Rather Lame Attempt at Deception

Joshua Micah Marshall points out that Bush Administration recent released information on what really happened at Tora Bora contradicts their own releases during the incident. More more doublethink from the Administration talks.

Indeed, not only is what the president's campaign is saying not true, but as the April 2002 WaPo piece, discussed here, makes clear, what Kerry is charging is backed up to the letter by the administration's own formal and informal after-action analysis and reports about the mistakes made at Tora Bora.

Incredible Incompetence

Ever wonder where all the explosives have come from that are being used against our troops in Iraq? Our incompetent Defense Department had no plan to secure all the weapons, much less anything else in Iraq after the invasion. Check out Joshua's great article.

Some 350 tons of high explosives (RDX and HMX), which were under IAEA seal while Saddam was in power, were looted during the early days of the US occupation. Like so much else, it was just left unguarded.

What Every Conservative Should Know about George Bush

Perhaps we are seeing a collapse of secular conservative support for Bush. I've never understood why they've been so quiet so long. But finally some are stepping up. Here one of the founders of the American Conservative magazine endorses Kerry while promising to oppose him as soon as he is elected. There are many deeply ideological reasons for doing so.

This is an outstanding article and a clear denunciation of the Bush Administration policies. Thanks to Ray for the link.

Kerry's the One

Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favored corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation's children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing clich� about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy. Add to this his nation-breaking immigration proposal, Bush has laid out a mad scheme to import immigrants to fill any job where the wage is so low that an American can't be found to do it, and you have a presidency that combines imperialist Right and open-borders Left in a uniquely noxious cocktail.

Lack of Vigilance

It seems that America doesn't heed much of the information that comes their way. Kevin has a great post on a poll that examines the differing opinions between Bush and Kerry supporters. It seems that Bush supporters are pretty ignorant of the truth about Al Qaeda and WMDs in Iraq. One could assume that they are either totally ignorant or that they choose not to believe what the press reports, instead choose to buy the propaganda from the Administration. I think its the latter. It would to tough to believe that people who were so apathetic that they don't follow the news would even bother to vote.

This seems to support my thesis about a large part of American voters. They seem to vote for the guy they like. Presumably that also means they believe him. Its hero worship at its worst.

Recruits: Officials Fear Iraq's Lure for Muslims in Europe

Solid evidence that Iraq has become the new Afghanistan. Thousands more Iraqis will die while we attempt to clean up this mess. This mess is much worse than Afghanistan had ever been. There is a chance that this one can't be stopped without destroying whats left of the Country and killing tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians.

The New York Times > Recruits: Officials Fear Iraq's Lure for Muslims in Europe

France's antiterrorist police on Friday identified a young Frenchman killed fighting the United States in Iraq, the first confirmed case of what is believed to be a growing stream of Muslims heading from Europe to fight what they regard as a new holy war.

Redouane el-Hakim, 19, the son of Tunisian immigrants, died during an American bombardment of insurgents in Falluja on July 17, according to an intelligence official close to the case.

Intelligence officials fear that for a new generation of disaffected European Muslims, Iraq could become what Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya were for European Islamic militants in past decades: a galvanizing cause that sends idealistic young men abroad, trains them and puts them in touch with a more radical global network of terrorists. In the past, many young Europeans who fought in those wars came back to Europe to plot terrorist attacks at home.

