Batman Begins!!

New News about the Batman Begins movie! the incredible Ken Watanabe (robbed of a Best Supporting Oscar in The Last Samurai) will play Ras Al Ghul!

I saw the damn cool trailer for this movie this weekend when we went to see the Village this weekend. it was awesome. incrfedibly i didn't even know it was the batman movie until the last few seconds!

i can't wait!

My Way News

"WASHINGTON (AP) - This year's federal deficit will soar to a record $445 billion, the White House projected Friday in a report provoking immediate election-season tussling over how well President Bush has handled the economy."

i heard the bush campaign wants to campaign on their record. god i hope so!

Convention Bounce?

Will Kerry/Edwards get a bounce from the convention? i predict that it will be there but a single digit bounce in the 5-9 range and i predict that it will disappear before the GOP convention. the important issue is to look at what bounce occurs in the swing states AND how things start to pan out after the GOP convention.

The pundits on Kerry: He nailed it

Notice this? pretty good reaction to the speech last nite. The Republicans have had WEAK responses. the theme last night and this morning seemed to have the GOP complaining about the amount of time he spent on his record and personal history (i.e. the things they wanted to attack him on). that was rich! he was bad because he did not talk about the things they wanted to attack him on!?!

how dare he talk about the future and what he wants to do as president!?! haw haw haw!

i hear that bush is going to tone down the attacks on Kerry. so let me get this straight...the result of this convention is Bush having to abandon the central theme of the campaign for the last quarter (attack kerry, ignore the bush record) and disappointment that his speech didn't give them anything to complain about? sounds like a homerun for the democrats!

Tom Ridge tells colleagues he may retire

Can't stand the heat? Stay outta the Office of Homeland Security.

Podium Videos - Wednesday - 2004 Democratic National Convention Official Site

"I want an America that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation - not the Saudi royal family."

Al Sharpton gave a great speech (linked above).  but that's my favorite quote of the convention (by Kerry).

HAW HAW HAW

John Stewart on the Daily Show just RIPPED the networks on their coverage of the Al Sharpton speech. how they cut away from the speech that galvanized the convention (his words) to show clearly less important crap (cast members of The Sopranos on Hardball? heh.)

Next they show what was clearly a great, inspired speech by Sharpton and then show the network guys (chris matthews, we're looking at you...who cut into the speech to complain about it) and pundits for quotes about how bad it was, how he HIJACKED the convention, and (this is my favorite) he probably made black people MAD because of his speech and was going to turn off the Black Vote (that's YOU Howard Fineman of Newsweek).

the camera cuts back tgo John Stewart for his commentary on these comments:

"What the F*CK were you guys watching!?!"

HAW! watch the repeat tomorrow at 6pm if you can. it may be online too. DAMN good!

It's a Beautiful Day

Well, i think the U2 song It's a Beautiful Day is the Kerry campaign theme song. out of the short list i saw, it was my pick. Kerry just finished his speech. i was worried. it was supposed to be 55 minutes long, and that can be an eternity for a guy w/o charisma. Luckily, Kerry gave the speech of his life. not the best speech ever, but just what was needed. no pulling punches but more about what he's going to do better than how awful the GOP is (i guess yuou can leave that to me...heh) I was very impressed and that is something for me to say. I have to say i'm very pleased.

Be on the lookout for a 'SCANDAL' over the live feed from tonite's wrap up on CNN. as the balloons dropped, someone accidentally patched in the audio from the stage direction guys. it was kinda funny, but I knew someone was gonna start cussing. one F-word later, the CNN guys finally woke up. do you think its gonna be a story? 120 seconds later this was on drudge:

"IF ANYONE HAS AUDIO OF CNN LIVE FEED OF OPEN MIC FROM DNC BOOTH AND YELLING AT FAILURE OF BALLOONS, PLEASE EMAIL TO MDRUDGE@AOL.COM... "

you'll see how starved they are for ideas if this gets any real traction. haw haw haw!

National Conventions...

every 4 years the conventions (both) are reported to have the 'worst ratings ever'. they are largely relics of the past and serve as a cheerleader event for the party. as a person that closely follows politics, i have to admit i rarely care to listen to more than 3 or 4 speeches. i have never been there and i understand that it is a big fun party, but i've never had a desire to go. i don't know if the convention is completely useless, but if someone like me just doesn't care very much, i have to wonder what John Q public thinks. i can imagine that years ago when you only had 3 channels to choose from, it may have been a bigger deal.

now? that's questionable.

Elephant Man, The (1980)

Need a pick me up? for god's sake, don't watch the damn Elephant man. good movie though...

The Democratic Convention...a short take

I've never been a big fan of the convention. i never really watch. i've never been and i've never pursued my previous opportunities to go. Maybe i will in the future. I watched the convention off and on tonite. Al Gore was good. probably more relaxed than he ever was on the campaign trail 4 years ago. Jimmy Carter had one of the great lines of the night: "in the world at large we cannot lead if our leaders mislead."

Hillary Clinton introduced Bill. i like Hillary just fine, but her speech was nothing special. it was nice if you already liked her, but Clinton was great. He wasn't preaching a sermon, but he did everything that he should have and everything he didn't 4 years ago.

I was angry at Clinton's speech 4 years ago. as i watched (unless i missed something) it was a good speech but not once (in 2000) did he mention Al Gore by name or do anything that literally said 'elect Al Gore'. that was the whole point of the speech and it wasn't there.

