Category: Politics

Funny, as I’m monitoring all networks including CNN, Fox and PBS as well as NPR, I see that everyone is handing the election to Bush. But, as I write this, here in Michigan only 71% of precincts are reporting 51% for Kerry and 48% for Bush.

Have we learned nothing from the 2000 election? The exit polls looked good and historically have been accurate, except for the 2000 election. We all went to bed thinking Gore won and woke up with a big suprise on our hands. Already I hear rumblings of contests, challanges and recounts in Ohio. The media on all networks, including NPR and PBS is calling Ohio the new Florida as I write this. So, the stage is being set.

The media has done nothing different this time. They started projecting hours and hours before polls closed. They started calling a winner months ago when they fed the fear machine. If Bush takes this election, it will be based upon nothing more than fear. Fear of terror, fear of loosing ground in Iraq, and fear of God, perhaps, as well.

My fears run far deeper and more personal than all of that. Let’s hope that we all read this in the morning with another kind of suprise.

Finally, thank you to all of you who have worked so hard for change. Thank you for your couragous effort to make a wrong right again. Thank you for being willing to face ignorance and fear with intelligence and fearlessness. You are my heroes and you know who you all are.

(New Electronic Voting Machines In Florida Proclaimed A Success!)

Finally decided whom to vote for? Getting ready to find your way to the polls? Check out this NYT article about voter preparedness (link req. login, use: paxtonland/paxtonland).

After you’ve done all of that and voted, go to Votewatch 2004 and watch the good times roll as the dirty tricks pile up post election.

Next, if you think that something wrong happened during your voting session or, you see anything out of the ordinary. Call Election Protection 1-866-OURVOTE or, Common Cause’s 1-866-MYVOTE1. Most of these sites as well as the few state voting information sites that I’ve tried were swamped. Michigan.gov/vote for example, was not available. You may need to pick up a local paper to check where to vote, check the voting rules, and hopefully democracy will prevail.

So, apparently some absentee ballots were printed and distributed in Ohio that actually left Kerry off the ballot. Even though the number is small, the next section of the article is most interesting to me:

Earlier this month, officials scrapped 17,500 absentee ballots after Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell ordered presidential candidate Ralph Nader off the ballot because of invalid signatures on his candidacy petitions. Those ballots also had been tainted by the elections board’s discovery that the punch positions of Hamilton County Engineer Bill Brayshaw and one of the candidates for Ohio Supreme Court had been switched.

They nixed Nader on the ballot, who knows why, and switched two local candidates?! The issue of the local candidates bothers me most. However, I find a sad and amusing irony that if the democrats actually screwed themselves while trying to get rid of Nader “by any means nessescary.”

Regardless, John Williams director of elections in the area says: “Mistakes happen in every election,” Williams said. “I’m not happy about it, but we’re trying to do what we can to correct it. This time, you’re under their magnifying glass, so it gets more attention.”

Under the magnifying glass indeed. Yeah, those election magnifying glasses should be abolished as soon as possible. Election mistakes happen, people are human, the system is imperfect… We heard that in Florida in 2000… “This happens all over the country, you just don’t hear about it” My god, what good is democracy if we are so imcompetent and lazy that we can’t execute it properly or, that a particular group can exploit the process for their own gain?

Wait for the suits. What happens if a presidental election is contested in all 50 states in court?

Remember the mess in mess in Las Vegas? The one where the company went out and registered voters and shredded all the democratic registrations? Well, the judge hearing the case recessed the hearing and asked the parties to make a deal. When they returned, she tossed the entire case out, saying she needed no deals she had already made a decision. Naturally the loosing side (the Democrats) is crying foul, citing the decision was political:

What is Adair’s partisan connection? She’s listed online as an active member in the National Federal of Republican Women. County records show she also owns a home with Tom Lozzi, who is listed on the website of the Clark County Republican Party as an officer in that group. Lozzi is also related by marriage to Republican Senator John Ensign…

Unbelievably, voting groups, politicians, judges, and election officals are providing even more reasons in more places to question the outcome of the election. Expect trouble in Nevada now, no matter who wins.

Why on earth can’t people understand that the right thing to do is still the right thing to do, no matter what the cause. I seriously doubt that election misconduct is the sole property of the Republican party. In fact, I can’t wait to see how many underage, unborn and dead democrats have registered to vote in the name of the “Anybody But Bush” registration-palooza that’s been going on across the country. (via linkfilter).

Yes, he did say Osama is no longer all that important. Read for yourself “…I truly am not that concerned about him…”

I think that the president tried to bring the “Good Ol’ Down Home Georgie Dubbya” thing to the table last night and it didn’t work as well as it should have and normally does. I’m not sure why, exactly… but, it seems that several times he tried to project “I’m going to skip this bullshit and speak right to you Mr. and Mrs. America… ” Perhaps it did get past the Budweiser mist and Marlboro smoke and into the wriggling brains of his core constituency. But, it’s agreed by all that that isn’t who he really needs to reach right now. I also think that the enraptured, Christian, charismatic, religious zealots caught his “We’re on the sacred mountain of justice and there will peace in the valley, if it kills all of the evildoers” thing… it was a thinly veiled message intended just for them, to let them know he’s still planning on “The Rapture.” too. But, again those are the people that have and will continue to bring him into elected offices and he knows it. He needs to figure out a way to reach the others instead of just saying “Your either with us or, your with the terrorists” again and again. His reactions to Kerry were not surprising and indeed predictable, classic W. whom is like an A.D.D. afflicted kid fidgeting and twitching at all times. We know that about him and have pretty much accepted it. He needs to stop acting as if “I’m right and I don’t need to explain anything to anybody.” I feel that will undo him.

