Drafted...Perhaps

Some Polly and the Mooch regulars know that 3 years ago I worked with the Democratic Governors' Association and our former Governor in monitoring our elections. Since then I've done some work in various elections helping others monitor the vote for improprieties. I've been planning to do some work with our local races here in MS, but i was informed today that i may be elsewhere.

the tightest race the Democrats have is for the New Jersey Senate seat. Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez v Republican Tom Keane in that race. Today i was asked to go to New jersey and help the Menendez campaign with election day poll monitoring. I haven't decided if i'm going yet. I'm just not sure.

What Not to Do

OK. here we go. if you're in a tight senate race (here Webb vs. Allen in Virginia), you don't need to do stuff that makes you look bad. Sen. George Allen (R,VA) seems to have thrown that kernel out the window. Above you can see some video of an Allen event. it seems someone in an Allen sticker asked a question of the Senator that seemed (to their ears) rude. I have no word on what the questions were.

anyway...their solution was to put this guy in a headlock, slam him into a window, then thrown im on the ground. all while the cameras were rolling.

brilliant idea.

Shut up and Sing

Here's an ad that NBC is refusing to air. It's an ad for a documentary film about the Dixie Chicks and the backlash they got when they said they didn't agree with bush.

regardless of all that, watch the film (link above) and tell me if you can pick out the part that's so bad they wouldn't air it on network TV.

The List - Harper's Weekly

Harper's Does it again!

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WEEKLY REVIEW

President George W. Bush signed the Military
Commissions Act, which suspends the right of habeas corpus for terrorism suspects and grants immunity to CIA interrogators and government officials, such as President Bush, for violations of the War Crimes Act. Domestic security officials notified seven football stadiums of a discredited threat of radiological bomb attacks out of an "abundance of caution," and the United States Coast Guard announced plans to mount 7.62 mm, M-240B machine guns on official boats in the Great Lakes. Rear Adm. John E. Crowley Jr. said, "I don’t know when or if something might happen on the Great Lakes, but I don’t want to learn the hard way." Furry crabs were found in Chesapeake Bay.

The mid-month tally for U.S. troops killed in Iraq
was 79, making October the deadliest month this year for American soldiers. The first Eskimo was killed in the Iraq war; it took 20 men a full day to dig his grave through the permafrost in a town 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The Maine National Guard has been offering "Flat Daddies" and "Flat Mommies," life-size cardboard cutouts of deployed service members, to spouses, children, and relatives waiting for them to return. A Gypsy pressure group filed suit to stop British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's latest film from being shown in Germany. The group accuses him of antiziganism, or hostility to gypsies;Cohen's fictional alter-ego Borat claimed that Gypsies had molested his horse.

During a debate with his Democratic rival, Senator Conrad Burns of Montana said that President Bush (who this week compared Iraq to Vietnam) has a secret plan for winning the war, but that Bush is not going to share his plan with the world. White House press secretary Tony Snow compared the President to "one of those guys at the gym who plays about 40 chessboards at once."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan collapsed from fasting during Ramadan. His security staff rushed him unconscious to the hospital and accidentally locked him in his car; they fought for ten minutes to break the car's reinforced windows with a sledgehammer and chisel. A Denver woman was ruled criminally insane for stabbing her 21-month-old granddaughter 62 times with a butcher knife after she received "spiritual messages from the geese flying overhead." A convicted killer on Texas death row committed suicide 15 hours before he was supposed to die by lethal injection by slitting his jugular vein with a makeshift blade; prison authorities found the message "I didn't do it" smeared in blood on the walls of his cell. An Ohio cult leader who shot and
killed a family of five as they stood in a pit dug inside his barn contested his upcoming lethal injection on the grounds that it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment to execute a fat man. Coca-Cola announced plans to market a new calorie-burning green tea beverage called Enviga, and the mayor of Paris auctioned off City Hall's most expensive wines in favor of serving "little democratic wines." In Panama, 22 people died from ingesting poisoned cough syrup that contained the industrial chemical diethylene glycol, rather than the safe solvent glycerin glycol. More than 4,500 tons of polluted material, residue from the toxic sludge dumped in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in August,
have been collected since a clean-up effort began in
September. Scientists identified more than 200 oceanic dead zones. The king of Spain denied that he had shot and killed a drunken bear.