Tonite was a different story. it was not an overly long speech. it was a complete call to action. it was very fact oriented in bites that were easy to digest. you listen and think. He made the case against bush in the most easy to digest manner i've seen anyone do.

a good swipe at Bush without being overt:
"Strength and Wisdom are not opposing values"

He did a remarkable job and got a great deal of applause. one can't help but wonder if the room did not wish he could 'come back and save us'. i don't know...maybe i do too. it did leave me to think that this party abandons southerners at its own peril.

McSweeney's Take

funny capsule of the Bush PR fight against Kerry:

"I may have started a war on false pretenses, but at least I never changed my mind about something."

Some Thoughts

...Observations from the Alan Moore Interview linked below on Salon.com:

*the U.S. hired Mercenaries are really never called mercenaries anymore are they?  they're contractors...You know, like the guy that built your backyard deck.

*Bush is now a De Facto religious leader of the United States.  some what of a Pope to the Religious Right.  His language is often steeped in Revelations terminology and context.  He claims to dictate his decisions from the divine will of God, and his policy is often connected with the theo-political views of the extreme right.  Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts and their ilk do not hold the same sway that the once did.  moreover, Bush is seen by many of their flock as a person that can bring the rhetoric into reality.  Often this manifests itself in our foreign policy which, at least in the middle east, has as much to do with creating a conducive climate for endtime bible prophecy as it does with normal security and diplomacy.

Do I think this role is taken sincerely.  yes, by some...But I believe there are more who would use that sincerity for gain.  neither rationales leave me comfortable.

NEWS FLASH!!
 
It seems Dennis Kucinich is FINALLY dropping his bid for the Democratic Nomination for President.  i wonder at what point he decided he just couldn't 'bring it home'?

You gotta read this!
 
This is downright amazing.

the cockpit recorders in the planes used on 9/11 were shown only to the families of the people who died on the plane.  this is the first account of the final 31 minutes.  pretty amazing stuff.  it discusses the role one woman's son played in what ended up forcing the 4th plane down in a Penn. field, thus saving those in the U.S. Capitol.  Interestingly, he is gay and she points out to people that protest homosexuality that they didn't do any screening there on the hijacked flight ash helped to save lives.  interesting.

The details start on Page 2.

HOLY JA-MOLY!!
 
Alan Moore, one of my favorite writers, got a 'front page' write up at Salon.com today!  Moore wrote what has to be one the best books i've read in years:  From Hell.  while the movie made after the book was interesting, it is VERY different from the book in its narrative.  it had to be, i don't fault it...but that book was great. 

anyway, read the article.  all that aside, he's got a great deal of things to say about what's going on in general.

Thank God I'm Broke!
 
Otherwise i'd have that 40 Gig Ipod.
 

SPENDING TOO MUCH MONEY?
 
one thing that really bothers me is the fact that Bush has, on every occasion, low balled the cost of the war...to a country that is WILLING to pay the cost, for the sake of trying to make it look cheaper than it is.  the result is that we ALWAYS need more money than we gave them and then bush goes and asks for more. 

When he's challenged on this, he accuses the democrats of 'not supporting our troops'.  the problem is that bush didn't offer the support from the get-go because he feared a political cost.  when the dems went along with his numbers, which turn out to be bunk...well, they want to know what we're getting into next when the administration wants another blank check.  everyone would do better with a little more honesty in this. 

(inspired by this article/quote from span) :

The Bush administration underestimated the 2004 cost of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by $12.3 billion, a report released on Wednesday found, fueling criticism that the war was badly planned.

The shortfall is forcing the Defense Department to shift funds from other uses, including pushing expenses from the 2004 fiscal year into 2005, in a move likely to boost war costs further down the line, Congress’ investigative arm found.

"I'm a War President" no more?
 
It seems that Bush is getting tired of being the 'war president' as he's crowed about for the last couple of years.  check this out:
 

"CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Reuters) - After launching two wars, President Bush said on Tuesday he wanted to be a 'peace president' ... With polls showing public support for the war in Iraq in decline, Bush cast himself as a reluctant warrior ... Nobody wants to be the war president. 'I want to be the peace president... The next four years will be peaceful years.' Bush used the words 'peace' or 'peaceful' a total of 20 times."

 
Today's Daily Scribble  (the general link is at the bottom...sorry, the page is screwed up for some reason...) has a cartoon about the whole thing, making the point that nothing seems to catch on that well.  i will offer this suggestion:  the labels of what 'sort' of leader you are work best when you've been a successful leader. 

Company Man

I'm about to start a company that will do many things, not all of which are related. i need to come up with a name, logo, etc. anybody have any ideas? everything i like sounds just crazy:

JETSet Modern?

Pollycorp?

any pop culture references you wanna toss out?

Kirbycorp?

god. i need a name like YESTERDAY.

He's setting off GOP'ers!!

Seems like even the republicans of years past can't believe what they see.

"CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The head of the Environmental Protection Agency for two Republican presidents criticized President Bush's record on Monday, calling it a ``polluter protection'' policy.

Russell E. Train, who headed the EPA from September 1973 to January 1977 - part of the Nixon and Ford administrations - said Bush's record on the environment was so dismal that he would cast his vote for Democrat John Kerry.

``It's almost as if the motto of the administration in power today in Washington is not environmental protection, but polluter protection,'' Train said. ``I find this deeply disturbing.'' "

I Lost a Trial Today

I went to court for a full trial for the first time in nearly a year. In this last year, I've been to court on different matters, but not a full trial.

