Here's a little Voter Suppression for ya--Milwaukee Style!

As you can guess, it was distributed ONLY in Black neighborhoods. more evidence that the GOP doesn't care much for that 'liberty and justice for all' part of the pledge.

Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow ! ! !

WOW! What a GREAT movie! This thing was a big love letter to the action of the sci fi and adventure serials of the 30s and 40s. I found myself excited through the whole thing, wondering ‘how are the going to get out of this’ and just wound up to see what was coming around each corner. Now THAT is what a movie is supposed to do to you.

It also didn’t hurt that I got a few of the homages and references that stood out to me:

The “Carriers” are a 30s, prop driven version of the Heli-Carrier from Nick Fury,
Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The robots were from the AWESOME “Mechanical Monsters,” a Superman Cartoon of the 40s by Max Fleischer.

1138 pops up as an address and is a reference to THX 1138, George Lucas’
1st movie.

A “co-ordinance” given was a (local) zip code for one of the locations where shooting was done.

Joe Sullivan’s plane (a souped up P-40) was one of the “Flying Tigers” that fought the Japanese in Manchuria prior to WW2 but not actually as U.S. warplanes.

In the Newspaper Headline Montage you can see the outline of Godzilla in the Tokyo paper.

The Empire State Building/zeppelin docking in the beginning was an homage to reality and King Kong (1933). The movie shows zeppelin moorings in the last scene. Originally the building’s top spire was actually designed to allow zeppelins to dock and unload their passengers. Besides being an utterly terrifying idea, it
was completely impossible to do and thus abandoned.

The Electrical Security Device at Totenkopf’s door was an actual thing called a ‘Tesla Coil’ designed by Nikola Tesla. Tesla actually worked to create an electrical ‘Death Ray’ for the U.S. Government before WW1, but was unsuccessful...so we hear.

Things that were neat but I had NO IDEA about until later:

The villan’s name is Dr. Totenkopf, which roughly translates to DeathHead (thanks La Federala).

Dr. Totenkopf is played by Sir Lawrence Olivier, who died in 1989. He was CGI’d from archive footage.

The Tree bridge is a reference to King Kong (1933).

When Polly is on the phone w/ her editor as the robots attack, the words she uses to describe their approach are the same lines used by a reporter character in Orson Welles’ “The War of the Worlds” broadcast of 1938.

Arkansas Is In Play

This one is for gclark. While not a sure thing, Arkansas appears to be up in the air. i know many Mississippi Attorneys going there for the election to pitch in.

Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, just held a conference call with Arkansas media to announce a $250,000 television ad buy for
Arkansas. Starting tonight, and continuing through Election Day, the ads will run on stations in Little Rock, Ft. Smith, and Jonesboro.

McAuliffe said that the commitment, which is their largest in any Southern state besides Florida, was motivated by their own internal tracking polls, which show the
presidential race is a dead heat in Arkansas.

"The state is switching from red to blue," McAuliffe said. "We would not be spending a quarter of a million dollars there if it did not show that we could win."

Zogby and others show bush with 46% and 48%. the last few days have been hitting him and a new $500,000 ad buy that just dropped can't hurt. the ads came from the 'Win Back Respect' organization that has the BEST AD clobbering bush (it shows him joking about not finding WMDs then cuts to a woman who lost her brother while actually looking for WMDs. she didn't find the joke funny, and neither do i).

Maybe the Elvis of Arkansas (Clinton) can juice up the voting public too...?

The Drudge Report has Mud on It.

Anyone else notice that the Drudge Report has become the literal bullhorn of GOP mudslinging against the Kerry/Edwards campaign? now we all know drudge dips into this stuff from time to time, but the last few weeks seem to have one purpose: any headline must benefit the president. just an observation.

SEND IN THE CLONES!!

in an attempt to pad his millitary cred, the bush campaign is running ads where they 'fill in' the crowd with soldiers. you can see here where the same soldiers are digitally added to the shot! i guess the president's required loyalty oaths don't inspire the crowds.

What's the title of the ad? "Whatever It Takes"...How appropriate.

Bush Claims He's NOT Fit for Office!!

but i don't think he quite realizes he was talking about himself. heh.

Our military is now investigating a number of possible scenarios, including that the explosives may have been moved before our troops even arrived at the site. This investigation is important and it's ongoing, and a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief.

With his record...I have to agree!

Just HOW BAD was Rumsfeld's Plan?

Let me remind you:

• When it all started, Rumsfeld claimed we only needed 40,000 troops going in.
• CENTCOM asked for 380,000.
• The Administration agreed to 250,000.
• They actually sent 140,000.

