Forever A Fangirl

Eminem ~ Mosh Video

Please watch and listen to a powerful piece of music for our times.
Eminem Mosh
(Click to the Vets site below for other modes of viewing the video.)

Thanks to Internet Vets For Truth

Eminem - Mosh
Intro:

(Kids: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..

(BOOM)

(Kids: And to the Republic..)

Eminem: People..

(Kids: For which it stands..)

Eminem: Hahaha..

(Kids: One nation under God.. Indivisible..)

Eminem: It feels so good to be back!

Verse 1:

I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight's through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it's time
It's just all in your mind - what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I'ma whip someone's ass
If you don't understand, don't even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a father-less past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon
That has, or at least shows, no difficulty multi-taskin' and juggling both
Perhaps mastered-his-craft slash entrepreneur
Who has helped launch a few more rap-bags
Who's had a few obstacles thrown his way
Through the last half of his career
Typical manure, moving past that
Mister kiss-his-ass-crack, he's a class-act
Rubber-band man, yeah, he just snaps back

Chorus:

Come along, follow me, as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me, and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith in your trust, as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel we gon' fight
We gon' charge, we gon' stomp
We gon' march through the swamp
We gon' mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors
Come on..

Verse 2:

All the people up top, on the side and the middle
Come together, let's all form this swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
No matter what color, all that matters we're gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the weather
If it rains, let it rain
Yeah, the wetter the better
They ain't gon' stop us - they can't
We're stronger now, more then ever
They tell us "No", we say "Yeah"
They tell us "Stop", we say "Go"
Rebel with a rebel yell
Raise hell - we gon' let em know
Stomp, push, shove, mush..
Fuck Bush
Until they bring our troops home, c'mon, just..

Chorus:

Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me, and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith in your trust, as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel we gon' fight
We gon' charge, we gon' stomp
We gon' march through the swamp
We gon' mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors
Come on..

Verse 3:

Imagine it pourin', it's rainin' down on us
Moshpits outside the oval office
Someone's tryin to tell us something
Maybe this is God just sayin' we're responsible
For this monster - this coward that we have empowered
This is Bin Laden
Look at his head noddin'
How could we allow something like this without pumpin' our fists
Now, this is our final hour
Let me be the voice, and your strength and your choice
Let me simplify the rhyme just to amplify the noise
Try to amplify it, times it, and multiply it by sixteen million
People are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach al CIAda through my speech
Let the president answer our high anarchy
Strap him with a AK-47, let him go fight his own war
Let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more psychological warfare to trick us to thinking that we ain't loyal
If we don't serve our own country, we?re patronizing our hero
Look in his eyes, its all lies
The stars and stripes, have been swiped
Washed out and wiped and replaced with his own face
Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight, you?ll know why
'Cuz I told you to fight

Chorus:

Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength
Come with me, and I won't steer you wrong
Put your faith in your trust, as I guide us through the fog
To the light at the end of the tunnel we gon' fight
We gon' charge, we gon' stomp
We gon' march through the swamp
We gon' mosh through the marsh
Take us right through the doors
Come on

Outro:

Eminem: And as we proceed to mosh through this desert storm.. in these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ.. as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army to disarm this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president for the present.. and mosh for the future of our next generation.. to speak and be heard.. Mr President.. Mr Senator..

(Kids: Hear us, hear us?.. Hahaha)

No Defeat Baby, No Surrender

Even though I was a block away from him, listening to the heartfelt words and lyrics of Bruce Springsteen at the Madison, Wisconsin Kerry for President rally gave me goosebumps. I've followed him since 1975 when in my high school library, I came across his scruffy visage on the covers of Time and Newsweek magazines-- in the same week.

Despite that Kerry in all earnestness declared that he's been a "long-time" fan of Bruce's--he attended a 1985 "Born In The USA" concert with his daughters-- I'll forgive him for seemingly not being aware of the prior decade in which Bruce created some of his best work.

I drove 250 miles round trip, sacrificed a night's sleep, and stood for hours to hear two songs from Bruce and to see and hear for myself if John Kerry is the real deal. My gut tells me he is.
Though Kerry is awkward and kinda geeky, he feels as strongly as Bruce does about this country. He's just not a fraction as poetic.
Bruce's poetry--his lyrics--speak to people.
Kerry is not a performer. He's a statesman--a senator.  Bruce and me both think he outta be given a chance to fix up some of the damage done by the Bush regime.

Below are excerpts from the Tribune story linked above, with some clipping and editorializing on my part.

On a mild autumn day as the bright yellow leaves twirled on the breeze, Bruce Springsteen offered up just two songs for a cheering crowd 80,000 strong, along with words more eloquent than the candidate himself typically musters.

Springsteen, clad in a black blazer and blue jeans, lightly strummed his guitar as he reeled off a list of values he said should guide the nation.

"As a songwriter, I've written about America for 30 years," Springsteen said. "I've tried to write about who we are, what we stand for, what we fight for. And I believe these essential ideas of American identity are what's at stake on Nov. 2."

Plenty of other high-profile figures have lent their support to Kerry this year, including former President Bill Clinton on Monday in Philadelphia, who helped draw about 70,000 people...

But it was Springsteen, during appearances here and in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, who seemed to make the Democratic nominee for president positively giddy in his presence.

"Semper fi, man," Kerry told Springsteen as they embraced on a stage that appeared to be floating on a sea of people.

Although Springsteen has always expressed his views through his lyrics, this campaign marks the first time he has publicly come forward to work for a specific candidate.

"I'm doing it for the kind of country that I want my kids to grow up in. Damn straight," Springsteen told ABC's Ted Koppel in an August interview.

He mentioned "the human principles of economic justice, healing the sick, health care, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, a living wage so folks don't have to break their backs and still not make ends meet, the protection of our environment, a sane and responsible foreign policy, civil rights and the protection and safeguarding of our precious democracy here at home."

"I believe Sen. Kerry honors these ideals," Springsteen said.

Springsteen was the front man for a barnstorming concert tour this fall with groups like Pearl Jam and the Dave Matthews Band, playing in battleground states and raising $15 million to mobilize voters on behalf of Kerry.

On election eve, he will open for Kerry one last time in Cleveland.

On Thursday, speaking to the crowd of more than 80,000 people who packed West Washington Avenue  and stretched from Bassett Street up the hill to the ornate State Capitol, Springsteen finished by playing Kerry's campaign theme song, "No Surrender."

A stump speech and a beer

As he jogged off the stage to leave Kerry to give his stump speech, a crew of roadies encircled Springsteen as he strode down the street to meet up with his wife, singer Patti Scialfa. The couple stopped in front of a house full of college students gathered on a second-floor deck.

"Bruce, come up for a beer," said a sign hanging from the railing.

Springsteen and Scialfa walked up to the house and emerged on the upper deck, each taking a bottle of Capitol Amber, a local brew, and watching as Kerry paid homage to the man who made the working people of Asbury Park, N.J., famous.

Kerry finishes up. I'm on a balcony of the condo just visable behind the trees on the left.

Pics I took:

A small portion of the whole--over 80,000 strong.

Bruuuuuuuuce!!!

Doesn't Kerry look like a fan-boy? I think it's kinda cute.

Just your friendly neighborhood sharpshooters on the roof across the street. Gave me a bit of a scare when seconds after I pointed my camera at him, one fixed his gaze on me.

Some guys in a tree. Can you count how many there are?

Me, exhausted but very happy.

Rally over, people leaving.

Goin' To Madison--WooT!

I just booked a room (for $40-- deal!) about 5 miles from the rally. Now I just have to figure how to navigate Madison's public transport.
It's my first experience like this --and I'll be on my own (I think).
Must catch some zzz's...