It was a criminal matter where i was working for a friend. I feel so bad that i let him down. I did my best arguments, i was right on the law, tracing my arguments support back for half a century. I was pretty hard on the prosecutor, catching his mistakes and stopping the sloppy delivery that he likely can get away with on most days as the defendants don't have attorneys. The judge pulled me aside to compliment me on how well i did today. none the less, we loss. it was clearly close. it seemed to come down to a little statement by one witness (ours) that tilted the scale. i was told by the prosecutor that if we went to trial he'd seek the stiffest punishment he could get, including jail-time.

We got the lightest penalty they could apply.

We may still appeal. it's up to the client. I just feel disappointed. I'm disappointed because i know my case was better. i know that the law agrees with my side...i just didn't win. i know it is not my fault, but i can't help but feel troubled, like i let my friend down. i know he doesn't feel that way.

The work i do...most all of it...is built on these extreme highs and desperate lows. trials. elections. there is no middle. they always seem to take everything out of you and return all the glory or a kick in the gut.

I do not know any other way.

Today was not as dramatic as others...but its something you can taste. today it was bitter.

Bush takes a vacation from vacation (Salon.com)

Bush will trim his summer lounging from one month to a more modest two weeks in order to campaign for re-election, according to a New York Times report.

Well thank god. Spending 40%+ of your presidency is a bit much. Think about that. Its like getting elected at the end of 2000 and not showing up for work until the last week of July 2002.

MSNBC - 9/11: The Iran Factor

Seems Iran had stronger ties to Al Qaeda than Iraq. at this rate, i think my mom had stronger ties to Al Qaeda than Iraq did.

Fun Press Briefing by Scott McClellan!!

Q Prime Minister Blair took full personal responsibility for taking his nation into war under falsehoods -- under reasons that have been determined now to be false. Is President Bush also willing to take full, personal responsibility --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think Prime Minister Blair said that it was the right thing to do; that Saddam Hussein's regime was a threat.

Q Those were not the reasons he took his country into war. It turned out to be untrue, and the same is true for us. Does the President take full, personal responsibility for this war?

MR. McCLELLAN: The issue here is what do you to with a threat in a post-September 11th world? Either you live with a threat, or you confront the threat.

Q There was no threat.

MR. McCLELLAN: The President made the decision to confront the threat.

Q Saddam Hussein did not threaten this country.

MR. McCLELLAN: The world -- the world, the Congress and the administration all disagree. They all recognized that there was a threat posed by Saddam Hussein. When it came to September 11th, that changed the equation. It taught us, as I said --

Q The Intelligence Committee said there was no threat.

MR. McCLELLAN: As I said, it taught us that we must confront threats before it's too late.

Q So the President doesn't take full responsibility?

MR. McCLELLAN: The President already talked about the responsibility for the decisions he's made. He talked about that with Prime Minister Blair.

Q Personal responsibility?

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, go ahead.

I guess that last line is another way of saying "no".

Salon.com Can Israel be saved?

A great couple of articles on Salon about blackening of Israel's soul by their own hand. a must read for anyone intersted in world events. this second article is coupled with the first.

Everybody loves Ariel!

"French President Jacques Chirac informed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon he is not welcome in Paris after he urged all French Jews to leave the country immediately, Israeli television reported."

Safer?

Just to remind you, in the last week we've seen Tom Ridge (Dir. of Homeland Security) tell us that Al Qaeda is planning a big attack before the election*. Next DeForest B. Soaries, Jr. looks into suspending U.S. Elections if we are attacked. And finally, in response to all that is going on, Pres. Bush delievers a speech saying (EIGHT times!) that the American People are SAFER now because of his policies.

I agree. nations like Iraq will likely continue not to attack us. now the terrorists...that's another story.

HAW HAW HAW!

The New Yorker tells you how the VP's blow-up went down in true New Yorker Fashion:

NEW DETAILS SURFACE
by PAUL SIMMS

Vice President Dick Cheney cursed at Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, in a confrontation on the Senate floor while members were having their annual group picture taken earlier this week. . . . According to [an] aide, Mr. Cheney . . . responded with a barnyard epithet, urging Mr. Leahy to perform an anatomical sexual impossibility.
—The Washington Times.

After Mr. Cheney successfully delivered the epithet and started to walk away, Mr. Leahy—sotto voce—referred to the Vice-President using a term more often heard in taverns and locker rooms than in the august Senate chamber, a term that refers to a sexual act commonly acknowledged as taboo among all cultures that proscribe incestuous contact between a mother and a son.

Mr. Cheney—apparently hearing Mr. Leahy’s remark—stopped, turned, and invited his colleague from across the aisle to engage in a sexual act that is considered a felony in some states, and which involves oral-genital contact.

Mr. Leahy then suggested that the president of the Senate take his gavel and use it to perform an act that, while not technically impossible in anatomical terms, would certainly be considered both unseemly and unhygienic, and which would require an unusual combination of single-minded ambition and physical relaxation.

Mr. Cheney wasted no time in informing Mr. Leahy that he should feel free to perform yet another anatomical impossibility—this one involving aviation, a standard sexual act, and a rolling doughnut.

At this point, according to observers, both statesmen decided—by seemingly unspoken mutual consent—to abandon the gutter patois of the common carnival worker and to resort instead to an eminently more quotable (but, to those not versed in the vagaries of hip-hop idiom, more confusing) exchange of viewpoints.

