] Both parties have a right to expect a fair election
] result even if it is not always a favorable one. Tobin
] also said, "It is disappointing, indeed, to see the
] opposition party (Democrats) manipulate the court system
] in a blatant attempt to influence the election."
]
]
] What a mind-numbing hypocritical answer that is! Who is
] trying to influence elections, Mr. Tobin? Please do not
] insult us further.
]
]
] New Hampshire Democrat Party Chair Kathy Sullivan said,
] "The public should know Tobin's role in this, along with
] the roles of any other high-level GOP officials."
]
]
] Kathy and I have not agreed very often, but she is
] absolutely correct. We need the truth now to restore
] confidence in the coming election. She has a right to be
] angry. Can you imagine the Republican outrage if the
] Democrats had been guilty of similar conduct? Does a
] party that refuses to tell the truth before Election Day
] deserve our vote on election day?

[ The author is a Republican ex-senator from New Hampshire. Voter fraud *should* outrage everyone. You want to talk about an attack on america, forget Osama, Saddam, and Zarqawi and look hard at anyone fucking with your vote. -k]

Phone-jamming was an outrage : Republicans should speak out in anger

] Two newspaper reporters who went to see the Boss perform
] at a political fund-raising concert got in trouble with
] their own boss.
]
] ...
]
] Pioneer Press Editor Vicki Gowler wrote in a Sept. 27
] memo to staff that the paper's ethics policy bars them
] from activities that would conflict with their
] employment, including "concerts that are held as
] political fundraisers." Several other newspapers had
] issued similar warnings to reporters.

[ That doesn't really seem right. Being a reporter shouldn't bar you from expressing an opinion in a non-professional capacity, should it? If the reporter can't be objective in his work, that's a problem... if he goes home and donates 10,000 bucks to the RNC, whatever. What if they had gone to a Bush rally? A DNC dinner? Where's the line? -k]

Minn. newspaper suspends two reporters over political concert

] How's this for a feud that straddles the line between
] politics and entertainment: CNN's bow-tied conservative
] Tucker Carlson vs. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
]
]
] Carlson on Monday fanned embers still hot from their
] "Crossfire" confrontation, saying Stewart looked
] ridiculous during his CNN appearance and was a sellout
] for publicly backing Democrat John Kerry for president.

[ Waahhhh! Wahhhhhh! Carlson got his ass handed to him, and he just can't handle it. Begala did too, but he's apparently decided to shut his trap. Tucker whips out a standard Republican tactic -- if you can't win on substance, attack your opponents credibility, on whatever thin grounds you can, and repeat that you've won until the media echo chamber is in sync.

Whine all you want, Tucker, you lost. A lot. On your home court. Because, well, Jon's much smarter than you.

Jon showed up on Crossfire to make a serious point about the farce that major news media has become, to ask the hosts to take their responsibility more seriously. He got insulted for it, and then turned up the heat. Carlson apparently didn't know that heckling a professional comic is the surest way to get completely decimated -- he did, and so, he was. -k]

Tucker Carlson can't take the heat...

For that matter, it ought to be underlined that as bad as Saddam was, he was contained, and a contained Saddam is very likely to be better then anything else that we get out of that place regardless of how expedient it was to attack him.

[ I'm recommending this because it's well thought out and generally sensible. I cut out the above passage because it underscores something I've thought recently. Now that Bush has finally conceded (though in the least responsible way) that there were no WMDs, I've heard him say a few times that Saddam wanted them, and would pursue them as soon as the sanctions were lifted. It seems to me that the correct solution to *that* problem is to just *not* lift the sanctions. Which were working exactly as designed. As Decius says, he was contained. And now we're in a situation where the best strategists we've got are predicting best case outcomes which barely improve upon Saddam, and likely case scenarios that are almost certainly worse.

As Decius says, Kerry's not gonna have an easy time of it, and he'll probably be demonized no matter what choices he makes, but I'm at least confident he'll approach the issues with a measure of thoughtfulness that has been lacking in the current administration. -k]

BarlowFriendz: Exit Strategies

" During a question-and-answer period, someone says they'd once heard Johnston call for the execution of gays and lesbians. He vigorously denies the charge. Later, he tells me that the decision to put gays to death is a matter best left up to the states. "If we ever had a nation sufficiently Christian" to make homosexuality illegal, he says, imposing capital punishment for homosexuality would be a subject for "an in-house debate. There were capital crimes in the Bible, and that would be something debated." "

[ This shit gives me chills. What is it with people and unbridled hatred. And please, PLEASE, someone justify hate with something Jesus said. I fucking dare you. These people are as unchristian as they come, and if there's a hell, I think they've got their own little corner. -k]

Salon.com News | 'Homosexuals are hellbound!'

