....until Sunday night or Monday morning.

If you're looking for some excellent reads this morning, I suggest heading over to read Kevin Drum this morning. The top 4 posts are excellent...especially the one having to do with efforts to keep CBS' Bob Shieffer from participating hosting in the Presidential debates. Check it out.

Another good series of reads today are over at Yglesias. Very informative stuff.

You can consider this an open thread. Chat away if you like.

A while back Kevin and I posted this picture below of Kendra Lloyd Knox, a woman who protested at a Beaverton Oregon event attended by George W. Bush. A woman later identified as Rosemary Kriegel of Tigard, Oregon had clapped her hand over Kendra's mouth. The picture was snapped by The Portland Tribune Newspaper:



You can read Kendra's story in her own words here.

Kevin and I emailed Kendra and met up with her a few weeks ago to hear her story. After speaking with Kendra, I spoke with Sargeant Michael Janin of the Beaverton Police Department. Janin confirmed that "what you see in the picture is what occured." Sargeant Janin said that the protesters at the event were very orderly. Janin also said that the protesters "seemed shocked" that police talked to and instructed the protesters. Kriegel apparently told police that she didn't like the language Kendra was using in front of her children, ages 14 and 15 (Kendra admitted to us that her language can be "salty").Kendra says she was unhurt in the incident. An officer was there immediately and escorted Kriegel from the area. A few days after the incident, Kendra went to the Beaverton Police to file charges. Kendra confirmed with us that the Beaverton Police Department handled the incident with great professionalism. Sargeant Janin told me that the incident had been turned over to the Beaverton City Attorney's office to determine charges against Ms Kriegel.

This week, Kendra informed us that the Beaverton City Attorney's office has decided to file no charges against Ms Kriegel. That was confirmed this Thursday in a story in the Beaverton Valley Times newspaper.

Apparently it's now perfectly acceptable to clap your hand over another person's mouth and practically knock them over. Go ahead, the Beaverton City Attorneys Office seems to think it's fine.

Beaverton City Attorneys:

(503)526-2215

*** Update *** A picture of Ms Kriegel wagging her finger in Kendra's face: Here

A Bennett, Petts & Blumenthal poll; conducted 9/7-9 for Rep. Max Sandlin (D); surveyed 400 likely voters; margin of error +/- 4.7% (release, 9/16). Tested: Sandlin and state Rep. Louie Tyler (R).
General Election Matchup
Now 5'04
Sandlin 47% 41%
Tyler 43 44
Undec/Oth 10 15


And the Houston Chronicle is a bit miffed at Tom DeLay:

Sept. 16, 2004, 10:13PM
Houston Chronicle Editorial

DELAY'S DEVILMENT
Egregiously redrawn seats illustrate misbegotten redistricting
The deformed spawn of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, new congressional districts finally enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature stand as a freakish monument to political megalomania.
And that's before a vote has even been cast in elections that seem likely to send at least a few more DeLay allies, or automatons, to Washington.
The campaigns unfolding across the state make clear that all other considerations are to be sacrificed in an attempt to keep the narrow Republican hold on power in the U.S. House.
Texas moderates, including the two most senior members of the state's delegation (Martin Frost of Dallas and Charlie Stenholm of Abilene), face the prospect of defenestration merely because they have a "D" after their name, a scarlet letter in the eyes of DeLay and his enablers.
Speciousness abounds. In the swath of Central Texas covered in the new 17th District, Republicans contend that it's an outrage that President Bush's ranch at Crawford (in McLennan County, the geographical pivot of the new seat) is represented by a Democrat (incumbent Chet Edwards). Come on, it's a ranch, not Lourdes.
Back when Bush was at his bipartisan best, he was living in nasty old pinko Austin, in a Governor's Mansion represented in the U.S. House by Democrat Lloyd Doggett, one of the most liberal members of the Texas delegation. Bush lived through that.
The Chronicle's Washington columnist, Cragg Hines, has begun to take a look at some of the races, and his first report, on Wednesday's Outlook page, reflected the frustration communities feel at being jerked around in the redistricting process.
Brazos County - and its major industry, Texas A&M - grew accustomed to steady, influential legislators. As a result of DeLay's demands, Brazos County could end up being represented in the U.S. House by a tyro, (Republican state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth) whose home and natural interests are in a Fort Worth suburb.
A senior Texas Republican said Aggieland voters, dependent on their House member to look after A&M's business, especially research funding, "miss the influence of a Phil Gramm or a Tiger Teague. They want someone to settle in and stay there."
That's certainly not a given, as long a DeLay's hand is on the tiller.
DeLay, interestingly, has raised money for Wohlgemuth in Houston but he's been sparse on the ground in the district itself. Perhaps that's because of a 2002 dust-up after he declared that parents interested in a "good, solid, godly education" should not send children to Texas A&M or Baylor, the major educational institutions in the redrawn 17th and always considered two of the most conservative big universities in the state.
DeLay backtracked quickly, but only after he had aired his true, revealing feelings.