Take care,

Springsteen/Foo Fighters/John Kerry Rally In Madison

10/29/04 *NEW* Comments After Rally

We have an exciting update about the Fresh Start for America Rally with John Kerry in Madison on Thursday, October 28. In addition to Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen will also be taking the stage to perform live. (Insert non-age appropriate squeal.)

Come to the rally and find out how you can get involved in these final days leading up to the election. Volunteer mobilization will begin at the rally: Bring your cell phone with you to help create the world's largest open-air phonebank to get out the vote.

Tickets are required for the rally. If you haven't already printed your complimentary ticket(s), please click here:

http://www.johnkerry.com/madison

WHEN: Thursday, October 28
Gates open at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: State Capitol Square
Madison, WI
DETAILS: Due to security, please do not bring any umbrellas, bags, or signs. Please limit personal items as well. This event will take place RAIN or SHINE. Parking is limited -- please use public transportation. For more information, click here:
http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/metro

Join us at the rally and show that you share the Kerry-Edwards vision for an America that is stronger at home and respected in the world.

http://www.johnkerry.com/madison

See you at the rally,

Wisconsin for Kerry-Edwards AND Cyn ;)

Global Terrorism, Say It Again

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Can a video clip from the Republican convention be both funny and scary--at the same time?

Bush or treat

Cam Cardow
The Ottawa Citizen
10.22.04

Before The Storm

William Rainey Harper College Athletic/Health Center 10.23.04~ Post football game.

Ah, the first college I had any success at--Harper Community College--yay! Check out how the water at the spout-top of the fountain is being blown to the right by the high winds. Cool, huh?

(It actually is quite a good Jr. college; my lousy grades definitely reflect some discernment on their part.) I made up for it later when it seemed more important, straight A's (OMG, for the first time in my life) and one B (I missed two classes during a difficult third trimester of pregnancy--automatic grade drop--plus the instructor was the worst one I had in my experience at Northeastern, so I refused to try to cajole him into raising my grade so not as to destroy my perfect 4.0. Meh.) to complete my Masters Degree. I loved being a student and I hope to go back when I've got my kid raised (fingers crossed).

This one and one other have the saturation increased, just because I think it's pretty.

Another Day In The Life...

I'm just still really...harried--busy, rushed, whatever-- between dealing with panicky parents freaking out over Halloween costumes, the countdown to the presidential elections, and life in general of course--rarely a dull moment.

I'd really like to travel to a swing state for a couple days as has been requested of me--but I just can't see how to pull that off, so I think I'll be doing some phone banking--badgering reminding people to vote--and perhaps I'll travel to the great state of Wisconsin on Election Day.

The Halloween costume business is one that I cannot get out of quickly enough. When I agreed to post the what turned out to be thirty or so costumes on eBay, I was thinking mostly of making some extra $ for the soon due "instalment" on my youngest's Hawaii trip next July, but this has taken so much time and has just stressed me out to the max--plus reinforced my belief in the general idiocy of the population at large.
Customer service was never my strong suit.

I filed my Disability forms. They took hours to finish b/cuz I worked for a bit after the original diagnosis, so that required reams of info, though I never made more than a couple thou in a year.
Meh.

It's more candy shilling (after swimming) tomorrow--the last of it. Weather is supposed to cooperate-- a bit more sun would be nice--but in the 60's--good for here for October's end.

Sunday, Chris and I are planning a trip to the pumpkin farm. It was a yearly thing since he was a toddler, then something came up last year, and we skipped it. I really like (and so does Chris--spouse has to work) picking mini-pumpkins and other gourds out, drinking warm apple cider, and visiting the not-scary-but-fun-anyway haunted house out on the farm. There are pig-races and a giant corn maze (or is that maize?) and (trucked-in) farm and wild animals. I've never really cared for the animals in pens part, but Chris has done the camel and pony rides and fed pigs, cows, and an antelope, I think. I'm figuring no animals this year, but some of the other stuff will be fun.

So that's about it.
Everyone sounds like they are leading interesting/busy lives...

Hope y'all have a GREAT weekend!

Peace and good karma,

--Cyn 

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"You know, a lot of people are dying around here. We got bigger things on our mind to worry about than who wants to be president."

PFC. SAMUEL DANIELS, in Iraq.

Paper Reduction Act: Bah!

I faced the demons in the big fat envelope tonight and it's a good thing I did. The Social Security Disability paperwork arrived in the mail this Monday past and it's due this coming Monday. One week including postal time, to get it done and returned! Jeez Louise!
All I have to say is Paper Reduction Act: Bah!
Got it done and the monkey on my back, is heading towards the inside of a mailbox in the morning.

Nite All (or G'day!),

--Cyn

P.S. Thanks Jack!
You were right :)

Damned if I do.../ Fluwatch

I'm getting bored with myself and my recitation of the events of my days.

What's paramount in my mind atm, is making a potentially life-altering decision.
I've known it was coming. I started anticipating it four years ago.
I'll recap quickly if I haven't lost you already.

On Aug 19, 1998, after months of declining health for no apparent reason, I was diagnosed with heart failure. My ejection fraction--a measurement of how well your heart pumps, was 10%, and heart transplantation--if I lived--was a real possibility, as there is no cure for what I have (idiopathic cardiomyopathy). Though I shouldn't get annoyed, most people I've met and talk to about this think that heart transplant is a good thing. Wrong. It's bad, very bad. What's the longest you've heard of a transplant patient living after the transplant? Five, 10 years? Yeah, "No" on the heart transplant until there are no other options.

Medication can help alleviate symptoms and over time (years) my prescriptions have made me medically stable, hovering around the cut-off range of official heart failure. Yes, this is a good thing--better than I was supposed to expect. As an aside, I've since found out that though guardedly optimistic when discussing this with me --the cardio docs thought things were pretty grim in my first year or two. And maybe things are grim and I'm in denial, but if you dwell on the bad, it doesn't leave much time for the good.

Exercise and dietary changes and a boatload of meds have me feeling better than I have since getting ill. Do I feel normal? Hell, I don't even remember what normal felt like. I know I pee about 20 times a day due to the diuretics--and consequently my bladder is shot, and I sleep really funny and my breath catches when I climb the stairs from the basement or bend over at the waist. I get dizzy sometimes but have always managed to grab onto something or someone to steady myself. And I tire easily and it's a profound kind of tired--unlike lack of sleep tired (which makes things b-a-d).
I think too, that I sustained some mild brain damage when I almost died six years ago. There was so little blood being pumped that my lungs were shutting down, and since this went on for months, I think my theory is quite possible. The meds have potentially dozens of side effects--so that may be affecting my memory, too. I can't ever know 'cos I can't ever go off the meds.
So my life abruptly changed--I couldn't do much of anything the first few years.
I applied for Social Security Disability and got it. As I understood it, if it looked to them like you could recover, they'd review your case in a year or two--a little less hope, then at three years and if they thought you were a permanent lost cause, you'd get reviewed on your seventh year. I just passed the six year mark of collecting SSD and have now received a big fat packet of forms to fill out and mail back, so the gov't can decide how deserving I am.
This vexes me because I'm not sure what I'm "supposed" to be doing.
Actually, that's not quite right. I think I'm supposed to be taking care of my loved ones and myself and living life the best way I can.
So the question is, within the very narrow parameters of what the govt defines as disabled, am I disabled?
I have very mixed feelings about reapplying. Not having to work full-time gives me the luxury of having time to get regular cardiovascular exercise, have a hobby or two that I really enjoy, and volunteer for a few hours here and there with my son's school and choir, as well as the charity store.
I suppose if I gave all that up I could handle an "official" part-time job.
The last one I had was substitute teaching at the local Jr. high school. I would put in a day subbing and though I found it immensely enjoyable (prior to choosing counseling as my profession, I seriously pondered teaching), life ground to a halt after each time I put in a day's work as I needed two days to rest up after each day I worked.
As my life is now, I can pace myself so I don't get very run down and I know I feel healthier because of it.
Ugh.
I really don't like this govt judgment of my life. The questions are horribly intrusive and a doctor's certification is impossible to get because they won't commit to anything more than stating my diagnosis--due to fear of litigation. So it's up to me to do this--all on my own and I'm feeling very resistant. I just went through the humiliating experience of having a doctor's office twice telephone about a pending appt where I was to receive my flu shot and have them tell me I "didn't qualify" as a recipient. But my heart failure cardio guy insists I get one 'cos I'm a heart failure patient. Ohhh, they said, so sorry, yes, yes, come in and get shot.
Bleh. I took some old person's shot. I'm probably damned.