Las Vegas magnate Steve Wynn elbowed a hole through Picasso's "Le Reve," a painting he had just sold for a record $139 million. Two subway trains collided at a station in Rome, killing one person and injuring more than 100. In Sri Lanka, Tamil rebels drove a truck full of explosives into a convoy of military buses, killing 92 sailors. Nearly four months after the arraignment of PFC Steven D. Green, eight other soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division faced courts-martial in Kentucky for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family in March. In New York a developmentally disabled handyman was hospitalized after two teenagers sodomized him at a bowling alley with a plumbing snake, and a Catholic priest acknowledged having had an intimate, two-year relationship with Mark Foley when the now-disgraced Republican congressman
was a twelve-year-old altar boy. An exhibit at the Oslo Natural History Museum displayed homosexual behavior among giraffes, penguins, parrots, beetles, and whales. Radical Christian critics said organizers of the exhibition should "burn in hell." China insisted that the U.N. request, rather than require, countries to inspect North Korean cargo. An American expert called the sanctions "kabuki theater," and North Korea called them a "declaration of war." In South Korea, where scientists announced the development of a new genetically altered strain of adenovirus capable of destroying cancer cells, the government warned that North Korea might be preparing to conduct a second nuclear test. The Boy Scouts introduced a
new merit badge for learning how copyright law applies to pirated movies and music. In New York City, CBGB closed, but the Russian Tea Room will reopen. Scotland Yard and the British Home Office misplaced two "extremely dangerous" terrorism suspects. One escaped from a secure psychiatric
unit, and neither can be named for legal reasons. The U.S. Postal Service announced that it would phase out 23,000 stamp vending machines by 2010. A Massachusetts elementary school banned tag.

Some Voting Machines Chop Off Candidates' Names - washingtonpost.com

This is just perfect. one of the closest races in the country and Democratic challenger James Webb's last name is been chopped off the ballot.

you can still vote for him, you just can't see his name.

Unfortunately for him, these machines CANNOT BE FIXED for election day. That's right, our new technology is so advanced, it cannot even be repaired! how advanced we are.

How Many Other Senate Candidates Use Interacial Dating as an Issue in Their Ads?

Answer? none.

Harold Ford wasn't supposed to be biting at the lead in the closing weeks of the Senate race in Tenn. I mean, he's a Democrat, it's the South, and he's Black! what goes on here!?!

I've predicted, privately, that this is the seat that the GOP will most likely hold the senate for the GOP. This is the easy one where they can play the race card over and over. This isn't to say that Tenn. is a racist state. it IS to say that the racists that are in Tenn. are safely in the Republican Party. The GOP can win by energizing its base, and that is part of their base. The ad that they are running shows a white woman wanting to 'hook up' with the black senate candidate.

Now tell me. can you name any other ad in the US referencing the touchy subject of inter-racial dating? is there any OTHER reason to run such an ad, other than to evoke nasty feelings in a political race? What other races out there have a message about the candidate 'hooking up' in the ads? none. It isn't an issue...i suppose...unless you don't have issues to run on anyway.

Harold Ford would be walking all over his second tier opponent in this race if he wasn't black. instead, he's in the fight of his life. Ford should win. I'm afraid he won't.

Daily Kos: "Stay the course"? Whoever said such a thing?

Sunday Bush was on ABC's "This Week..." political news show. he said something that was outright shocking to me. I was a little dismayed that the host didn't follow up on this incredible comment.

what was it he said?

He claimed to have never (NEVER!?!) said that their policy in Iraq was to 'Stay the Course'.

click above for interesting video. I'm sure The Daily Show is cooking up their own version as i type this.

So, Is This What "As They Stand Up, We'll Stand Down" Means?

In a new, not so good turn of events, religious leader turned warlord Muqtada al-Sadr seized complete control of Amarah in the south of Iraq. if anyone wondered if we were in civil war over there...i think you now have your answer. when organized groups that are not part of the government start seizing control of cities...well, that's civil war in anyone's book.

About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers were patrolling city streets in commandeered police vehicles, eyewitnesses said. Other fighters had set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.

Fighting broke out in Amara on Thursday after the head of police intelligence in the surrounding province, a member of the rival Shiite Badr Brigade militia, was killed by a roadside bomb, prompting his family to kidnap the teenage brother of the local head of the a-Madhi Army.

The Mahdi Army seized several police stations and clamped a curfew on the city in retaliation.

This is an area where al-Sadr's men have long had freedom to act as they pleased. This not being enough, they now have outright control of the city.

One-Day Iraq Toll Is Highest for U.S. In Many Months - washingtonpost.com

Last summer was bad enough, and now we're at 43% above those numbers. October is proving the one of the most deadly month in the histroy of the war. 10 soldiers died Tuesday. That makes 70 in 17 days.

We sometimes tend to overlook the Iraqi dead. it's easy to think less seriously about them because 'they're killing themselves'...or 'it's not us, so it's ok'. well, that's not exactly so. the less safe they are the less interest they have in their new government. if the Iraqi government we created cannot provide them basic services and protection, then they will turn to the militias. This is what is building civil war.