I open my email this morning to see this piece sent to me by a conservative. The story breathlessly details how poor little Sophia Parlock had a Bush/Cheney sign ripped up out of her hands at an airport in W. Virginia where John Edwards made a brief stop, while a union thug looks on.

Wow....how awful! Who would do such a thing to a poor little girl?

Apparently her father. It seems Mr. Phil Parlock has a history of showing up to Democratic events with GOP signs..being provocative with them...and then lodging complaints when the signs are taken from him or torn up. In fact it's happened in the last three consecutive Presidential elections.

And the fella on the left who's the alledged union thug who tore up the sign? Looks strangely like one of Parlock's many sons.

Props to Rising Hegemon.

as seen on MyDD

1027 dead and counting.

Sidney Blumenthal wrote a piece today that underscores why some senior US military officers now believe "the war on Iraq has turned into a disaster on an unprecedented scale." An excerpt:

'Bring them on!" President Bush challenged the early Iraqi insurgency in July of last year. Since then, 812 American soldiers have been killed and 6,290 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Almost every day, in campaign speeches, Bush speaks with bravado about how he is "winning" in Iraq. "Our strategy is succeeding," he boasted to the National Guard convention on Tuesday.

But, according to the US military's leading strategists and prominent retired generals, Bush's war is already lost. Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, told me: "Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost." He adds: "Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends." - Far graver than Vietnam

With the media apparently focused on the authenticity of the Killian memos...it appears the content has been lost in the shuffle...or has it?.

Former Texas Air National Guardsman Robert Strong is calling for an investigation of the gaps in Bush's Guard Service.

"I think the public ought to be concerned about his preferential treatment getting in and whether he satisfied his commitment to the Air Guard. Those are the two fundamental questions," said Robert Strong, the administrative officer in charge of air operations at Guard state headquarters from early 1971 until March 1972.

Killian's former secretary, Marian Carr Knox, has also discussed the memo's contents:

"I know that I didn't type them," she said in an interview with CBS. "However, the information in those is correct."

Knox also said that she typed memos for Killian which included the same content as those that were aired by CBS.

So the next most obvious question is, what happened those the memos that Knox typed for Killian?

Digby cuts to the chase, again.

I thought the White House released all those Guard documents?

update: A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to find and make public any unreleased files about George W. Bush's National Guard record.

A classified national intelligence report presented to Bush in late July outlines a very bad future for Iraq:

"There's a significant amount of pessimism," said one government official who has read the document, which runs about 50 pages. The officials declined to discuss the key judgments -- concise statements of intelligence analysts' conclusions -- included in the document.

The intelligence estimate, the first on Iraq since October 2002, was prepared by the National Intelligence Council and was approved by the National Foreign Intelligence Board under acting CIA Director John McLaughlin. Such estimates can be requested by the White House or Congress, but this one was initiated by the intelligence council under George Tenet, who stepped down as director of central intelligence July 9, the government officials said.

This report was issued before the recent uptick of violence in Iraq. This report was also issued before General Myers statements on how certain key areas of Iraq are completely out of US/Iraqi government control.

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that soldiers from a unit at Fort Carson are complaining that they have been issued an ultimatum: re-enlist or face deployment to Iraq.

This is what an awesome TV ad looks like.

Via Yglesias

Despite it's Republican leaning voting pattern, the NRCC appears nervous about the race in the 5th Congressional District of Washington State. George W Bush won the District in 2000 by 16 points. But Democrats have run competitively there, and the GOP seem to believe this one could be a nail biter.

They've already begun running ads against Democratic candidate Don Barbieri, who countered with spots defending his business record. The DCCC also went on the air for Barbieri this past Tuesday.

