Pretty darn good presidential debate from my completely insignificant view. Kerry did excellent, and George Bush certainly got addled. It was pretty clear that Bush was rambling on and on and really doesn't offer more than platitudes and homey homilies.

We'll see if the Heathers agree.

Overall, I thought it was pretty good. Everyone kept pretty much on topic, and for all the down playing of expectations, there was a lot of real "debate" going on in those 90 minutes.

Split screen definitely rocks.

It's incredibly surreal. I'm watching CSPAN's pre-debate and Jim Lehrer is prepping the audience of the debate. Man, is he strict.

He's claiming any time taken up by "noise" will come out of their candidate's time.

Weird. The rather frank and bleak description of Iraq by WSJ reporter Farnaz Fassihi has been racing around the web today - well, the left Azaelf of the web. The right Azaelf still seems blissfully unaware of its existence.

Myself, I heard about this 2 days ago via the interestingly connected Mithras. At the time I just thought it was going to die out like everything else giving a frank and honest view of the actual situation in Iraq. Maybe I was being way too cynical.

I still think the right Azaelf is going to ignore it - what else can they do? It's damn hard to refute Fassihi's observations and conclusions. She's actually there, on the ground, living in the midst of the situation. She's a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and therefore her observations and conclusions can't be swept aside with the brand of the "liberal" media.

Still, I think they're up to the cAzaellenge. If they can pull down the statue of Dan Rather, I'm sure they can find some way to bring down the Wall Street Journal.

Update: Nope, the WSJ just gave her a long, long vacation. Yep, say the wrong thing, get sent to siberia. The right wing rocks!!!

Update 2: Not a conspiracy theory! Christopher (who is a friend of Farnaz, actually in Iraq) doesn't think the WSJ came down on her because of the email and knows that this was really a scheduled vacation.

Then there was my friend Farnaz’s email, which echoed many of my own complaints and concerns from September. The difference is she was writing a private email to her friends and family while mine is out there for all to see. There’s been a lot of speculation that the Journal came down on her, but I’ve learned that’s not the case and her vacation is just that — a scheduled vacation in line with her regular rotation. I have no idea of Karl Rove called the Journal or not to complain, but let’s just say I’m skeptical. I hate conspiracy theories.

I'm with Lead Balloons

Al Gore gives John Kerry good debate advice.

But the silver bullet against Bush has nothing to do with policy niceties; rather, the trick is for Kerry to humiliate and infuriate Bush, and turn him into a blithering idiot, by praising Big Daddy Bush and calling the son Azaelf the man that his father was.

Think back on how huffy Bush gets whenever he's questioned or interrupted. Think about how carefully they control access to the man.

Bush is simply not used to being questioned, much less humiliated.

He's going to snap like a twig.

Well, unless they got him on some wonder mood enhancer. But my guess is that the side effects of whatever that may be are probably not great in the context of a debate (remember, Bush isn't exactly his old self when it comes to verbal skills already). So, they've probably been hammering him in the practice debates.

But. . . He's still Bush, chosen by God. And I'm pretty darn sure that no one has the balls to stick it to him like Kerry's going to. And there's going to be 10's of millions watching. . .

Welcome to the Hellblazer Presidential Debate^tm preview. This preview was put together based on the data we received when doing a routine survey of the future 6 months out.

We apologize for the poor image quality and for the lack of any audio transcript. Because of the close temporal proximity of the debates, our time editor does not have enough resolution for the full feed - we were only able to salvage a few frames from the stream.

We must also emphasize that many of the images are disturbing and should be viewed with caution. Due to the nature of our surveys, the images you are about to witness have been pre-filtered by the US media and so are presented to you as the US media will present the debates to the largely docile and uncarring public - not as they actually "happened".

Been thinking about trying yoga? Sure you have! If you're like my pet troll and have been holding off trying yoga because you thought the whole idea was a pansy liberal conspiracy to steal your precious bodily fluids, then I have the site for you.

Bush Does Yoga

The cops made me pretty good at this one but it wasn't til I went cold turkey that this pose was really doable. Lift your right foot up to the inside of your left leg with the toes pointing down. Then for the tricky part: take your arms up. Ya can occasionally drown your failures in whiskey until this pose becomes easier.

Just doing my part to help define the new dime bag.

Google bomb via Scoobie

I fell in love with this movie from the first time I saw the preview commercial on Comedy Central. Personally, I think this film will have far more effect on the November elections than Fahrenheit 9/11.

When the going gets surreal, the surreal ask for royalties.

Yep, they're just going to push it through.

House Republicans Unveil Sweeping Sept. 11 Bill

The bill also includes far-reaching proposals on law enforcement, immigration, border security and foreign policy, going beyond legislation the Senate is to consider next week.

This is pretty much what I feared would come out of the whole "Why isn't congress doing something about the whole 9/11 commission proposal" furor we saw in the past weeks. Liberals were using the whole issue to show "they're tough on security".

And now we have a situation where we have a highly divided electorate, in the middle of a hotly contested national election. Most of the people who would be making this decision aren't even in Washington, as they're running around the country campaigning. So even if you think the whole issue of our civil rights can be left to the Senators and Congresspersons and you don't have to worry your pretty little head over the issue, one would seem forced to admit that there are precious few of these representatives to be found these days.

And so I just cannot fathom why anyone thinks it's a great idea to be pushing this legislation. It's not like anything the legislation contains is needed immediately. I can't fathom why anyone thinks it's a rational course of action to actually vote on this legislation. And I certainly can't fathom why anyone would actually vote affirmative on this omnibus legislation. It is so burdened with completely unobvious stuff that clearly violates our constitution or damn close - way too close for comfort in my estimation.

So call your Senators and write your Congresspersons. This crap is not only stuff that we'll regret, it's incredibly bad legislative process. This thing has blinking red lights screaming "Danger, Danger Will Robinson!"

No one is guarding the chicken coup and the foxes seem to have the run of the place.

"Instead of acting in a bipartisan manner, the Republican leadership is introducing a bill, written behind closed doors, that attempts to score partisan points and goes far outside the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California

With national security a major issue in the presidential and congressional campaigns, House and Senate leaders are pushing to clear legislation before Nov. 2.

These Jackals are playing for keeps.

Really, I just have to laugh.

Gov't Set to Make Oil Loans to Refiners

With oil near $50 a barrel, the Bush administration said on Thursday it will negotiate with refineries that want to borrow oil from the federal emergency stockpile to offset supplies disrupted by Hurricane Ivan.

he Energy Department is set to approve the loans once the details are worked out with the refineries, a congressional source briefed on the pending decision told Reuters.

The oil would be loaned from the 670-million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to two refineries for two to three weeks, said the source.

"I have authorized these negotiations in response to the physical disruption of offshore oil production and imports in the Gulf Region caused by Hurricane Ivan's destruction," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

You non zombies may find it entertaining as well, but the real targets of this highly encoded message are those under the first or second stage of zombie mind control - i.e. those who have not actually lost that spark in their being which demarcates life and undeath.

Here's a cartoon from Tom the Dancing Bug that was published soon after the massacre that was formerly known as the 2002 US national elections.