In other news...
Call me paranoid
How sick are you?

2004 Presidential Endorsements

I found this an interesting, sometimes disturbing peek at the (editorial) thinking of "average" America in regard to the best choice for United States President.
A local newspaper of mine is cited--The Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) which intrigued me even more. Generally, Arlington Heights is an "average" American town--though upper-middle-class average--so one might guess they'd be Bushies. And one would have to guess again.
Two newspapers refused to endorse anyone. I wonder, why even bother with publishing non-endorsements? Are they protests about the lack of choice we really have? Why don't they instead offer a (hypothetical) alternative instead of just saying we hate them both?

Excerpted in the following few lines is an endorsement for each candidate. Kerry's pretty well sums up how I feel. The second struck me as a perfect example of the "reasoning" behind why anyone would vote Bush--("we know who ( he) is"--argh!).

The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Mo.:

"John Kerry is not a perfect candidate with a flawless record. But he is a man of obvious intelligence, compassion, patriotism and courage whose presidency would be guided by a clear understanding of what went wrong in the last four years and what needs to be done in the next four."

The Repository, Canton, Ohio:

"Despite his mistakes, America knows who Bush is. He has led the country through immense troubles. Kerry, burdened by all the votes that came in the U.S. Senate for 20 years, still leaves many questions about what kind of president he would be."

.....................................................
2004 Presidential Endorsements
Mon Oct 18,12:04 AM ET
By The Associated Press
Newspaper endorsements in the 2004 presidential campaign between President Bush, a Republican, and Sen. John Kerry, a Democrat. Publication date was Oct. 17.

Kerry

Nevada Appeal, Carson City, Nev.:

"(The) cause of fighting global terrorism was mislaid. At home, (President) Bush has consistently favored the rich and powerful ... Finally, as Nevadans we find it impossible to endorse the president who has decided Yucca Mountain is a scientifically sound repository for the nation's nuclear waste."

Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.:

"John Kerry's assurance that he will not support the Central American Free Trade Agreement clinches his endorsement here. CAFTA is a looming danger to the Red River Valley's sugar beet industry."

The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, Calif.:

"John Kerry offers an experienced, steady choice to lead the nation in a different direction. Voters have plenty of reasons to deny Bush a second term, but two stand out. Consider the twin centerpieces of the Bush presidency — the war in Iraq (news - web sites) and tax cuts."

The Jackson Sun, Jackson, Tenn.:

"Sen. John Kerry is the best choice for president in the Nov. 2 election. He offers voters a more moderate approach on many issues than the Bush administration. That is something we believe the nation needs."

The Duluth News Tribune, Duluth, Minn.:

"Sen. John Kerry is the best hope for regaining America's promise, offering the country a fresh start internationally and a return of the presidency to an office of stature and respect."

The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C.:

"When a president is seeking re-election, the contest is inevitably a referendum on his service. ... We think George W. Bush has made the wrong choices on too many matters important to our country."

The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa:

"Today, the (budget) surpluses are gone, replaced by record deficits that our grandchildren will be paying off. The economic engine is on life support ... The nation is in a seeming endless war in Iraq draining our financial resources and killing American soldiers at a pace the American people should find unacceptable. It's time for change."

The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.:

"For the last 20 years Kerry has built coalitions, worked with both parties to get things done and been able to communicate in a way that instills confidence in voters and colleagues. ... Kerry will be better than Bush at uniting the country, something that's desperately needed today."

The Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, Ill.:

"(President Bush) and his band of neoconservatives have not acted conservatively in any sense of the word. ... (John) Kerry, we acknowledge, stands to the left of this newspaper on many issues. ... Faced with two imperfect candidates, the Daily Herald endorses John Kerry for president."

The Miami Herald:

"The debates have placed a spotlight on the skills and abilities of the two contenders, with the president getting the worst of it."

The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, Mo.:

"John Kerry is not a perfect candidate with a flawless record. But he is a man of obvious intelligence, compassion, patriotism and courage whose presidency would be guided by a clear understanding of what went wrong in the last four years and what needs to be done in the next four."

The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader:

"Kerry's most difficult challenge as president would be cleaning up after Bush in Iraq. Kerry at least has a shot at getting the rest of the world to help. ... Kerry can regain the good will and standing we had in the wake of 9/11 and rebuild the alliances that Bush discarded."

St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.:

"The best evidence of the poverty of the Bush administration's record is the Bush re-election team's incessantly negative campaign against John Kerry. ... The cynicism and illogic of those attacks — nobody can be a flip-flopper and a left-wing ideologue at the same time — should be obvious."

Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio:

"He would be a sound steward, replacing a cowboy ethic with a welcome pragmatism, advancing American interests and values, seeking to reverse a careless course abroad, just as he would at home."

Bradenton Herald, Bradenton, Fla.:

"Kerry brings to the job of president more than 20 years of Senate leadership, a personal knowledge of war and hope for a new approach to end the Iraqi nightmare and address the nation's domestic problems."

The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla.:

"John Kerry's distinguished service has prepared him to be the leader this country needs. ... Kerry and his running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) appreciate that alliances on a global scale are the most effective weapons against terrorism and conventional war."

Florida Today, Rockledge, Fla.:

"America needs new leadership, and we believe Democrat John Kerry can bring it to the White House, based on three decades of far-reaching public service that make him exceptionally qualified to be President of the United States."

The Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, Fla.:

"Issue by issue, Sen. Kerry has laid out a better, fairer, more progressive agenda. ... John Kerry is not in denial about Iraq or any of the other problems Mr. Bush will have left him."

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.:

"The Massachusetts senator possesses a prodigious intellect capable of grasping the complexities of the serious issues facing the nation and the world."

The Daily Camera of Boulder, Colo., endorsed Kerry on Oct. 17:

"Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, would revive national debate on issues too long neglected during the war on terrorism."

Bush

The El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas:

"This nation is engaged in two wars. One is in Iraq, and it would not be advisable to change command and policy in the middle of the fight. .... Then there's the war on terror...the battle against terrorism is progressing both domestically and internationally. That shouldn't be interrupted."

The San Antonio Express-News:

"The Bush administration is more likely to remain resolute on the war in Iraq than would an administration headed by his opponent, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. The vision of a free democratic Iraq to counter Islamic extremism and dictatorships is worth that resolve."

The Dallas Morning News:

"Four years ago, when the world was much simpler, George W. Bush sought the presidency claiming that he had 'a charge to keep.' ... Mr. Bush has earned the right to hold firm to his charge for another term."

