Freedom

Brilliant (courtesy of mgarthoff on YouTube, via Josh Marshall):

Good Times

What are you reading this blog for? Get out and enjoy your Saturday. And as you get ready, forget about the malaise and repression six years of the Bush administration have brought us, and think to Tuesday, when - hopefully - we can say once again, "These are the good times."

Your Song of the Day is from Chic:

Friedman Nails It

This is what it's all about, folks:

Bush and Cheney Think You're Stupid
By Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times

George Bush, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld think you're stupid. Yes, they do.

They think they can take a mangled quip about President Bush and Iraq by John Kerry -- a man who is not even running for office but who, unlike Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, never ran away from combat service -- and get you to vote against all Democrats in this election.

Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, "They must think I'm stupid." Because they surely do.

They think that they can get you to overlook all of the Bush team's real and deadly insults to the U.S. military over the past six years by hyping and exaggerating Mr. Kerry's mangled gibe at the president.

What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to the U.S. military than to send it into combat in Iraq without enough men -- to launch an invasion of a foreign country not by the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force, but by the Rumsfeld Doctrine of just enough troops to lose? What could be a bigger insult than that?

What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in uniform than sending them off to war without the proper equipment, so that some soldiers in the field were left to buy their own body armor and to retrofit their own jeeps with scrap metal so that roadside bombs in Iraq would only maim them for life and not kill them? And what could be more injurious and insulting than Don Rumsfeld's response to criticism that he sent our troops off in haste and unprepared: Hey, you go to war with the army you've got -- get over it.

What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in uniform than to send them off to war in Iraq without any coherent postwar plan for political reconstruction there, so that the U.S. military has had to assume not only security responsibilities for all of Iraq but the political rebuilding as well? The Bush team has created a veritable library of military histories -- from "Cobra II" to "Fiasco" to "State of Denial" -- all of which contain the same damning conclusion offered by the very soldiers and officers who fought this war: This administration never had a plan for the morning after, and we've been making it up -- and paying the price -- ever since.

And what could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in Iraq than to send them off to war and then go out and finance the very people they're fighting against with our gluttonous consumption of oil? Sure, George Bush told us we're addicted to oil, but he has not done one single significant thing -- demanded higher mileage standards from Detroit, imposed a gasoline tax or even used the bully pulpit of the White House to drive conservation -- to end that addiction. So we continue to finance the U.S. military with our tax dollars, while we finance Iran, Syria, Wahhabi mosques and Al Qaeda madrassas with our energy purchases.

Everyone says that Karl Rove is a genius. Yeah, right. So are cigarette companies. They get you to buy cigarettes even though we know they cause cancer. That is the kind of genius Karl Rove is. He is not a man who has designed a strategy to reunite our country around an agenda of renewal for the 21st century -- to bring out the best in us. His "genius" is taking some irrelevant aside by John Kerry and twisting it to bring out the worst in us, so you will ignore the mess that the Bush team has visited on this country.

And Karl Rove has succeeded at that in the past because he was sure that he could sell just enough Bush cigarettes, even though people knew they caused cancer. Please, please, for our country's health, prove him wrong this time.

Let Karl know that you're not stupid. Let him know that you know that the most patriotic thing to do in this election is to vote against an administration that has -- through sheer incompetence -- brought us to a point in Iraq that was not inevitable but is now unwinnable.

Let Karl know that you think this is a critical election, because you know as a citizen that if the Bush team can behave with the level of deadly incompetence it has exhibited in Iraq -- and then get away with it by holding on to the House and the Senate -- it means our country has become a banana republic. It means our democracy is in tatters because it is so gerrymandered, so polluted by money, and so divided by professional political hacks that we can no longer hold the ruling party to account.

It means we're as stupid as Karl thinks we are.

I, for one, don't think we're that stupid. Next Tuesday we'll see.

Be patriotic. Save our country. Vote Democratic.

Under the Surface

Looking at the election in terms of the long haul:

Fish could become all but extinct by 2048. The somber details are here.

Be patriotic. Save the planet. Vote Democratic.

Army Navy AirForce Marines: "Rumsfeld Must Go"

Quote of the Day:

Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

...Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth: Donald Rumsfeld must go.

-A joint editorial that runs this weekend in the Army Times, the Air Force Times, the Marine Corps Times, and the Navy Times.

Be patriotic. Save our country. Vote Democratic.