Last year General Abizaid testified before the U.S. Senate claiming, 'There is more ammunition in Iraq than anyplace I've ever been in my life and it's not securable, I wish I could tell you we had it all under control, we don't.' He addes that there were not enough forces anywhere to guard this ammunition in Iraq.

Bush short changes our soldiers and when he's called to take responsibility for it, he claims Kerry is badmouthing the very soldiers that Bush sold short! What a leader! never a bullet that someone ELSE can't take for him!

Could Have Been Worse!

From the AP:

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi State's football program was placed on four
years probation, stripped of four scholarships during each of the next two
seasons and banned from postseason play this year by the NCAA on Wednesday
because of recruiting violations.

The upside is that we're banned from post season play for one year...the ONE year there's no way in hell we'll ever GET a bowl game! so yeah...i'll take that!

The downside is that we're getting penalized for our school breaking the rules to recruit the WORST TEAM of the last 10 years!

You lie with Swine...

Salon reports that some in the Christian Right have offered a helping hand to the Cheney's for fixing their daughter's gay-ness:

Righties tell the Cheneys Mary can be cured

We're sure that Republicans will be shocked and appalled to learn that Mary Cheney is once again being dragged forward to make a partisan political point about homosexuality. Today, Concerned Women for America, the veteran right-wing organization founded by Beverly LaHaye, released 'About Mary: An Open Letter to Dick and Lynn Cheney.' Under the guise of praising the Vice President's daughter -- 'Mary is, I'm sure, a fine young woman with many wonderful qualities,' it says -- the missive actually uses her to make an argument about whether or not homosexuality is a choice.

Spies Like Us...

As you may recall...the former CiA Director George Tenent called the war in iraq 'wrong'. Now his (currently serving) counterpart from Australia--Dennis Richardson--has given the view from a coalition member.

He has linked the iraqi mis-adventure to the growth in number of the terrorists operating worldwide. in particular, followers of Osama Bin Laden have expanded operation in Australia. While he notes that Australia was a target before 9/11...he adds that iraq has become a propaganda machine for the movement.

HAW HAW HAW

i've resisted putting this one up for a while. here you can see the architect of the Florida theft of 2000 in the U.S. Congress. Former Fla. Sec. of State Katherine Harris--now U.S. Congresswoman--can be seen here in the background of a CSPAN shot all but making out w/ her pal Rep. Bob Simmons (R-Conn.).

somebody needs to get a room...heh heh heh.

Rehnquist Likely Worse off than Reported.

Medical experts have noted that the procedure the Chief Justice underwent is usually associated with a serious illness. it has been reported that he had a tracheotomy related to thyroid cancer.

That's the public news...but the experts i mentioned above have commented that such a treatment is most often for a form of cancer called "anaplastic carcinoma is an extremely serious and aggressive thyroid cancer which often results in the death of the patient...within several months of diagnosis." (Univ. of Va. Health Center).

Many have observed that the Chief Justice has been the least healthy of the 9 justices and expected him to be one of the 1st to leave the bench. Just as many have also observed that he (and some say O'Connor) would both like to step down but are reluctant to do so under a Democratic Replacement. i fully expected O'Connor to retire over the last 4 years but she did not. Now Rehnquist may be in such poor health he cannot choose when to leave.

i believe the next President may appoint more new members to the court than any since Nixon.

Caught RED HANDED!

Fla. GOP documents show that they have created lists of Democratic voters for the purpose of intimidation and challenging lawful voters. as has been said here before...the GOP uses supression to win. Note that this story is being covered by the BBC--NOT a U.S. paper (so far).

A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight
investigation reveals. Election supervisor Ion Sancho believes some voters are being intimidated

Two e-mails, prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director in Washington DC, contain a 15-page so-called "caging list".

It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville, Florida.

An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, told Newsnight: "The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is to challenge voters on election day." [...]

In Jacksonville, to determine if Republicans were using the lists or other means of intimidating voters, we filmed a private detective
filming every "early voter" - the majority of whom are black - from behind a vehicle with blacked-out windows.

The private detective claimed not to know who was paying for his all-day services.

On the scene, Democratic Congresswoman Corinne Brown said the surveillance operation was part of a campaign of intimidation tactics used by the Republican Party to intimate and scare off African American voters, almost all of whom are registered Democrats.

Quote of the Campaign

As delivered by Bill Clinton today:

"Now, one of Clinton’s laws of politics is this, if one candidate’s trying to scare you, and the other one is trying to get you to think, if one candidate is appealing to your fears and the other one is appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."

that is the quote of the campaign for the kerry camp.

Clinton Appearance - update

CNN reports that between 100000 and 120000 people showed u p to the kerry/clinton rally today. i saw the pictures. it was huge.