The San Diego Union-Tribune:

"John Kerry's record of waffling on issues large and small does not instill confidence that he would provide the steady leadership that these uncertain times demand. With George Bush (news - web sites), however, there never is any doubt about where he stands. That is why he merits another four years in the White House."

The Las Cruces Sun-News, Las Cruces, N.M.:

"Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, have said over and over that they have a plan for this and a plan for that. Where are the plans? ... (Bush) doesn't flip-flop, and this is not the time to jump ship."

The News-Gazette, Champaign, Ill.:

"(President Bush) is, in our view, the man who better recognizes the threat posed to the country and the world by international terrorism and the one more willing to do whatever it takes, regardless of world opinion, to neutralize or destroy whose who would wage attacks on American soil."

The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill.:

"The presidential election comes down to one thing: trust. ... Frankly, both President Bush and his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, have given voters reason to doubt. But we would give the edge to Bush."

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas:

"Given the political leanings of the nation and Congress, it requires a Republican president — it requires George W. Bush — to be able to make, and sell, the difficult decisions that the next four years will bring."

The Indianapolis Star:

"It is time for experience and resolve, which is why George Bush should be re-elected for a second term. Without a re-election facing him, the president can move to do those things he said he would do in his first presidential campaign."

The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press:

"We would hope and expect (President Bush) to shift more to the center, befitting the compassionate conservatism that again has become a Bush mantra. But the overarching role of the president is that of commander in chief. It is our belief that Mr. Bush would continue to effectively defend this country."

The Repository, Canton, Ohio:

"Despite his mistakes, America knows who Bush is. He has led the country through immense troubles. Kerry, burdened by all the votes that came in the U.S. Senate for 20 years, still leaves many questions about what kind of president he would be."

The New Hampshire Sunday News, Manchester, N.H.:

"President George W. Bush (news - web sites) deserves re-election on Nov. 2 for many reasons, the most important being the need for his continued leadership in the global fight against Islamist terrorism."

Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va.:

"One ticket represents the mentality of 9/10, the other of 9/12. The choice is clear. On November 2, re-elect George W. Bush."

No endorsement

The Winston-Salem Journal, Winston-Salem, N.C.:

"This is a presidency in deep trouble, made worse by the refusal to acknowledge the trouble. ... Unfortunately, Sen. John Kerry has not convinced us that he will be able to steer the nation out of the mess in Iraq and move forward appropriately in the war on terrorism."

The Tampa Tribune, Tampa, Fla.:

"We find ourselves deeply conflicted today about the presidential race, skeptical of the promises and positions of Sen. John Kerry and disappointed by the performance of President George W. Bush."

Pop Ups and Unders (And NO Politics!)

I thought this column was interesting, informative, and timely--a worthy read for those of us that should probably know more about the machinations going on when we are clicking from website to website (and what goes on once we have entered as well ).

THE STRAIGHT DOPE 10/15/2004

Dear Cecil:

What's up with popups? I don't mean the thing that happens when a batter
gets too far under a fastball, I mean those maddening advertising
windows that crowd your computer screen when you surf the Web. It can
take several minutes to swat down the lot of them, giving that animated
bimbo--you know the one--a chance to launch into her
nails-on-a-blackboard spiel about
did-you-ever-wonder-why-your-computer-runs-faster-etc. How can
infuriating potential customers in this manner possibly sell product?
More to the point, why can't I turn these goddamn things off?--Mike
Sharrock, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Cecil replies:

Mike. Take a deep breath. Although you evidently haven't noticed it, the
era of the popup may be coming to an end. I say "may" because one can
never underestimate the ingenuity of Web marketers and the evil
programming wizards in their employ. For now, though, downtrodden users
such as yourself are getting a break, mainly because popups (not to
mention popovers, popunders, and other variants) have ticked off so many
people that the heavy hitters in the business have come to their aid.
We'll get to that in a bit. First, the basics:

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041015.html

Pooh

I should be listing either Halloween costumes (gag!) or a couple of cool books I found today whilst volunteering at the Clearbrook warehouse. It's usually quiet on Thursday nights when they are open 'till 7, instead of their usual 5 p.m. but tonight I had the pleasure of the company of a couple of juvenile delinquents. They were fine though, but a tad...idle...and hungry. They kept trying to eat employee's food--like dry soup, that they'd noticed had been "sitting there since last week--with nobody eating them."
Forced community service. Working at our store is about the least painful kind of community service--we get high school kids that are non-offenders doing time as a high school requirement...
I ran into some other interesting folks as well, including the two boy's counselor (overseeing them) and Clearbrook Center's Social-work-type person...so it wasn't quiet at all...well, still quieter than the usual daytime.
Okay, so anyone like Winnie the Pooh? I have a ton of Pooh-books that I can't sell and am slowly donating back to the store. Personally, his name puts me off, but it didn't stop me from snagging a copy of "The Pooh Cook Book" today. Yum! How about some The Very Nearly Tea with some Fairy Toast or perhaps some Easy Honey Buns with Honey Hot Chocolate? (ooh, it's copyright 1969 by Denise Milne. We may have something here.) So maybe I'll just check it out. ISBN numbers weren't being used at the time it was written and with all the Pooh titles flying around--it'll be a search...maybe.

Night all,

--Cyn
EDIT: :sigh: Pooh is not worth uh, poo.

Electing A President Doesn't Come Cheap

Even though being on the Dem.'s mailing list has at times clogged my mailbox, it's cool to open my email and find a message from the real President of the United States--Albert Gore.
Here are excerpts:
In 2000, we didn't have the money to compete in all swing states. Do not let that happen again. Make a contribution to the Democratic Party before tomorrow's deadline.

This Friday, the Democratic Party is facing another critical fundraising deadline. I know from experience the importance of this deadline because it is when strategists need to make key decisions about battleground states like Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, and about all our key races.
Democrats need $ to fight the GOP

In 2000, my campaign had to make excruciatingly difficult decisions on allocating our resources to the most winnable states. We knew the final margin would be razor thin, but we had to pick and choose which states we could afford to saturate with TV ads during the final drive to Election Day.

We were forced by the limitations of our campaign funding to make a series of tough choices -- including a decision to go for it in Florida and scale back in Ohio. If we had been able to pay for a full TV ad campaign in all of the key battleground states, we might not have lost Ohio by a thin margin. And of course, even though I think we won Florida, well, you know what happened there.

So don't let this happen again -- contribute now.

Send money NOW, unless you want four more years of BushCo

In these closing weeks, let's make sure that the Democratic Party has the resources to go all out for John Kerry and the Democratic ticket in Florida and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan and elsewhere. Your contribution right now will make sure the Party has the ability to compete in every single battleground state.

Right now, party strategists are making those tough, last-minute decisions about where to spend resources.

With your help, this time the Supreme Court will not pick the next president, and the current president will not pick the next Supreme Court.

Send money (please)

You've put George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Republican attack machine on the run. In these final weeks, they can't win a fair fight -- and you, the members of the Democratic Party's amazing online community, have the ability to make it a fair fight. Please respond as quickly as you can.

Then on November 2, we'll be celebrating our victories up and down the ballot in Ohio and Florida and other battleground states across the nation -- and not only in the popular vote, but in the electoral college too.

On to victory,

Al Gore

As Oprah Slaps Bush

As Oprah Slaps Bush

I'm not a fan of Oprah, but I am actutely aware of her tremendous influence and if she wields it in a thoughtful, positive manner, which I think has always been her intention, she quite possibly can help John Kerry win this election.
What does this mean for the average woman? Read on.

By Mark Morford
SF Gate

So there she was, the nation's most powerful and popular public female, kicking butt on a recent installment of her insanely beloved TV show with the help of celeb guests (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, P. Diddy, Christina Aguilera) and galvanizing stunned women across the nation to participate in this election, or else.