Republican Rejection

I'm still not ready to predict a Democratic tidal wave on Tuesday, but the numbers in this poll can't be cause for celebration at Republican Party headquarters.

Republican House candidates lead in only three demographic categories: Republicans. Conservatives. Evangelicals. And only by a point (one point) with the evangelicals. (I can't imagine that the Haggard scandal will improve those numbers.)

When the walls come tumblin' down...

Is it a sign of things to come on Tuesday? Is the Fascist-Evangelical wing of the Republican Party destructing like the Death Star at the end of "Star Wars?"

First Rep. Mark Foley (Republican-FL), their leader on the issue of child predators, is caught...well...being a child predator.

Now Ted Haggard, the Christian right's mouth piece on anti-gay marriage legislation, has been busted buying crystal meth from a gay hooker with whom he has been having an affair for the last three years.

The icing on the cake? Current polling shows Proposition 107, the anti-gay and anti-domestic partner amendment on the Arizona ballot, could go down to defeat, despite the efforts of Sen. John McCain.

The religious right's lies about who gay people really are must come to an end. Dick Cheney's daughter? Karl Rove's stepfather? Haggard? Not to mention the millions of kids out there who are taught to hate themselves by these bigots.

Perhaps now the walls of hate can tumble down and my gay brothers and sisters can truly become part of the American family.

John, Lucifer; Lucifer, John

Sen. John McCain (Republican-AZ), in his quest for his party's presidential nomination in 2008, has sold his soul to the devil. He's put his face front and center on TV ads backing Proposition 107, the Arizona ballot initiative that would not only amend the state constitution to bar same-sex marriage of all kinds permanently, but also prohibit cities, towns, and universities from providing benefits to unmarried domestic partners.

Never mind that McCain has previously said he was ok with domestic partnerships. He's running for president now and apparently feels he has to cow-tow to the Republican Party's fascist wing.

I tell you, this past month has really opened my eyes to the (now former) "maverick" Senator from Arizona. First he capitulated to the White House on the issue of torture (never mind that he himself was a prisoner of war for five years), he's been silent on the incompetence of the Bush administration in Iraq, yet he stepped right up to the microphone to criticize his fellow Senator (and fellow Vietnam veteran) John Kerry over a bad botched joke. And now he's plastering his mug on the TV in effort to write discrimination into his state's constitution.

The sounds you hear are Barry Goldwater; 2,825 fallen soldiers; and United 93 angel Mark Bingham rolling over in their graves.

"Don't It Make My Red State Blue"

A hilarious, if premature, take on an old Crystal Gale tune...

For State Offices

Endorsements, without comment, for various statewide offices:

Lieut. Governor: John Garamendi (D)
State Attorney General: Jerry Brown (D)
Secretary of State: Debra Bowen (D)
State Treasurer: Bill Lockyer (D)
State Comptroller: John Chiang (D)
Insurance Commissioner: Steve Poizner (R)*

*A quick comment on my backing of Poizner. I am backing the Republican candidate in this race because the Democratic candidate, Cruz Bustamante (California's current Lieut. Governor), started his campaign for this office by accepting $120,000 from insurance companies. Although he has since given the money back, I am uncomfortable giving my vote to a guy who is so cozy with the insurance special interests - the very people he would be relegating. I'll hold my nose, but Poizner gets my vote.

For U.S. and State Houses

Representative Nancy Pelosi should be re-elected to the United States House of Representatives. As House Minority Leader she has proven to both her constituents in California's 8th congressional district as well as to the nation that she is up to that leadership role - and that she would be a formidable House Speaker should the Democrats gain control of the chamber next week.

As well, State Assemblyman Mark Leno should return to the state legislature for another term. Leno's up-front leadership on the issues of marriage equality and solar power (among many others) prove he is the perfect choice to represent his San Francisco district in Sacramento.

A New Direction

Why vote Democratic on Tuesday? Take a look...

Off a Cliff

Quote of the Day:

The President, in other words, has just proved that he is utterly unhinged from reality, in a state of denial truly dangerous for the world. He needs an intervention. Think of this election as an intervention against a government in complete denial and capable of driving the West off a cliff. You can't merely abstain now. Bush just raised the stakes. And he must be stopped.

-Andrew Sullivan on Bush's comment yesterday that he intends to keep Donald Rumsfeld on as Defense Secretary through the end of his presidency.

Be patriotic. Protect the Constitution. Vote Democratic.

