Barack Obama per Paul Szep

Paul Szep, one of North America's foremost caricaturist and political cartoonist presents this portrait of Barack Obama

The Cubs acquire Nomar

In similar fashion to last year, Cubs GM Jim Hendry made a blockbuster trade for Boston legend Nomar Garciaparra. Although Garciaparra is a free agent at the end of the season, this move makes the Cubs the odds on favorites to win the Wild Card. However, while the Cubs didn't give up much at the major league level, Cubs fans doubtlessly have images of Dontrelle Willis in their heads when they wonder what the future holds for minor league prospect Francis Beltran. It is nevertheless very impressive that Hendry was able to acquire a talent of Garciaparra's calibre without having to give up even more highly touted prospects such as Angel Guzman. Indeed, Jim Hendry is to be commended for giving his team a much needed boost heading into the final third of the season.

Repubs making the case

Repubs for Kerry!!

They actually tried it

It has been reported in the New Republic and a number of blogs including this one that the Bush admin had requested that Pakistan capture a high level Al Qaeda target sometime in late July. The reports indicated that the best timing for the capture would be during the week of July 27-29.  Shockingly, Pakistan announced late yesterday afternoon that a high value target from Al Qaeda was captured late yesterday afternoon just in time for the national news. Once again this admin. has proven that the will play politics with our national security. Does anyone not think that they will try to pull this again in late October? Maybe Osama? It is time for a change!!

UPDATE: The guy was captured on Sunday!!! They waited until yesterday afternoon to announce it!! Will anyone in the press report this?

HELP IS ON THE WAY

And it could not get here fast enough. The convention is over and now comes the real work and the real attacks from the Repubs. Before we leave Boston I will give my assessment of Edwards and Kerry's speeches.

John Edwards: This was a great speech but I don't think he gave his best speech. I don't know if it was the cold he has or what but he did not seem to hit every note. They message was terrific though. HOPE is on the way!! That we can be a united America to take on the problems at home and enemies aboard. Great message and he plays really well on TV.

John Kerry: Was supposed to be flat, boring, and stiff... not last night. We have been told for months that John Kerry is a closer and I think we saw the first evidence last night that that is true. This was the strongest speech I have seen him give. Clearly set out the difference between a Kerry admin and another 4 years of Bush. I assume you all saw the speech so I won't recite the live but will say that I was for the first time inspired by John Kerry and on Nov. 2 I will be voting for John Kerry and John Edwards and not against Bush. It is no longer Anybody But Bush but instead is now John Kerry for President of the UNITED States of America.

ILL repubs give up

After the speach last night CNN.com is reporting "That's it. We're toast," moaned one Illinois Republican, whose party is still searching for someone to run against Obama, in a late-night email to the Grind. "He can have the seat, I'm going to Hawaii."

OBAMA MAMA!!!

I did not get to see most of the convention last night because I was at a rally for U.S. Senate candidate Brad Carson. However, I did get to watch Dean, Reagan and OBAMA!!

Dean: Got a great ovation. The crowd would not let him speak they were going so crazy for him. Sadly it appeared as if the KE04 group put some serious handcuffs on him and his usual fire was gone. Wish he had been there on Thurs! :-)

Reagan: Spoke on stem cell research. It was a very good speech and attacked Bush backhandedly by saying that Bush's religion is getting in the way of the research. Good speech but let's be honest... he was there for his name.  Take that Zell.

OBAMA: AWESOME!! OBAMA 2012!! True uniting and not dividing. I could go on and on. Just read the speech. CNN rated the speech.  Great quote:
"We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.
We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?"

Awesome!!

I am glad that this blog convinced the DNC and KE04 to give him the keynote.

Tonight: The Edwards

Kurtz on FOX

I rarely link to Howard Kurtz because for much of this year he has been a republican hack. However, today he points out the Fox "news" channel is the Republican propaganda machine that we all know that it is. Turns out that last night Fox did not show Gore's or Jimmy Carter's speech opting instead to interview republicans about the speech neither were watching. Do you think that on the Monday night of the Repub convention they will ignore the 1st night to talk to Dems? I doubt it.

How they plan to steal the election

Krugman today explains how Jeb Bush and the rest of the Cons intend to and are working towards stealing this election. We must be more vigilant than ever. Remember that when you vote if you see anything unusual call your local Dem HQ and they will send a lawyer to check it out. We cannot let them steal this one.

Ted Rall on the war

Here is Ted Rall's latest cartoons. Hits the rationale for the war hard.

What a night!!!

To kick off my convention coverage I would like to point out that I am not one of the famous bloggers who got press passes to the convention. I will forgive the DNC for this oversite. Now on to the show. Last night was amazing.

Gore started off reminding us exactly why every vote counts and why we can't let them steal this election like they did last time. A perfect line from Gore's speech was "What happens in a presidential election matters. A lot. The outcome profoundly affects the lives of all 293 million Americans, and people in the rest of the world, too. The choice of who is president affects your life and your family’s future." So so true!