There was Oprah, doing what she does so freakishly well, cheerleading and extolling and impressing upon, getting women up and getting them angry and demanding that they exercise their hard-won right to vote and demanding that they quit dissing their feminist ancestors, the ones who worked so damn hard for suffrage and for freedom of choice and for the right to tell powerful sexist Republican men where they can shove their repressive sexist antichoice bigotry.

This was her fabulous, much-needed message: Take your rights for granted at your peril, ladies. Move, or else. Choose how you want the laws to treat and respect you and your body -- or someone else, someone who hasn't touched a vagina for 30 years and who thinks sex is only tolerable in the dark, fully clothed and with a respectable prostitute, will choose for you.

Sound like a cliché? Same ol' quasi-feminist rally message? Not exactly. Not this time. Just imagine this:

Imagine Bush filches another election in November. Nations mourn, black clouds gather, children cry, colons spasm, the remaining shreds of the American experiment wither and die.

And within a very short time, as many as 30 U.S. states have recriminalized abortion and made repressing women and hating sex fun again, as young American females everywhere who thought their right to choose was pretty much incontrovertible and indisputable and unfailing and who therefore didn't bother to vote in '00 or '04 suddenly go, oh holy freaking hell.

Hello, 1950s. Hello, coat-hanger surgery. Hello, millions of despondent daughters of uptight parents. Hello, dead or mutilated teenage girls who suffer botched procedures. Hello, a fresh national nightmare, revisited, regurgitated, reborn. And hello again to smug right-wing males who've wanted to put women back in their place for the past 50 years. Check that: 200 years. Check that: forever.

Just a silly nightmare? Utterly impossible? A ridiculous liberal daydream? Not even close, sweetheart.

It's all about the Supreme Court, of course.

Fact is, our next president will almost surely get to appoint a number of new high-court justices to replace those who will likely retire after enduring Bush's toxic first term. They hung in there, these few -- especially stalwarts Sandra Day O'Connor and moderate, pro-choice John Paul Stevens -- hoping to disallow the nation's highest judiciary from becoming overly stacked with homophobic self-righteous right-wing neocon wingnuts (hi, Justice Scalia!) who would have us revert -- morally, sexually, spiritually, misogynistically -- to 1953. Check that: 1853. Check that: 1353.

With the exception of nearly useless neoconservative sycophant Clarence Thomas, not a single justice now serving on the court is under 65. Many insiders say Stevens, O'Connor and bitter old man William Rehnquist (almost 80) are all likely to retire before 2008.

BushCo's chosen replacements could easily tip the scales of the court the other direction, from its very precarious 5-4 progressive tilt to a very sneering 6-3 conservative one, a court that would then very easily overturn parts or even all of Roe v. Wade. Talk about a malicious legacy.

It gets worse. It gets nastier, more widespread. Because should Shrub swipe another term, he will also be on his way to naming more federal trial and appeals judges -- hundreds, by most counts -- than either Clinton or Reagan, the last two-term presidents. Bush could, in short and for all intents and purposes, stack the nation's courts with enough neoconservative, antichoice, antiwomen crusaders to make Strom Thurmond giggle in his grave.

Which brings us straight back to Oprah. Say what you will about the often weirdly effusive and overtly gushy and often slightly smarmy woman who just gave away 276 Pontiacs to her entire studio audience (hard to tell if that was an act of astounding generosity and beneficence, or some sort of weird punishment -- I mean, they were Pontiacs), but the woman can electrify and inspire and educate her millions of devoted viewers like nobody's business.

And if there's one famously disenfranchised and alienated and apathetic voting bloc that needs to get off its collective yoga butt and stand up and make itself known this election lest it lose an even larger chunk of its basic human rights than it even realizes, it's youngish women.

This is, after all, what so many women don't seem to know. That

the Bush administration has already, in just a few short years, managed to roll back a truly astounding number of their basic rights, making it more difficult, for example, for doctors to perform abortions, or making it illegal for schools to discuss contraception or for hospitals to discuss pregnancy-termination options.

From demeaning and ineffectual abstinence-only programs to biased counseling to cutting all funding for international women's health organizations that provide care to poor women in third-world nations (hell, Bush hacked that one away in his first month in office), Dubya has done more than any president in the last 100 years to smack women upside their sexually empowered heads.

Oh and by the way, that suggestion currently being floated by some in Congress that the Iraq war has become so nasty and desperate that we might very well need to reinstate the military draft? That draft includes young women. And oh yes, Bush has already upheld the ban on abortions for servicewomen stationed overseas, even if they were raped, even if they pay for it themselves. Feeling patriotic yet?

This has been the GOP's message to women since, well, forever: Be like Laura Bush -- submissive, matronly, heavily shellacked and ever flashing a disquieting mannequin grin, off in the corner reading stories to the kids and cutting lots of pretty ceremonial ribbons and keeping quiet about the Important Stuff and never having sex and always be standing just out of the spotlight, secondary and inferior and in the background. You know, right where you belong.

Truly and sadly, few indeed are the powerful and articulate public female voices in our major media to counter this ideological poison. Who, Barbara Walters? Not exactly hotly connected to youth and issues of the day. Katie Couric? About as female empowering as a terrier. Martha Stewart? Busy designing barbell cozies for the prison gym. The wholly queasy pseudo-feminists on the wholly awful "The View"? Please.

And while plethoric are the powerful women working behind the media scenes, execs and pundits and writers, senators and world leaders and even forthright, independent wives, and while there are plenty of strong-willed, outspoken female celebs making their voices known, in terms of visibility and raw power and sheer reach, nobody can touch Oprah. Which is exactly why her message was so wonderful.

Here's the bottom line: 50 million eligible women didn't vote in 2000, and 22 million of them were single and nearly every one of them probably thought their vote doesn't matter and it isn't really worth it and who cares anyway because no matter who wins, everything's still pretty much run by rich powerful men anyway. Which is, you know, sort of true. But not quite.

Because as Oprah knows, there are powerful men who get it and who love women and who understand their issues

and who have cool articulate daughters and opinionated self-defined multilingual firebrand wives (Hi, Teresa), and there are aww-shucks antichoice Texans with lifeless token wives who think your body is government property and you should just pipe down and keep your damn legs closed and go pray to an angry Republican God to forgive your plentiful vagina-induced sins.

Hey, it's your choice. But not for long.

Edwards Tells Leno Theory on Bush 'Lump'

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards talks with "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno during his appearance on the show at NBC studios in Burbank, Calif., Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
BURBANK, Calif.
(my comments in bold)

Edwards has a theory about what was hidden underneath an unusual wrinkle that appeared on the back of President Bush's suit jacket during his first debate with John Kerry.

"I think it was his battery," a grinning Edwards told Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" on Tuesday.

I shouldn't laugh but even though this is a fish-in-a-barrel "gimme"-type joke, I still think it's funny.

"I think tomorrow, before the debate, John Kerry ought to pat him down," Edwards said, referring to the final Bush-Kerry matchup, scheduled for Wednesday in Arizona.

The Democratic vice presidential nominee, making his second appearance on the comedian's stage this year, was in turns silly and serious while chatting about issues from Iraq to chubby Secret Service agents.

Leno asked Edwards if he could beat the president in a foot race.

Edwards, who said he jogged about five miles Tuesday, reminded the audience he played football as a student. Bush, he noted, was on a cheering squad.

Bush "was on the side, with his pompoms," the North Carolina senator said. "I don't know, can you run fast with those cheerleading outfits on?"

