Uncle Horn Head

Know Someone Under 30?

Send them this from See the Forest:

The Draft – A Reason to Vote if You’re Under 30

You already blew it: You didn't vote last time, or voted for Nader or Bush, and now you're gonna get drafted. There's no way around it now, the draft is almost a certainty.

You're hearing about Reserve and National Guard units being called up, and about people not allowed to leave the military even though their term is up. Have you thought about what this means to you? You KNOW this means they're having trouble finding enough soldiers to go to Iraq, right? Of course Bush doesn’t want to start the draft BEFORE the election. Duh! But what do you think happens the day AFTER the election?

I repeat, they are having trouble finding enough soldiers to go to Iraq. Think about it. Right, you're gonna get drafted.

Or, maybe you think they can't do that? Maybe you think the draft doesn't happen in America. Maybe you think they can't just grab your ass up off the street, stick a rifle in your hands and send you off to war? Of course not, that NEVER happens. Right.

WAR. Yes, that word. The word you have been hearing from Bush’s lips for months now. "I'm a WAR president", he says. Well, what did you think war MEANS? Somebody ELSE’S war? Did you think it means you get to watch a TV show with planes and stuff?

No, WAR means young people getting grabbed up off the street and sent off to fight. That. Is. What. War. Is.

And, by the way, women and students are NOT going to be exempt this time. Maybe not even rich kids. ONLY the children of politicians will be exempt. THIS TIME.

So, are you finally ready to do something about it THIS TIME? Which candidate do you think is more likely to grab your ass off the street and send it to Iraq? Which candidate do you think is more likely to start a war with Iran, or Syria, or maybe even North Korea? Like Bush says, we're at war, and that's the issue in this election. Well, THAT’S what you should be thinking about THIS TIME.

So vote. THIS TIME.

UPDATE: Tweaked post title to be less gender specific.

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Kerry Takes Off the Gloves

Borowitz:

Attempting to change the terms of the debate in the 2004 presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass) came out swinging today, asking a Michigan audience, “Do you really want four more years of that lying cokehead?”

Saying that a second Bush administration would subject the nation to “four more years of blow and snow,” Mr. Kerry unleashed his most savage attack on the president to date, accusing Mr. Bush of spending the federal surplus on a $40,000-a-day cocaine habit.

“Where did the surplus go? I’ll tell you!” thundered Mr. Kerry, who then mimed inhaling a line of cocaine to the delight of the partisan crowd.Mr. Kerry’s decision to accuse Mr. Bush of “snorting foo-foo dust” and “tooting racehorse charlie” seemed to be inspired by the new unauthorized book about the Bush family penned by celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley, who coincidentally was named to the Axis of Evil today.

But just minutes after Mr. Kerry accused Mr. Bush of “hitching up the reindeers,” Vice President Dick Cheney returned fire, telling an audience in West Virginia that if Mr. Kerry is elected, the Earth will spin off its axis and collide with the sun.

After being told of Mr. Cheney’s latest dire prediction, Mr. Kerry chuckled, “I guess George Bush isn’t the only one in the White House who’s horning the Peruvian lady!”

In other campaign news, President Bush told reporters today that he “doubted” that the Texas National Guard memos discovered by CBS last week could be authentic because “I know exactly where the real ones are hidden.

”Mr. Kerry’s decision to accuse Mr. Bush of “snorting foo-foo dust” and “tooting racehorse charlie” seemed to be inspired by the new unauthorized book about the Bush family penned by celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley, who coincidentally was named to the Axis of Evil today.

But just minutes after Mr. Kerry accused Mr. Bush of “hitching up the reindeers,” Vice President Dick Cheney returned fire, telling an audience in West Virginia that if Mr. Kerry is elected, the Earth will spin off its axis and collide with the sun.

After being told of Mr. Cheney’s latest dire prediction, Mr. Kerry chuckled, “I guess George Bush isn’t the only one in the White House who’s horning the Peruvian lady!”