At least one Republican operative thinks McMorris will have a tough time keeping the 5th district in the GOP column, despite it's voting patterns. Jim Dornan, a Beltway-based consultant who worked for one of McMorris' primary opponents, said McMorris will suffer because she comes from a rural part of the district, and he said that Barbieri's response to the NRCC's TV onslaught has been impressive.

"They nominated the weakest Republican candidate," Dornan said.

I can't understand why Bush keeps lying about stupid stuff. Or rather, why his people keep writing stuff for him to say on the stump that's an out and out lie?

They have to know this stuff isn't true. Why do they lie about things like this when they could just as easily tell the truth? Or not refer to it at all?

It baffles me.

For all you fiscal conservatives out there planning to vote for Bush...welcome to your wake up call.

By the Bush Administration's own figures, the price tag for Bush's agenda as laid out at the Republican National Convention is in excess of $3 trillion. Bush has complained on the campaign stump that Kerry's plan runs in excess of $2 trillion. The Kerry Campaign disputes this figure.

The cost of tax breaks and spending increases outlined by the Bush administration vastly outpaces the Kerry Plan.

Examples:

* Bush's pledge to make permanent his tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010 or before, would reduce government revenue by about $1 trillion over 10 years, according to administration estimates (which means it will probably be double that amount).

*An estimate from the Social Security actuary's office, included in the 2001 report of a Social Security commission appointed by Bush, put the cost of adding private accounts to the government retirement program at $1.5 trillion over 10 years. With inflation, the figure would now be about $2 trillion. Much of the expense comes from continuing to pay most retirees at current benefit levels, at the same time that some payroll taxes are being diverted to the stock and bond market.

*Another expensive part of Bush's agenda is the expansion of health savings accounts and creation of lifetime and retirement savings accounts. The new accounts are designed to have minimal cost in the first 10 years but have very large costs in the long run because they provide tax breaks when the money is withdrawn rather than up front.

The Congressional Research Service has estimated those two types of accounts would eventually cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year.

Keep in mind, while all these fabulous tax cuts and Social Security accounts are being established, Homeland Security's budget is being slashed.

What kind of media do we have when Pat Buchanan has to set Wolf Blitzer straight on the mess in Iraq?

BUCHANAN: Well, I'm not angry at the president, but I do believe the president, certainly in the course he took in Iraq, I believe that is not conservative at all.

We invaded a country that had not attacked us, did not threaten us, did not want war with us. We now know it didn't have weapons of mass destruction. We invaded and occupied. And I think we've radicalized the entire Arab world here, and we've created a situation where we've removed one devil, but seven more may come in his place.

BLITZER: So you don't think the American people -- that's your primary concern -- are better off with Saddam Hussein in jail and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, dead?

BUCHANAN: Oh, I think it's a good thing he's in jail and they're dead, but I'm not sure it's a good we got 140,000 soldiers fighting a guerrilla war in Iraq, and we've got imams from Morocco to Malaysia telling the people of the Islamic world to rise up and throw the Americans out.

BLITZER: They were telling their people that before the U.S. invaded Iraq.

BUCHANAN: Well, I disagree. I think the president of the United States and the United States' prestige, according to President Mubarak, have never been lower in the Islamic and Arab world.

And it gets better....

BLITZER: Even before the U.S. invaded Iraq, look what they did on 9/11, they killed almost 3,000 Americans. (What an asshole...)

BUCHANAN: Well, look, I am 100 percent behind running down al Qaeda and killing them, but what the president has done by going into Iraq, I believe, is created a vast spawning pool for new recruits for Osama bin Laden.

I think Osama rejoiced at the fact that the Americans are going to invade the country that was the seat of the caliphate for 500 years, we're going to occupy an Arab country. That is exactly what they wanted.

And lest you think that's a media anomaly (via Kos):

Wisconsin CNN/USA Today Gallup Poll. Registered Voters. 9/9-12. MoE 5%. (8/23-26)

Bush 50
Kerry 45

USA Today headline:
Bush widens Wisconsin lead over Kerry, polls show

Michigan CNN/USA Today Gallup Poll Registered Voters. 9/9-12. MoE 5%.

Bush 50
Kerry 43

CNN Headline: Michigan too close to call

(assholes)

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.
- by Rev. Martin Niemöller, 1945


Columnist Bob Herbert has a rather eye-popping piece about Republicans in Detroit wanting to surpress certain sectors of the electorate:

After his startling quote was published several weeks ago in The Detroit Free Press, Mr. Pappageorge, who is 73, apologized and said he certainly never meant to suggest that anything racist or illegal take place. But he reiterated to me in a phone conversation last Friday that he did indeed mean that the vote in Detroit needed to be kept down.