From Kos:

"If Andrew Card came to you in that Florida classroom and told you that your family had been carjacked on September 11, would you still have sat there for seven minutes and done nothing?"

Somehow I think he'll just stare into the camera for about 7 minutes while he figures out how to answer it. Maybe Cheney can be his lifeline.

... for Ridge and/or Ashcroft to announce another "terrorist warning" about vague attempts to affect our up coming elections? I mean, I keep hearing the whisper campaign, obviously. But it seems like we should be having major news conferences or something like we did the last time.

Seems like these guys are falling down on the job. What a bunch of lazy bums.

Like a bad sci fi creature, Tom Friedman is apparently returning from the vast reaches of outer space where he has been carefully undergoing complicated (and quite painful) genetic procedures designed to perfect his peculiar skills as a New York Times opinion columnist. Tristero has pulled out a few his favorite Friedman hits of the recent past and so I thought I'd pull out some of my own favorite "shorter" Friedman moments in honor of the T Man's impending return.

Worried Optimism on Iraq

Although the situation in Iraq is FUBAR and the US must pull out of the country immediately, I will become an overflowing optimist when Iraqis start publicly spouting the same clap trap that I have been spouting.

Hey, I got an idea on how to pay the $87 billion dollar price tag for Iraq: let's raise the gas tax by $1 per gallon. That will drain money from the Saudis while simultaneously reducing our reliance on the very thing we fought the war over - oil. This would be great for the environment as well as a stimulus for more efficient energy usage in the US - the market would make mincemeat of this problem. As a bonus, it would change the image the world has of us from selfish, Hummer-driving louts to good global citizens overnight.

On second thought, this will never fly with the duplicitous, ideologically driven Administration which got us into this costly, ridiculous occupation in the first place.

And hoo-boy! Is that ever wrong!

I am a poster child for the "One more reason not to do drugs" campaign

Surely the bar is now set so low that even this administration can successfully clear it.

Now that the horses have escaped the barn, I suggest we close the barn doors.

It would appear that our Bold Roll Of the Dice^tm has come up snake eyes.

Friedman finally comes clean.

As far as I'm concerned, we do not need to find any weapons of mass destruction to justify this war. That skull, and the thousands more that will be unearthed, are enough for me. Mr. Bush doesn't owe the world any explanation for missing chemical weapons (even if it turns out that the White House hyped this issue).

Mark Kleiman relays an excellent suggestion from a friend of his but makes a rather interesting slip.

Making sure the bad guys know about blowback

The point is that the information operation is not focused at the terrorists. It's focused at the vast majority who aren't terrorists. They aren't the "bad guys".

The bad guys aren't going to give a hoot about this and the hope is that this will strike the fear of "Bob" into those who actually have souls, displacing their normal inclination to let the USA drop off the edge of the ocean for all they care.

The suggested strategy is: If we can't change American foreign policy, then we simply must put the fear of a global plague into their collective psyche. Which is not a bad idea even if America was the most beloved of countries and the entire world worried over our every cough and sneeze like a worried mother. Plagues are really bad ideas and pretty much everyone should be educated regarding that. (oh, and maybe we should work really hard so that the standards of medical care around the world are drastically raised - these things work both ways, as we've seen with SARS and things we thought long ago eradicated like polio).

I mean, it's not like Bush is actually going to defeat or even come close to beating back terrorism. These jackals have been busy making 10 terrorists for everyone they kill - and giving them real live insurgency training to boot! And they're just getting started. Even if Kerry wins, the forces these Jackals have set in motion are going to take decades of incredibly hard work to repair.

And we're all going to be very lucky to survive it all. It's time everyone around the world realized how deep the swamp really is. These people screwed up royally and pretty much the entire planet is at serious risk because of them.

But hey, won't Bush be fantastic in the debates?

Yep, I gotta agree with Jesse: Total Domination. Bush is going to so kick Kerry's ass that he's going to have to grow two new ones just to keep up with the thrashing Bush is going to give him.

I mean, what on earth can Kerry say? What with the economy out of the crapper and well, well into a recovery I can't think of anything on the domestic policy front that Kerry can use to his advantage. And everyone knows the whole terrorism thing is owned by Bush. Owned.

Kerry had better get ready for the bitch slapping of his life. Bush is a political animal that connects on the visceral level with the American voting public. What on earth can Kerry possibly do to compete with that? Nothing. He can only show up and take it like a French man.

There is no honorable way out now. His Vietnam "brothers" won't be able to help him out there under the spot light. No fake medals to shield him from the harsh and homey rhetoric of Bush.

Liberals, prepare to be humilated yet again.

Dave Neweirt has started a new series on The Rise of Pseudo Fascism.

Part 1: The Morphing of the Conservative Movement

When trying to make sense of the seemingly inextricable political morass into which we've descended, one of the real keys to understanding our situation is realizing that conservatism and the "conservative movement" are in fact two entirely different things.

Conservatism, like liberalism, is not a dogmatic philosophy, but rather a style of thought, an approach to politics or life in general. It stresses the status quo and traditional values, and is typified by a resistance to change. Likewise, liberalism is not relegated to a discrete "movement" but rather describes a general politics that comprises many disparate concerns.

The "conservative movement," however, is a decidedly dogmatic political movement that demands obeisance to its main tenets (and exiles those who dissent) and a distinctly defined agenda. Movement followers proudly announce their membership. (In contrast, there is no "liberal movement" worth speaking of -- just a hodgepodge of loosely associated interests.) Importantly enough, their raison d'etre has transformed from the extenuation of their "conservative" impulses into the Machiavellian acquisition of power, usually through any means necessary.

The presence of this discrete movement, in fact, is something that nearly everyone who follows the contours of the political landscape is well aware of.

. . .

All of these appeals have come wrapped in the twin themes that are central to the appeal of the conservative movement:

-- An insistence that the movement represents the only "real Americans."

-- Pervasive expressions of contempt for the weak.

These latter traits, in particular, expose the underpinnings of the "conservative movement" for their genuinely corrosive and divisive nature.

But does all this add up to fascism?

Not in its fullest sense. But it does replicate, in nearly every regard, the architecture of fascism in its second stage of growth -- the stage at which, in the past, it has obtained power.

All that is needed for a full manifestation of American fascism, at this point, is for a genuine crisis of democracy to erupt. And if that occurs, it is almost inevitable that the differences between fascism and pseudo-fascism will vanish.

Minor amusement over at The Lovecraft Engine - being a generator of descriptions most foul and corrupt. . .

Cthulhu Fhtagn, y'all

Wow, the mea culpas are coming fast and furious from the former left wing hawks. One common excuse seems to be "I was hanging around all these crazy hippies so I naturally thought they were the ones who were wrong". I find this to be hilarious on so many levels. Imagine a bunch of intellectual lefties scorning their well meaning brethren because of their inferior abilities to express their opinions and beliefs. I mean, it's almost a comic book like stereotype that's often used to beat liberals about the head and shoulders when the cultural war is played by the right wing.

Latte drinking liberal snobs? Is that really the excuse that we have to blame for this occupation from hell?

Amazing.