Meanwhile, Kerry tried to play the “I’m far more intelligent and sophisticated than he” angle and I’m surprised that it seems to have worked but, only barely. If he mentions his veteran/combat status one more time, I think the V.V.A. is going to excommunicate him. He may as well appear in am O.D. green uniform of the era. As with many veterans his age (hell, my age for that matter) It’s abundantly clear that he’s so far removed from the young, hardened combat soldier he might have been, that its impossible, nay amusingly uncomfortable, to think of him that way again. He was also regurgitating rhetoric that he’s used again and again for weeks. He didn’t actually listen to W. much, I watched his reactions closely and saw that after he thought W. was going to say something he had already heard, he shut his ears off. I think that if he’d actually listened to what W. said and replied directly to it, he quite possibly could have completely devastated him. As for his ability to answer a direct question, I’m increasingly alarmed that he cannot do this. I really didn’t hear a good answer to any direct question from Jim Lerher, in fact if he answered them at all, it was lost in the high rhetoric Kerry draws from a seemingly inexhaustable supply.

I was sorely disappointed by the candidates unwillingness to become incensed enough to be passionate about the issues discussed last evening. If they can’t get emotional about American lives lost on foreign soil during a time of war, then they are obviously far too self-involved to notice the emotion that is occurring across the country about the matter. This disturbs me deeply since while we were watching the debates, 41 civilians, 35 of whom were children, were killed and 139 people were wonded in a bombing in Iraq.

Here are, what one source determines, the candidates public opinion on most of the bigger and most common issues. I hope this doesn’t make things more confusing for some of you. I too am guilty of repeating this mantra: “It doesn’t matter who you vote for, they agree on everything.” Please remember, there is a difference between issues, policies and actions. Here are SOME issues, policies can be seen in voting records of both individuals and actions are in everyday news. Data source: issues2000.org

The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today describes, in some detail, republican efforts to turn minorities away from the polls.

Remember the flap about 6 months ago when a US marshal forced two reporters to erase their recording of Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s speech at a high school? Apparently, they just had to admit they were wrong. I didn’t think this would make it to the front page so, here ya go. That’s not to say that Scalia admitted anything, the DoJ has had to, for following his orders.

Oh well, I would rather hear recordings of Scalia and Cheney hunting together, personally.

September 11, 2004

Cheny on economics: “Hey, the economy isn’t so bad, don’t forget about eBay… and as soon as we can figure out how to buy votes on it, the economy will really be swell”

Republicans attending this years national convention can elect to take advantage of several cheap offers for entertainment, including the popular off-Broadway play, “Naked Boys Singing. Alas, sadly, the committee organizers pulled the play from the list but, not before about a dozen people bought discounted tickets. I do hope that they’ll enjoy the show with songs such as, “Perky Little Porn Star,” “Muscle Addiction” and “Robert Mitchum.” Perhaps Lynn Cheney will attend and submit a review?

Suppress the Vote?

“State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd “investigation” that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November.

The officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, say they are investigating allegations of voter fraud that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March.“

Here’s the highlights of Bill Maher and Michael Moore on their knees pleading with Nader not to run for president (link goes to 2.8 MB quicktime video).

Kerry manager says to Bush manager Where’s the presidential service records you poo-poo heads.?!” Then added, “Oh yeah, while you’re at it stop picking on him, he’s very sensitive.”

Bush manager to Kerry manager: “you obviously don’t read the news, do you… genius?” and added, “Now shut up before we send Ashcroft in there with his snake handlers.”

Boy, oh boy… this is going to be fun kids. I can’t wait for the stupidity to climax.

Terrorism could postpone presidential election.

We live in an age where things that republicans once accused the Clinton administration of doing, are actually being done by the Bush administration.

They’ve already announced pending doom. They already predicted a HVT (high value target) capture during the democratic national convention, they are “preparing for an October surprise.” Now, they are exploring postponing the election… just in case. I hope that this is the sort of thing that is part of the normal election procedures and this is not just a sign of the times. Not an actual plan by this administration. I hope that this is standard operating procedures and the media has just “so happened to pick up on it” during a particularly volatile socio-political era, we are apparently in.

Bush millitary service records disappear

“Payroll records of “numerous service members,” including Bush, were ruined in 1996 and 1997 during a project to salvage deteriorating microfilm by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the newspaper said, citing the Pentagon.”

The article continues:

The disclosure appeared to catch some experts, both pro-Bush and con, by surprise. Even the retired lieutenant colonel who studied Mr. Bush’s records for the White House, Albert C. Lloyd of Austin, said it came as news to him.”