Arrogant, Ignorant, and Blind

Quote of the Day #2:

Both men are doing fantastic jobs. I'm pleased with the progress we're making.

-President Bush, after telling reporters today that he wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice-President Cheney to remain in his administration through the end of his presidency.

He's arrogant, ignorant, and blind.

Be a patriot. Protect the Constitution. Vote Democratic on November 7th.

Another Republican Leaves the Fold

Quote of the Day:

I am not really having any fun attacking my old friends — but I don’t know how else to respond when people call decent men like Jim Webb a pervert for no other reason than to win an election. I don’t know how to deal with people who think savaging a man with Parkinson’s for electoral gain is appropriate election-year discourse. I don’t know how to react to people who think that calling anyone who disagrees with them on Iraq a “terrorist-enabler” than to swing back. I don’t know how to react to people who think that media reports of party hacks in the administration overruling scientists on issues like global warming, endangered species, intelligent design, prescription drugs, etc., are signs of ... liberal media bias.

-John Cole, now a former Republican, summing up the party in its current incarnation.

It really isn't the party of Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan anymore is it? And it certainly ain't the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln. Each of those gentlemen are probably rolling over in their graves at the Fascist turn their beloved party has taken.

7 Shot at San Francisco Celebration

It's shocking.

Violence marred the annual Halloween celebration in San Francisco's Castro district Tuesday when seven people were shot in the 2200 block of Market Street just as the event was drawing to an end, police said. Police heard the shots and ran toward 2255 Market to find two women and five men on the ground, two with life-threatening injuries. One suffered a gunshot to the head. The victims were transported to San Francisco General Hospital.

The city has tried so hard to keep things calm, cool, and collected after stabbings a few years back. But after last night's gathering in the Castro, 7 are shot, 2 hanging on to life.

We have very good friends who live just yards from where the shooting took place. So, since it seems 90% of those who attend this annual gathering are from outside the neighborhood and city, it is my sincere belief that the event be cancelled. Forever. Period.

Update: KQED radio is reporting the number of injured is 10.

The Kerry Flap

He was joking, ok? Not about the troops, but about the President, the administration, and their failed policy in Iraq. But in typical John Kerry fashion the joke fell flat. In fact, it sounded insulting. And in today's knock-em-down media market, a bad joke is all the Republican machine needs to start days worth of TV and radio sound bites.

To his credit, Kerry immediately went on the offensive when things started to heat up:

I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes. It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did.

Well, that's Kerry in a nutshell for you. Finally fighting the 2004 presidential election...two years late.

His lost quest for the White House aside, let's compare Kerry's honorable service in Vietnam to the service of the incompetents who are mismanaging the Iraq War and their fascist supporters:

President George W. Bush - Daddy fixed it so li'l George could fly toy planes over Texas rather than head overseas.

Vice-President Dick Cheney - Several deferments.

Strategist Karl Rove - Dodged the draft and did not serve.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice - Did not serve.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - Did not serve.

Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert - Did not serve.

Former Republican House Majority Leader Tom Delay - Did not serve.

Rush Limbaugh - Did not serve

Sean Hannity - Did not serve

Bill O'Reilly - Did not serve

The Republicans shouldn't get giddy about this. Kerry's name isn't on a ballot this year. And while the administration's name isn't either, it's their war that is going so terribly wrong. And that is what will be on voters mind next week.

From San Francisco's Noe Valley...

...Happy Halloween.
(Photo courtesy: B-man)

Our Little Daily Double

Tonight on "Jeopardy's" Daily Double: The category? "Going to the Dogs." The answer? "This cutie from New England is one of the few breeds to originate in the U.S." The question? "Who is Miss Chloe?"

What?

Well...ok..."what is the Boston Terrier"...but a Dad can be proud, can't he?

Bill O'Reilly Is a Whiney Little Bitch

Following his appearance on David Letterman's show last week, the Whiney Little Bitch of Fox Jazeera is having quite the hissy fit:

You owe me an apology.

Well, let's lay this out in terms you seem to understand Billy Boy...

Letterman's "Late Show" gets 6.4 million viewers a night. Your show? 1.2 million.

But numbers aside, how many times have people appeared on your show and been treated twice as worse by you than you think you were treated by Letterman? You interrupt and you bully and you never let people get their point of view across when it conflicts with your own warped views.

You can hand it out in droves, but you can't take it? You whiney little bitch.