The Rationality of Voting

I was over visiting ratboy's anvil and noticed a great post. Its a great read. Here is the part I want to comment on:
ratboy's anvil: A Comment Brought Forward
People who subordinate reason to faith, and not faith to reason, are at least borderline psychotic. They are throwing away a gift from God, Reason, in an egomaniacal, delusional belief in their own ignorant fantasies and dim imaginings of an unreal world they picked up on in some misreading of a religious or philosophical text, or just in the general cognitive dissonance that surrounds us all. They are hearing things, and seeing things, that never have and never will exist. Unfortunately, not all of them show symptoms: They don't all wander around aimlessly, babbling at the top of their lungs. The ones that really scare me are the ones who appear rational, even making a success in society. But their brains are riddled with insane ideas and dangerous beliefs, like some secret syphillis.
Unfortunately both sides of the aisle think they are the rational one. The fact is neither side is.
Humans are inherantly irrational. Our rationality is phylogenically recent. Everyone looks at the facts, makes an emotional decision about the facts and then IF they don't acknowledge that emotional aspect, they make up an explanatory fiction to make it all sensible. The challenge is to have a level of self awareness that allows: irrationality + facts = intuition. That takes a level of intelligence and/or common sense not all of us share.
People in general vote for their heroes. Single issue voters vote on an heroic issue. Who and what they percieve as their heroes depends on their values, their fears, and their personal experience before it ever gets around to facts. It takes an well functioning human being to get a really good mix to produce a good vote. Unfortunately, there are those among us who just can't get there from here.
They are the one's who are hurt by a corrupt process of campaigning. They are the one's who are caught up into the Rovian tactics and manipulated into voting against his/her interests. Do you think the average blue collar worker thinks his votes were wasted on Reagan? Nope.
Somehow, we have to instill a level of health into the process. Otherwise, those that play the game best win. I don't know how to do that.
We shouldn't be voting for the best game players.

Grand Dragon Worship

Very funny image from a new PBA blogger Scrutiny Hooligans

Doublethink "Dubya"

Great post by Kevin:
Preemptive Karma: The Pork Barrel President

Bush is the first President ever to not veto a single piece of legislation. He talks on the campaign trail about the need to instill fiscal discipline in Congress. What kind of a spineless twerp can't locate his own damn cajones long enough to veto a single Pork Barrel Bill in nearly 4 years? George "Dubya" Bush, that's what kind. Today President Bush quietly signed the latest Corporate Tax Break that landed on his desk. Long-time opponent of Pork Barrel politics Senator John McCain called the measure, "the worst example of the influence of special interests that I have ever seen."

Another great example of how Dubya provides substantial meaning to where his politics are in his actions, and his words are often deceptive. Doublethink Dubya, ala Orwell's 1984.

Bush, the Empire Builder

Here's a passionately worded editoral. I've come to like Herbert's columns. He is a one man band pounding the drum of righteousness. He reviews some of the more incredible Bush quotes from past weeks.

NYT Opinion > Bush's Blinkers

Does President Bush even tip his hat to reality as he goes breezing by?

He often behaves as if he sees - or is in touch with - things that are inaccessible to those who are grounded in the reality most of us have come to know. For example, with more than 1,000 American troops and more than 10,000 Iraqi civilians dead, many people see the ongoing war in Iraq as a disaster, if not a catastrophe. Mr. Bush sees freedom on the march.

Many thoughtful analysts see a fiscal disaster developing here at home, with the president's tax cuts being the primary contributor to the radical transformation of a $236 billion budget surplus into a $415 billion deficit. The president sees, incredibly, a need for still more tax cuts.

The United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. The president responded by turning most of the nation's firepower on Saddam Hussein and Iraq. When Mr. Bush was asked by the journalist Bob Woodward if he had consulted with former President Bush about the decision to invade Iraq, the president replied: "He is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength. There is a higher father that I appeal to."

Last week the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University said in a report:

"During the past year Iraq has become a major distraction from the global war on terrorism. Iraq has now become a convenient arena for jihad, which has helped Al Qaeda to recover from the setback it suffered as a result of the war in Afghanistan. With the growing phenomenon of suicide bombing, the U.S. presence in Iraq now demands more and more assets that might have otherwise been deployed against various dimensions of the global terrorist threat."

Even an Israeli think tank is speaking of Iraq as a training and staging ground for Al Qaeda since the US created chaos in that country. As another very good article points out, Al Qaeda is metastisized.

Marc Sageman, a psychologist and former CIA case officer who studies the formation of jihadist cells, said the inspirational power of the Sept. 11 attacks -- and rage in the Islamic world against U.S. steps taken since -- has created a new phenomenon. Groups of young men gather in common outrage, he said, and a violent plan takes form without the need for an outside leader to identify, persuade or train those who carry it out.