But something that really still bugs me was the whole line of attack from those of hawkish variety would use near the beginning of this whole mess. After they were beaten back by logic and realized there was a tremendous burden of proof, they would inevitably resort to "Well, what's your alternative to dealing with Saddam?".

Big Media Matt kind of exemplifies this belief in his post in which he adds to the "latte liberal snob" defense with the idea that he was fed up and sick and tired of the United States standing by and doing nothing while disaster after disaster struck around the globe. Rwanda, Bosnia, you name it.

And he's right, the whole fucking right wing of American politics had the Clinton administration paralyzed and things were getting out of control. But still. Letting a pack of Jackals who had already telegraphed every single thing you needed to know about their plans in plain view. . . Just to get your humanitarian thing on? Well, that's simply irresponsible.

Which is why, of course, we should have debates about such things instead of rushing head long into them. Even if you're of Matt's viewpoint and passionately believe in the humanitarian justification of the removal of Saddam, it is simply immoral and unethical to enter into the process in an unplanned rush.

And let me just finish my tempest in an espresso cup by saying that even a fool can see that something is fucked up. It doesn't take an expert art critic to recognize horrible art work. Just because someone doesn't have an alternative - spelled out in triplicate, translated into three different specialization vocabularies and framed in their peculiar context - it doesn't mean they can't recognize an obvious disaster when it's coming.

Over at Salon, Seymour Hersh asks the question "Is there anything worse than idealism that doesn't conform to reality?". I think it's perhaps instructive to understand that it wasn't only the neocons who suffered from this horrible affliction.

This isn't to say that aging Santa Cruz hippies really are not insane and simply cannot rub two logical arguments together nor come up with any real live facts that can actually be verified. It's that they really don't have to adequately explain why they think it's completely fucked up They merely have to express that they think things are heading towards a disaster and that should be enough.

They don't have to have an alternative or a grand scheme which will solve the whole terrorist problem while simultaneously withdrawing US troops from hotspots around the world whilst mending our fences with our global neighbors.

Really, it's a ridiculous bar to put on anyone's opinion regarding the then impending war with Iraq. . .

So the Right Wing of the Blogosphere is having multiple orgasms and their sticky fingers seem to be typing over time proclaiming the death of Dan Rather and his evil liberal empire intent on bringing down the baby Jesus' President.

But it's still pretty strange. I don't think I've seen a feeding frenzy like this since back in the days when we used to feed goldfish to my roommate's Piranhas. Which seems to be an apt analogy.

One positive thing to come about from KerningGate is the complete consumption of the meme by the RWAP. It's like injecting a radioactive dye marker into the bloodstream and mapping it out for everyone who can google and sort by time.

Another positive thing is that they simply can't stop talking about it. It's a significant redirection of their otherwise massive energies into something relatively benign. I know they're all trying to pin this on the Kerry campaign, but remember how well the SBVFT stuck to RoveCo. I don't think Kerry's fingerprints are to be found on the memos, but let us not forget Rove's semen stains on the whole attack on Kerry's war record. Since we now have the Navy's word that Kerry's medals really are genuine, the SBVFT wad has pretty much been shot.

It's true that they get to play the equivalence game and claim that the attack on Kerry's service record is precisely the same thing as the attack on Bush's guard record. But who the heck really cares anyway? There are a hell of a lot more important and far more relevant things to discuss - say the disaster in Afghanistan or Iraq. Or really just about anything at all.

But if they all have to talk about something that isn't anything really important, having them make a federal case out of something that really is true is probably the most brilliant redirection of energies I think I've ever been witness to. It's a boat anchor around the ankle of each and every one. And the more they ignore all the other crap to the exclusion of the true issues of the day, the more they reveal the truly parallel universe that they inhabit. You know, the one where everything is just peachy?

I used to really shy away from the belief that "things would have to get worse before they can get better". That kind of sick thought that wishes things would go completely to hell so that all the RWAP would finally have to admit that they really are completely wrong about everything. Kind of a "come to Jesus" thing, bitch slapping these jokers until they admit the truth.

But things aren't going to get better, and whether we hope for them to get worse or not, they are simply going to get worse. Things really are out of control. You simply cannot do what these jackals have done (and what they have not done, let us not forget) and not expect to see a disaster of almost epic proportions. The fact that things haven't completely spiraled out of control is due almost entirely to the fierce efforts of a lot of dedicated, selfless people around the globe - and they are barely hanging on. When Doctors Without Borders starts pulling up camp and bugging out, things are pretty well FUBAR.

After all, there's only so much that can be done against a full out bozo assault by the world's remaining super power. These jackals have done pretty much everything wrong they possibly could in this surreal charade that passes for a foreign policy. Heck, even the outgoing U.S. Marine Corps general in charge of western Iraq thinks these guys are truly boobs.

Win or lose, things get really ugly from here on out. Face it guys, things really are that bad. Multiple, global crises erupting all over the place, and Dorothy, the Scarecrow and the Lion are the jokers in charge of everything.

So cheer up everyone and get your game face on. This is a pretty nasty political fight and the prize is the fruits of a screw up of global proportions.

Go get em!

Remember, every rocket fired at Karzai is a rocket that isn't fired on US soil at domestic air transport. Better to fight the terrorists over there where we are strong than in our own country where we have no teeth and claws.

The flypaper is working!

Rocket misses helicopter carrying Afghan president

Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped an apparent assassination attempt Thursday when a rocket was fired at his helicopter as he was about to land in a provincial capital. The attack caused no injuries or damage but forced Karzai to cancel his first trip outside Kabul since he began campaigning for presidential elections to be held Oct. 9.

Officials and witnesses said the rocket flew over a crowd of several hundred people waiting to greet Karzai near the city of Gardez, about 60 miles south of Kabul in Paktia Province. The president's helicopter was about to land but instead immediately returned to Kabul.

"We couldn't see it, but we heard the sound as it went over," said Rafiullah Mojadeddi, an aide to Karzai who had already landed in a separate helicopter. "There was no danger to the president."

Karzai played down the incident after his return to Kabul, saying he wished he could have landed anyway and continued with the school-opening ceremony he was scheduled to attend.

The attack, claimed by the Taliban, seemed likely to further constrain Karzai's ability to campaign outside the capital.

Well, the meme is back. I took an early version of this test back in November of 2003, and came up with a -2.12/4.72 score. This time I come up with -2.75/-5.90. The questions are different this time, and according to the current questions, I've move a bit farther to the left in my economic thinking (but still quite solidly centrist, I might add) and further into the Social libertarian camp.

Anyways, go take the test again (hey, it's fun, and mildly informative). The old results they used to have on the blogosphere are gone and they're creating a new map of blogs who have taken the test and bother to send them the results.

Economic Left/Right: -2.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.90

Here's the current map of the results they have received. . . Pretty depressing to see the authoritarian right so well represented. So go on over and try to put back some balance. . .

Via BopNews

My god. It's like a bad B grade zombie flick. The "Flypaper Theory" has returned from the grave and is wandering around again trying to eat the brains of anyone who is stupid enough to listen to these morons.

Josh MarsAzaell sprinkles salt around their graves and shoots these fools in the head (or what passes for their head).