Jimmy Carter was next and at 80 years old gave one of the greatest foreign policy I have heard in a long time. Here is his best line "Truth is the foundation of our global leadership, but our credibility has been shattered, and we are left increasingly isolated and vulnerable in a hostile world. Without truth, without trust, America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between a president and the people. When that trust is violated, the bonds that hold our republic together begin to weaken." Trust has been lost and John Kerry can bring it back.

Bill Clinton then took the stage and the convention hall went nuts. He had to repeat some line because there was so much cheering. Clinton, in what is probably his last major convention speech, unless HRC runs, hit a total homerun. even Joe Scarborough said that even though he disagreed with Kerry that Clinton's speech would have convinced him. Clinton mixed in themes of service and clearly showed the contrast between Kerry and Bush. Even talked about the tax cut he received as one of the richest of few. I wish I could pick one great live but there were so many. Here is one of the great passages:
We Democrats want to build a world and an America of shared responsibilities and shared benefits. We want a world with more global cooperation, where we act alone only when we absolutely have to. (Applause.) We think the role of government should give -- should be to give people the tools and to create the conditions to make the most of their own lives, and we think everybody should have that chance. (Cheers, applause.)
On the other hand, the Republicans in Washington believe that America should be run by the "right" people -- their people -- in a world in which America acts unilaterally when we can and cooperates when we have to. They believe the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their economic, political and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on important matters like health care and retirement security. Now since most Americans aren't that far to the right, our friends have to portray us Democrats as simply unacceptable, lacking in strength and values; in other words, they need a divided America. But we don't.

Just perfect!

Tonight: Howard Dean, Ron Reagan (never thought I would say that), Ted Kennedy, and Barack Obama

...And the LORD said

George Bush has been talking to God and God has started talking back. Not only is God talking back but God is telling Bush to go to war (read the last paragraph).  And I thought Nancy Reagan was nuts for the astrology thing.

Road Rage - Republican Style

This is a true story! I was coming home from church on Sunday in my green jeep wrangler which has a Kerry/Edwards sticker on the back. My window was open and I was enjoying the respite from the summer heat. The thoughts of the homily about the Lord's Prayer still in my mind when a driver in a white Taurus pulled up along side me and started yelling at me. I at first thought this was a guy telling me I had a flat or something was wrong with my car. I could not have been more wrong. He yells "Hey, John Kerry is an asshole!" To which I replied in disbelief "WHAT?" He then repeats twice that John Kerry is an asshole. Being completely taken aback by this I replied "Yeah, well your a cocksucker!" I admit not the best come back but I was not expecting to get attacked by a repub while driving. The guy the swerves his car to try to hit mine and ask if I want to pull over and have a further political discourse with our fists. We then came to a light which was where I was turning so we did not get to continue our discussion.

Is this where we are headed? Will there be rioting no matter who wins in Nov.? Do I have to defend myself physically over who I support for President?

Are you safer now than you were four years ago?

Unless you're rich, you aren't better off, but money can't buy your life back.  Richard Clarke again makes the case that the Bush regime has, characteristically, not seriously undertaken the necessary steps to reduce the chances of our country suffering another attack.

I'll be traveling a lot these next two weeks, but if the current regime should happen not to exploit our national resolve against terrorists for its own venal and political interests, let me know...

More Molly Ivins

She is on fire this week and any comment by me would pale in comparison. So, without further ado I give you..... MOOOOOLLLLLLY IVINS

Abuse Report Sneaks In

In case you missed it yesterday, and I am sure you did, the military released a report on prisoner abuse which said that there has been over 90 cases of confirmed abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder why the report was hurried and released unexpectedly yesterday... could it be because it is a very embarrassing and slipshod report and the Admin knew it would be overshadowed by the 9/11 commission report.  They even had a hearing on the report yesterday in the Senate Armed Services Committee in which several members including John McCain attacked the report. Carl Levin (D) said it was "difficult to believe there were not systemic problems with our detention and interrogations operations." There is more to this prisoner abuse story and I will keep you up-to-date and not let the Admin bury it on the back pages.

Maybe there is a god...

and all he wants us to do is watch football.... Lots of football...19 straight days of football...

Can I get an amen?

From Silly to absurd

I have been waiting to post on the Sandy Berger issue until the Repubs started to take it way to far.  Luckily they always do. The Repub majority has opened a full investigation into the removal of COPIES of classified documents and notes.  The is the same congress that has never investigated the outing of a CIA operative, never investigated how Bush's military records got "lost", and refuses to investigate the illegal actions of Tom Delay.  This is an investigation that has been on-going for more than a year and if John Ashcroft hasn't found anything to charge Berger with then where is the fire. This is such a blatant political move that it is really not worth commenting on. Especially when you consider that Dick "go f-yourself" Cheney and Ed "the talking horse's ass" Gillespie (RNC Chairman) had a meeting with the Senate leaders right before they break the story.