My my now, them's fightin' words-- this is really gonna piss Dubya off.
What surprises me is how long it took for the Dems to make strongly personal attacks on the President, much like the President & staff have been doing to Kerry for months--Kerry is "too French-looking" (!?) and he sweats a lot (a "sweater,") which turns women voters off.

Edwards made a special trip out to Burbank and by doing so he reached the many millions who watch the Tonight Show--probably more people than he has in all his campaign appearances put together.

SNIP

During the first debate between the presidential candidates, a camera glimpsed what looked like a rectangular lump between Bush's shoulder blades. Bush's campaign aides have laughed off rampant Internet speculation that the president was wired to get help from advisers.

Edwards' one-day trip to California was somewhat unusual. The presidential race has largely bypassed the Democratic-leaning state, which is viewed as an all but certain win for the Kerry-Edwards ticket in November. Al Gore carried the state in 2000 by 12 percentage points...

SNIP

It's hard to deny that Bush was a cheerleading frat-boy in his university days, without altering history.
And it's pretty darn ballsy of Edwards to "pick" on Bush for the slightly "swishy" role of leading cheers, furthering the discussion of Bush's less than academically-minded behaviour, typical of a frat boy.
The gloves are off on this one and I think there's gonna be blood. I just hope that the blood isn't that of the American voter....

Pick Bush

Not for the faint of heart or easily offended.
Pick Bush

Courtesy of My Brother

At Least We Know Where He Stands

Admitting ones mistakes? Hard to do, yes. But even if Bush doesn't think he's made any mistakes in almost four years, couldn't he have come up with something as a example resembling a mistake, just in order to exhibit that famous humility of his?
Hmm. Guess not.
Must be hard to be perfect. Oh right, GW says it is "very hard" to be Prez.

https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/reiner.html?id=4278-4520924-fhgdAA_PH7Uuonk8IhTUyg

Did Bush Wear A Wire?

Bush's mystery bulge

Thanks for the link:
tech monk

The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate?

By Dave Lindorff
Salon.com
Oct. 8, 2004
Was President Bush literally channeling Karl Rove in his first debate with John Kerry? That's the latest rumor flooding the Internet, unleashed last week in the wake of an image caught by a television camera during the Miami debate. The image shows a large solid object between Bush's shoulder blades as he leans over the lectern and faces moderator Jim Lehrer.

The president is not known to wear a back brace, and it's safe to say he wasn't packing. So was the bulge under his well-tailored jacket a hidden receiver, picking up transmissions from someone offstage feeding the president answers through a hidden earpiece? Did the device explain why the normally ramrod-straight president seemed hunched over during much of the debate?

I haven't a clue what that "thing" is under Bush's suit jacket in the middle of his back .
But if he was getting "help" from Karl Rove, why was he (Bush) so perfectly awful?

Orland-Oh! Kingdom of Heaven

Does anyone look better in chain mail than Orlando Bloom? (rhetorical question, folks)

OMG, this guy justs gets better with age.
I gotta take a cold shower, 'cos he is hot, hot, hot!

I am so lame! I just put this pic on my desktop. As seen when he did his famous turn as Legolas in Lord of The Rings, Mr. Bloom is quite the beauty, IMO. Did you notice him in Pirates Of the Carribean with another gorgeous guy, Johnny
Depp (who is actally in my age-range and therefore not naughty for me to like...from afar?) :ahem:
I'm not a fan-girl. I just dig the both of them. And just "for the record," as I'm sure any worthy fan girl has discussed, the question of whether Orlando is "as cute" in his more natural-looking brunette state than he was as the luminous Legolas in the LotR films--is yes, dammit he's gorgeous no matter what shade he comes in. For me to stay interested though, part of the equation is that he can act. He held his own alongside his almost twenty-year senior* (Depp) in "Pirates," and I think he'll continue to flourish as actor. Not a one trick pony, IMO. Time will tell.
Maybe his new flick Kingdom of Heaven, directed by the sometimes fantastic Ridley Scott will be a good vehicle for Bloom to solidify/expand his fan base.

*Depp is "god" in the actorly (I apparently made that word up :p) sense.

Why Should I Care?/What Is This "Bush" Thinking?~ Mary Schmich/Mark Morford

Two rather good columns published today from Mark Morford in San Francisco and Mary Schmich in Chicago.
They differ on the specifics of each writer's situation but they meet at one crucial point: the great American disconnect. Not enough of us really care or are willing to try to change things that we pay lip service to caring about. This translates mostly into apathy, but in the big picture is manifesting itself as an overall lack of really giving a crap about our boorish global behaviour and how it effects other citizens of this planet.
Morford goes into detail about the embarrassing decline in American voter turnout (Is this election important enough, I wonder, to have any effect on this? Will the massive "Get out the vote" drives make a dent in the statistics? Or will it be the same as it ever was--with only 50% of eligible voters actually exercising that right?)
Why Don't Americans Care?

Do you know who Halliburton is? Dick Cheney? How about Karl Rove? Alas, most Americans don't

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, October 6, 2004

Let's be honest. Percentage-wise, few people in America really give much of a crap about what's going on in the hallowed halls of politics and power.

This is what we in the media and maybe you in the media-consuming audience tend to forget far too easily: This country is simply jam-packed with millions of people who have no time for, or interest in, politics, or media, or environmental policy, or education, or global issues, or which presidential candidate lied his ass off about which aspect of his military career and which Orange Alert is totally bogus and how many soldiers are dying for what imbecilic war.

It seems hard to believe. But the general rule of thumb is that major cities are slightly more attuned due to aggressive media saturation and how issues tend to make themselves known more urgently, more immediately, whereas Middle America is a scattershot conglomeration of the politically apathetic and the actively disenfranchised, full of people far too busy with their lives and kids and jobs and zoning out on "Fear Factor" and "Monday Night Football" to care about following the elitist, ever dire dramas playing out on the nation's gilded stages. (cont. below: Morford)

Schmich very recently spent some time in Europe, She talks about how she now understands what the Europeans knew all allong. The Americans thoughtlessly invaded Iraq without considering the geographics of how near our invasion is to our allies and how this can and is affecting them.

For Europeans, U.S. war in Iraq really hits home

By Mary Schmich Chicago Tribune
Published October 6, 2004

I apologize. It's hard to hear someone start a conversation with the phrase, "Last week when I was in Paris . . . "

But last week when I was in Paris, I absorbed some things about the Iraq war and geography that theoretically I'd understood but hadn't fully felt. No matter how much news you consume in the easy chair at home, there are things you can't viscerally understand about a distant place until you're there.

For example, a French friend looked across the dinner table one night and said, "Americans really feel threatened by terrorism? Really?"

Yes, I said, though I could have also said that most of us go about our daily business as if we didn't, which raises the question of how threatened we really feel.

But I said yes and tried to explain the Sept. 11 shock that shot through the heart of our sense of security. She nodded, trying to register American fear as real. Still, our fear, like our government's thinking on Iraq, struck her as distorted.

"We're the ones who have reason to be afraid," she said. Look around, she said, look how close the cultures of the world were here, and not just the cultures but the countries, so many grand, rivalrous nations trying to live in peace in such a small space.

Think of the terrorist attacks that have shaken this part of the world lately, she said, from Moscow to Madrid and on over to Morocco, a short ferry ride from Spain. And now the Americans had big-footed in to aggravate the tensions.

As she talked, I thought about the arrival and departure boards in the French and Spanish airports I'd been in over the last two weeks.

The boards were packed with names of great cities that Americans think of as exotic and very far away.

But they're not far away from each other. Moscow is closer to Paris than Chicago is to San Francisco. Istanbul and Paris are closer than Chicago and Seattle. It's a shorter trip from Paris to Madrid than Chicago to Orlando.