Gregg Easterbrook, in The New Republic, embraces this concept in a new article even today. "What if the invasion of Iraq is having the unintended consequence of drawing terrorists and killers to that country, where our army can fight them on our terms?," he asks.

The only thing complicated about this argument is calibrating a hierarchy of all the levels of foolishness it embodies. Logically it is nonsensical; strategically it is moronic; morally it is close to indefensible.

The key fallacy, as so many have pointed out, is the notion that there are a finite number of 'terrorists' who we can kill and be done with.

Added to this, is the idea -- as antiquated as it is ridiculous -- that fighting 'the terrorists' in Iraq prevents them from hitting us in the United States. Have these fools heard about globalization? Grant the false premise that the Iraqi insurgency is being run by bin Laden. He can't spare a couple dozen jihadis to come over here to spring another 9/11 on us? What about al Qaida demonstrates their strategy of hitting us where our defenses are strongest?

As a TPM reader put it to me both hilariously and brilliantly more than a year ago, this 'fly paper' thesis is like saying we're going to build one super dirty hospital where we can fight the germs on our own terms.

Clearly that analogy points in some uncomfortable directions. But the salient point is clear: everyone who is not an utter fool knows that the number of young and disaffected men in the Muslim world who are potentially willing to take up arms against America is, for practical geopolitical purposes, all but infinite. Killing those already bent on suicide missions againt the US is undeniably a good thing. But doing so in a way that is guaranteed to replace them with ten new volunteers is the most foolish way to go about it. It is the classic case of dousing the fire with gasoline.

Zombies.

Via Ara, I find this wonderful document over at the Brookings Institute.

IRAQ INDEX -Tracking Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq

The Iraq Index is a statistical compilation of economic and security data. This resource will provide updated information on various criteria, including crime, telephone and water service, troop fatalities, unemployment, Iraqi security forces, oil production, and coalition troop strength.

The index is designed to quantify the rebuilding efforts and offer an objective set of criteria for benchmarking performance. It is the first in-depth, non-partisan assessment of American efforts in Iraq, and is based primarily on U.S. government information. Although measurements of progress in any nation-building effort can never be reduced to purely quantitative data, a comprehensive compilation of such information can provide a clearer picture and contribute to a healthier and better informed debate.

Wow, this is getting weird. Via Laura, I'm led to this piece in Haaretz.

Readying for extremists

Senior security sources believe that elements in the extreme right wing have concluded that a dramatic act by a single person is liable to stop the disengagement plan. This view is based on an analysis of recent statements by members of right-wing groups.

. . .

Two scenarios are particularly disturbing to the security services: an attempt against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's life, and an attack against the mosques on the Temple Mount.

Sharon Criticizes Hard-Liners in Israel

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon criticized Israeli hard-liners Sunday, warning that heated rhetoric against his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip could lead to civil war.

addressing the Cabinet Sunday, Sharon said he respected legitimate opposition to his plan, but he criticized calls for the army to disobey orders.

"Take the army and the security forces out of this ugly game," he said.

But Menachem Klein, an expert on Jewish extremism, said the threat of civil war is real. "What you see here is a break inside the Israeli establishment, a break inside the Israeli mainstream. This is the classic initial step for a civil war," he said.

In a New York minute. . .

I know it's old news, but CNN is really pushing the line that "All George Bush has to do in the debates is not trip over the stage and he wins".

Ye gods. They're going to have to dig a trench in the Marianas Trench to lower the bar enough for GWB.

Quaint.

TXU Energy to link rates, credit

TXU plans on Sept. 27 to raise electricity rates for 185,000 customers because of rising gas prices, but raise rates most sharply for roughly 55,000 residential and small-business customers, or 30 percent, with poor credit scores, it said.

Go see the Slactivist for more of this disgusting development.

The bottom line is this: TXU wants to charge poor people a higher rate than they charge rich people. Why? Because those poor people were having trouble paying the lower rate. This ain't a bank loan, it's the freaking utility bill.

Eventually, they're going to figure out a way to charge poor people subprime rates for milk, eggs and butter.

Wow. While everyone is concerned with the subtlties of kerning and whether or not Kerry eats quiche, our lovable government is well on the way to locking up all information and placing it on a silver plate so only coporations can use it as they see fit.

Copyright Proposal Induces Worry

"The copyright office is now suggesting the exploration of a new and radically unprecedented approach to copyright law," said Bob Schwartz, counsel for the Consumer Electronics Association and the Home Recording Rights Coalition. "It would not require that a defendant in a copyright suit have any knowledge of infringing conduct, any relationship with a particular infringer or any intent to commit a violation of the law."

The copyright office proposed that a company that makes technologies that help individuals digitally transmit copyright materials to the public will be liable if the firm relies on such infringing activities to make money or attract people to its service.

In a memorandum to the Senate Judiciary Committee, officials from the Copyright Office wrote that they believe their recommendation is the best approach to catch current P2P services built on copyright infringement and is flexible enough to target future "bad actors" as well.

But critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the Copyright Office's proposal would undo protections provided in the landmark 1984 Supreme Court ruling establishing the legality of the Sony Betamax video recorder. In that ruling, which an appeals court referred to when it upheld the legality of P2P networks like Grokster, judges held that companies are not liable for copyright infringement if the device they make is capable of substantial non-infringing uses.

But that decision predated the spread of the internet. The copyright office contends that the Betamax ruling addresses personal copying technology, not applications that can be used to distribute copyright materials to a wide audience, such as online peer-to-peer networks.

"This draft is scary," said Will Rodger, director of public policy for the Computer & Communications Industry Association, regarding the copyright office's recommendations.

For the first time ever, Rodger wrote in an e-mail, it would make it possible for someone who has not infringed to be liable for others' infringement.

"They want to reach anyone who creates a product that turns out to be used for infringements -- how do you know that in advance?" said Mike Godwin, legal director for Public Knowledge. "You could have the noblest motives in the world and still be liable under this proposal."

James Wolcott succinctly sums up the issue at hand

Fonda wavers, equivocates. He doesn't want to win if this is what winning takes. And with his reluctance a disgusted Lee Tracy says that if he's that squeamish about seizing the initiative he doesn't deserve to be president because once in the White House he won't have the luxury of quizzing his conscience. The last thing the country needs is a president who thinks he's too good for the job and doesn't want to get his cuffs dirty.

I don't think Kerry is that man. I don't see any Stevensonian trace of Fonda in him. You don't earn the medals he did in Vietnam by playing Hamlet in the clutch. The people around him--that's a different story. Unlike Bush, Kerry can't delegate his aggression to Cheney, Fox News, and a yapping band of attack poodles; the Democratic party doesn't have that same threshing infrastructure. He has to go it almost alone and run the risk of being too forceful and coming across as "unlikeable" in the eyes of gardening clubs like The Capital Gang. Pundits prefer their Democrats soft and emasculated, it makes them so much easier to fillet.

Here's my short list:

Opposing the President became equivalent to treason.

Democrats became a fifth column far more dangerous than Al Qaeda

Might became right

Good, solid allies became enemies to be scorned

Treaties we wrote became toilet paper

Reason was replaced with psychobabble

Saddam became bin Laden

Science became religion

Massive tax give aways became the underpinning of national security

An unplanned, botched occupation became a platform for reelection.