I would like to point out on contrast between Repubs and Democrats...Bush constantly talks about personal accountability and yet no one has been fired or held accountable for the massive failures of 9/11, intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq or the torture in Iraqi prisons. In stark contrast to that record when the non-story was leaked about him Sandy Berger stood alone before the press and said that he did it, it was a mistake and that he stepped down from helping the Kerry campaign. That is personal accountability and the Bush admin. should take a cue.

Another one bites the dust

In the on going saga of who the Repubs are going to put up against Obama is the IL Senate race another Repub has taken his name off the list. This time it was a state senator. Obama is going to win no matter who they put up but at this rate they may not have anyone.

Jokes anyone

Anyone have a good joke re: Jena Bush and her tounge wagging?

Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics

For the nitpickers in the audience, I have added a site that documents common physics stupidity in movies and has several reviews of movies that contain particulary bad examples of movie physics.

Kids of Abu Ghraib

The evidence is slowly trickling out but it looks more and more like Sy Hersh is right and U.S. Soldiers were abusing children both physically and sexually. Rumors have been swirling that there is both video and still photos of the abuse. If this turns out to be true then Rummy has to go and there needs to be a full investigation before the election.

Cons Discovering the Truth

From an e-mail I received re-printing the article in its entirety. I was not able to find the link. If anyone finds it pass it along.
 
You might be interested in the following just written by Charley Reese of the Orlando Sentinel. If you know the writer and his strongly conservative reputation, you will find it eye opening, particularly what he says about John Kerry. The conservative journalists Robert Novak and William Kristol happen to be saying some of the same things.
 
Vote For A Man, Not A Puppet
 
Americans should realize that if they vote for President Bush's reelection,they are really voting for the architects of war - Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that cabal of neoconservative ideologues and their corporate backers. I have sadly come to the conclusion that President Bush is merely a frontman, an empty suit, who is manipulated by the people in his administration. Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the world of any president in my memory. It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague. Take away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be embarrassed that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently and articulately in English than our own president at their joint press conference recently. John Kerry is at least an educated man, well-read, who knows how to think and who knows that the world is a great deal more complex than Bush's comic-book world of American heroes and foreign evildoers. It's unfortunate that in our poorly educated country, Kerry's very intelligence and refusal to adopt simplistic slogans might doom his presidential election efforts. But Thomas Jefferson said it well, as he did so often, when he observed that people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and never will be. People who think of themselves as conservatives will really display their stupidity, as I did in the last election, by voting for Bush. Bush is as far from being a conservative as you can get. Well, he fooled me once, but he won't fool me twice. It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending, to vastly increase the power of government, to show contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law, or to tell people that foreign outsourcing of American jobs is good for them, that giant fiscal and trade deficits don't matter, and that people should not know what their government is doing. Bush is the most prone-to-classify, the most secretive president in the 20th century. His administration leans dangerously toward the authoritarian. It's no wonder that the Justice Department has convicted afew Arab-Americans of supporting terrorism. What would you do if you foundyourself arrested and a federal prosecutor whispers in your ear that eitheryou can plea-bargain this or the president will designate you an enemycombatant and you'll be held incommunicado for the duration?This election really is important, not only for domestic reasons, butbecause Bush's foreign policy has been a dangerous disaster. He's almostrestarted the Cold War with Russia and the nuclear arms race.America is not only hated in the Middle East, but it has few friendsanywhere in the world thanks to the arrogance and ineptness of the Bush administration. Don't forget, a scientific poll of Europeans found us, Israel, North Korea and Iran as the greatest threats to world peace. I will swallow a lot of petty policy differences with Kerry to get a man inthe White House with brains enough not to blow up the world and us with it. Go to Kerry's Web site (http://www.johnkerry.com/ and read some of the magazine profiles on him. You'll find that there is a great deal more to Kerry than the GOP attack dogs would have you believe. Besides, it would be fun to have a president who plays hockey, windsurfs, rides motorcycles, plays the guitar, writes poetry and speaks French. It would be good to have a man in the White House who has killed people face to face. Killing people has a sobering effect on a man and dispels all illusions about war.


 
Couldn't have said it better myself.


Update: Molly, the google queen, has given us the link.

Krugman's Arabian Candidate

This is one of the most hard hitting columns I have ever read regarding any President. He basically says that Bush has played directly into the hands of Osama and the Al Qaida. It is well worth the read.
 
Editor's note: If you have not ever seen the Manchuian Candidate you need to rent the original with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury. Simply perfect. Clearly 4 Tikis.

Nerds get their just rewards

NERDS!! NERDS!!! NERDS!!!
 