Yesterday 30 bodies were found dumped around Baghdad. most all had been tortured. most with power drills to the skull, torso, and limbs. it is estimated that 90% of the iraqi's killed were done in execution style after torture. this is at a rate just under 100 a day for the nation. Pair this with the fact that the Iraqi parliment, last week, passed provisions which would severly limit the Suni's role in government. This was done over the protest of the Prime Minister. May believe this is the beginning of the end. i'm not sure. i'm just reading from people who know more than me and hoping for the best.

and on that note, anyone know where the USS Eisenhower is?

The Man With the Plan

I found this just sad. Montana Senator, and Rocky Mountain Cook, Conrad Burns (R,MT) is in the re-election fight of his life. Below is the reporting on what he knows about Iraq:

Sen. Conrad Burns said at a debate Tuesday night that President Bush does have a plan for winning the war in Iraq, but he isn’t about to share it with the world.

WHO in their right mind thinks this is a 'good enough' answer on Iraq? surely this man should just retire at this point.

What's in an October Surprise?

Ever heard that phrase? An October Surprise is something that happens just before the november election day and changes the political climate.

Remember a few posts back when i mentioned that the US is activating some of the units that it would trigger if we were to have a conflict with Iran? well that is still going strong:

The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month. It may be a bluff. It may be a feint. It may be a simple show of American power. But I doubt it.

Personally, i don't think we are capable of a 3 front war right now without help...or rather with meaningful success. i'm not worried. none this less, this is some decent sabre rattling.

New Orleans Saints are Saintly!

Well, this was a big one! we beat the Philly Eagles 27-24 in the final seconds of the game. This was a huge test as the Eagles are one of the best in the NFL. Heck, we're 6 weeks into the season and we've already won two more games than we did last year! So far...what a season!!

A GOP(edophile) Primer

Here's a "Cliffs Notes" version of the Foley/Pedophile scandal and how the House Leadership are in a bit of trouble.

First it started when the Speaker of the House and GOP Majority Leader of the House contacted the Washington Post about the story, both trying to head off problems. what they didn't do was get their stories straight. The conflicts point to to a speaker of the house that may have sat on bad news to protect his party (and, let's note here, NOT protect a kid).

Now, for the last few days, Speaker Hastert and the rest of the leadership have gotten their Lies...err STORIES straight and it goes a little something like this: They WERE notified of the innappropriate emails coming from Congressman Foley in late 2005. they were informed that the emails were implying inappropriate things, but didn't come out and SAY it. either way, this wasn't OK and they spoke to Foley about it. done deal

Fastforward to last Friday and they find out that all of this stuff was MUCH worse than they were led to believe and they were just as shocked as we were on Friday. They also would like to add it wasn't certain if Hastert 'knew' of all this or if his staff did and just lost it in the shuffle.

OK. pretty weak, but come on! they'll take anything they can get. it does imply that they couldn't be bothered with follow-up when this problem affected children and that they didn't take this all very seriously..etc etc...but WAIT! there's more...

Kirk Fordham, Rep. Foley's previous chief-of-staff (and curent chief-of-staff) has come along to spoil the party. he says that all that line fromt he leadership (Above) is a pile of crap. he says that he HIMSELF told Speaker Hastert's (then) Chief-of-Staff Scott Palmer all about the problem with Foley and the pages. What's more, he told the guy about it THREE years ago!! This screws up their entire story.

what?? what's that?? if you listen close enough...on a night like this... you MAY just be able to hear the sound of messenger being killed, all the way from the capital.

Movie News!

It seems Robert Downey Jr. will be Tony Stark/Iron Man in the new Iron Man movie. It will be directed by Jon Favreau of swingers fame.

HOLLYWOOD, CA, September 29, 2006 – Academy Award® Nominee Robert Downey Jr. will take on the role of one of Marvel's greatest Super Heroes, signing on as the title character for Marvel Studios' highly-anticipated IRON MAN. This project, the first feature film to be produced independently by Marvel Entertainment, will launch into theaters May 2, 2008. The film is being directed by Jon Favreau and will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.

UPDATE!! -- They Mis-Report...You Decide!

If you haven't seen it already, FoxNews is doing their part to help out with the GOP's Rep. Foley scandal. How? by ID'ing him as a Democrat on TV of course!

UPDATE! Seems the AP got in on the act too! plus look at that screen shot. it isn't just that they put a D instead of an R. they were adding text to make it look like the dems and the democratic leader (Reid) were in the know.