Babbling idiots with barely a neuron to rub between them became the the Demagogues Of Fear^tm

Lies became truth

War became peace

Torture became necessary

The ends justified the means

Well, I think I've changed my mind about the CBS memos. Right after watching the segment on 60 minutes, I was basically of the opinion that it would have little effect. But now that I see how the RWAP has kicked into high gear over the brouhaha, I'm actually encouraged. And incredibly impressed.

All the desperate attempts to show that the memos are forgeries is a stunning indication of how absolutely terrified they all are that these memos are actually true. Bush's silence on the whole affair says everything there needs to be said. It plays to the pin head right's propensity to focus in on tiny details and blow them up to almost unbelievable proportions. The result is that they are furiously building themselves a cage their own making.

Myself, I'm sitting back and marveling at the way this has been carried out. It's truly a work of art. I was thinking this was going to be a tactical nuke focused on digging them out of their bunkers. Instead, it was a honey pot they couldn't resist attacking combined with a slow mo explosion once they've been drawn out. Beautiful. Subtle.

Of course, it remains to be seen if this is going to work out the way we hope it will. The people who are the targets here are also incredibly powerful people with vast resources and a universe full of nasty tricks.

As Radish said, pass the popcorn. This is an amazing show.

Wow, I love to see the Right Wing pin heads at work solving a tough problem for their boss who remains strangely silent about the whole affair. Idle hands are the devil's playground, after all.

I must say that I agree with Digby, in that I'm saddened that more than a few left wing bloggers have gotten into the act as well. Really guys, let the pin heads do the work. Soon the dust will clear and all will be revealed.

But it is interesting to see this on the left, though. Myself, I think this tendency is the same tendency that we see in the real live press. It's this obsession with "even handedness" that is exploited by the right wing Wurlitzer.

I mean, we actually had a debate in the blogosphere over whether or not Bush Administration had said the word "imminent" when describing the threat from Iraq.

Amazing.

Anyways, check out Stirling's great post on memopolooza. If you have to actually talk about the whole thing, this is actually the way to talk about it.

And besides, I agree with his conclusion.

Yep, the fourth consecutive year of double digit increases. Again, I sit in stunned awe at the brilliant plan of using the "free" market to ensure that we have the most expensive health care on the planet (> 13% of our GDP) and still manage to have 48 million people uninsured (most of them children).

Truly, the brilliant minds on the right who fight Universal Health care tooth and nail are the most amazingly intelligent and strategic brains on the planet.

Cost of Insuring Workers' Health Increases 11.2%

he cost of providing health care to employees has risen 11.2 percent this year, according to the results of an authoritative national survey reported yesterday.

It was the fourth consecutive year of double-digit increases in health insurance premiums, which has resulted in a steady decline in the number of the nation's workers and their families receiving employer health care coverage.

The annual survey of 3,000 companies, conducted between January and May by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust, is considered a reliable indicator of health care costs paid by companies and their workers.

Perhaps the only good news in the report was its indication that the rate of increase slowed from the record 13.9 percent in 2003, turning down for the first time since 1996. But this year's jump was still more than five times the national 2.2 percent increase in wages from the spring of 2003 to spring 2004, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Small businesses are being especially hard hit as the average family coverage in preferred provider networks, the most common type of health plan, has risen to $10,217, with employees paying $2,691 of the total. In response to the soaring costs, many small companies are simply no longer offering coverage of a worker's spouse and children.

Morons. Each and every one. Morons. Morons. Morons.

Morons.

How's that for a title?

In any event, the 60 minutes bit on how GW got into the Texas Air National Guard and how he spent his time not serving was pretty anti-climatic. Kind of like watching the beginnings of the Iraq war. A lot of explosions and then a puzzling silence while the Bush representative claimed it was just dirty politics and that there was absolutely nothing new here.

Oh well. Whatever.

Next.

Via Oingo Boingo

When I was young, my mind would always wander away
I couldn't talk, never had nothin to say
But now I'm grown, nothing much seems to have changed
I think I'm going insane yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Is this a fairy tale, are you the seven dwarves
Did Snow White really die while fighting in the war?
They were the only friends I ever trusted
Now they're scattered, and livin' in the city
Unlisted numbers, Huh

Cinderella undercover
I say, better alive than dead

The war is coming, but there's nothing much that we can do
Stuck in a pay-phone, but the operator won't let me through
I close my eyes, but the memories burn in my brain
I think I'm going insane yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I heard a rumor, they said it's gone nuclear
I stockpile cigarettes, and double bold the door
A sanctuary for all my friends
We'll stay in bed until the world ends
So please don't wake me, I gotta get some sleep

Cinderella Undercover
I say, better alive than dead
I think I'm going insane, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Is this a fairy tale, this can't be real
There's fighting all around, they're shooting in the fields
They say that values change when hunger or ambition strikes
Survival is essential, at any cost or any price
The cartoon animals on Old McDonald's farm
Are nodding off in hotel rooms with needles in their arms
The seven dwarves, HA!, there's only four alive today
Cinderella's working for the CIA

Cinderella, the fairy tale's over
You should know, you got the scars to prove it
And your skin isn't as soft as it used to
But I don't care, come on you said it baby

Cinderella undercover
I say, better alive than
Cinderella undercover
I say, better alive than dead

"How many times have you been arrested, Mr. President?"

Drop by and add to the bounty for the question being asked in a public forum.

Catch it this Wednesday night. A wonderful DVD moment.

Exclusive Interview: Ben Barnes

Correspondent Dan Rather talks exclusively to former Texas House Speaker and Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, a Democrat, about the role Barnes says he played in getting President George W. Bush into the Texas Air National Guard -- and why he now regrets it.

Rather's exclusive interview will be broadcast Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

how he blew off his duties once he got there. Again, new documents -- stuff that is clear and straightforward and apparently puts beyond any debate or doubt that the now-President blew off the duties that he said, as recently as this year, that he fulfilled.

Watching Richard Viguerie on C-Span Book notes (coming on again @ 11:00pm EDT). He co-authored America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power. Really an amazing guy with a heck of a lot of intersting stuff to say.

Well, seems everyone's going nuclear these days. Politeness has been shown the door and the long political knives are being drawn. All I can say is It's About Fucking Time. We're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, folks. Damned if we act like reasonable gentlemen and damned if we act like wild eyed fools. Do you really think that the election will be decided by people who are looking for reasoned argument? Look at the ten point bounce off of Zell's fire n' brimstone speech combined with non stop mud slinging from surrogates.

And really people, just shove the "but we don't want to be mean" crap. This is a serious issue. It doesn't mean you make shit up and fabricate crap in a thinly veiled attempt at discrediting these Jackals. It simply means pushing the sea of crap that actually does exist in their faces and using real, actual facts against them. It means not pulling any punches when you call them on their lies. They really are lies, you know.

They really are lies.

Check out this article in the New Yorker on GW's tax agenda. I mean, it's really no secret at this point. The party of "leave me alone" has been pretty clear on the intent. But still, it's nice to see excellent analysis that pretty much lays all the cards on the table.