] Many Americans fear that a universal health plan would
] cost too much, even though the market system has already
] given the U.S. the world%u2019s most expensive health
] care. They fear the long waits they have heard about in
] Canada, even though comparable waiting times for tests
] and procedures are commonplace in many parts of the U.S.
] Lastly, they fear government-decreed rationing, even
] though health care is already rationed in the most
] inequitable of ways.

[ An interesting article in favor of single payer health care. I'm not sure what my standing is on this issue, but I know that there are areas of human activity that aren't well served by free market solutions. I'm pretty sure health care is one of them, but I'm interested in reading as much as possible. I think health care will emerge as the primary battleground in this country over the next decade, assuming we aren't overrun by Osama. -k]

Health Care Can Be Cured: Here's How (TIME Magazine) | Physicians for a National Health Program

] A nasty flyer has turned up in Tennesse politics which
] depicts a handicapped athlete running on a track with
] George Bush's face pasted on.
]
]
] The text reads:
]
]
] Voting for Bush is Like Running in the Special Olympics
] -- Even if You Win, You're Still Retarded.
]
]
] The Traditional Values Coalition and other right wing
] operations in the South jumped on this fast alleging that
] Tennessee Democrat Craig Fitzhugh's office, which shares
] space with the Kerry/Edwards Campaign, was distributing
] this flyer.

[ And for those of you who think it's untenable to accuse the GOP of acting in this way, I urge you to look back in my memestream to yesterday. Read Green's piece in the Atlantic Monthly, re: Karl Rove, who utilized this exact tactic in an Alabama Supreme Court race.

It's entirely possible that some silly kid is behind it... This one seems a little amateurish for a Rove maneuver, but it's not out of the question that this activity is more than a prank. -k]

The Washington Note Archives

] President Bush's New England campaign
] chairman stepped down Friday after the Democrats accused
] him of taking part in the jamming of their telephone
] lines on Election Day 2002.

[ For the record, these accusations from the democrats aren't exactly out of thin air. Tobin was implicated in the plea agreement documents of two men who've already pleaded guilty to the fraud : http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_08_08.php#003270

This is still not the worst of the worst. The current Sproul & Associates shenanigans in Nevada, and possibly elsewhere, are far more relevant. -k]

Yahoo! News - Bush's New England Campaign Chief Resigns

] Yesterday, Rock the Vote received a very startling letter
] from Ed Gillespie, Chairman of the Republican National
] Committee. He demanded that we stop talking about the
] issue of the military draft.
]
]
] The letter leaked out on the Internet and a lot of people
] wondered whether it was even real. Yes, it is real.
]
]
] The letter from Chairman Gillespie is here. Our response
] is here and below.

[ Pretty unbelievable. Gillespe acts like the draft issue is some kind of demeaning whisper campaign without a shred of merit. Thanks, Ed, but really, that's a Rove tactic, not Rock the Vote's. Really, it's not so much that Gillespe is dismissive of the draft issue, but the way in which he does so.... From the RTV response :

"I am stunned that you would say that the issue of the military draft is an "urban myth"that has been "thoroughly debunked by no less than the President of the United States."

I have some news for you. Just because President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary Rumsfeld, and for that matter Senator Kerry, say that there is not going to be a draft does not make it so. Just because Congress holds a transparently phony vote against the draft does not mean there isn't going to be one. Anyone who thinks that the youth of America are going to take a politician's word on this topic is living on another planet.

By your logic, there should be no debate about anything that you disagree with. There's a place for that kind of sentiment (and your threats), but its not here in our country. "

Hear fucking hear. The rest of the letter is equally cogent. Few would argue that RTV is likely to benefit Bush over Kerry, but truly, getting people to the polls is fundamental, and the fear of a draft is unquestionably a motivating factor for young people. I remember distinctly the day I signed my Selective Service registration card, and thinking about what I would do if it ever came to be used, and how I better start paying attention to the world and voting if I wanted to prevent it. It's no urban myth. -k]

Rock the Vote : Republican Party Chairman Tells Us To Stop Talking About The Draft

] A new means of propelling spacecraft being developed at
] the University of Washington could dramatically cut the
] time needed for astronauts to travel to and from Mars and
] could make humans a permanent fixture in space.
]
]
] In fact, with magnetized-beam plasma propulsion, or
] mag-beam, quick trips to distant parts of the solar
] system could become routine, said Robert Winglee, a UW
] Earth and space sciences professor who is leading the
] project.

[ Interesting concept... -k]

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