] (CNN) -- The decision of Sinclair Broadcast Group, which
] ordered its seven ABC stations not to broadcast Friday's
] "Nightline," has received criticism from U.S. Sen. John
] McCain (R-Arizona).
]
] Friday's show will air the names and photographs of the
] more than 500 U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war.
]
] "Your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be
] reminded of war's terrible costs, in all their
] heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the
] public, and to the men and women of the United States
] Armed Forces," McCain, a Vietnam veteran, wrote in a
] letter to David Smith, president and CEO of Sinclair
] Broadcast Group. "It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I
] hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most
] certainly deserves."

Yes, I know it's old news. It just made me think of all the Bush supporters who've argued that it's unpatriotic to honor (by in any way mentioning) the over one thousand American soldiers who've given their lives for their country.

CNN.com - McCain rebukes Sinclair 'Nightline' decision - Apr 30, 2004

No argument is more central to the Republican attack on Sen. John Kerry than the assertion that the Democrat has flip-flopped on Iraq.

Yet an examination of Kerry's words in more than 200 speeches and statements, comments during candidate forums and answers to reporters' questions does not support the accusation.

The crux of the flip-flopping charge is based on pitting Kerry's pointed criticism of the war against his October 2002 vote to authorize the use of force, a vote the Democratic senator defends to this day.

Kerry, who was one of 29 Democratic senators to support the resolution, said the vote was appropriate to strengthen the president's hand in negotiations, and he draws a distinction between his vote and an endorsement of the March 2003 attack.

"Congressional action on this resolution is not the end of our national debate on how best to disarm Iraq,'' Kerry said on the eve of the vote. "Nor does it mean we have exhausted all of our peaceful options to achieve this goal."

Republicans ridicule such distinctions and use Kerry's vote as the basis for their assertion that Kerry once favored the war.

Yet in the fall of 2002, several months before the air strikes on Baghdad began, Bush himself insisted the vote was not the same as a declaration of war but instead gave him the hand he needed to negotiate the peace.

"If you want to keep the peace, you've got to have the authorization to use force,'' Bush said in September 2002. "It's a chance for Congress to say, 'we support the administration's ability to keep the peace.' That's what this is all about."

NEWS ANALYSIS / Flip-flopping charge unsupported by facts / Kerry always pushed global cooperation, war as last resort

] JON STEWART: Well Stephen, what do you think is going to
] happen now at CBS News?
]
] STEPHEN COLBERT, Daily Show Senior Media Correspondent:
] Jon, there's got to be some accountability. Dan Rather is
] the head, the commander in chief if you will of his
] organization. He's someone in the ultimate position of
] power who made a harmful decision based upon questionable
] evidence. Then, to make things worse, he stubbornly
] refused to admit his mistake, choosing instead to stay
] the course and essentially occupy this story for too
] long. This man has got to go!
]
] STEWART: Uh ... we're talking about Dan Rather...?
]
] COLBERT: Yes Jon, Dan Rather. CBS is in chaos, it's
] unsafe, riven by internal rivalries. If you ask me,
] respected, reputable outsiders need to be brought in to
] help the rebuilding effort.
]
] STEWART: ... at CBS News?
]
] COLBERT: Yeah, at CBS news! What possible other unrelated
] situation could my words be equally applicable to?! Now
] people need to be held accountable. The commander in
] chief, the vice president, the secretary of defense, the
] national security adviser -- everyone at CBS News needs
] to go! Jon, I can tell you, Walter Cronkite is rolling
] over in his grave.
]
] STEWART: Walter Cronkite is still alive.
]
] COLBERT: Not according to my sources ... at CBS News.

Daily Show Transcript on the Great Leader's Mistake

The respected Washington, DC publication The Hill (www.thehill.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx) has confirmed that former conservative radio talk-show host and now Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel was the head of, and continues to own part interest in, the company that owns the company that installed, programmed, and largely ran the voting machines that were used by most of the citizens of Nebraska.

Back when Hagel first ran there for the U.S. Senate in 1996, his company's computer-controlled voting machines showed he'd won stunning upsets in both the primaries and the general election. The Washington Post (1/13/1997) said Hagel's "Senate victory against an incumbent Democratic governor was the major Republican upset in the November election." According to Bev Harris of www.blackboxvoting.com, Hagel won virtually every demographic group, including many largely Black communities that had never before voted Republican. Hagel was the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska.

