next and then Monsieur Halliburton. I don't think I'll be able to stomach those hypocritical tubs of goo.

The only other thing that could happen tonight is the October surprise, a month early. What happens if Cheney declines the VP nomination for the good of the party health reasons? Possible but not likely.

Here's Zell, Good night.

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Only In Pennsylvania

Clerk accepts $200 bill with Bush's picture on it, hilarity ensues.

State police aren't laughing about the person who allegedly passed some funny money - a $200 bill with President Bush's picture on it - at a women's clothing store.

Police on Wednesday charged Deborah Trautwine, 51, with theft by deception, for allegedly passing a bogus $200 bill at the Fashion Bug store in Hempfield Plaza on Aug. 22. There is no such denomination, even without Bush's picture on it.

Police said they didn't know how the clerk was taken in by the ruse, even though several other things about the bill should have been a dead giveaway.

Among other things, the bill had a hokey serial number - DUBYA4U2001 - and didn't bear the signature of the secretary of the treasury. Instead, the bill was "signed" by Ronald Reagan, whose title was "Political Mentor" and by Bush's father, who is listed as "Campaign Advisor and Mentor."

I'm glad they caught the culprit, as is First Lady Laura Bush, who first thought of her daughters. But the twins had an airtight alibi, they were "rehearsing" their convention speech.

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Get Involved

If you really want to do your part to see Kerry get elected it's important to be in contact with the media about inconsistencies and overt misrepresentations in their coverage. Go to this page at Southpaw where you can find email addresses and phone numbers for every major broadcast and cable TV news network along with contact inf for specific shows.

Also included are phone numbers for our elected representatives. Take a second to put your senator's phone number into your cell phone. Call them and tell them your concerns. Their job is to serve us.

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BC04 Ad Buys

Via the letters portion from today's Altercation comes some information about ad buys for our fearless fearsome leader. Enlightening:

Based upon the cable buys the Bush re-election campaign has been making, there appears to be some serious concern by Rove & Company over 'the base.' The Bush campaign is not only outspending Kerry on cable -- by more than 10 to 1 -- but placing their ad dollars in places that you might have suspected were (excuse the term) a slam-dunk.

While the challenger has purchased only 265 cable spots, the incumbent has bought a whopping 3092 cable adverts thru (June of 2004). Even more intriguing are the types of channels the incumbent has been buying: The Golf Channel, Fox News, MSNBC, The Speed Channel and The Travel Channel...

It seems as though the campaign has some information that might not be as positive as some of the polls would have you believe.

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Not a Difficult Question



Thanks to the enlightened mother of Uncle Horns for the idea.

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Another Great Search

Number five result on the list. But I'm not sure it's true based on what I've read in the NY papers & magazines.

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Ahnold

...Is giving me a wicked headache.

All I want from the speech is just one hard 'R'. That's it.

Good head of hair though.

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Soros to Hastert: Prove It!

In case you haven't heard, the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, accused liberal financier George Soros of getting his money from drug cartels.

Josh Marshall is reporting that Hastert is continuing to repeat the charge to the media on the convention floor. In response, Soros has sent Hastert a letter asking for a public apology if he cannot back up the allegations. Marshall has a copy of the letter in his incomparable documents archive.

Reckless rhetoric from Mr. Speaker, who hasn't made many friends lately.

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Karl Rove's Agenda

James Moore, the author of Bush's Brain, has written an article at BuzzFlash with scary overtones.

Read it and see if you can pick up on what's happening to our country:

The Swift Boat Veterans for Lies is but a tiny piece of a schematic Rove has been carrying in his head since his salad days in Texas. Bush’s Brain will die happy the day he achieves his two greatest goals. The first of these is to turn the U.S. into what is fundamentally a one-party system. Secondly, he wants the federal government to have so little money that it can do nothing to get in the way of business interests; nor will it be able to sustain any kind of socially progressive assistance for disadvantaged Americans.

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White House Crows About Record Export Levels

Do you think that's something to be proud of? Sadly, No! Seb gives the mathematical leg sweep along with the help of his abacus.

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I Have No Regrets



I'm unfamiliar with the French translation of, YEEEEHAAAWWWWW


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Disgusting GOP Tactics

We've come to expect nothing less.

This week the GOP is handing out mock "Purple Heart Bandages" to delegates as a jab at John Kerry.

The President has said he thinks Kerry served admirably and should be proud of his service.

Then, the simple question is, how can he allow this? Of course there's no answer.

Yet another case of hypocrisy from our nation's "leadership."

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Five Reasons Giuliani's No Hero

Only five?

Here's number one:

Disdain for the Constitution
Mayor Giuliani routinely disregarded the First Amendment as he rejected requests for information from news organizations and civic groups and opposed public access to city hall steps and parks for demonstrations. "Freedom is about authority," Giuliani said, responding to critics in 1998. "Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it." The following year, after the mayor cut funding to the Brooklyn Museum because it displayed a work of art that offended him, federal judge Nina Gershon ruled that Giuliani violated the First Amendment and ordered funding restored. "There is no federal constitutional issue more grave," she wrote, "than the effort by government officials to censor works of expression and to threaten the vitality of a major cultural institution as punishment for failing to abide by governmental demands for orthodoxy." Giuliani called Judge Gershon's decision "the usual knee-jerk reaction" and said he would order the city's lawyers to appeal.

But he's popular with independent & moderate voters.

Am I the only one who thought McCain mailed it in last night?

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Robert Novak is a Scumbag

Apparently the co-host of Crossfire's son, Alex Novak, is the Director of Marketing for Regnery Publishing. Of course, they're the ones responsible for publishing Unfit for Command, the source of the lies regarding John Kerry's Vietnam service aboard a swift boat.

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Casket March

Jimmy Breslin reminds us of words spoken by Teddy Roosevelt:

"To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, it is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American people."

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Blogger/Protestor Goes To Jail

The prison bologna probably tastes like it sounds.

Which is to say, nasty.

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Short Memory McClellan

Nice work Scotty:

Today Scott McClellan went on the offensive against Ben Barnes for describing the "shame" he feels over helping President Bush duck service in Vietnam.

"It is not surprising coming from a longtime partisan Democrat," he said. "The allegation was discredited by the commanding officer. This was fully covered and addressed five years ago. It is nothing new."

It turns out that Barnes is such a down-the-line partisan that he supported Texas's Republican State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn for reelection in 2002.

Strayhorn is Scott's mom.

How quickly they forget.

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1984: This Thursday



Text of Apple's 1984 ad-
"Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!"

Tip of the Horn to DeanorBust and moeman at Kos for providing the picture & text respectively.

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Freeway Blogger

Someone has a message.



I couldn't have said it any better.

UPDATE: Still posted after 24 hours.

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