A lot of other Republicans have similar views about the vote in areas with large African-American populations. Most blacks vote Democratic. If those votes can be suppressed, Republicans benefit. And there is increasing evidence that a big effort to suppress the vote among blacks and some other heavily Democratic voting groups is under way,

Herbert's concern is valid. Florida elections officials were forced to abandon use of a disputed list of people believed to be convicted felons to purge voter rolls, acknowledging a "flaw" that kept some Hispanic felons off the list and could have allowed them to vote. The list contained roughly 48,000 people and only 61 were classified as Hispanic. Hispanics in Florida tend to vote Republican. Blacks in Florida tend to vote Democratic. Florida has also not taken names off of the list for those who had received clemency, attempting to make those individuals reregister, but later backed off.

Writer and columnist Greg Palast has written extensively about the systematic attempts to disenfranchise the black vote.

People for the American Way recently released a new study about the many ways that black voters are disenfranchised in the US. From examples of voter intimidation to misinformation to outright suppression, PFAW outlines examples of how black, Hispanic and Native American votes aren't counted.

This issue doesn't just effect Democrats, however. While blacks have trended toward Democrats and liberals there are also Independent, Republican, conservative and centrist black voters as well. To work to systematically deny these Americans their right to vote is a travesty of the political system.

Reuters reports:

He criticized Kerry for voting against funding for operations in Iraq, when last year "he had a completely different view" and advocated an increase in funding.


"What's critical is that the president of the United States speak clearly and consistently at this time of great threat in our world, and not change positions because of expediency or pressure," Bush said. "We cannot waver because our enemies will not waver."

The vote flip-flop charge is an obvious insinuated lie. Bush knows perfectly well that Kerry's vote against was because he wanted it paid for rather than charged on the government's credit card.

Much more telling is Bush's second statement. Where was this speaking clearly and consistently when intelligence agencies and experts were warning that the WMD "evidence" was iffy at best? Even now his Vice President continues to make false claims about Iraq even though they've been debunked and refuted.

What would you rather have - a President who ignores reality to bullheadedly pursue war or one who will adjust to reality?

What Bush is really advocating here is perpetual war where we never ever learn anything from our mistakes because to do so would somehow be weak. This is NOT what I expect from my President.

1014 US military deaths in Iraq, including two Oregon National Guard members

Main Entry: cra·ven
Pronunciation: 'krA-v&n
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English cravant
1 archaic : DEFEATED, VANQUISHED
2 : lacking the least bit of courage : contemptibly fainthearted
synonym see COWARDLY
Example: Bush to Iraqi insurgents, "Bring 'em on" while hiding half a world away behind thousands of Secret Service protective forces.

Coalition of the Willing, or smokescreen for Bush's callous and ill-considered squandering of our Military?

Wake up America!!

The issue of the CBS memos seems to have fallen off the radar of those who aren't complete rightwing nutties...but the echo chamber is still chewing on them like a dog with a bone. Thus David Brock of Media Matters for America is now on the case.

Brock cites today's Washington Times lead editorial claiming the CBS memos are forgeries. Brock writes:

In making their charge, the Times alleged that one of the disputed documents (page 2), ordering then-Lieutenant George W. Bush to undergo a flight physical, cites a regulation that did not exist: "There was no AFM 35-13 regulation governing physicals."

Yet other National Guard records in Bush's military file, which the White House released in February and are known to be authentic, cite the same regulation in suspending Bush's flight status for failing to submit to the physical.

Brock outlines other evidence for the Times' piece inaccuracies as well. It's very worth checking it out. And just so you have someplace to vent your frustration at the Times' obvious idiotic bias, Brock generously provides their contact information which I've also provided below:

Washington Times

3600 New York Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002-1947
(202) 636-3000

Update:The founder of the group Texans for Truth is offering a $50,000 reward for anyone who can prove President Bush fulfilled his service requirements, including required duties and drills, in the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972.(via Balta)

Gary Trudeau the great Doonesbury cartoonist has yet to pay out his own $10,000 reward for anyone who can come forward to prove that Bush served his Alabama Guard Duty.

LOL

"Hopefully you and your entire family have enjoyed your summer here in our great state and are ready for fall as Kitty and I are" -- Mel Martinez, in an e-mail to supporters, in Florida.