After each season is complete, team ownership gets together to give outawards to Nerd team players based on the previous season.  This year, given thestrong play of so many players, it was harder than ever for the owners to decidewhich players should get which award.> > It was the hardest season yet for the NERDS.  Coming off of a regularseason of 8-1-1, the NERDS faced the highest of expectations.  But, as theseason progressed they were hit hard by injuries, sporadic play and attendence,and crappy field 3 which takes away one of the NERDS great strengths - theirability to hit the ball on the ground through the legs of opposing outfieldersand run like the wind to an inside the park home run.  Still, the team hadanother successful season ending the regular season 7-5.  Congrats to all ofyou.   I hope everyone had a great time.
 With all of that out of the way, here are this years award winners.
(1) The Trinidaddy Award - This award is given annually in honor of our #1fan, Daniel Trinidaddy, who hails from Trinidad.  Daniel comes out to watchevery game and cheers us on.  He makes each game more fun for all of us, and weare all grateful to him for that.  This award, named after Daniel, goes to hisfavorite team member.  This year, that player is - Melissa Carruth.  Congratsand YEA MAN!
(2) The NAMBA TIN Best Smile Award - NAMBA TIN is a beautiful team memberwho plays on the BS Knights.  Each year, she gives out an award to the NERD teammember with the best smile.  This year, that award goes to Jim Colucci.
(3) The Kristin White Most Improved Player Award - This award goes out tothe NERD team member who has improved most throughout the year.  This year, withher new glove in hand, Ms. White made several incredible catches in theoutfield.  She now has a strong hold on right field.  All her hard work ispaying off.
(4) The Crowne Royal Spirit Award  - Each year, Crowne Royal gives out anaward to the NERD team member who has either (a) consumed the most spirits onthe team; or (b) has the most spirit on the team.  No matter what the criteriais, Von wins this award this year.  He always has a smile on his face and somelove for the NERDS.  This toast is to you Von.  Cheers.
(5) The London Bridges Award - This award, new this year, goes to the NERDteam member who falls down more than any other.  Kudos to Vickie Stackwick. 
(6) Gold Glove - Male - This award goes to the best male fielder. Christopher "CS" Manning battled through the stress of leaving his job andstarting his own firm to play in several key NERD games.  His fielding wasnotable.
(7) Comeback Player of the Year  - "Lt. Commander" Meredith Moseley is theeasy choice for this award.  She came to a game late one night dressed in workclothes.  She had no intention of playing.  When an injury occurred and her teamneeded her, she ripped off Conrad's shorts right off of his gluteaus maximus,put them on, and had her best game ever.  All this, while wearing no socks. AMAZING!
(8) The Hideki Matsui Award - this award, named after Yankee startoutfielder Matsui (aka Godzilla) goes to the Asian American NERD player who hitsthe ball farther than any other over the course of the year.  This year, ToanLyons became the first NERD player ever to hit a ball over the fence in a game. For that, he earns the nickname, Toanzilla.
(9) The Steve Young and Shawn Bradley Award - This award goes to the mostconsistent Mormon player on the NERDS.  Week in, week out, Brianna Lewis cameout, played multiple positions, and gave her all.  She hit and fielded each gamewith a smile on her face and had an outstanding year.  Let's all give a nicewarm thank you to Brianna. (applause). (10) Coach of the Year.   This award goes to Johnny "Jo Jo the Monkey"Frierson. That's right!  This is the first year that Coach Yanni hasn't woncoach of the year.  Due to Johnny's stellar coaching at third base, severalvotes were cast for Johnny to win this award.  Von UN Jefferson Fogan, anofficial for the DC board of elections monitored the voting.  His vocal supportwas key in making this selection happen, after Johnny sent Von home atleasttwice from third base in our playoff game.
(11) The L. Keith Goins Award - This dubious award is given each year to theNERD team member who misses the most games.  Past winners of this award includeKeith Goins, Sonya Sotak, and Mollie Sessoms - all names most of you don't know.Why? Because they rarely came out and played.  This year, regrettably, we hadseveral players miss a lot of games.  But, none more than Wendy "Salvador" DahleCarey.  The good news is that, contrary to previous winners, we all have thepleasure of knowing Wendy well and think she is just great.  But, even better,she is on the team next year and is going to be a HUGE contributer. 
 (12) The Patrick Clark Prime Time Award - For those of you who don'tremember Patrick Clark, he was the flashiest player ever on the NERDS.  With hisdreadlocks, his sooped up white car, his gold, and his perpetually beepingbeeper, he was a sight to see.  All girls kept their eyes on him, most notably,Denise.  This year, the award goes to Conrad Schatte.  His stellar play in theoutfield, his fast legs motoring around the base paths, his sought aftermassages and spa treatments during rain delays, and his sweet volvo made himPrime Time-esque.
(13) Gold Glove -Female - Brook Ostrander is an incredible third baseperson. We hope she comes back next year to hold down, for another year, one corner ofthe infield diamond.
 (14) MVP - Nathaniel "Crazy Legs" Magruder.  With Nate's solid pitching andhis key homers game in, game out, he gave the NERDS a chance to win every game. He might be the oldest team member, but he's got the strongest heart of any Nerdout there.  Great year Nate.
(15) The Lick and Slick Award - This award, so aptly named after former NERDteam member, Colin BS Manning, goes to the Nerd team member with the bestattitude and who loves seeds.  With this award comes several responsbilities,including bringing seeds to every game, and, upon request, licking the palm ofyour hand and slicking your hair to the side.  The only previous winner of thisaward is Kristin White.  This year's award goes to Denise DiCocco.
 All in all, it was a great year.  We have a good group forming for nextyear.  Hope you all who haven't signed up will do so soon.> > Chris

Govenator gets confused

Arnold forgot that he was not in the movies anymore and quoted a parody of himself when referring to the the Democrats in the state house as "girlie-men". This is wrong on so many levels not to mention that the girlie-man phrase was used to make fun of Arnold in the first place.   On top of that he has now offend women and gays.  Good work Arnold...now finish the budget.