In other campaign news, President Bush told reporters today that he “doubted” that the Texas National Guard memos discovered by CBS last week could be authentic because “I know exactly where the real ones are hidden.”

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Kitty Kelley

For those who haven't heard, Kelley's book, The Family is out and it's juicy. The Guardian has posted a lengthy description, including a Kelley interview with Salon.

If you havent, or don't plan to, read the book, there are plenty of stories included. Enjoy and discuss.

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I Found Some of Your Life

Imagine losing the memory card to your digital camera with a full year's worth of pictures on it. Imagine, next, someone finds the memory card and starts a blog, posting one picture a day with commentary, despite not knowing anyone in the pictures.

Behold I Found Some Of Your Life.

(Read the explanation first.)

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Drinking Liberally in Philly

Atrios has floated the idea of launching a Philadelphia branch of Drinking Liberally. Though my best Liberal Drinking days are behind me (save the handful of weekends each fall in Happy Valley) I think tilting a pint of Vitamin G with like minded Philly area Leftys sounds like a capital idea.

The tentative meeting is scheduled for 6:00pm this Tuesday at the Ten Stone (21st & South.) If you're local, why not stop by?

If the time or location changes I'll alert you in this space.

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In Case You Missed It

Link:

...Bush's manipulation of 9/11 for his re-election campaign helps explain why his administration fights so doggedly to suppress the details of what happened that day. Bush promised to cooperate fully with the congressional Joint Intelligence Committee investigation in 2002. The Bush administration blocked the committee from interviewing an FBI informant who rented rooms to two of the 19 hijackers, refused to disclose whether the Office of Management and Budget had slashed counterterrorism budget requests, refused to permit an interview with CIA chief George Tenet, refused to disclose the National Security Agency's plans to cope with new technology challenges, and fought to prevent congressional investigators from learning when Bush received specific warning information about terrorist plots. The report was finished in late 2002 but the White House blocked its publication until July 2003.

Congress responded to the Bush stonewall to its committee by passing a law creating an 9/11 commission. Bush made his intentions clear when he appointed cover-up connoisseur Henry Kissinger as commission chairman. (Kissinger resigned after public demands that he disclose his business clients). Bush proclaimed that he wanted the commission to "uncover every detail and learn every lesson of September 11." But the White House fought the commission staff tooth-and-nail to prevent them from seeing a President's Daily Brief from August 6, 2001 entitled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US." Prior to the memo's public disclosure, National Security Advisor Condi Rice misled the commission, claiming it was a historical document. Patty Casazza, one of a group of "Jersey girls" who lost their husbands on 9/11 and subsequently publicly turned up the heat on the government to open its records, commented recently: "It was President Bush who thwarted our attempts at every turn."...

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Evil Terrorists

Molly Ivins:

...I think we're all capable of evil under extreme circumstances. I do know that most humans are kinder and better people when they are healthy, well-fed, raised by loving people in a secure environment and taught it is wrong to kill. But that doesn't change human nature.

One trouble with defining terrorism as absolute evil is, as the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Second, we appear to be stuck -- permanently stuck -- with war of unequal forces, since no country is dumb enough to declare war on the United States. So we need to learn every thing we can about how to fight these people effectively. Third, defining "terrorist" or any "other" as an absolute, irrational evil gives us a spurious and intoxicating sense of self-righteousness. We become the simon-pure contrast, thus missing any chance to consider if correcting or just changing our own conduct would be effective...

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PA is Important

To that end, if you live in (or near) PA go to PA Victory '04 and volunteer your time to get out the vote. Interning opportunities are also available.

If you're nowhere near PA (and operate a blog) do me a favor and link to the PA Victory '04 website. My buddy Karl is the director of Internet Outreach over there and is trying to drive Google traffic. (If you do link to it please leave a comment below so I can shower you with accolades.)

Kerry chances of winning the election are slim if he does not carry PA.

Thanks in advance for your help & support.

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DOD Underreporting Casualties by MORE THAN 100%

But will it make the Evening News?