Most people already know that Bush’s tax cuts favored the rich, but the size of the giveaway was startling. Based on figures contained in a recent study from the Congressional Budget Office, it now appears that about two-thirds of the benefits went to households in the top fifth of the income distribution, and about one third went to households in the top one-hundredth of the distribution. To put it another way, families earning $1.2 million a year—that is, the richest one per cent in the country—received a tax break of roughly $78,500. Families earning $57,000 a year—middle-income families—got a tax cut of about $1,100.

Even these numbers, though, do not convey the full ambition of the Republicans’ agenda, which potentially involves a historic restructuring of the American system of government. Roughly two-thirds of taxable income is paid to workers in the form of wages and benefits. The other third goes to reward capital, or accumulated savings, in the form of corporate profits, dividends, and interest payments. If Bush’s economic agenda was fully enacted, the vast bulk of these payments wouldn’t be taxed at all, and labor would end up shouldering practically the entire burden of financing the federal government. In a new book, “Neoconomy: George Bush’s Revolutionary Gamble with America’s Future,” Daniel Altman, a former economics reporter for the Times and The Economist, describes what such a system might look like. “The fortunate and growing minority who managed to receive all their income from stocks, bonds and other securities would pay nothing—not a dime—for America’s cancer research, its international diplomacy, its military deterrent, the maintenance of the interstate highway system, the space program or almost anything else the federal government did. . . . Broadly speaking, that fortunate minority would be free-riders.”

A return to the Victorian world of rentiers and laborers may seem like an outlandish scenario, but a generation ago it would have been difficult to imagine a White House, even a Republican one, phasing out the inheritance tax, which affects only a tiny minority of the richest families, and slashing the taxes on dividends and capital gains, which few middle-class families pay, either. The people who devised these policies simply do not accept the old rules. Glenn Hubbard, for instance, told me that the progressive income tax “discourages entrepreneurship and risk-taking. We have to trade off our interest in fairness with those costs. I, like many conservative economists, care a lot about progressivity at the bottom. President Bush, for example, made the Earned Income Tax Credit”—a handout to low-income families—“more generous. But progressivity at the top? I don’t know. That just sounds like envy to me.”

Stirling Newberry has a fantastic post up about the regurgitation of 1968 that we seem to be re-enjoying again in this election. Even if you think I'm a traitorous, commie, shrill liberal swine who is simply wrong about everything, you should definitely read it. While I'm sure that Newberry is not precisely right about everything (how on earth would I know?), but he seems to be far closer to the target than any of the other commentary - both on the right and on the left - than I've seen so far.

But the issue goes deeper: Kerry, a child of privilege, represents a threat to the greatest claim to the military castes’ uniqueness. That they, and no others, are brave enough to protect the peace and liberty. That the traits that the elite ridicule, are their strength, their cultural uniqueness. Paul Krugman is dead on about the mindset of the parasitic elite of the Republican Party – which dodged the draft while others died – but he misses that Zell Miller isn’t speaking to the draft dodgers, but to the enlistees, who demand that those draft dodgers be the rulers. Caligula and Nero rose on the backs of those who served, so too, have Saxby Chambliss and George W Bush. Miller is speaking instead, to the rank and file – in a literal sense - who support the Republican Party, because the Republican Party promised wars without tears. Panamas – in, out, and punch your ticket. Who promised that the military would determine how, when and why to fight wars. Who promised to protect the purity of the military spirit from corruption.

To be blunt about it: the Swifties speak to all of the military caste who are insecure about their service – either in peace, or in Panama type police actions. They must cut Kerry down, because they must cut down elites and they must cut down Vietnam to their own size. The swifties scream "Kerry’s Vietnam was like Grenada!" And there are hundreds of thousands who must believe, must. Kerry, to be betrayed, must be turned first into a betrayer, and he must be destroyed, because only then will their egos be preserved.

Aside from what Stirling has said, what has struck me about the whole Iraq war with respect to the Vietnam war is the almost total absence of contempt and scorn for the actual troops. Certainly there are some out there on the "left" who are working from the old scripts from 1968. But take a look at the anti-war marches that have happened over the last couple of years. Look at the marches that happened this week in New York. In the marches I participated in, there was more than a healthy representation of military and ex military personnel. And even though there was more than a healthy representation of what one could call the "far" left, there was zero anger and resentment and ridicule directed towards the military. None.

And as I said, this stands in marked contrast to 1968.

One thing that the cosmopolitan left seemed to have learned during that time is the internalization of the idea that it is the "brain" which is controlling the "hand" which is the enemy. The anger is not directed at those who are performing their duty with honor. Rather it is directed at those who are directing the action.

Which is kind of bad news for the right these days. Right now, the leader of the right - George W Bush - is a bigger coward than the right ever imagined Clinton to be. For all the vaunted honor and dignity that the military mindset believes it has, they pretty much know that Bush really is the joker frat boy who was off drinking while he should have been at least serving his time in the national guard. They know it. They just simply don't care.

The lack of the left's protest against the military itself is a quandary for the right. One of their primary tools which they use to leverage the military vote is completely useless. No one is blaming the troops. No one is spitting on them as they return home. No one is out in the streets, burning the American flag and yelling and screaming at soldiers. In fact, the opposite is true. Democrats and liberals of all stripes support the troops. Even the ragedy commies who think the US is in the pocket of Satan support the troops.

And so the people running the Republican party (and their sycophants) have to simply make shit up or they are forced to resurrect ghosts of the past which have yet to be resolved.

The "making shit up" tactic works pretty well in the short term, but with information flowing so quickly in these days of superconnected information, it's a short term strategy at best. Worse, because of some pretty serious blunders with "evidence" in their use of the "making shit up" strategy, their credibility really isn't what it used to be and even with a press that panders to the right's need for self validation, the truth mostly comes out and severely undercuts the usefulness of this tactic.

This doesn't mean they're going to stop lying. Heck, the speeches at the RNC are pretty damning proof that they have decided the tactic is still useful. But the tactic just isn't as effective as it was in a time when arguments involving large sectors of the population moved in weeks and months, not days.

They are forced to resurrect the ghosts of decades past. Reaching back into a time to exhume the soul of an argument that has yet to be resolved.

Of course, they still have to make shit up and deliberately trot out demonstrably false accounts of what people said and did. These are ghosts, after all. Phantasms that are malleable and dimly viewed, composed of filaments of memory that can't be trapped and measured.

The medium in which Karl Rove is an unquestioned master.

Man, this thing is taking forever. But we are seeing progress. Via Josh we find the noose tightening around the vultures who congregate around CAzaelabi.

Leak Inquiry Includes Iran Experts in Administration

Investigators have specifically asked about a group of neoconservatives involved in defense issues, including Feith, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, Iraq and Iran specialist Harold Rhode and others at the Pentagon. FBI agents also have asked current and former officials about Richard Perle of the defense board and David Wurmser, an Iran specialist and principal deputy assistant for national security affairs in Cheney's office, according to sources familiar with or involved in the case.

"The initial interest was: Do you believe certain people would spy for Israel and pass secret information?" said one source interviewed by the FBI about the defense officials.

The Bush administration is truly the Aegean Stables^tm of US politics. Jackals. Each and every one.