“Oh, it’s like that?” Mr. Cheney queried.

“Whut? Whut?” Mr. Leahy shot back.

“Once again,” Mr. Cheney replied (quite obviously quoting a lyric from Ice Cube’s 1990 album, “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted”), “it’s on.”

As a quick-thinking senatorial aide switched on the Senate’s public-address system and cued up the infamous “Seven Minutes of Funk” break, Mr. Leahy and Mr. Cheney went head-to-head in what can only be described as a “take no prisoners” freestyle rap battle.

Most of the rhymes kicked therein cannot be quoted in a family publication, but observers gave Mr. Cheney credit for his deceptively laid-back flow. Mr. Leahy was applauded for managing to rhyme the phrases “unethical for certain,” “crude oil spurtin’,” and “like Halliburton.”

Despite the fact that both participants brought their A-game and succeeded in dropping mad scientifics, the bout seemed to end in a draw.

Unfortunately, as other senators (along with assorted aides and support-staff members) were casting their votes to decide the winner, using the admittedly subjective but generally accepted “Make some noise up in here!” protocols, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Leahy took the proceedings to what one aide accurately described as “the next level.”

Edward M. Kennedy (D.-Mass.) was the first to notice that the two men were circling each other, Mr. Cheney brandishing a switchblade and Mr. Leahy the jagged neck of a broken bottle.

“Oh, snap!” Mr. Kennedy recalls thinking at the time. “It’s getting kind of hectic up in this piece.”

But before either of the aggrieved public servants could bust a potentially injurious move on his rival, cooler heads prevailed: a veteran Capitol Hill security guard pacified the bloodthirsty white men (Mr. Leahy first, then Mr. Cheney) with a shot from a tranquillizer gun. He then had them returned to their cages in the sub-basement of the Old Executive Office Building, where both men are kept and fed during non-business hours under the watchful eye of a volunteer from Washington’s National Zoo.

(In a related story, an AM talk-radio host in Billings, Montana, who expressed his disappointment with the behavior of Mr. Cheney and Mr. Leahy—on the air, he asked his listeners, “Do we taxpayers really have time for this kind of crap?”—was fined five hundred thousand dollars for violating the F.C.C.’s recent, Senate-approved guidelines prohibiting explicit references to human excrement.)

Beacon of Democracy...Right?

You know, it's not a good sign when the new Prime Minister of Iraq starts executing captured Iraqis without trial. Didn't we already HAVE a regime over there that did that?

Vacation, all I ever wanted...

I know this is done by drudge to 'get' kerry for talking about how he's not taking a vacation (which is itself a jab at Bush for spending 42% of his presidency on vacation).

however, these pics don't look too bad. keep up the good work drudge!

ABANDON!

you can see why bush seems to be working his base so hard:

Two memos compiled by Republican polling firm Fabrizio McLaughlin and Associates suggests that President Bush stands a strong chance to lose support from key undecided voters as the campaigns move from trading pre-convention snipes to waging all out political war in the coming months. According to the Fabrizio poll, undecideds are significantly more pessimistic about the state of the country and the future than other respondents. Plus, they favor a more active government a la John Kerry. But don't take Fabrizio's polling data as polling gospel; polling organizations that hire themselves out to political or business interests aren't always reliable.

I've Never Bought the Idea...

But the idea the Cheney might be dropped from the ticket is ALL OVER the news. Cheney recently got a new doctor, dumping his longtime personal physician. Rumor has it, this could let him 'step down, due to health reasons' as ordered by the new doctor. I've never believed this was anything more than wishful thinking by worried GOP'ers and wishful Dems. It would be the first time a sitting president changed VP's since FDR. I think, for whatever his liabilities, getting rid of him would admit the failure of one of the architects of the bush administration. I don't think the campaign can show that card. If they do, it shows how desperate they really see the election...And god...If they win...It will have to have been the best played GOP race in history (and the worst played Dem race to match!)....

As Sad and Horrible as it Gets

It seems the acts at the Abu Ghraib prison are as bad as could possibly be. What do we do if our government has evidence of US Soldiers sodomizing children?

"Debating about it, ummm ... Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."[Seymour Hersh ]

Notes from a similar speech Hersh gave in Chicago in June were posted on Brad DeLong's blog. Rick Pearlstein, who watched the speech, wrote: "[Hersh] said that after he broke Abu Ghraib people are coming out of the woodwork to tell him this stuff. He said he had seen all the Abu Ghraib pictures. He said, 'You haven't begun to see evil...' then trailed off. He said, 'horrible things done to children of women prisoners, as the cameras run.' He looked frightened."

I highly recommend you read the whole article and think about where we are in this. (it is not graphic)

FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE

a little casting info:

"Fantastic Four" Cast Nearly Complete
Is it clobberin' time for the casting agents at Fox? You be the judge. Variety reports the studio has nearly completed the lineup for the long-awaited big screen version of "The Fantastic Four." Previously announced castmember Michael Chiklis, who will play Ben Grimm/The Thing, will be joined by Ioan Gruffudd ("King Arthur) as brainiac Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, and Chris Evans ("Not Another Teen Movie") as the impulsive, spoiled Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.