The brutal challenge for U.S. intelligence, Sageman said, is that "you don't know who's going to be a terrorist" anymore. Citing the 15 men who killed 190 passengers on March 11 in synchronized bombings of the Spanish rail system, he said "if you had gone to those guys in Madrid six months prior, they'd say 'We're not terrorists,' and they weren't. Madrid took like five weeks from inception."

Much the same pattern, officials said, preceded deadly attacks in Indonesia, Turkey, Kenya, Morocco and elsewhere. There is no reason to believe, they said, that the phenomenon will remain overseas.

Jesse The Body Proves He Has a Brain Too!

Apparently realizing the stakes in this election, Jesse has put aside political expediency and prospects for future political posts by speaking by endorsing John Kerry. The announcement was made without comment. I'll be looking for further comments on his position in the near future.
Jesse Ventura endorses Kerry
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has officially endorsed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

A Must Read: Karl Rove in a Corner

This is a must read article about Karl Rove. Think about the worse dirty trick that can happen in a campaign. Thats what this man is known to do routinely. Thanks to The Agonist for the link.
The Atlantic Online | Karl Rove in a Corner
How Rove has conducted himself while winning campaigns is a subject of no small controversy in political circles. It is frequently said of him, in hushed tones when political folks are doing the talking, that he leaves a trail of damage in his wake, a reference to the substantial number of people who have been hurt, politically and personally, through their encounters with him. Rove's reputation for winning is eclipsed only by his reputation for ruthlessness, and examples abound of his apparent willingness to cross moral and ethical lines.

Support shrinking for Bush's anti-terrorism policies: poll

So this is why Bush is sounding more and more desperate.

Support shrinking for Bush's anti-terrorism policies: poll

President George W. Bush's approval rating in the fight against terrorism dropped below 50 percent this month for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to new poll.



Bush's approval rating on that question was 62 percent last month, 58 percent in August and 56 percent in June. With less than two weeks to the November 2 election, the Pew Research Center poll of 1,307 registers voters showed Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry tied at 45 percent among registered voters and at 47 percent among likely voters. Those numbers were a net gain for the Massachusetts senator, who had trailed in both groups earlier in the month.

Pew director Andrew Kohut estimated that Kerry's gains were linked more to "an improving personal image than to growing strength on the issues. "In particular," he said, "the Democratic challenger has virtually erased Bush's advantage for honesty and having good judgment in a crisis. Bush continues to lead by significant but narrowing margins as the stronger leader and as the candidate more willing to take an unpopular stand on the issues," he added. The poll, taken October 15-19, had a margin for error of three to 4.5 percentage points.

Pentagon Board Finds U.S. May Need More Troops

One has to wonder if something is coming apart in the Administration. Fellow Republicans, public supporters of the President, and now the Pentagon are releasing information contrary to the "official" line coming directly from the Whitehouse. Is some of the Administration's unequivocal support is crumbling in the face of the election? Perhaps people have heard the official line a few too many times to believe it anymore and are begining to speak honestly to retain their own credibility. Or is the Administration back peddling in an attempt to shore up waning support?
One can only hope.
Pentagon Board Finds U.S. May Need More Troops
The U.S. military lacks sufficient troops for post-combat "stability and reconstruction'' operations, and should consider adding "significant'' numbers, a review by the Pentagon's Defense Science Board found. The report lists four main options for addressing what it calls an "enduring shortfall'' of troops: enlarging the military, shifting combat troops to post-combat duties, turning to the United Nations or allies for assistance, or scaling back "the number and/or objectives of stabilization missions.''
"We simply don't have enough forces for our overseas commitments,'' said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst and vice president of the Lexington Institute, a Washington research center, who was briefed by the Pentagon on the report. "The implication is that money will have to be taken out of Navy and Air Force investment accounts to increase the size of the force.''

This Administration is Looking Wackier in its Desperation!

