You know... I'm not really sure I have to say anything about this one, although it does dovetail nicely with the votus interuptus that happened after the votergasm.org party on Tuesday.

MarryAnAmerican - Homepage - No good American will be left behind!

Okay, this is just damn funny.

Votergasm

] The midyear report dealt only with corporate audits. The
] report on 2003, issued last April, found the audit rate
] for all businesses was 2.1 per 1,000 businesses, down
] slightly from the previous year, while the audit rate for
] individuals was 6.5 audits for every 1,000 taxpayers, up
] 14 percent.

If I see this right, the IRS is three times as likely to go after a person as they are to go after a company. Call me crazy, but this seems backwards. Companies, in general, have far more money than individuals and if they're doing something illegal, have people who depend on them. Shouldn't there be more attention paid where it would do the greatest good?

Yahoo! News - Report: IRS Audits of Businesses Decline

] "I do not think she has shown any new sexual art," the
] portal's owner, Matija Babic, told the agency.

WTF?

Yahoo! News - Pop Star Wants Home Sex Movie Shown in Court

] Earlier Tuesday, another top health official said the FDA
] (news - web sites) is in "active negotiations" with a
] Canadian manufacturer to obtain an extra 1.5 million
] doses of flu vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the
] National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
] (news - web sites), said in an interview "it's possible"
] the vaccine from ID Biomedical would make it to American
] consumers this flu season.

So, just to set the record straight on this, the US flu vaccine suppies come from Chiron (the ones that were contaminated) made in the UK (and the contamination was caught by them there, not by anyone here), from Aventis Pasteur, a French Company, and now we're talking to a Canadian company.

Where are all those self important US pharmaceutical compaines? The ones who are so up in arms about drug reimportation? National health issue here and I don't see Merck stepping up to bat...

Yahoo! News - U.S. to Get 2.6 Million Flu Shots in Jan.

] The federal government reached its $7.4 trillion debt
] ceiling yesterday, forcing Treasury Secretary John W.
] Snow to delay contributing to one of the federal
] employees' pension systems to avoid running out of cash
] and possibly defaulting on government debt.

And to think just a few years ago we had space under that ceiling and it was GROWING! Reason #1 Clinton was better than either Bushie - a balanced budget.

Yahoo! News - U.S. Hits Debt Limit After Senators Put Off Raising Ceiling

] Employees of a private voter registration company allege
] that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think
] they are registered will be rudely surprised on election
] day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms
] were thrown in the trash.
]
]
] Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to
] vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government
] building may be affected.
]
]
] The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged
] widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed
] at Democrats. The focus of the story is a private
] registration company called Voters Outreach of America,
] AKA America Votes

I suppose I should be shocked and appalled by this. I am appalled, but just when I thought the right wing couldn't stoop any lower, they do.

Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed

] In remarks published Tuesday, the official, L. Paul
] Bremer, said he arrived in Iraq on May 6, 2003 to find
] "horrid" looting and a very unstable situation %u2014
] throwing new fuel onto the presidential campaign issue of
] whether the United States had sufficiently planned for
] the post-war situation in Iraq.
]
]
] "We paid a big price for not stopping it because it
] established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer said
] during an address to an insurance group in White Sulphur
] Springs, W.Va. The group released a summary of his
] remarks in Washington.
]
]
] "We never had enough troops on the ground," Bremer said,
] while insisting that he was "more convinced than ever
] that regime change was the right thing to do."

Now I'm no fan of Saddam, but let's be real, if what you're looking at as a replacement is worse, you don't take that course of action. If we weren't there right now as someone for the various factions to rally against, Iraq would likely be in the midst of a full blown civil war. As it is, it's a police action that's getting uglier daily. If we'd gone in with more guys, it may have been better. If we'd found a way to eliminate him without invasion, it may have been better. This is likely the worst of all worlds.

And since it's in the same acrticle...

"There are clearly ties between Saddam Hussein's regime and al-Qaida," McClellan said. "There (were) clearly some disturbing similarities that existed as well."

"We know there were senior-level contacts between the regime and al-Qaida — the 9/11 commission documented that," McClellan said.

In fact, the 9/11 report said that while there were "friendly contacts" between Iraq and al-Qaida and a common hatred of the United States, none of these contacts "ever developed into a collaborative relationship."

By the rationale the White House is giving us, they could make the same argument that Time Magazine, which has managed to get an Al-Qaida interview here and there is also linked.

Please go out and vote next month and help see that these dolts aren't running the country.

Yahoo! News - White House Silent on Bremer Troop Request

] With a State Patrol airplane overhead, a motorcyclist hit
] the throttle and possibly set the informal record for the
] fastest speeding ticket in Minnesota history: 205 mph.

This is someone we can probably look forward to in a later edition of the Darwin Awards.

News

] General Odom said: "This is far graver than Vietnam.
] There wasn't as much at stake strategically, though in
] both cases we mindlessly went ahead with the war that was
] not constructive for US aims. But now we're in a region
] far more volatile, and we're in much worse shape with our
] allies."

Worse than Vietnam? I'm not sure how you can really get more damning than that.

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Far graver than Vietnam