No word on who'll slink into the role of Sue Storm/Invisible Girl, though the trade says Jessica Alba is the frontrunner, with Rachel MacAdams ("The Notebook") and Keri "Felicity" Russell also in the running. The Tim Story-directed flick, which is budgeted in the $85 million to $90 million range, is set to begin filming later this summer, with a July 1, 2005 release date planned.

In other superhero news, our Spidey sense is tingling over what sounds like a very misguided use of the Marvel Universe. Variety reports there are plans to turn the wise-cracking webslinger into a song-and-dance man in his very own musical stage production. The behind-the-scenes "Spider-Man" dream team currently consists of Neil Jordan as writer, Bono and The Edge as composers, and Broadway "Lion King" mastermind Julie Taymor as director. No word on whether Doc Ock will put his extra limbs to good use for a big "jazz hands" number.

Intelligence: Bush and C.I.A. Won't Release Paper on Prewar Intelligence:

"WASHINGTON, July 13 - The White House and the Central Intelligence Agency have refused to give the Senate Intelligence Committee a one-page summary of prewar intelligence in Iraq prepared for President Bush that contains few of the qualifiers and none of the dissents spelled out in longer intelligence reviews, according to Congressional officials."

God knows of what use this would be.

Keeping it in the Family

James E. Sharp, the attorney representing President Bush in the case where someone in the administration outted a CIA agent is also defending GOP/Bush darling Ken Lay in the Enron case.

The Week in Review

WEEKLY REVIEW

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a scathing report
on the CIA's unfounded, unjustified, and unreasonable claims
about Iraq's purported weapons of mass destruction; the
report was oddly silent, however, about the Bush
Administration's well-documented and apparently successful
campaign to intimidate the CIA into coming up with
justifications for the President's fraudulent case for the
invasion. Senator Trent Lott was outraged by the CIA's
"totally ridiculous, uncalled for, and counterproductive"
redactions of the report and called for an independent
commission to oversee the classification of government
information. Japan's defense ministry said that it will
issue its annual defense whitepaper as a "manga" comic book.
Iyad Allawi, the prime minister of Iraq's new puppet
government, signed a law giving him the power to declare
martial law and ban seditious groups. Allawi hinted recently
that national elections, which are scheduled for January
2005, might be delayed. President Hamid Karzai of
Afghanistan was planning to delay parliamentary elections
once again, and federal authorities in the United States
were discussing the possibility of postponing the November
elections in the event of a terrorist attack. Tom Ridge, the
secretary of homeland security, warned that Al Qaeda might
be planning an attack to disrupt the November elections, but
he said that he was aware of no specific threat or details
about the alleged plan. The color-coded threat level
remained unchanged, and many observers suspected the
announcement was made to distract attention from Senator
John Kerry and his new running mate, Senator John Edwards,
whom President Bush accused of being too inexperienced. The
Pentagon revealed that pay records of George W. Bush's
National Guard service during the Vietnam War, records that
might be able to establish whether he met his military
obligations, were accidentally destroyed. A new study
concluded that children of fat people are more likely
to be fat.

The Pentagon announced the creation of military review
panels to allow prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to challenge
their detentions, though they will not be permitted to have
lawyers present, nor will the hearings be public; critics
said that the Pentagon's plan falls short of the standard
set by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the prisoners
have a right to an independent hearing. Confused brown
pelicans were crashing into streets in Arizona, because heat
waves rising from the pavement look like water. The World
Court declared that Israel's West Bank wall is illegal
because it effectively seizes Palestinian land, and Israel's
public-security minister warned that Jewish extremists might
try to assassinate Israeli leaders to prevent the planned
withdrawal from Gaza. Slobodan Milosevic wasn't feeling
well, and Kenneth Lay, the former chairman and CEO of Enron,
was finally indicted. The British House of Lords voted to
limit the right of parents to spank their children. Prime
Minister Tony Blair of Britain admitted that weapons of mass
destruction might never be found in Iraq but continued to
maintain that "we know" Saddam had such weapons: "I do not
believe there was not a threat in relation to weapons of
mass destruction." A federal appeals court ruled that the
government's standards for the proposed Yucca Mountain
nuclear-waste dump in Nevada are insufficient because they
extend for only 10,000 years. Algerian police admitted that
a June 21 explosion at a power plant was a terrorist attack
by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. A Tamil
Tiger suicide bomber killed four policemen in Colombo, Sri
Lanka, and an Israeli soldier was killed by a bomb in Tel
Aviv. Aslan Maskhadov, the Chechen rebel leader, claimed to
be able to fight the Russians for another twenty years if
necessary, and he threatened to kill the next president of
Chechnya. "Whoever occupies this puppet's chair --" his days
are numbered." Jeb Bush was asked to list the angles on a
three-four-five triangle, a question that appears on the
Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which high school
students must pass to graduate. Bush replied: "I don't know,
125, 90, and whatever remains of 180?"