And though I didn't see any flights to Baghdad posted, the crow flies a shorter distance from there to Paris than from New York to L.A.

In other words, the Iraq war may not be their war, but at least to the Europeans I met it's close and personal. It feels closer there than it does here.

It's in their neighborhood. It fills their front pages and conversations. And yet they didn't choose it, don't control it and, if anecdotes and media accounts reveal much, they really don't understand why it's going on.

"What is this Bush thinking?" asked a middle-aged woman, a cook, in a village in Spain. "He is making the world more dangerous."

I heard some version of that remark over and over, another time from an elderly French restaurant owner who refilled his wine glass then launched into a lament that the Americans who had liberated Europe in the past century were putting it at risk now.

A lot of Americans seem to see that view as just pig-headed resistance to American power, a rejection of our right to protect ourselves.

But Europeans aren't just being ornery. They're being smart. They understand better than many Americans the balance of force and delicacy required to live in a global world. History and proximity have taught them lessons we still haven't learned.

When you're over there, where nations sit as cozily together as Illinois and Wisconsin, it's almost impossible not to understand--not to feel--the widespread European belief that by stomping into Iraq in the name of self-protection, the U.S. has put Europe, and consequently the world, in greater peril.

The American-European perception gap is partly a function of the geography gap. Even in a world shrunk by technology--by telephones, fast flights, the Internet--geography remains real. Distance still makes a difference in what we perceive. Distance still divides, obscures, isolates.

So, just as Europeans may have trouble understanding the effect of Sept. 11 on Americans, many Americans have trouble understanding Europeans' angry dismay over our invasion of a country at their elbow.

Still, the Europeans I met didn't hate Americans. They were infuriated by the war, mystified by our government. But they don't hate Americans.
Yet.

Cheney Is a Lying Liar

The harshest thing Veep Cheney said to Sen. Edwards last night, IMO, was when Cheney said (to paraphrase),"I'm at the Senate almost every Tuesday and I've never met you until now."
It was a complete farking lie! (thanks to Ben).
Competely baldfaced.
But you wanna know what people will remember? Not this follow-up, I guarantee 'ya, and not the truth that Cheney and Edwards not only met, but interacted several times before.
(And what class* :insert heavy sarcasm: the guy shows when his erroneous statement is pointed out.)

Cheney Is a Lying Liar

Meeting Was Not First for Cheney, Edwards
Wed Oct 6, 4:22 PM ET

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

CLEVELAND - Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday night that the debate with Democratic Sen. John Edwards marked the first time they had met. In fact, the two had met at least three times previously.

Cheney made the remark while accusing Edwards of frequent absences from Senate votes.

"Now, in my capacity as vice president, I am the president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight," Cheney told Edwards during the debate.

On Feb. 1, 2001, the vice president thanked Edwards by name at a Senate prayer breakfast and sat beside him during the event.

On April 8, 2001, Cheney and Edwards shook hands when they met off-camera during a taping of NBC's "Meet the Press," moderator Tim Russert said Wednesday on "Today."

On Jan. 8, 2003, the two met when the first-term North Carolina senator accompanied Elizabeth Dole to her swearing-in by Cheney as a North Carolina senator, Edwards aides also said.

Edwards didn't forget their prayer-breakfast meeting. The Democratic vice presidential candidate noted the discrepancy at a post-debate rally in a Cleveland park, calling it an example of Cheney "still not being straight with the American people."

"The vice president said that the first time I met Senator Edwards was tonight when we walked on the stage. I guess he forgot the time we sat next to each other for a couple hours about three years ago. I guess he forgot the time we met at the swearing in of another senator. So, my wife Elizabeth reminded him on the stage," Edwards said as the crowd roared.

According to Edwards' staff, Cheney replied, "Oh, yeah."*

"She reminded him about the truth," Edwards told the crowd, "and come November, we're going to remind him that the American people do not want four more years of George W. Bush."

John Edwards's Mission: Expose Dick Cheney

Good Op-Ed piece from NYTimes.com on what hopefully we'll be hearing from Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards tonight.
I know this is a terrible thing to say--and I really wouldn't about almost any other human being but...I hope those hot lights, which the GOP was so hoping would sink John Kerry (due to his fit body's ability to sweat), get to Cheney tonight and he suffers his final heart attack. Yes, I do.

The Falling Scales

OP-ED COLUMNIST
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 5, 2004

Last week President Bush found himself defending his record on national security without his usual protective cocoon of loyalty-tested audiences and cowed reporters. And the sound you heard was the scales' falling from millions of eyes.

Trying to undo the damage,

Mr. Bush is now telling those loyalty-tested audiences that Senator John Kerry's use of the phrase "global test" means that he "would give foreign governments veto power over our national security decisions." He's lying, of course, as anyone can confirm by looking at what Mr. Kerry actually said.

But it may still work - Mr. Bush's pre-debate rise in the polls is testimony to the effectiveness of smear tactics.

Still, something important happened on Thursday. Style probably mattered most: viewers were shocked by the contrast between Mr. Bush's manufactured image as a strong, resolute leader and his whiny, petulant behavior in the debate. But Mr. Bush would have lost even more badly if post-debate coverage had focused on substance.

Here's one underreported example: So far,

Mr. Bush has paid no political price for his shameful penny-pinching on domestic security and his refusal to provide effective protection for America's ports and chemical plants.

As Jonathan Chait wrote in The New Republic: "Bush's record on homeland security ought to be considered a scandal. Yet, not only is it not a scandal, it's not even a story."

But Mr. Kerry raised the issue, describing how the administration has failed to protect us against terrorist attacks. Mr. Bush's response? "I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises."

Oh, yes we do. According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, Mr. Bush's tax cuts, with their strong tilt toward the wealthy, are responsible for more than $270 billion of the 2004 budget deficit. Increased spending on homeland security accounts for only $20 billion. That shows the true priorities of the self-proclaimed "war president." Later, Mr. Bush, perhaps realizing his mistake, asserted, "Of course we're doing everything we can to protect America." But he had already conceded that he isn't.

It's also not clear whether voters have noticed the collapse of Mr. Bush's cover story for the disastrous decision to invade Iraq. In Coral Gables, Mr. Bush asserted that when Mr. Kerry voted to authorize the use of force against Saddam, he "looked at the same intelligence I looked at." But as The Times confirmed last weekend, the Bush administration suppressed intelligence that might have raised doubts in Congress.

The case for war rested crucially on one piece of evidence: Saddam's purchase of aluminum tubes that, according to Condoleezza Rice, were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs." But the truth, never revealed to Congress, was that most of the government's experts considered the tubes unsuited for a nuclear program and identical to the tubes used by Iraq for other purposes. Yes, Virginia, we were misled into war.

Now it's Dick Cheney's turn.

Mr. Cheney's manufactured image is as much at odds with reality as Mr. Bush's.

The vice president is portrayed as a hardheaded realist, someone you can trust with difficult decisions. But his actual record is one of irresponsibility and incompetence.

Case in point: Mr. Cheney completely misread the nature of the 2001 California energy crisis. Although he has stonewalled investigations into what went on in his task force, there's no real question that he placed his trust in the very companies whose market-rigging caused that crisis.

In tonight's debate, John Edwards will surely confront Mr. Cheney over that task force, over domestic policies and, of course, over Halliburton. But he can also use the occasion to ask more hard questions about national security.

After all,

Mr. Cheney didn't just promise Americans that "we will, in fact, be welcomed as liberators" by the grateful Iraqis. He also played a central role in leading us to war on false pretenses.