NEW YORK (UPI) Nearly 17,000 service members medically evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan are absent from public Pentagon casualty reports commonly cited by newspapers, according to military data reviewed by United Press International. Most don't fit the definition of casualties, according to the Pentagon, but a veterans' advocate said they should all be counted.

The Pentagon has reported 1,019 dead and 7,245 wounded from Iraq.

The military has evacuated 16,765 individual service members from Iraq and Afghanistan for injuries and ailments not directly related to combat, according to the U.S. Transportation Command, which is responsible for the medical evacuations. Most are from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Pentagon's public casualty reports, available at www.defenselink.mil, list only service members who died or were wounded in action. The Pentagon's own definition of a war casualty provided to UPI in December describes a casualty as, "Any person who is lost to the organization by having been declared dead, duty status/whereabouts unknown, missing, ill, or injured."

The casualty reports do list soldiers who died in non-combat-related incidents or died from illness. But service members injured or ailing from the same non-combat causes (the majority that appear to be "lost to the organization")are not reflected in those Pentagon reports.

In a statement Wednesday, the Pentagon gave a different definition that included casualty descriptions by severity and type and said most medical evacuations did not count. "The great majority of service members medically evacuated from Operation Iraqi Freedom are not casualties, by either Department of Defense definitions or the common understanding of the average newspaper reader."

I wonder if Seb and his abacus could work a little magic with these numbers?

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Mower Tattoo



I was thinking about getting one of these but my comb over would obscure the artwork.

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Former EPA Chief Bashes Bush's Environmental Policies

Not a surprise for those paying attention:

One of the earliest heads of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a lifelong Republican joined a group of Minnesota Republicans on Tuesday in a blistering attack against President Bush's environmental policies.

Russell Train, who headed the EPA under Presidents Nixon and Ford, called the Bush administration's environmental record over the past four years appalling and filled with paybacks to special interests.

In an interview and at a news conference at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Train accused Bush of systematically weakening environmental laws, promoting reckless development on public lands and appointing people with conflicts of interests to key posts.

"He represents a turning back of the clock, environmentally,'' said Train, who, as national chairman of Conservationists for Bush in 1988, supported the environmental policies of Bush's father...

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Bully Tactics

Desperation:

COLORADO SPRINGS - Soldiers from a Fort Carson combat unit say they have been issued an ultimatum - re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq.

Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last Thursday, said two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The effort is part of a restructuring of the Army into smaller, more flexible forces that can deploy rapidly around the world.

A Fort Carson spokesman confirmed the re-enlistment drive is under way and one of the soldiers provided the form to the Rocky Mountain News. An Army spokesmen denied, however, that soldiers who don't re-enlist with the brigade were threatened...

And now that the Green Zone has been breached in Baghdad we'll probably see more of this.

Don't think Iran and the DPRK aren't aware of exactly what kind of trouble we're in.

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Quagmirest

Yikes:

...W. Andrew Terrill, professor at the Army War College's strategic studies institute - and the top expert on Iraq there - said: "I don't think that you can kill the insurgency". According to Terrill, the anti-US insurgency, centred in the Sunni triangle, and holding several cities and towns - including Fallujah - is expanding and becoming more capable as a consequence of US policy.

"We have a growing, maturing insurgency group," he told me. "We see larger and more coordinated military attacks. They are getting better and they can self-regenerate. The idea there are x number of insurgents, and that when they're all dead we can get out is wrong. The insurgency has shown an ability to regenerate itself because there are people willing to fill the ranks of those who are killed. The political culture is more hostile to the US presence. The longer we stay, the more they are confirmed in that view."...

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Sign O' the Times

At least someone is:



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Get Some, Withhold Some

In a new twist on GOTV, Votergasm is asking people to take the pledge.

There are three pledge levels:

Citizen - I pledge to withhold sex from non-voters for the week following the election.

Patriot - I pledge to have sex with a voter on election night and withhold sex from non-voters for the week following the election.

American Hero - I pledge to have sex with a voter on election night and withhold sex from non-voters for the next four years.