Yeah Mel, it's been just peachy.

Democratic congressional candidate Don Barbieri gets an awesome write-up in one of the local papers:

Cathy McMorris, Shaun Cross and Larry Sheahan are trying to outdo each other in hitting the hot-button issues that appeal to the right wing of their party. A McMorris radio ad, for example, promises that she "will take a back seat to no one" in fighting gay marriage. Meanwhile, Barbieri talks about issues that really matter to most district residents.

He talks, for example, about fixing a health care system that not only leaves many people uninsured, but stifles many small businesses that need a way to provide insurance for employees without bankrupting themselves.

He talks about retaining a quality of life within the extended inland Northwest region that will attract people and spur growth.

He talks about a nation that pays its way, as opposed to building a huge debt by cutting taxes while increasing spending.

He talks most of all, however, about collaboration, among people of different backgrounds and political parties, to resolve common problems. And he has demonstrated his commitment to collaboration by working with everyone from chamber of commerce members to environmentalists on protecting the aquifer serving the Spokane region. He has friends in both major parties -- he has even held a fund-raiser for Idaho Republican Rep. Butch Otter -- and says he will spend little time criticizing whoever wins next week's GOP primary to oppose him in November.

That time instead will be used to highlight his own qualifications, including his record building the West Coast Hospitality chain of hotels. The company now owns the Red Lion chain represented by the Red Lion Hotel in Lewiston, and employs about 5,000 people.

How refreshing it would be for this District in Washington State to once again be home to a moderate, Democratic Congressman.

Main Entry: quag·mire
Pronunciation: 'kwag-"mIr, 'kwäg-
Function: noun
Date: circa 1580
1 : soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot
2 : a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : PREDICAMENT

(Merriam Webster)




It's Worse Than You Think

Martin Frost and Pete Sessions squared off today in a televised debate. The debate is set to be rebroadcast tonight at 7PM on CSPAN.

Inital reports from the debate say that Sessions and Frost agreed on Iraq but disagree on national defense, air security and outsourcing of jobs. Sessions also referred to the War in Iraq as a "game".

A game?

Sessions has also been accused by Frost of removing his campaign signs and placing them at a school in the District. Sessions has denied the charge and accused Frost of planting the signs at the school. In 2002 Sessions was caught by police removing his opponents campaign signs and loading them in the trunk of his car.

Sessions makes W almost look honest. :)

The terrorists have declared war on every free nation and all our citizens. Their goals are clear. They want more governments to resemble the oppressive Taliban that once ruled Afghanistan. Terrorists commit atrocities because they want the civilized world to flinch and retreat so they can impose their totalitarian vision. There will be no flinching in this war on terror, and there will be no retreat.--George W. Bush, Presidential Radio Address, August 23, 2003

Unless of course, they'll get you votes.

The DCCC is launching the Red to Blue program. The goal is to highlight the "best and brightest challengers across the country". The DCCC is hopeful that they can raise money for these challengers and oust the most vulnerable GOPers in the House.

Today's front page highlights 13 races, including Patty Wetterling in Minnesota and John Salazar in Colorado.

With the Presidential race tightening up again, many House and Senate races will start to heat up along with it.

...and your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
there ain't no way to hide those lying eyes...


My email box was stuffed this weekend with Bush supporter mail: "The memos are forged!" "You've bought Rather's lies and the leftwing media is just trying to bring him down!" "Listen you f-ing c*** Bush served honorably and it says so on the god**mn discharge!" (That last one is one of my personal favs. I always appreciate the love from readers).

Apparently it's not my posts that garner the love, however. It's my comments.

So in an effort to be fair to W, I've decided to set the Killian memos aside for now. Even though CBS is standing by them 100% and there's pretty solid evidence to indicate they're not forged. Nevermind that the White House is not disputing the memos AND they're defending Bush for not following the direct order to have the physical. Nevermind any of that. Aside they go.

So without the memos, is there evidence that Bush didn't complete his service as signed in his contract with the Guard?

US News and World Report says yes.

And so does The Boston Globe.

And there's also evidence that Bush's father made a phone call to get W out of Houston while he was in the Guard...and onto the Red Blount senate campaign in Alabama.

Each of these things directly contradicts what the White House and the Bush Campaign have told the American people.

Or more succinctly: they've been lying (again).

Let the emails begin.