I love content analysis, and the folks at the NY Times have put together a useful graphic showing the "fruits" of the convention's speeches.

Take a gander.

Quite a contrast, and a really nasty one for the Republicans to explain away. From this, it's quite clear that this Administration is scrared to death of Kerry. Scarred to death.

If they were confident, they wouldn't have mentioned him much at all. Instead, he was the most mentioned thing in the convention (86 times).

Contrast this with the democrats, who mentioned Jobs 127 times and Bush only 19 times.

Okay, so a lot of 9/11, support for the troops, thanks to everyone and special thanks to my hair dresser.

"Tonight I will tell you where I stand, what I believe, and where I will lead this country in the next four years"

Well, right off the bat, he's swinging wild. He's going to tell me three things. Two of which I have absolutely no questions about. I know where George Bush stands. I know what George Bush believes. What I don't know is where he is going to do in the next 4 years.

So, right off the bat, probably over 2/3 of the speech will be filled with crap that doesn't tell me jack about what Bush is going to do.

"I believe every child can learn and every school can teach".

Again, with the laurels bit.

Boy, they just showed a really dumb looking kid on CSpan.

Then with the prescription drug plan.

Then with the tax cuts. Hmm. How much of that money actually went to the people he mentioned?

The economy has not turned the corner, Mr. Bush.

"If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift towards tragedy."

"This will not happen on my watch".

"A clear and positive plane"

Will I finally hear something concrete and not just more platitudes and homey homilies?

"Steady and consistent leadership".

Nope. Why do I even bother?

"We will extend the frontiers of freedom"

I do think that line will come back to haunt him in the days to come.

Ooops, he's slipping into health care.

"Government must take your side".

"Tax code, health code, pension plans worker training were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow."

Okay, the "ownership" society - basically a stock option plan for the American people.

"America must be the best place in the world to do business".

So Bush is literally telling us that the whole reason outsourcing is happening is because the trial lawyers and an oppressive tax regime is responsible for it. Gee, and here I thought it was that Indians and Chinese may 1/7 of what their American counterparts made. Slap me silly and call me a lunatic.

Whatever.

Plan, plan! Give me the fucking plan. Tax relief permanent. Gee, that's a fantastic idea! So fucking fantastic that this congress - your congress refused to do it.

So they're going to fight to open up ANWAR again.

Expand trade - well, finally something I agree with.

Protect small business owners against frivolous lawsuits across the country.

Okay, so the showpiece of the president's agenda is frivolous lawsuits, tax cuts and drilling in ANWAR. Truly a moderate agenda.

Tax code again. Is he going to suggest a flat tax? Hmmm?

A simpler, fairer, pro growth system? Code for flat tax?

Okay, so he is on the record for "simplifying the tax code". Exactly how?

I'm stunned at the naked supply side economics and the lunacy of anyone who actually falls for this crap. I mean, really. What kind of a rube do you have to be?

Ah, they're panning to the audience.

Jobs? Retraining program? Double the number of people served for the programs and increase funding for community college. Okay, something I agree with.

Create American Opportunity Zones. Heard this one before. Thought it had actually been tried before. Should remember to look that up and see how the experiments went.

Small businesses can band together to get the same health insurance rates as big companies.

Hey, I have an idea. Let's pool the entire US together and get an even better rate than big companies get. Ya think?

What an aqua maroon.

Health savings accounts! Okay, he claims this is an alternative to insurance.

More health care for the poor! Community health centers for all poor communities!

"We must pass medical liability reform now!"

Really guys, this is pretty comical.

So, we get to have fat bureaucrats in huge insurance companies make decisions for our doctors and nurses. What planet are these guys from who think that we don't have a huge and bloated bureaucracy already and it's growing by double digit percentages every year.

Morons.

Change outdated labor laws and comp laws. Interesting. Change how?

He literally said "Our priority will be to build an ownership society"

7 million more home owners in his term. Wonder how the housing bubble will affect that goal.

"More people will own their health care plans and a piece of their retirement".

Yea, I bet everyone's 401K plans are doing fabulous. And I'll bet they are really glad the government can't take their underwater investments they OWN away.

4 more years! 4 more years!

More control over your own life? My lord. The man is insane. Is John Ashcroft gonna be in your next administration? I mean, really.

Raising standards, empowering parents.

Record level of funding? Need some fact checking here.

Okay, one school. Got hundreds, if not thousands more examples? Didn't think so.

"Soft bigotry of low expectations".

Gee, isn't the tagline of the Bush/Cheney campaign "No we can't do better"?

Ah, the crowd is going wild!

So my quest for specifics seems slightly fulfilled. I'm getting targets and vagaries which is all I can expect from a monkey giving his acceptance speech.

Okay, he's going to make an effort to enroll Millions of poor children on health care

Okay, he's telling me to go on line for more details, and I will. So I guess the specifics are finished. Now he's contrast himself to Kerry.

Ah, the "Taxachusetts" spin.

Oh horrors, Kerry is going to raise rich people's taxes.

Expanding government? Uh, that's the description of the Bush administration. Government decreased under the 8 years of Clinton. It's done nothing but increase under Bush. Or has everyone forgot the Azaelf trillion dollar deficit we're running?

"responsibility, character and family commitment".

More welfare reform! Get married, get a job or you're outta here.

Unborn child alert! Sanctity of life warning!

The crowd's going wild!

More faith based initiative stuff. Wonder if Hammas will get in on that action under Bush.

Wait, where did the activist judges thing come from? WTF?

Strict interpretation of the law? You mean like the Torture Memos? WTF?

Heart and soul in Hollywood? Did Kerry actually say that?

Ah, Gay Marriage!

Reagan's regime was eight years of moral darkness.

Ah, we finally get to terrorism.

Yes, we know you stand for going to war against a country which has nothing to do with terrorism against the United States.

Somethings happening. Looks like the guards were doing something.

Bush has that creepy look like he did when he was told the plane flew into the WTC.

blah, blah, blah, I'm the best at fighting terrorism because I invaded Iraq. Quaint.

Safer? Hmmm. More terrorists. One failed state, one on the brink of god only knows what.

Saddam. Nasty, nasty man.

Ears perk up. Is he going to name the next countries on the hit list?

He's defending Iraq - a threat.

Members of both political parties.... Blah, blah, blah.

Uh, we pretty much proved that he did disarm.

The "final chance" canard. He refused? Refused what? Inspections?

God, he's lost it. Literally lost it. That was the weirdest spewing of words I've ever heard from Bush. It was like he was squeezing them out.

Uh, the Taliban is still in Afghanistan. Doing quite well with their opium crops, I hear.

Again, the "expanding the frontiers of freedom".

Right, because Democrats would never honor the troops. FU.

Right. Aiming at Iraq is really the terrorists aiming at the US. I can't believe he believes anyone will believe this tripe. And it still stuns me that people do.

My eyes, my eyes. My hands can't type any more. . .

Ye gods. It's going to be a long, long election isn't it?

9/11. . . . You know what infuriates me the most about Bush so blatantly using 9/11 as proof positive that he's better at it than Kerry is that I hear absolutely nothing new. I will remember the 9/11 story until the day I die, and I'm sure every child born from that day forward will know about it too. It's like Perl Harbor for "Bob's" sake. Look, we know all about 9/11 and it is really important to remember it.