Kos: helping all of us out

If you don't want to register for all the different newspapers that are linked here and elsewhere,  you can do this.

I laud this movement by Kos, but I also worry that the more widespread that this sort of activity becomes, the more likely that the most valuable content will be made more dificult to access by these means.

Rule by gun

If this story is true then Iraq is in for even more serious problems. Witnesses are alleging that the new Iraqi Prime Minister shot people to death just days before he was given the PM job.  How long till this guy becomes the new Saddam and we need to do regime change again?

Senator Warner and the FMA Amendment

I want everyone to know that I don't hate all republicans. Sen. Warner, with whom I have many disagreements, is a very good senator who represents his state very well. One of my really good friends works in his office and always leaves you thinking seriously about your opinions. Always good to have a spirited debate with the loyal opposition. Anyway, Warner voted for the FMA Amendment but had reservations b/c of the 2nd sentence which could have eliminated civil unions. Here is his statement on the matter. At least he was half right. Ok, back to our regularly scheduled Bush Bashing...

IL politics: you've gotta love it

Despite the hoopla surrounding the possible candidacy of Mike Ditka, the most repectable possible candidate who didn't run away from the nomination was Andrea Grubb Barthwell, recently a deputy director in the Offic of National Drug Control Policy in the Bush White House. Not so fast. It turns out that Bathwell just might have a few issues of her own.

Feel the compassion!

The last spark of interest in the IL Sen. race has been extinguished

Da Coach acknowledges his limitations.

My favorite quote from this whole non-news was from one of Ditka's backers:

State Sen. David Syverson of Rockford, a member of the Republican State Central Committee that will name the new candidate said: "The calls were just overwhelming from all walks of life that people think it's time for someone they can relate to, an ordinary, regular guy as opposed to slick lawyers,'' Syverson said. "The public is tired of lawyers and millionaires running government, and someone that comes in that's a straight-talking, common-sense person is very appealing.''

Yeah, it's good ta know dat da coach bin slummin it likka da rest ub us slobs... waddya spose his co-pay on dat dere Levitra wuz?

By Tim

Cahill responds in kind

The following comes from the blog on JohnKerry.com:


Letter to Bush Cheney ’04
Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman

Yesterday, I received a letter from Bush Cheney ’04 Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman asking our campaign for a tape of a recent fund-raising event. Today, I sent the following reply:


July 13, 2004

Ken Mehlman
Campaign Manager
BUSH-CHENEY '04, Inc.
P.O. BOX 10648
Arlington, VA 22210


Dear Ken:

Over the past several months, allies of the President have questioned John Kerry’s patriotism while your staff has criticized his service in Vietnam. Republicans and their allies have gone so far as to launch attacks against his wife and your campaign has run $80 million in negative ads that have been called baseless, misleading and unfair by several independent observers.

Considering that the President has failed to even come close to keeping his promise to change the tone in Washington, we find your outrage over and paparazzi-like obsession with a fund-raising event to be misplaced. The fact is that the nation has a greater interest in seeing several documents made public relating to the President’s performance in office and personal veracity that the White House has steadfastly refused to release. As such, we will not consider your request until the Bush campaign and White House make public the documents/materials listed below:

● Military records: Any copies of the President’s military records that would actually prove he fulfilled the terms of his military service. For that matter, it would be comforting to the American people if the campaign or the White House could produce more than just a single person to verify that the President was in Alabama when said he was there. Many Americans find it odd that only one person out of an entire squadron can recall seeing Mr. Bush.

● Halliburton: All correspondence between the Defense Department and the White House regarding the no-bid contracts that have gone to the Vice-President’s former company. Some material has already been made public. Why not take a campaign issue off the table by making all of these materials public so the voters can see how Halliburton has benefited from Mr. Cheney serving as Vice-President?

● The Cheney Energy Task Force: For an Administration that claims to hate lawsuits, it’s ironic that the Bush White House is taking up the Courts’ time to keep the fact that Ken Lay and Enron wrote its energy policy in secret behind closed doors. Please release the documents so that the country can learn what lobbyists and special interests wrote the White House energy policy.

● Medicare Bill: Please release all White House correspondence between the pharmaceutical industry and the Administration regarding the Medicare Bill, which gave billions to some of the President’s biggest donors. In addition, please provide all written materials that directed the Medicare actuary to withhold information from Congress about the actual cost of the bill.

● Prison Abuse Documents: A few weeks ago, the White House released a selected number of documents regarding the White House’s involvement in laying the legal foundation for the interrogation methods that were used in Iraq. Please release the remaining documents.