HARDBALL! ...FOXNews Style

Look at the TOUGH questions FoxNews has been giving Bush/Cheney in their sitdown interviews:

"I've got 15 questions for you. If they're dumb, tell me they're dumb."

"Do you think that when he says these things, John Kerry, your opponent, you were in these three debates with him, do you think he knows he's not telling the truth?"

"In light of the CBS document fiasco, do you think you get a fair shake from the network news and the elite media like the New York Times?"

"A guy over at Newsweek said 80 percent in the elite media favors Kerry. That doesn't surprise you, does it?"

"And you're healthy?"

"What's Chirac's problem? He hasn't been a great ally to the U.S. since 9/11. He doesn't want NATO forces to protect elections in Afghanistan. Come on."

"Do you have any theory on why college professors, pinhead press people why they go into the liberal realm?"

"Has the press given [Kerry] a pass?"

*"Is it a reality that we could turn on our television sets one day -- Fox News Channel, I hope -- and find out that a nuclear weapon has gone off here?"

"You've said one of the things you were most unhappy about is this issue of the tone in Washington. Let me just run down a list of prominent Democrats for a second here, because I can't remember a time in my life where it's been this bad."

"You're the president of the United States. You're also leading troops in harm's way. This is the leader of the opposition party [criticizing you]. Does that bother you?"

"John Kerry has flipped-flopped his way into a dangerous position [regarding Iraq]. So my question is, If John Kerry were president would he make this country more
vulnerable and more susceptible to terror attacks?"

"Now, all this was propaganda. All of this that you didn't ... They say you didn't register in Massachusetts [with the National Guard in 1973]. Is that bogus?"

Tons of Iraq explosives missing UPDATE!

Look at this:

A senior administration official told CNN that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was notified about the missing weapons about a month ago. Iraq Survey Group inspectors are investigating, the official said.

The discovery was not made public sooner because standard intelligence practice is
not to let the enemy know such information, the official said.

if Condasleeza didn't know...she's incompetent. this happened EiGHTTEEN MONTHS AGO. now look how pathetic excuse is unders scrutiny. they say it wasn't made sooner so the enemy could be kept from knowing...knowing WHAT? that THEY HAVE the explosives? um...don't they already know!?! haw haw haw! we're not morons!

Heck...the only one that had this info hidden from them was CONDi RiCE if you believe this spin! Arming the Terrorists...Welcome to Bushworld!

Elvis Spotted in Philly!

Good lord. There was a SEA of people appearing for the Kerry/CLiNTON. I recall the hatred that Clinton inspired 10 years ago. That pales when you look at the way people seem to LONG for this guy again. Remarkable effect.

i saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's...

and his hair was perfect.

Grape Vine.

i've got some scuttlebutt about where the bush campaign is right now. i cannot really divulge my source but you can verify most of this yourself if you feel the need. here are some points he made:

I predict that Bush will lose. Please note that I still haven’t said Kerry will win. Bush will lose. I watch the inner workings of the campaign. I watch Bush and Kerry language, where they go, their tone, and the planted messages that are recited by rote on right wing talk radio. I see unbelievable desperation in the Bush camp.

The final tiny straw was today. THE WHITE HOUSE PULLED DOWN THE LIST OF NAMES OF COUNTRIES SUPPORTING THE U. S. ACTION IN IRAQ. It turns out that even tiny Costa Rica was embarrassed to be on the list. Also scrubbed from the White House web page (a government site) are links to the audio and video of President Bush’s statement that “I’m not that concerned about Osama bin Laden,” a Q &A when Bush said “misunderestimage” and Bush’s acknowledgement that his decision making on stem cell policy was “unusually deliberative for my administration.”

The Bush people are pounding mid-western states because it is beginning to look like Florida is lost. They need to make up the electoral votes.

He continues about the major things that have come along this weekend and things that should dominate the news as we lead into the election. none are good for bush:

380 tons of powerful conventional explosives are missing from a military installation poorly guarded by the U.S. because of the lack of manpower. That cache will be used to destroy more troops and more people. More poor Bush planning. Remember, those generals were fired who disagreed with Bush on troop strength. (Bush said he looked his generals in the eye and asked if they had what they needed. Of course this came after they cleaned house of any dissent).

50 Iraq soldiers were slaughtered, execution style. More Marines die.

The stock market tanked again and the DOW is around 9700. As the world loses confidence in American they also are losing confidence in our economy. (And some say it doesn’t matter what the world thinks.)

The White House has leaked information that John Ashcroft will not be included in the second administration.

In short, the Bush people are in a corner, barring their teeth, and that tells me they know something we don’t. Maybe, just maybe, we can take back our nation and
start repairing the damage of the past four years.