Federal health officials were thinking about banning the
practice of feeding pork, chicken, and other animal parts to
cattle; the pigs and chickens eat rendered cattle and thus
could transmit mad cow disease prions. There was apparently
no plan to stop feeding cattle huge quantities of cattle
blood, an obvious vector for the disease, and cattle will
continue to enjoy the feathers and excrement of 8.5 billion
chickens. The mayor of Nyahururu, Kenya, ordered the
slaughter of 500 pigs because they were mating with stray
dogs. Ireland was said to be short of priests, and the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, filed for
bankruptcy. In Shreveport, Louisiana, police arrested a man
in a wheelchair for shooting a man on crutches who
apparently hit the accused over the head with a crutch.
Condom supplies in much of the world were falling short.
Britain's Environment Agency said that male fish were being
changed to females by hormone-laden sewage dumped into
rivers. The EPA announced that it will fine DuPont for
failing to report significant test results relating to a
chemical used in making Teflon that was found in drinking
water near factories and in the fetus of a pregnant
employee. One hundred fifty million pieces of toy jewelry
were recalled because of high lead content. Peat bogs around
the world were releasing carbon dioxide, which is speeding
up global warming, and avian flu reappeared in Thailand and
China and Vietnam. Four organ-transplant recipients died
from rabies; all four received tissue from the same infected
donor. The European Court of Human Rights declined to extend
full human rights to fetuses, and the French parliament
banned human cloning. People in Canberra, Australia, were
warned to beware of mad starving kangaroos; at least one
golden retriever has been drowned by a kangaroo, and a woman
was attacked while out walking her poodle. A sinkhole in
Louisiana ate a giraffe and an ostrich. Scientists succeeded
in reading the mind of a monkey.

--Roger D. Hodge

A Little Help Here

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The terrorist threat against the United States in the run-up to the November election is as serious as at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said on Tuesday." "The quality of the information we have now is such that we have high confidence that the nation needs to be on guard," McLaughlin told Reuters in a telephone interview.

OK, so what do we do? if the threat is that clear and the administration wants to protect us, tell us what to do (other than 'be scared and vote bush' 'cause i'm not doing either of those).

Happy talk from hell

OUTFOXED! i have to see this. anyone wanna go in w/ me and buy the DVD?

So, does fox slant things against the democrats? I report, you decide (thanks to salon.com):

From March 23, 2004: "The so-called 9/11 commission has already been meeting. In fact, this is the eighth session. The fact that former Clinton and both former and current Bush administration officials are testifying gives it a certain tension, but this is not "what did he know and when did he know it" stuff. Do not turn this into Watergate. Remember the fleeting sense of national unity that emerged from this tragedy. Let's not desecrate that."

From April 6, 2004: "The events in Iraq Tuesday are going to be the top story, unless and until something else (or worse) happens. Err on the side of doing too much Iraq rather than not enough. Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of US lives and asking out loud why are we there? The US is in Iraq to help a country brutalized for 30 years protect the gains made by Operation Iraqi Freedom and set it on the path to democracy. Some people in Iraq don't want that to happen. That is why American GIs are dying. And what we should remind our viewers."

From April 27, 2004: "Fighting overnight in Najaf didn't go the way the militants there had hoped. Reports say 43 of them were killed, with no US casualties being reported. This is one of the few times we've gotten a count of enemy dead. Let's use that to make the point what happens when terrorists take on the coalition."

From April 28, 2004: "Also, let's refer to the US marines we see in the foreground as 'sharpshooters' not snipers, which carries a negative connotation."

From May 5, 2004: "Thursday update: the pictures from Abu Graeb (sic) prison are disturbing. They have rightly provoked outrage. Today we have a picture -- aired on Al Arabiya -- of an American hostage being held with a scarf over his eyes, clearly against his will. Who's outraged on his behalf?"

The GOP war on trial lawyers

A great look at what likely won't stick to edwards. generally, all democrats should be aware of this. Bush was attacking trial lawyers this week.

you know, this is the first time i've felt directly insulted by a president.

Happy talk from hell

OUTFOXED! i have to see this. anyone wanna go in w/ me and buy the DVD?

So, does fox slant things against the democrats? I report, you decide (thanks to salon.com):

From March 23, 2004: "The so-called 9/11 commission has already been meeting. In fact, this is the eighth session. The fact that former Clinton and both former and current Bush administration officials are testifying gives it a certain tension, but this is not "what did he know and when did he know it" stuff. Do not turn this into Watergate. Remember the fleeting sense of national unity that emerged from this tragedy. Let's not desecrate that."

From April 6, 2004: "The events in Iraq Tuesday are going to be the top story, unless and until something else (or worse) happens. Err on the side of doing too much Iraq rather than not enough. Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of US lives and asking out loud why are we there? The US is in Iraq to help a country brutalized for 30 years protect the gains made by Operation Iraqi Freedom and set it on the path to democracy. Some people in Iraq don't want that to happen. That is why American GIs are dying. And what we should remind our viewers."

From April 27, 2004: "Fighting overnight in Najaf didn't go the way the militants there had hoped. Reports say 43 of them were killed, with no US casualties being reported. This is one of the few times we've gotten a count of enemy dead. Let's use that to make the point what happens when terrorists take on the coalition."

From April 28, 2004: "Also, let's refer to the US marines we see in the foreground as 'sharpshooters' not snipers, which carries a negative connotation."

From May 5, 2004: "Thursday update: the pictures from Abu Graeb (sic) prison are disturbing. They have rightly provoked outrage. Today we have a picture -- aired on Al Arabiya -- of an American hostage being held with a scarf over his eyes, clearly against his will. Who's outraged on his behalf?"

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

This show continues to amaze me that they constantly ask the questions that the 'real' press miss. Wolf Blitzer of CNN was on and, in a very good natured way, John Stewart asked what we all wanted to know. why has the press just dropped this? after mentioned asked 'isn't this the biggest scandal ever...or was that file-gate? (BAM!)" Stewart asked 'shouldn't somebody be fired?' and when Blitzer mentioned Tenent's resignation, Stewart said that Bush was applauding the job he did in the same week. He asked if CNN held meetings since the Senate report came out to say "what the hell have we been doing?" He even asked if the Bush Admin. had the press SCARED to ask the real questions.