We also wanted to wish you a happy anniversary. As we are sure you and the attorneys representing the President, Vice-President and other White House officials are aware, today marks one year since Administration sources leaked the identity of a covert CIA agent to Bob Novak in an effort to retaliate against a critic of the Administration.

In light of the fact that the Administration began gutting the laws protecting the nation’s forests yesterday, we hope you will accept the paper on which this letter is written as an anniversary gift. (The one year anniversary is known as the “paper anniversary.”)

Sincerely,


Mary Beth Cahill

Campaign Manager

Rats: Ship will sink, plan to leave

You may not recall John Poindexters proposed terrorist attack futures market, but I thought of it when I read that the most sophisticated analysts of market risks plan to relocate from Manhattan for the GOP Convention.

Anyone suppose that Tom DeLay is reconsidering his decision not to stay off shore during the convention.

Obama to Deliver Convention Keynote Address

This Blog has been advocating a more prominent role for Barack Obama in the convention for a while now and our fervent lobbying has paid off.

Bring on Da Coach

As Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass put it: "Those panic-stricken Illinois Republican Party bosses are fascinated by Mike Ditka as a candidate for the U.S. Senate the way drowning men are fascinated by things that float."

McCain Steps up on Hate Amendment

John McCain once again proving that he is, at times, beholden to no one laid the hammer to the hate amendment that Bush and the true right wing ideologues have been pushing. Which begs the question of why he would let himself be used by Bush in TV ads and during the misleading repub convention? I just wish McCain would always stand for what he believed in and not cave to Bush and the neo-cons when they want to look moderate.

OK Senate Race

Dems have a chance at picking up a seat here in Ok. Brad Carson (D) is running and has a good chance at winning. Congressman Carson is about as far right as a Dem. can be and went to my Alma Mater Baylor. However, he has a D by his name which, unless your Zell Miller, makes you a good guy in my book.

The primary is coming up and Carson is running basically unopposed. The repubs have 3 candidates 2 of which has a realistic chance. One is Kirk Humpheries, former mayor of OKC, and the other is former Congressman Tom Coburn. Oddly Coburn and Carson both represented the same congressional district which is the most liberal in the state. For real junkies this is the same district that was represent by Mike Synar before he got cancer.

Humpheries is a conservative but is a flaming liberal compared to Coburn. Coburn is a former Dr. and when he was on the hill would have a free lunch for interns who wanted to see a slide show about STDs. Just freaky. Anyway, TPM's John Marshall reports on some recent comments by Coburn:

Now, that's pretty pro-life.

Tom Coburn, a former member of the House of Representatives from Oklahoma, who is campaigning to become the Republican party's candidate to replace retiring Senator Don Nickles, recently said he supports the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions.

"I favor the death penalty," Coburn told the AP last week, "for abortionists and other people who take life."

The Republican primary is July 27th; the winner will face likely Democratic nominee Brad Carson.

-- Josh Marshall

Is that pro-life? Strange!

The primary will most likely end up in a run-off which means that they will keep attacking each other like crazy till the end of Aug. We could win this one.

Hate Amendment

This is our 100th post since we started this blog. Therefore, I put lots of thought into what should I should write about. Thought about extolling the virtues of the NY Jets, or maybe listing the ever expanding list of why John Kerry HAS to be our next President. Bush bashing was out because that is getting too easy. So I finally landed on the issue of the week and most bs issue of the year... Gay Marriage and the republicans Hate Amendment.

I would first like to ask my right wing readers a couple questions. Has your our your parent's marriage failed or become meaningless because homosexuals have gotten married? Are you not going to get married because Adam and Steve got married?

I hate to revel in the failures of the republican party...wait a minute... I love to revel in the failures of the republican party and they could not have botched this weeks debate on the Hate Amendment more. First they introduced the amendment knowing that it had no chance of passing because even members of their our caucus knew that it was bigoted and we should not be writing discrimination into the constitution. Even Lynne Cheney can out against it. Then in a classic move they tried to soften the amendment by taking out language that would have banned civil unions as well as marriage. One minor problem though, this allowed the Democrats to filibuster the new amendment and basically kill it. So after a week of shooting themselves in the foot in an attempt to get a "wedge" issue they will never end up with a vote on the amendment. I sure am glad that we took a whole week out of doing the nation's business in order to debate codifying hate. Good work repubs... you get the political error of the week.

Here are some articles showing the colossal failure:

CNN

WAPO

NYTimes

Dropping like a rock

For those of you out there who are political junkies we know that Bush was basically a lame duck President on 9/10/01. His policies were failing and he was not going to be able to get his agenda through in the fall. He was done. Then 9/11 happened and magically people liked him. The same thing happened during the Iraq war and capturing Saddam. It shows that a vast majority of his support is event driven. There is really only one more event that could spike his polls again and that is getting Osama. Can you say Oct. surprise? Here is the poll track of President Bush throughout his failed admin.