Six years later Hagel ran again, this time against Democrat Charlie Matulka in 2002, and won in a landslide. As his hagel.senate.gov website says, Hagel "was re-elected to his second term in the United States Senate on November 5, 2002 with 83% of the vote. That represents the biggest political victory in the history of Nebraska."

What Hagel's website fails to disclose is that about 80 percent of those votes were counted by computer-controlled voting machines put in place by the company affiliated with Hagel. Built by that company. Programmed by that company.

When Bev Harris and The Hill's Alexander Bolton pressed the Chief Counsel and Director of the Senate Ethics Committee, the man responsible for ensuring that FEC disclosures are complete, asking him why he'd not questioned Hagel's 1995, 1996, and 2001 failures to disclose the details of his ownership in the company that owned the voting machine company when he ran for the Senate, the Director reportedly met with Hagel's office on Friday, January 25, 2003 and Monday, January 27, 2003. After the second meeting, on the afternoon of January 27th, the Director of the Senate Ethics Committee resigned his job.

Meanwhile, back in Nebraska, Charlie Matulka had requested a hand count of the vote in the election he lost to Hagel. He just learned his request was denied because, he said, Nebraska has a just-passed law that prohibits government-employee election workers from looking at the ballots, even in a recount. The only machines permitted to count votes in Nebraska, he said, are those made and programmed by the corporation formerly run by Hagel.

Vote Fraud or Not, Lots of People Won't Trust November's Results

] Even as John Kerry struggles to establish
] national-security credentials nationally, an exclusive WW
] straw poll shows his campaign dominating one skeptical,
] warlike demographic: Klingons.
]
] "A good war is based on honor, not deception," says K'tok
] (Earth name: Clyde Lewis), a 40-year-old Klingon from
] Lair Hill. "The first warrior, President Bush, deceived
] us all with this war."
]
] "On the home world, if there had been a contested
] election between Gore and Bush, the honorable thing would
] be for Gore to kill Bush," explained Khraanik (Earth
] name: Jason Lewis), a 38-year-old from Southeast
] Portland. "Or the other way around. And then ascend to
] the head of the High Council."

Kerry Dominates Crucial Klingon Demographic

] NEW YORK -- A closely watched measure of future economic
] activity fell in August for a third consecutive month,
] reflecting an uncertain climate for both businesses and
] consumers.
]
] The Conference Board said Thursday its Composite Index of
] Leading Economic Indicators fell 0.3 percent in August to
] 115.7, following a decline of 0.3 percent in July.
]
] The August reading was the third month of decline in the
] index, after a year in which it gained steady ground. The
] drop last month was larger than the 0.2 percent decrease
] forecast by analysts.

Leading Indicators Decline in August (washingtonpost.com)

] At Fuck The Vote we provide a Pledge Sheet that can be
] used conveniently before becoming physically intimate
] with a conservative. The Pledge Sheet asks the signee to
] make a promise to vote for anyone but George Bush in the
] November election. FTV has not endorsed a single
] candidate but recommends strategic voting. We also
] encourage FTV fans to take road trips this summer to
] swing(er) states to collect pledges. If you collect a
] pledge let us know about it on the Swinger States page!
] Have safe fun fucking over Bush while fucking for votes.

FTheVote.com: Trade Sex for Votes

] 41 of the posters in full color and for each poster, a
] full page of political commentary by the Center for
] Constitutional Rights giving names, dates, footnoted
] sources backing up the humorous claims of the posters.

The Propaganda Remix Project

] Congressional negotiators beat back efforts yesterday to
] expand and preserve tax refunds for poor families, even
] as they added $13 billion in corporate tax breaks to a
] package of middle-class tax cuts that could come to a
] vote in the Senate today.

Bid to Save Tax Refunds for the Poor Is Blocked (washingtonpost.com)

This is no longer an interesting coincidence. It is an unmistakable message from God. I hope everyone is listening.

message-from-God.gif (GIF Image, 744x900 pixels)