How much do you want to bet that your tax records from that same era are, in fact, intact and ready to be used in an indictment at any time. No matter, we’ll all (including the press) forget about this by the heat of election-time. That’s when it really matters anyway.

Before you get all misty-eyed about “father Reagan,” let us not forget some of his most poignant contributions to society such as:

– Mandatory minimum drug sentencing
– The entireIran-Contra affair, for which we still pay in American lives today
– His abominable and callus public record on AIDS
– His racist and ill-conceived economic delirium that was pervasive throughout his entire administration.

He may have been a decent person determined to advance conservative thinking and practice (Democrats could use a lesson here) but, he was a worse case scenario for a long time. Or, so we thought until W. came along. Let’s see how W. hitches his electoral hopes on the passing of a flawed yet, decent conservative.

That said, he was a throw-back dinosaur of politics that sent the country backward 20 years in humanitarian and progressive political thought. If Clinton had been half as dilligent as Reagan in advancing liberal ideals the world would have been a far more tolerant, peaceful and progressive place.

(by the way, I’m back…)

Yesterday, at the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, a friend tells us about her partner’s encounter (she couldn’t be with her) with passive, low-level anti-abortion disruptor’s:

“They got off the bus along with about 15 buses in a line and started marching right away. They were following what they thought were march organizers. Then they noticed after about an hour that they were going in circles. They figured out eventually that they were being had. So, they regrouped and started over only to have the same thing happen again with a different set of people, all “official looking.”

So, they never even got to The Washington Mall or, to Pennsylvania Ave…”

As funny as this story was to me and as sure as I am that they are all valid issues, if any message was sent to Washington it was; not one of those people represent a vote for Bush.

Yet, despite the apparent validity of all of the issues, I still ask alone in the wilderness, “What about men’s reproductive rights.” The very term “mens reproductive rights” still does not exist outside ridicule or, as an example of the ultimate oxymoron.

Too silly for you? How about mens health issues? Why do we accept that men will not live as long as women? How can that be acceptable to a cultured society? Or, what kind of culture teaches men and boys to suck up pain yet, nurtures girls and women for it? “Suck it up, it’s just a bruise…” When they become men, it’s arthritis, diabetes or, cancer that they are sucking up and dying from? Talk to me how bad womens health issues are when testicular cancer prostrate cancer research funding approaches 1/10th of what ovarian and breast cancer funding is.

We’ve got a long way to go, baby.

Clear Channel suspends Howard Stern permanently. This time due to the recent $495,000 fine that the FCC imposed on CC instead of Stern, as they typically have done over the years. Since congress and the FCC are considering license revocations, CC is unwilling to take any chances with the Stern show any further.

Powell nor the FCC are willing to set specific decency regulations but, they warned that no one would like the outcome if the FCC and congress did that. Instead, they will continue to prowl the airwaves looking for what they think are infractions and levy penalties.

Since Janet Jackson’s breast flash on the Superbowl, the FCC has felt the need to react to anything that has the appearance of being indecent. However, when you look at the fact that more than half of the income provided the FCC through fines has been paid by Stern, you begin to think there really is a witch hunt.

Maybe this is all in the name of decency but, I suspect there are other reasons behind this.

Pretty much sums up my sentiments on the matter. (photo credit: deepdisco)

For paxtonland’s handy summary of the recent 9/11 hearings, click below:

Suitable for printing and quick reference.

The official merchandise web site for Bush’s re-election campaign has, apparently, sold some clothing made in Burma, whose goods were banned by Bush from the U.S. last year to punish its military dictatorship.

Bush signed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act into law last year. Provisions are made in the law for prosecution, fines and jail time for violations.

See Donald Rumsfeld squirm. It’s almost too uncomfortable to watch. (45 second Flash video)

President’s remarks at faith-based and community initiatives conference. Some highlights:

“God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear. It’s a powerful message.”

“…there are so many people doing God’s work. And let me put your mind at ease, we’re talking about healing our nation, we’re not talking politics.”

and finally, the best for last:

“We want to make sure the church and the states stay separate.”

Amen brother… It all makes sense to me now, after three years in the White House. You are going to achieve separation of church and state by giving public funds to private religious organizations… oh and by praying really hard too? Now the rest falls into place:

* Just like we are going to accomplish peace through war.
* Just like we are going to achieve economic health by spending more and taxing less.
* Just like we are going to lower unemployment by allowing the unregulated export of both low paying and high paying jobs.
* Just like we are going to achieve corporate responsibility by appointing formerly irresponsible business leaders to enforce new policy.
* Just like how we are going to eliminate teen pregnancy, disease and pre-marital sex by eliminating sex education and eventually, access to birth control.
* Just like we are going to cure social security insolvency by ignoring it.

How utterly simple and singularly brilliant. The sheer elegance of this strategy is overwhelming and beautiful. By stating the goal and doing the exact opposite thing one could possibly do to achieve that goal, the goal itself becomes irrelevant. The genius of this strategy is beyond proper words.

And his supporters are waning quickly… Perhaps this is what his religious and corporate handlers are telling him to do to win the next election. By angering his dwindling supporters into not voting at all, he’ll win. Won’t that be fun?