More state polls

Kos has a new list of state polls up. Also CNN now has KE04 with a 5% lead in the national horserace poll. For more polling information go to Ramussen Reports. They do a state by state break down along with electoral map breakdown.

Bush and Hoover

Does Bush just love being connected to Hoover? He is going to be the first President since Hoover to have a net loss of jobs during his administration and now he is the first since Hoover to not attend a NAACP convention during his term as President. I guess it is fitting that these two terrible Presidents be forever linked.

I love Ron Reagan!!!

No not that Ron Reagan. Ron Reagan Jr.!!! Ronnie is going to be speaking on stem cell research in primetime at the Democratic Convention. Take that Zell...

Who didn't see this coming

Ken Griffey Jr. has torn his hamstring. Is anyone surprised by this? I have been a big fan of Jr. throughout his career and am sad to see such a promising career go down to injury after injury. On the other hand he screwed the M's so I hope he breaks his knees and never gets to play again.

Anchorman, L'Auberge Espagnole, Cat in the Hat, Jackass

I know I have not done a movie review in a while so here you go.

Anchorman



Short review is that this is Will Ferrell at his best. The film has basically no plot or any redeeming quality as a film other that it is really funny. Tons of cameos or general goofiness. Great fun and well worth the trip to the movies.

L'Auberge Espagnole



This is a French film about a French university student who is studying abroad in Spain so he can get a job in a faceless agency in France. He lives in an apartment with people from all nationalities and discovers himself. This was an excellent film that lost its way for about 15 minutes in the middle. Really good if you have ever lived/studied aboard. Makes you want to go overseas again.


Cat in the Hat



Terrible. Mike Meyers doing a terrible impression of himself. Just terrible.

Jackass



Gross, disgusting and nasty. If you like people puking, getting hit in the groin and nearly killing themselves then this is your film. I think you have to be a guy to like this.

Delay [sic] going down

Is it possible that Tom DeLay's unethical attempts to undermine democracy in our country are finally coming to light?

Those of who us love American democracy can only hope so.

By Tim

State polls

As we painfully found out in 2000 it does not matter who wins the popular vote but the Presidential election is really a state by state election. With that in mind here are some swing state numbers as collected by Daily Kos.

Foxes guarding the coop

I'm shocked... shocked! to find out that the Bush appointees in charge of overseeing the letting of military contracts have been deeply entwined with the companies they're supposed to be policing.

By Tim

A worthy foe for Obama in Illinois?

As a result of the numerous scandals that the Republican party in Illinois has been devastated by, it seems that noone is willing to play the fall guy and have their political career swamped by the tsunami that is super-candidate Barack Obama. However, people (like me) who have predicted an Obama cakewalk even before Jack Ryan tried to stage every loser Star Trek fan's wet dream in a Parisian sex club (Illinois politics, gotta love it) did not take into account that most powerful of all forces of nature:

Da Coach!

I must admit (with appologies to SNL and Edwin Edwards) that even if Ditka were caught in bed with a live boy AND a dead girl he would still probably only beat Obama by, say, seventy-five percent. And that's factoring in him running as a write-in candidate.

By Tim

Bush take his podium and goes home

daily Kos posts a picture and blurb form the AP showing Lil Bushie storming out of a press meeting when asked about Kenny Boy's indictment.

Tom Ridge: Al-Qaida is planning 'large-scale attack'

Despite the fact that we live under the cloud of a large scale attack, the terror alert banana remains a reassuring yellow.

While Smilin' Bill Frist has urged us that there is no need for 'panic or paralysis' (and, as he's a doctor, I'm sure he's using those terms in the clinical sense), I am dismayed to note that the MLB All-Star Game here in Houston has not been designated a 'National Security Event' like the Super Bowl or the RNC and DNC. Is it just me or is Houston, with its numerous refineries and chemical factories and extensive connections to the Bushies, just possibly a target. Sure, it's no NYC, but on the other hand....

By Tim

Jus' Stuff, jus' out of business....

The economic and personal devastation of the Enron collapse continues to take its toll on local Houston businesses.

By Tim

Bush's best hope?

According to The Onion, Liberals are struggling to maintain their outrage at the Bush administration. Very compelling evidence of the truly insidious nature of this administration.

By Tim

A July Surprise?

Liberal conspiracy buffs have often cynically posited the idea that there will be an 'October surprise' capture of Osama Bin Laden that will boost Bush's tarnished national security credentials in time for the October election. The New Republic makes the case that instead Democrats will have to contend with a 'July Surprise' intended to divert attention from their convention. Citing numerous sources this article shows the cynical manipulations that the Bushies have undertaken to secure their reelection even at the expense of the nation's security.... not that they haven't already done that countless times before.

By Tim

Bush/Lay 04

"Kenny Boy" Ken Lay has finally been indicted. Bush's best friend and fundraiser who was the chairman of the now infamous Enron is eventually going to get his. Just wish the trial could start before Nov. The indictment will be unsealed tomorrow so watch this site for futher updates on Kenny Boy.
Update: Kenny Boy does the perp walk!!