As if you needed the impetus for either activity.

(Be sure to check out the disclaimers on the pledge page. High comedy.)

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Blogroll Addition

I've overcome the fear of my template and added Hullabaloo to the blogroll.

Read. Fervently. Gain. Knowledge.

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Are We Safer?

How about if the President gets another four-year term?

...The administration has been secretive about the cost of the war and the likely impact that the bulging defense budget and continuing cost of tax cuts will have on domestic spending next year. The White House put government agencies on notice this month that if Bush is reelected, his budget for 2006 may include $2.3 billion in spending cuts from virtually all domestic programs not mandated by law, including education, homeland security and others central to Bush's campaign...

Smoke and mirrors. Read the whole article.

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The Politics of Fear

A good overview from Intervention Magazine:

...“Five times in his speech in West Virginia,” according to a report in Saturday’s Washington Post, “Bush spoke of making the country and the world ‘safer.’ He told members of the audience to bring their friends to the polls and ‘remind them, if they want a safer America, a stronger America, and a better America, to put Dick Cheney and me back in there for four more years.”

Safer? Stronger? Better? This is not the America I see after almost four years of Bush/Cheney rule.

We are not safer. Our borders are porous. Most container ships enter our harbors without being inspected. Bush and the Republican Congress have drastically cut funding for the U.S. Border Patrol and Customs Agency; have eliminated a program initiated by President Clinton to put more police officers on America’s streets; have denied promised funding for equipment desperately needed by police officers, fire fighters, and first responders in our cities; have arbitrarily allocated Homeland Security funding evenly to all states so that sparsely populated Wyoming gets as much money as New York City, already the target of two terrorist attacks; and have allowed the assault weapons ban to lapse so that these deadly weapons whose only purpose is to kill people will now be easily attainable by those who want to kill people.

We are not stronger. Because of our Iraqi misadventure, our armed forces have been stretched dangerously thin as North Korea and Iran blithely develop nuclear weapons. Because Bush and Donald Rumsfeld have wasted billions on obsolete high-tech weaponry and an absurd, unworkable, and useless missile defense program, we cannot afford to field sufficient armed forces and provide them with the equipment they need to protect themselves and us. Because of the staggering deficit created by the Bush regime’s unconscionable tax cuts for the rich, we have become a debtor nation subject to the whims of countries who now prop up our wobbly economy. Because of the Patriot Act, our Constitutional liberties have been eroded, weakening our democratic system. We have lost the trust and friendship of our allies and encouraged the enmity of those who would be our enemies.

And we most certainly are not better. Almost two million Americans remain out of work, the highest number since the Great Depression. More than 36 million Americans have slid into poverty, the highest number since the Great Depression. Fifteen percent of the American population lacks health care coverage. Our infant mortality rate is among the worst in the industrialized world. Most Americans are unable to save money because they need every cent simply to survive. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the earth upon which we live are less safe because of the Bush regime’s attack on the environment--to make America a better place for the energy companies and other corporations who have been given carte blanche to do whatever they choose...

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Tip of the Iceberg

It turns out Ben Barnes may have called in a favor to then Governor Bush in 1994 to help his business keep a state contract.

Murky!

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An Almost Blog Free Day

I spent the day at a golf outing. One of my agency's clients organized it as a breast cancer research benefit. Through sponsors and the silent auction they raised over $100,000 for this charity. Other good news included my finally feeling some comfort with my driver after 15 years playing. I also chipped in for par from twenty yards. Now I'm exhausted.

Back to business on Wednesday.

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Interesting Idea

From Zackpunk:

I was just listening to the Al Franken show, and he touched on a point, but didn't make an interesting connection. Colin Powell told president Bush, "if you break it, you own it." And now president Bush is going around talking about having an "ownership society." That's a huge opening for Kerry:

"Mr. president, Colin Powell told you about this war that 'if you break it, you own it.' And now you're going around talking about an 'ownership society.' Well, Mr. President, let me tell you what you own. A million jobs lost. You own that. A thousand soldiers lost. You own that. 1.4 million new people living below the poverty line. You own that. 1.2 million less people covered by health insurance. You own that. A seventeen percent medicare increase. You own that. Health care costs skyrocketing. You own that. The tax burden increasing amongst the middle class. You own that. Mr. President, if you want to talk about an ownership society, let's talk about what you own."