No, that's not an overstatement. In August 2002, when Mr. Cheney declared "we now know Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons," he was being dishonest: the administration knew no such thing. He was also being irresponsible: his speech pre-empted an intelligence review that might have given dissenting experts a chance to make their case.

So here's Mr. Edwards's mission: to expose the real Dick Cheney, just as Mr. Kerry exposed the real George Bush.

E-mail: krugman@nytimes.com

How Bush Did In The First Debate (video)

A perfect video example of Jack's comments in this post.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

I agree with Jack that "a real President should be humble and tireless in the face of adversity."
This president is a fraud.

Carnivale Returns In January

CLICK!

Though I'm very curious as to how HBO got my gmail address, I am glad that they sent me some great news.
Carnivale returns this January, 2005!
Carnivale is a creepy supernatural tale that has a lot of potential I think, for a great season
(and the promo doesn't even remind us that the fate of three major characters was left up in flames at last season's end!)

You Can Be Certain And You Can Be Wrong

....so spake John Kerry about midway through the first presidential debate last night. Go John.

I'm behind in my news reading, so I just came across this op-ed piece in the NYTimes by Al Gore.
Almost to the letter, Kerry used some of the same phraseology that Gore suggested. Kinda unsettling, or is that reassuring? I'm not sure which.

CLICK for some debate "highlights."

Anyway, here's the Gore piece and then just a quick few thoughts of mine about what I observed of the debate.

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR: AL GORE

How To Debate George Bush

Published: September 29, 2004

This year, as usual, the dominance of attack advertisements on television has made it hard to get a clear picture of where the candidates stand. But the same media revolution that brought us the 30-second commercial also brought us televised presidential debates - and ever since the first of them 44 years ago, they have played a crucial role in shaping voters' opinions of the candidates.

America has long been devoted to the clash between opposing advocates as the best way to evaluate information. In this era of media clutter, it is all the more important for voters to have this moment of simple clarity when the candidates appear before them stripped of advisers, sound bites and media spin.

My advice to John Kerry is simple: be prepared for the toughest debates of your career. While George Bush's campaign has made "lowering expectations" into a high art form, the record is clear - he's a skilled debater who uses the format to his advantage. There is no reason to expect any less this time around. And if anyone truly has "low expectations" for an incumbent president, that in itself is an issue.

But more important than his record as a debater is Mr. Bush's record as a president. And therein lies the true opportunity for John Kerry - because notwithstanding the president's political skills, his performance in office amounts to a catastrophic failure. And the debates represent a time to hold him to account. For the voters, these debates represent an opportunity to explore four relevant questions: Is America on the right course today, or are we off track? If we are headed in the wrong direction, what happened and who is responsible? How do we get back on the right path to a safer, more secure, more prosperous America? And, finally, who is best able to lead us to that path?

A clear majority of Americans believe that we are heading in the wrong direction. The reasons are obvious. The situation in Iraq is getting worse. Osama bin Laden is alive and plotting against us. About 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost. Forty-five million Americans are living without health insurance. Medicare premiums are the highest they've ever been. Environmental protections have been eviscerated.

In the coming debates, Senator Kerry has an opportunity to show voters that today American troops and American taxpayers are shouldering a huge burden with no end in sight because Mr. Bush took us to war on false premises and with no plan to win the peace. Mr. Kerry has an opportunity to demonstrate the connection between job losses and Mr. Bush's colossal tax break for the wealthy. And he can remind voters that Mr. Bush has broken his pledge to expand access to health care.

Senator Kerry can also use these debates to speak directly to voters and lay out a hopeful vision for our future. If voters walk away from the debates with a better understanding of where our country is, how we got here and where each candidate will lead us if elected, then America will be the better for it. The debate tomorrow should not seek to discover which candidate would be more fun to have a beer with. As Jon Stewart of the "The Daily Show'' nicely put in 2000, "I want my president to be the designated driver.''

The debates aren't a time for rhetorical tricks. It's a time for an honest contest of ideas. Mr. Bush's unwillingness to admit any mistakes may score him style points. But it makes hiring him for four more years too dangerous a risk. Stubbornness is not strength; and Mr. Kerry must show voters that there is a distinction between the two.

If Mr. Bush is not willing to concede that things are going from bad to worse in Iraq, can he be trusted to make the decisions necessary to change the situation? If he insists on continuing to pretend it is "mission accomplished," can he accomplish the mission? And if the Bush administration has been so thoroughly wrong on absolutely everything it predicted about Iraq, with the horrible consequences that have followed, should it be trusted with another four years?

The biggest single difference between the debates this year and four years ago is that President Bush cannot simply make promises. He has a record. And I hope that voters will recall the last time Mr. Bush stood on stage for a presidential debate. If elected, he said, he would support allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada. He promised that his tax cuts would create millions of new jobs. He vowed to end partisan bickering in Washington. Above all, he pledged that if he put American troops into combat: "The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategy needs to be well defined."

Comparing these grandiose promises to his failed record, it's enough to make anyone want to, well, sigh.

Al Gore, vice president from 1993 to 2001, was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2000.

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I watched the entire debate--and my 12 y.o. son did as well (for extra credit at school, natch).

Although it sometimes seemed less a debate and more a mud-slinging competition,
by the end Kerry had a chance to clarify his stance on several issues, not the least of which is that we need to re-establish a presence with North Korea before we get nuked.

Bush stayed on message, all right. My son and I were amused at how often he repeated his "stay the course"-type statements. No substance there what.so.ever., though he did have a couple of moments when he seemed to have memorized what he practiced for six months.*

As far as demeanour, Kerry must have worked very hard to relax because with just a few short exceptions, he looked and sounded sure of himself.

Bush OTH, often looked angry. He was on the defensive yes, but knowing how important "style" was in this, the most important debate (historically, audience viewing drops off for the next two), I was quite surprised.

*It was reported by several news sources that Bush studied for this debate for six months.
When it became clear that Kerry was to be the candidate, Bush's bulldogs obtained every scrap of info on Kerry's debating style, personal habits, etc.
They gleefully discovered that Kerry (under the hot lights) is a "sweater," so in pre-debate "negotiations," when Kerry asked that the room temperature be kept under 70 degrees (lights on-stage would have brought this up at least 10 degrees) the Bush camp said no. Kerry's team went with it as they had one goal in mind--to have three debates. And the Kerry camp won on that issue.

New For You

I've had two very average days.
You know, the same ol' sh--.
But the weather has been great. I always get a top-down ride in--even if it's short one--and that is always a very good thing. ;)

Today wasn't so bad- About two hours spent looking for stuff in a consignment shop I used to hit at least once a week was probably the high point--The owners, Joyce and Joanne, moved to a smaller store in a better location this year past, and really no longer sell any "sellable" books (they use to have some really awesome stuff from estates--stuff from the dead person's home direct to their store --but I have no real reason to go in there right now unless I have to, as I'm poor until Chris's Hawaii "tour" is paid for. The tally so far for 10 days is about $2000, plus spending money).
But today--I had reasons 1. Chris will soon need to shed his shorts for longer pants and they often have what I need clothes-wise and 2. I wanted to try to find something nice for my sis-in-law. We usually don't exchange gifts for the adults--but it's her 40th birthday this weekend and her husband (the part-time band guy) is giving her a party on Sunday. I did find her a really neat ceramic picture frame (kinda girly-- to her taste not mine--I can print out a pic of her brother and nephew at Disneyland or maybe I'll get all artsy--doubtful not time or inclination--argh, I'm bad) so we'll not go empty handed on Sunday. I have my brother's late-birthday lunch on Sunday as well--when it rains, it pours.

Cheers to all,

--Cyn