It was funny and good natured, but it also hit at the heart of what real reporting should do. i know CNN sometimes DOES get the good stuff, but its RARELY through blitzer and its often on some edition of Inside Politics running at 3pm when nobody sees it.

great stuff.

the highway kooks have spoken.

heed the word.

the highway kooks have spoken.

heed the word.

I HAVE NO IDEA

I'm not going to tell you what to read into this, but if you look at things like this, you have to wonder just how uncomfortable the Bush Campaign is....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior House Democratic lawmaker was skeptical on Sunday of a Bush administration idea to obtain the authority to delay the November presidential election in case of an attack by al Qaeda,

U.S. counterterrorism officials are looking at an emergency proposal on the legal steps needed to postpone the presidential election in case of such an attack, Newsweek reported on Sunday.

Swirly Shows us how sorry it is...

go here.

WOLF WOLF!!

Tom Ridge warned that al Qaeda "is moving forward with its plans to carry forward a large-scale attack in the United States in order to disrupt our democratic process". when pressed on the issue, he revealed the office of homeland security had NO NEW EVIDENCE of such an attack. this sort of political manipulation is utterly irresponsible and dangerous.

"Fahrenheit" Fans Moore Diverse Than Thought


"Nearly half of the American electorate has seen or plans to see 'Fahrenheit 9/11,'" before WH 2004, according to a Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll. "Fully 23% of voters who intend to see the film self-identify as Bush voters, while another 10% say they're supporting Nader or undecided. Forty-one percent of potential movie viewers reside in battleground states, which mirrors the national average of 40% of voters residing in battleground states." MoveOn PAC exec dir Eli Pariser: "Contrary to Republicans claims, it's clear that voters across the political spectrum want to see what Michael Moore has to say. The film has stimulated a conversation in households across America about the Bush Administration's decisions and actions" (release, 7/7).

Meanwhile, Mr. Mooch and I both still struggle to spell "Fahrenheit" with any consistency

Swirly Sent Me This...

A great line on the Dems from HARDBALL host Chris Matthews on MSNBC:

MSNBC's Matthews: "The Democrats have got to stop giving up on the South and now they've got a guy with a real North Carolina accent, a guy who was born in South Carolina, the son of a mill worker -- he's got all the attributes of a regular Southern guy. And I bet he's going to have a strong support from African-Americans. That's just a hunch. ... It's a comfort factor with a guy who comes from that kind of working-class Southern background, who is very much a rural kid. Like a lot of African-Americans grew up in rural families in the South."
More Matthews: "Clearly by picking a Southerner, [Kerry] wants to compete in the South. He wants to try and get the get-able states -- the border states of Missouri, southern Ohio, which is very Southern in many ways, try to pick up those two states. ... Borderline states like Louisiana, which has a large Catholic population, is get-able. Arkansas is get-able, if the Clintons come back, especially if Bill Clinton comes back and campaigns very hard" (7/6).

FORGIVE ME!

Polly and the Mooch aren't gone, but our access to the internet has not existed lately. we hope to be up and running this week before La Federala skins someone. in the meantime, the Mooch-Mobile (in red, natch!) has been repaired and the top is down.

Bush Records Destroyed

Remember how Bush didn't show up for his Guard duty.
Remember how he released his records to show he was there, but they were missing the parts that would PROVE it one way or the other?
Well, it seems the pentagon destroyed the records in a micro-film mishap that just HAPPENED to only effect the 3 months in question.

gosh, you'd think someone did it on purpose.

It said the payroll records of "numerous service members," including former First Lt. Bush, had been ruined in 1996 and 1997 by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm. No back-up paper copies could be found, it added in notices dated June 25.

The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question...

Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director who has said that the released records confirmed the president's fulfillment of his National Guard commitment, did not return two calls for a response.

Gosh AGAIN! can you imagine why? surely he wants to clear everything up!

worst president ever*

*(he just passed Harding)

Get a Leg Up on the Pile...

And Finance your Dreams...

This thing has me laughing so hard lately...especially their 'catch phrase' and the 'happy customer' at the end that had to 'raise up' and meet his dreams head-on.

UPDATE

Below i mentioned the Bush spin on the 'bounce' once gets out of picking a running mate and getting a convention. because they dominate the news cycles with largely positive press, i can see that. however, is 15 POINTS that normal? maybe it's been too long and i just don't remember.

WASHINGTON — Challenger John Kerry, who according to campaign sources is expected to announce his running mate this morning, will lead President Bush by 15 points when the Democratic convention wraps up at the end of July, according to a top Bush campaign adviser.

In a memo to campaign leadership Monday, Matthew Dowd, Bush's chief strategist, said Kerry is about to benefit from "the average challenger's bounce." ... "We should expect the race to swing wildly to his favor by early August," Dowd, who remains confident Bush will win, said in the memo.

Dowd also noted that Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe predicted Sunday that Kerry would be up by 8 to 10 points following the convention.

UPDATE

Below i mentioned the Bush spin on the 'bounce' once gets out of picking a running mate and getting a convention. because they dominate the news cycles with largely positive press, i can see that. however, is 15 POINTS that normal? maybe it's been too long and i just don't remember.

