] On May 26, 1972, Bush asked in writing for reassignment
] to an Air Reserve squadron in Alabama so he could work on
] the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Winton
] "Red" Blount, a close friend of his influential
] father. That was rejected because Bush was obligated to
] serve as a Ready Reservist until May 26, 1974, and was
] ineligible for assignment to the Air Reserve. About three
] months later, on Sept. 5, Bush asked to perform
] "equivalent duty" with the Alabama unit from
] September to November. Killian approved the request a day
] later. The orders went through on Sept. 15, and while
] Bush had missed the Sept. 9-10 unit training assembly,
] the document noted he could make the next two.
] Bush's Officer Military Record shows an Oct. 1,
] 1973, discharge from the Texas Air National Guard and
] transfer to the Alabama unit.

I like this article because it seems to have a more balanced view of what's known about the situation, and because it seems to be written from a military perspective rather than a political one.

Air Force Times: Bush and the Guard

] 2004 Electoral Vote Animation
] May 24 - Present

This is an extremely interesting animation showing a map of the United States over time, with states changing color day by day, from dark red (Bush supporters) to blue (Kerry supporters) and in between. There's also a bar graph showing how the guesstimated electoral vote count has been changing day by day.

It's possible to see the entire animation run through in under a minute, and it's worth a look!

2004 Electoral Vote Animation

] The commission's first debate is set for Sept. 30 at the
] University of Miami, with the PBS anchor Jim Lehrer as
] moderator; it is to focus primarily on domestic policy.
] Two more presidential debates are to follow soon after: a
] town-hall-style meeting in St. Louis with the ABC News
] anchor Charles Gibson as moderator and a traditional
] debate in Arizona focusing primarily on foreign policy,
] with the CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer as moderator. A
] vice-presidential debate is scheduled for October in
] Cleveland, with Gwen Ifill of PBS as host.

I've been getting more and more disappointed with Kerry's campaign lately, but I'm still unhappy with some of the elements of Bush's platform as well. I'm looking forward to the debates, to help me make up my mind.

I'm also sorry that Kerry is the only choice on the Democrats side. I could easily see myself voting for Gore, and I'm sorry that he didn't run. I can't yet see myself voting for Kerry.

And damn, but I wish McCain was an option. I'd vote for McCain, easy. Or Powell, he'd be an easy "Yes" too.

Campaigns Enlist Big Names to Set Debates' Details

] Public opinion has turned slightly more supportive of
] U.S. involvement in Iraq.
]
] Fifty-one percent of Americans now say that the situation
] in Iraq was worth going to war over. In early May, that
] number was 44%.
]

Or in other words, at least 10% really have no idea what they think? ;) I've lost track of the number of people who have a strong opinion one way or the other on Iraq, but when I question them further, they've done no research, read no articles, talked to no experts, and are basically just spouting whatever they heard from the last person they had a beer with.

(sigh)

] Similarly, the two most recent Gallup Polls have shown
] that about 50% of Americans believe that the U.S.
] involvement in Iraq was not a mistake. That is up from
] three polls in late June and early July when only about
] 45% thought that sending troops to Iraq was not a
] mistake, and the "mistake" number was up to 54%.

Personally, I tend to regard everything as still pretty evenly split. 45-55 or 52-48 still feels "dead even" to me. But of course as soon as any number tips to 50.00001%, one of the parties is going to crow "a majority of Americans believe (blah blah blah)".

Gawd, I hate election years.

Gallup: Eleven Public Opinion Insights on the Election

*Great* political humor. Lampoons both sides, with a catchy tune, too. :)

Political Humor: 'This land is our land'

] For alongside our famous individualism, there’s another
] ingredient in the American saga.
]
] A belief that we are connected as one people. If there’s a child
] on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me,
] even if it’s not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere
] who can’t pay for her prescription and has to choose between
] medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s
] not my grandmother. If there’s an Arab American family being
] rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that
] threatens my civil liberties. It’s that fundamental belief—I am
] my brother’s keeper, I am my sisters’ keeper—that makes this
] country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual
] dreams, yet still come together as a single American family.
] "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.

Wow.

I'd heard about Obama's speech, but hadn't had a chance to watch the video until just now.

Having seen it, I have to agree, yes, it really was that good. :)

He's a great speaker, and I liked that he was talking about ways to bring the country back together, instead of preaching more divisiveness.

I look forward to seeing more of Obama in the future. As for his promotion of Kerry, it didn't persuade me. But if the Democrats were to pull Kerry off the ticket and put Obama on, then yes, at this moment, I think I'd be voting for Obama!

Video: Barack Obama's Keynote Address at the Democratic National Convention

] After you've responded to the following propositions during the
] next 3-5 minutes, all will be explained. In each instance,
] you're asked to choose the response that best describes your
] feeling: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree or Strongly Agree.
] At the end of the test, you'll be given the compass, with your
] own special position on it.

I rate this one up there with ontheissues.org, as one of the most thorough political viewpoint quiz sites available.

In terms of calculations, it rated me as more liberal/libertarian than I think I am (especially in comparison to most of the members of Memestreams *grin*), but I still found the questions interesting.

The Political Compass

] Brigadier Gen. Turnipseed, 75 and retired in Montgomery,
] Ala., says he's sorry he ever said he would have "had
] some recall" of Bush had he attended a meeting of the
] Alabama Air Guard unit.
]
] "I don't remember whether he came or not. Our unit had
] about 900- 1,000 men and he could have attended many
] meetings without me ever knowing it," Turnipseed said
] this week.

For anyone who feels so incentivized, there's a good timeline on this page that shows the details of Bush's service. You're welcome to examine it for yourselves.

Personally, I don't see anything there that raises a red flag for me. There are plenty of other things that Bush says or does that I find annoying or inexcusable. But this 30-years-ago suspected-AWOL non-story is not one of them.

Can we please go back to discussing *real* issues now?

Alabama commander regrets Bush comments

] During the month of June in 1969, Edward Kennedy was
] involved in a horrible car accident. He had been driving
] back from a party on Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, and
] had driven off the edge of a bridge. Luckily, he was not
] severely injured; however, Mary Jo Kopechne, a woman who
] was in his car, was killed. She was a 29-year-old blond
] secretary in Washington D.C., who worked for Senator
] Robert F. Kennedy and Senator George Smanthers. Edward
] Kennedy's wife was home with their children and had not
] attended the party.
]
] The accident was not reported until eight hours after the
] car had sunk to the bottom of the river. On the following
] Monday, Kennedy was charged for leaving the scene of the
] accident. In Massachusetts, a manslaughter charge is
] always given when someone leaves the scene of a deadly
] accident. This was the second time that Kennedy had been
] in a fatal accident; five years earlier he had been in a
] serious plane crash and had broken his back.

Seeing all the blather about Bush and whether or not he was AWOL, reminded me of this incident, when something bad really *did* happen.

Chappaquiddick

] Idiom Studio
] Governor Howard Dean, M.D
] Iowa Caucus Speech

RtS writes:
This site features videos of the now-infamous Dean speech in Iowa, but from the perspective of the crowd. Lend some context which the media stripped out in order to sensationalize it.

Yup. I'm not a huge Dean supporter, but I could tell that his actions were taken out of context, and I'm glad that this video allows people to see the whole story rather than just "the scream".

Dean Iowa Speech: The other point-of-view