Seems like I'm using the word wacky a bit much. But it seems to apply to this Administration and its buddies. Now Cheney says Kerry can't protect us from a nuclear attack. And Ashcroft, Big Brother himself, says Bush rules by divine Providence! Its hard to believe serious politicians would dare push these buttons. But they apparently believe there is a paranoid lunatic fringe in American large enough to offset any loses created by such statements. And I'm afraid they are right. The most popular book in America advocates that we trigger a World War in the Middle East to precipitate Armageddon and the Rapture where all the true believers will be "lifted to heaven" prior to the final battle. The sooner the war starts, the sooner they get to heaven.
The New York Times > Opinion > Chiller Theater
As the election draws near, the Bush campaign grows ever more irresponsible in its effort to scare Americans into believing that voting for John Kerry will bring on another terrorist attack. In Ohio on Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney said Mr. Kerry was incapable of understanding, much less acting on, the specter of terrorists' creeping into our cities with nuclear bombs "to threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans." Attorney General John Ashcroft was back in Washington, meanwhile, suggesting that God had spared America from an attack since 9/11 because President Bush's team was assisting "the hand of Providence."

The Power of Nightmares

Our dreams are indeed very powerful. Ever noticed how after sleeping on a particular emotional dilemna, you awaken with a new insight, a sense of intuitive understanding? My experiences have been intellectually baffling yet emotionally centering. Somehow, out of a good nights sleep I've found equilibrium without knowing how or why.

This TV documentary series I'd love to see is not referenced again as to when and where it will be broadcast. Maybe BBC 2? The website and Google are silent. Thanks to The Agonist for the link.

The Scotsman - S2 Thursday - Was Islamic extremism born in the USA?

COULD 9/11 have its roots in one man's visit to a dance in Colorado in 1949? Could the current terrorist threat stem from the same man's belief that gardening was a selfish Western pastime? Could the invasion of Iraq have its origins in the cowboy TV series, Gunsmoke?

Intriguing ideas, and they were thrown up by a new documentary series, The Power of Nightmares. Its central thesis was that politicians exaggerated the terrorist threat in order to retain power, and its starting-point was the observation that, instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise protection from nightmares. Thus far thus arguable.

The Boycott of Sinclair is Still On, Your Help is Needed.

As I suspected (Sinclair Bobbing and Weaving), Sinclair has managed to find a way to broadcast his smear and appease some of his advertisers. He's just calling it "News", that is the reason his DC News Director spoke publically and was fired. Stand up and make sure you've been heard.

Sinclair Advertiser Boycott

Grassroots Efforts Needed 'Now More than Ever' to Send Strong Message to Sinclair Broadcast Group: BoycottSBG.com founder Nick Davis urges citizens concerned with preserving free and fair press to 'take action now more than ever,' in the wake of Sinclair Broadcast Group's latest move: to air a news special incorporating excerpts of a controversial documentary -- 'Stolen Honor' -- alleging Sen. John F. Kerry betrayed American prisoners during the Vietnam War."

Reed Hundt former FCC chairman Comments on Sinclair Broadcasting

A former FCC Chairman is speaking out about the Sinclair controvery. It seems there is indeed a reason for Sinclair to be worried and for the FCC to act IF the program is unbalenced. But, he wonders outloud if a blatantly partisan chairman we have will actually find his role. Thanks to Josh.
Reed Hundt former FCC chairman Comments on Sinclair Broadcasting
Now we see that Sinclair is not going to run the smear "documentary" after all. Instead they are going to run something they label as news, but which according to its current description is transparently another criticism of the Kerry campaign. What are we to make of this new tactic?
First, by backing away from their previous plan, Sinclair is effectively admitting either that their advertisers want them to maintain the broadcaster tradition of providing balanced and neutrail coverage of elections ( because without that advertisers risk viewer unhappiness being directed at the advertisers), or that Sinclair in fact may face many regulatory problems in the event that it violates that tradition. That much at least is progress toward some recognition of reality at Sinclair.
Second, Sinclair calling their proposed new show news does not make it news. What in fact one may think of their broadcast can and should be judged after the fact. But since Sinclair's relationship to objectivity, as reflected in its press statements, is rather attenuated, one should suppose that Sinclair's new show may well be judged just as much a smear as the so-called documentary they apparently will no longer run. As a result, advertisers have just as much ground to be wary, and the FCC just as much basis to do its duty....