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Fallujah Invasion a Mistake

According to former Commander Lt. General James T. Conway:

FALLUJAH, Iraq, Sept. 12 -- The outgoing U.S. Marine Corps general in charge of western Iraq said Sunday he opposed a Marine assault on militants in the volatile city of Fallujah in April and the subsequent decision to withdraw from the city and turn over control to a security force of former Iraqi soldiers.

That security force, known as the Fallujah Brigade, was formally disbanded last week. Not only did the brigade fail to combat militants, it actively aided them, surrendering weapons, vehicles and radios to the insurgents, according to senior Marine officers. Some brigade members even participated in attacks on Marines ringing the city, the officers said.

The comments by Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, made shortly after he relinquished command of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force on Sunday, amounted to a stinging broadside against top U.S. military and civilian leaders who ordered the Fallujah invasion and withdrawal. His statements also provided the most detailed explanation -- and justification -- of Marine actions in Fallujah this spring, which have been widely criticized for increasing insurgent activity in the city and turning it into a "no-go" zone for U.S. troops...

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Another Bush Commercial

Aired during the Eagles game.

Choice line:

"Healthcare for every eligible child."

Rest easy America.

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My First Day Volunteering to GOTV

Today I spent over three hours educating registered voters in suburban Philadelphia. Through the organization America Coming Together, me and my canvassing partner, Holly (also a first timer), went door-to-door asking undecided voters if they've made their Presidential voting decision yet. We pointed out to everyone we spoke with that Bush has underfunded his No Child Left Behind debacle initiative by $1 Billion in Pennsylvania alone.

After going to over 70 homes and apartments the Bush & Kerry supporters were about even with voters being undecided. There was no one home at about two-thirds of the houses we visited (or they didn't want to talk to us.) Holly and I looked pretty intimidating with our clip boards.

Some observations on our day:

-If anyone had an accent (first generation immigrant, perhaps) they supported Kerry 100% of the time.

-Best reason given for voting for Bush: "I like him." (No NAFTA talk here.)

-The ACT crew in the Philly burbs of Alan, Jake, Lorraine & Julia were amazingly nice. Gracious too. Well done gang, you do ACT proud.

-I visited four(4) million-dollar homes today. There was no one home at two, the last provided the "best reason" above and the fourth was firmly Kerry. This was a little surprising to me because the one reason I could almost understand voting for Pinhead would be if my salary had at least one comma. Full marks to the thinking family with the sweet Mercedes convertible.

-I found myself guessing who the house's occupant supported based on the home, car & peripherals. I was right less than half the time. More proof that prejudice will get you nowhere.

-I called on a Bush family today. They had a Kerry sign in their window which gave us some amusement. The lady of the house was a DNC volunteer but complained she still didn't have a yard sign or a button. Earlier in the day, Jake made me take off my Kerry/Edwards button. I fished it out of my pocket and gave it to Mrs. Bush. Jake, I don't hold a grudge but, I'll let you by me a beer when Kerry hits 300 Electoral Votes (though I'll settle for 270 EVs and a warm YooHoo.)

-I had a great time canvassing with Holly. We laughed at the crazy freepers and applauded each other's successes in the few "A-HA" moments we had with the undecideds. I was lucky to be paired with her.

I worked my ass off today walking what must have been over three miles. It's now after 10pm and I'm invigorated. The entire experience has left me empowered and I'll be back at it next weekend. (Forgoing my PSU tickets. I'll live. We're not so good.)

If you've ever considered working for a get out the vote effort, now is the time. Go here and find something near you. Our kids' future depends on it.

Please do it.

(For the ACT gang: What you're looking for is here and here.)

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