Holy Cow!!

E-bay has a bunch of people selling yesterday NY Post front page. This could have been bought yesterday for a quarter. It is now selling for $56. GOOD LORD!!!

Update: By the end of the day they were selling for $4. D'oh!!!

Gephardt defeats Dewey

In case you did not see it yesterday here is a story re: the NY Post headline yesterday about Kerry picking Gephardt.

Overnight polls

I hate these polls because they are almost off but I am going to post it because I am a sucker for polling. So here goes... MSNBC has the horserace at 49%-41% with Kerry leading. USATODAY/GALLUP has a break down of polling on how people look at the pick. Good news all around.

Where's the Boom?

For those of us that have been trapped in the Bush Boom of the past 4 years know just how effective it has been at driving out jobs, lowering wages and shipping jobs overseas. Paul Krugman of the NYT has a great column on this very subject.

Blair sees the obvious

Tony Blair has finally acknowledged what many of us knew before the war and admitted yesterday that WMDs may never be found in Iraq. Gee, it only took him a year and a half to figure out the obvious. This must have come as quite a blow to Blair being that he claimed that Iraq could strike Britain with WMD in 45 minutes. OUCH!

KERRY/EDWARDS

First off I would like to apologize for the lacks of posts yesterday. Blogspot was having problems all day and I could not get on. That out of the way...YEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!!! I am 100% more excited about this race and about Kerry than I was before the pick. Edwards is a strong candidate and the perfect antidote to Kerry's sometimes muddled and boring message. This is a great to start to what is going to be a great month on our way to getting rid of the Bush Regime.

It's Edwards!

Rumors are swirling- swirling, I tell you!- that John Edwards will be the VP nominee for that John Edwards will be the VP nominee for John Kerry.

As has been noted previously on this site. It is our belief that Edwards is the best candidate for the nomination. His formidable rhetorical skills and personal story, coupled with his 'Two Americas' campaign theme complement Kerry, whom the media often depicts as aloof or aristocratic.

By Tim

Less Safe?!?!?

I thought we were really taking the war to the terrorist and that was making us safe. Then the State dept. had to revise its number of terrorist events and shockingly it went from the least number of terrorist events in 30 years to the highest number. Finally the majority of people in this country have stopped believing the administrations lie and have figured out that this war has made us much less safe. Bob Herbert in the NYT has a great column on this point.

Seattle Times v. Gephardt

The Seattle Times editorial board today took the unusual step of specifically NOT endorsing a pick for VP. I fully agree with the editorial which labels Gephardt as a man who represents many of the bad things about the Democratic party such as rolling over for Bush on the war and being too protectionist on trade. I personally think that a pick of Gephardt is a pick for many of the failed policies that lost us the majorities in the first place. It is time for a new direction and I think that direction is Edwards.

Cosby lays da smack down

Bill Cosby speaking to the Rainbow Coalition busted a cap in the ass of black parents and the education of their children. Is he right?

Moore's Public Service

Per Krugman

By Tim

Nader v. Dean; Why?

For reasons known only to the participants and NPR (if even them) Howard Dean and Ralph Nader will debate each other next week. Apparently the Green Party candidate was busy...

But seriously folks, why is Dean doing this? It seems far fetched that the outcome of this debate can have a positive effect for the Kerry campaign, which Dean is now a supporter of.

By Tim

Winning Arguments

An interesting site with talking points for those of the liberal persuasion...

By Tim, via TAPPED the blog of The American Prospect

Where there's manure...

The estimable Steve Chapman cuts to the chase.

By Tim

How to fix American sports

Slate has an interesting article on U.S. system of sports v. European soccer market based system. In Europe teams move from the top leagues to minor leagues depending on performance. Here in America, once a team is in the bigs then there are there for life. MLB was barred from contracting 2 teams a few years ago. The European system promotes putting money into the team and putting the best possible product on the field. Whereas, here in America the owners make more money by putting less into the team and being average. Wouldn't it is better for MLB if the Expos had to win to stay in the big leagues?

Dowd on handover

Here is Maureen Dowd's column on the handover. It is well worth the read.

Bring back the Draft?

I have long argued that the draft should be a permanent and all should have to serve two years before they are 25. No loopholes and no excuses. The WaPo has an excellent column by Nixon's speechwriter on this issue and explains why we need to bring back the draft.

Blair's Buddy

I once stayed up till 4 in the morning to watch the British election when they threw out the conservative party and put Labour and Tony Blair in power. I was so excited to see the end of the Thatcher/Major disaster and see a fresh face with progressive policies come into Number 10. Sadly, Blair has turned on those who supported him and followed our cowboy of a President into Iraq against the wishes of his people. It is not likely that Blair will be turned out at the next election so we here in the States must get rid of the bad influences in his life by voting the Bush/Cheney Cabal out of office. Then hopefully Blair will start serving the British people again.

To read more on this issue check out David Broder in the WAPO today.

Howie S. on the attack!

Howard Stern going scorched earth on Clear Channel.

By Tim