More believable stories about suppressing the black vote.

Republican officials are often racists it appear. Everywhere you turn you hear many of these stories. The local Republican Party in Philedelphia hasn't even thought through their excuse. Voters have been coming to the contested locations for years, but the Republicans had to wait for the latest location lists. Talk about lame! Thanks to Carla for the link.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/19/2004 | Accusations fly as GOP seeks to shift polling places

A last-minute Republican effort to relocate 63 Philadelphia polling places has sparked outrage from Democrat John Kerry's presidential campaign, which says the choice of locations in heavily African American neighborhoods shows that the GOP wants to suppress black voter turnout. But the Republicans said the real outrage is the state of the polling places they want to change - many of them in bars, homes or vacant buildings....

To Democrats, the fact that nearly all of the challenged locations are in heavily African American parts of North, West and South Philadelphia suggests a racial motivation. All but four of the voting divisions in question have black or Latino majorities, according to city records.

"I've never witnessed a more wanton example of an effort to discourage minority voters from participating in an election," Kerry campaign spokesman Mark Nevins said. "It's despicable."

Nevins said that a last-minute move could confuse voters accustomed to voting at the existing locations, thus suppressing turnout. Polls say Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes are up for grabs, meaning that anything that affects turnout could make a difference.

Nevins noted that many of the locations had housed polls for years, and he questioned the late timing of the GOP's effort.

But to Republicans, who held a news conference yesterday outside a South Philadelphia bar that serves as a polling place, the status quo is a system geared to help an entrenched Democratic majority. With so much national attention on Democratic complaints about voting practices, the effort is an opportunity for Republicans to air their own voting gripes.

"Why are they forcing any citizen of this city to vote in an area that is not accessible to the handicapped or disabled, where someone may feel intimidated?" asked Deborah Williams, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, who said she signed 28 of the challenge petitions after being asked to do so by representatives of the state GOP.

She said the timing stemmed from Republicans' trying to work with the most up-to-date list of locations.

Pat Robertson: When Bush has friends like this, who needs enemies?

Pat Robertson has always been on my list as a wacko evangelist. He has a way of speaking in ways that really doesn't serve himself well and sounding, well wacky. Comments like women's liberation is a lesbian conspiracy contribute to that view. He's one of the guys that preaches that the way to heaven is through a World War in the Middle East.

Well, now my buddy has spit on Dubya's shoes. Its really pretty funny!

Pat Robertson Said He Warned Bush About Iraq War (washingtonpost.com)

Robertson, in an interview with CNN that aired Tuesday night, said God had told him that the war would be messy and a disaster. When he met with Bush in Nashville before the war Bush did not listen to his advice, Robertson said, and believed Saddam Hussein was an evil tyrant who needed to be removed.

"He was just sitting there, like, 'I'm on top of the world,' and I warned him about this war," Robertson said.

"I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you better prepare the American people for casualties.' 'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties.' 'Well,' I said, 'it's the way it's going to be.' And so, it was messy. The lord told me it was going to be, A, a disaster and, B, messy."

Have Doubts about the Possibility of Voter Fraud?

It seems the campaigns are taking very seriously the prospect of vote fraud or voter intimidation. They have hired teams of lawyers to try to head off the problem. What is going on in this country? Has it become accepted that everyone cheats? Why is it that I hear so little about this prospect? Perhaps the average voter doesn't believe it could happen in America?

Thanks to The Agonist for this link.

Legal Battle for Presidency Underway (washingtonpost.com)

The ballots have yet to be counted, much less recounted. But attorneys for President Bush and John F. Kerry are already engaged in an intense legal battle for the presidency that could once again give the courts a say in who is declared the winner.

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, an unprecedented number of lawsuits challenging basic election rules are pending in many of the battleground states. Both sides are in the final stages of training thousands of lawyers who will descend on the polls on Nov. 2 to watch for voter fraud or intimidation.