WASHINGTON — Challenger John Kerry, who according to campaign sources is expected to announce his running mate this morning, will lead President Bush by 15 points when the Democratic convention wraps up at the end of July, according to a top Bush campaign adviser.

In a memo to campaign leadership Monday, Matthew Dowd, Bush's chief strategist, said Kerry is about to benefit from "the average challenger's bounce." ... "We should expect the race to swing wildly to his favor by early August," Dowd, who remains confident Bush will win, said in the memo.

Dowd also noted that Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe predicted Sunday that Kerry would be up by 8 to 10 points following the convention.

UPDATE

Below i mentioned the Bush spin on the 'bounce' once gets out of picking a running mate and getting a convention. because they dominate the news cycles with largely positive press, i can see that. however, is 15 POINTS that normal? maybe it's been too long and i just don't remember.

WASHINGTON — Challenger John Kerry, who according to campaign sources is expected to announce his running mate this morning, will lead President Bush by 15 points when the Democratic convention wraps up at the end of July, according to a top Bush campaign adviser.

In a memo to campaign leadership Monday, Matthew Dowd, Bush's chief strategist, said Kerry is about to benefit from "the average challenger's bounce." ... "We should expect the race to swing wildly to his favor by early August," Dowd, who remains confident Bush will win, said in the memo.

Dowd also noted that Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe predicted Sunday that Kerry would be up by 8 to 10 points following the convention.

Get Ready for the Negative Ads

Well, the US Chamber of Commerce said it will drop its normal "neutral" stance if Edwards is picked as the Democratic Nominee. With their current attack on consumer rights, a trial lawyer VP is just too much to swallow. The US Chamber is known for dumping MILLION$ into campaigns, mostly to fill the air with negative ads. don't expect this to be any different. we can expect the sleaze factor to go up by 10 compared to the last 90 days which saw a blitz of Bush ads, virtually all attacks on Kerry.

Here's hoping this crap...and bush's lack of a record...will create a little backlash. from the WSJ link above:

Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has made a public vow: If John Edwards is chosen as John Kerry's running mate, the chamber will abandon its traditional stance of neutrality in the presidential race and work feverishly to defeat the Democratic ticket. "We'd get the best people and the greatest assets we can rally" to the cause, he says.

Other business leaders in Washington have been less public and less precise, but no less passionate. Reviewing the candidates in the Democratic primaries earlier this year, a Fortune 100 chief executive who is active in Washington told me that Mr. Edwards, the North Carolina senator, "is the one we fear the most" -- more than John Kerry, more than Dick Gephardt, more than Howard Dean
Damn right they're worried about him. They don't like any little thing...especially us 'citizens' standing in the way of any good profiteering.

I can't wait to get my country back.

WHERE'S THE MOOCH!?!

For those wondering where i've been...Mr. Mooch and i have suffered through a long internet-disconnect. purly related to hardware troubles, we hope to have everything fixed soon and the posts to be less sporadic.

sorry for going dark on ya.

BUSH IS DOING SO WELL...

that his campaign pollster (Matthew Dowd) put out this release warning not to worry about any upcoming spikes in Kerry numbers or drops in BUSH numbers in the up coming days here. it is all very "nothing to see here, move on"...

heh.

He is quoted as to saying the race will "swing wildly" towards Kerry in upcoming weeks.

oh REALLY. heck, i've not been that optimistic, but those Bush people always seem to know something i don't!

VP Pick Today!

Long time REaders of Polly and the Mooch will recall my support of John Edwards. It is of little suprise and much relief that He was picked today to be the Democratic Nominee for Vice President. I believe he will help not only the ticket but also the best pick for long-term party building. I couldn't be more pleased (er...well, their roles could be reversed, but i'm not complaining!).

OH!! don't forget THIS. the NY Post has it EXCLUSIVE, (and i agree, NOBODY has this story)...They went to print with GEPHARDT getting the VP nod! haw haw haw! Owned, by Newscorp (Fox News), they report--you decide!

heh. i just did. you guys don't know what you're doing!

New Scientist

skull found to be 930,000 years old! is that the oldest human skull ever found?

Box Office Mojo

Spider-Man 2 opened with $40 Million on a WEDNESDAY. we haven't even gotten todays numbers OR the first weekend.

wow.

At Least Someone is Saying It

According to a recent round-table interview in Rolling Stone, Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden had a recent "frank exchange of views" of his own with Dick Cheney, and in the Oval Office no less. But as far as we can tell, unlike Cheney's recent outburst, Biden didn't need any four-letter words to get his point across.

Here's what the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he told Bush and Cheney in a recent visit: "I was in the Oval Office the other day, and the president asked me what I would do about resignations. I said, 'Look, Mr. President, would I keep Rumsfeld? Absolutely not.' And I turned to Vice President Cheney, who was there, and I said, 'Mr. Vice President, I wouldn't keep you if it weren't constitutionally required.' I turned back to the president and said, 'Mr. President, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld are bright guys, really patriotic, but they've been dead wrong on every major piece of advice they've given you. That's why I'd get rid of them, Mr. President -- not just Abu Ghraib.' They said nothing. Just sat like big old bullfrogs on a log and looked at me."

He hasn't given the president a pass in the past, either: "About six months ago, the president said to me, 'Well, at least I make strong decisions, I lead.' I said, 'Mr. President, look behind you. Leaders have followers. No one's following. Nobody.'"

And that is about as much as anyone can say...directly to the source. one has to wonder if the presidential denial is abating.