But you know, there's this little thing called the presidential election. And 9/11 doesn't tell me jack about George Bush. Pretty much everything up until the Iraq war was inevitable - even the griping by the total pacifists and the Archangel Chun. . .

It's an incredibly transparent lie to claim that any president wouldn't have done pretty much the same thing. Visiting ground zero. Visiting the troops. Supporting fireman. Really. Unless your a vicious, poisonous demagogue (who sAzaell remain linkless, as I don't have time for that shit again), you are just spouting crap if you claim otherwise.

And so I'd really like to think that Bush and the Republicans in general would get off the frickin' 9/11 wagon and just tell us what they're going to do in the next 4 years. I haven't heard jack shit yet. I've heard a lot of blatant lies and slander thrown about regarding Kerry. Cool. Mud slinging is so becoming.

But where's the beef? Will Bush reveal to me his 9 point plan for dealing with Terrorism? Will he even tell me what countries he's planning on invading during his 4 years? Can he give me a solid plan for how he's going to create the nearly 6 million jobs we should have created by now? Is he?

I push the play button on the Tivo to find out.

I'm just stunned by the RNC video I'm watching about Bush narrated by Fred Thomson.

"What do a bullhorn and a baseball have in common? which is another way of saying 'What did George W Bush do. What did he become and how did that help us?'"

Yep, he's really serious about this. Apparently, GW can use a Bullhorn while standing on 9/11 rubble with his hand on the shoulder of a fireman. Cool. Bet that takes tremendous courage.

They just showed a picture of GW being compassionate. Quite surreal.

Okay, so far he's been real supportive and strong looking. I'm not really sure where the courage or strength of moral character is in all these "examples".

He's meeting wounded soldiers. Again, I appreciate the support for the troops, but I'm not exactly sure why this isn't something that any President would have done. Again with the "Democrats will eat your souls and rape your women". And the scary fingers bit.

Wait, we just shifted to the big baseball series in NY.

"That man on the mound".

"No matter what you keep pitching".

"You throw and you become who you are."

Okay guys. What little flinching grasps of self respect you may have had voting for Bush, you just have to admit that this SPOTLIGHTED, OFFICIAL RNC VIDEO had to be the most lamest thing on earth.

I'm serious here. No one - and I do mean no one - could watch this video and think that GW had done anything. If the "Story of GW" is that he had to brave the slings and arrows of wearing a heavy bullet proof vest which constricted his arm movements during his pitch. . . Well, you're a certifiable moron.

Look. This is the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. This is the PRIME VIDEO SPOT INTRODUCING THE PRESIDENT.

And the best they can come up with is the terror of having to pitch the opening throw at a baseball game while wearing a bullet proof vest?

This is the best you've got? This is the grand master leader of the free world?

You've got absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. It's a complete and utter illusion.

Man. Even I didn't believe that there was literally nothing at all to this campaign. Even in my most cynical moments I never stooped to believe that there was no physical reality at all and it was pure faith and insanity that was keeping the entire Republican party together.

I'm stunned.

I can't wait for the President's speech.

The conscience of the Democratic party is in the house - Zell Miller, that is.

Ah, Bush is the only one who can protect his family.

"My family is more important than my party".

Ah, it's "all this and World War 2".

He's literally saying that it is our duty to vote for Bush. Man, I don't think I can find enough disgust in my body to react to the vile partisan crap that Zell's excreting.

Uh, Zell, the Bush Administration - itself - called itself an army of occupiers. It's a technical term. And when we handed over power, we were no longer the occupying army. Well, except that we're occupying Iraq. But facts don't matter to Zell.

Where did the flag burning come from? I can't even recall a single incident about flag burning in the past three years. Maybe I missed all the fun, but I think I would have heard.

I think Zell is still fighting the Vietnam war.

Wow, I didn't know that Kerry opposed every single weapons system known to man. Wonder how Cheney holds up on the same record?

"Against, against, against!" Man, the crowd is loving the red meat.

Zell, by the way, looks like an embittered old man who is mean as hell.

Really guys, can't we kick him out?

"How you vote tells people how you really are inside".

Yea, right Zell. Paris will decide when America needs defending.

I can't believe that anyone with brain one thinks this guys is anything more than a bitter cook who should be driving kids off his lawn in a bathrobe.

Going to be interesting to see how the SCLM treats this speech. There's about a zillion deliberate lies and it's ripe for the fisking.

I'm sure we'll have front page articles tomorrow.

She is a stunning example of why Blond jokes exist.

I knew if I waited long enough, the Republicans would trot out their Deity.

A tribute to Reagan.

Yep, Reagan gets the entire credit for the fall of the Soviet Union.

I'll bet Bush wishes he had Reagan's record to run on. Hey, how about those 1.5 Million jobs that haven't reappeared?

Whatever.

Conference call with Mrs. Reagan? Interesting. She really doesn't like you guys, does she.

There's the "Army of compassion again".

What is it with religions and these military metaphors?

Like carrion birds returning to the sight of kill, the Republicans went into their third day of constructing an alternate reality propped up entirely by the massive numbers of zombies they have convinced are going to get some scrap from the master's plate.

Bush starting off (my attention time line) with a zinger about how household ownership numbers have never been higher. Like Reagan, he's taking ownership for the last 50 years of hard work by previous administrations and legions of bureaucrats. But what the hey? Bush gets everything handed to him on a silver plate. He just has to show up to win.

What's up with these small business owners? Ah yes. The whole "how do you count the unemployment rate" red herring. The engine of the economy are small businesses. Rich people can register themselves as small businesses for tax advantages. Therefore if you give the tax cuts to the rich people who are their own "small business", we'll be simultaneously cutting taxes for the real small businesses. And won't that be good for our economy? Whatever.

OMG They're trotting out the "Death Tax". Reminds me of a Lovecraft bit: That is not tax which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even taxes may die. All hail Norquist.

My god the CJ's! The CJ's. Why must they continue to subject us to these stepford Republicans genetically grown in some underground lab.

Paul Ryan:

"Comprehensive Six Point Plan"????? Where the heck is this comprehensive, six point plan of Bush's?

Yep, if we don't give money to the people who are just fictitious small businesses, the entire system will collapse under its own weight.

Boy, they sure seem to be pushing the line that Bush inherited a horrible economy "spiraling out of control".

"Strong and getting stronger"

"Surging"

We may keep more of what we earn, but we earn less. (Drum roll, please).

If the tax cuts aren't made permanent, Bush/Cheney is going to shoot the dog.

Kerry is evil, dastardly, something incomprehensible, "no, no, no" Oh he likes taxes, though.

Man, these guys are insane. Numbers! Numbers!

Family farms? Are there any of those left?

Ah, the flip flop.

No, Kerry only needs to raise the rich people's taxes - i.e. over $200K a year. That is not a lot of people. . . We can take 'em.

"Freedom and opportunity for all". Yea, whatever.

Almost forgot it was about tax cuts, thanks for reminding me.

Later. . .

I must admit that watching Republicans dance at their convention is literally the weirdest thing I've ever seen.