Saturday, September 11, 2004

So this is what Bush thinks of us

(via Atrios)



Do you think he is flipping off the flag, a 9/11 widow, a member of the armed forces, or a Democrat?

It's it great that we have a president who continually finds new ways to embarrass himself?

SL County voters to Workman: its over

First check out SL County voters think their Mayor, Nancy Workman, should do now that she has been charged with 2 counts of felonies and put on paid leave:


Now look at how well she fairs against an unknown Democrat and perenial candidate (and former Congressman) Merrill Cook:


According to Dan Jones
, the pollster and U of U Political Science Professor: "Corroon's support among Republicans has jumped from about 7 percent in previous polls to 21 percent now. Cook's has increased from 12 to 23 percent. As for Workman, her Republican support has dropped from 59 to 20 percent. "

As Nancy herself said, "Ouch."

Friday, September 10, 2004

I finally figured it out

Cheney is Mr. Burns!

Exhibits A and B



Plus, both went to Yale (although Burns actually graduated), both work(ed) in the energy industry (oil and nuclear power), and most importantly, both are EVIL

Everybody's Workman for the Weekend

Happy Friday everyone.

I don't know about you, but it has only been a night and I am already sick of all these typewriter experts questioning the authenticity of the uncovered TX National Guard documents. Some, like Josh Marshall say Bush's team hasn't questioned the validity to the contents of the documents, meaning they are essentially true. But I am so sure Rove et al are the ones behind the current discrediting of the CBS documents, and it is all stuff from 35 years ago.

Lets talk today, like a nice little poem about the thousand war dead uncovered by Slate's Christopher Hitchens (opps...too bad it is a poem from 1936, but look how fitting it is still today)

I read of a thousand killed.
And am glad because the scrounging imperial paw
Was there so bitten:
As a man at elections is thrilled
When the results pour in, and the North goes with him
And the West breaks in the thaw.

(That fighting was a long way off.)

Forgetting therefore an election
Being fought with votes and lies and catch-cries
And orator's frowns and flowers and posters' noise
Is paid for with cheques and toys:
Wars the most glorious
Victory-winged and steeple-uproarious
... With the lives, burned-off,
Of young men and boys.



Or how about some nice local news. My County Mayor, Nancy Workman, got put on paid administrative leave (booked and released) for two indictments of felonies involving using county funds to essentially pay for her daughter's assistants (who worked for a local Boys & Girls Club). The acting Mayor did the right thing and fired Workman's $100,000 a year assistant. SL County DA David Yocom once called the woman Workman's "Hairdresser" since she has no real job description. How about "crony?" Under Workman's watch, there haven't been tax raises true, but there have been numerous financial scandals of County employees using SL County gas cards to fuel up their family cars and other such felonies. Hers is a culture of corruption and wonton disregard for the law.

Meanwhile, the state GOP is getting nervous since Workman is now 10 points down, and want to kick her off the ticket. Too bad then, that the law says you have to have a doctor's note that you are either sick, insane, etc to be removed from the ballot. Plus, Nancy's not pudging (in fact, she is running ads now claiming the entire thing is a political attack, since Yocom is a Democrat, even though her attorney was Yocom's assistant and the Democratic candidate for AG). So what's a Republican to do? The GOP-controlled legislature is now trying to hold their own special session to change the law (too bad the Governor has control over special sessions), Senate Democrats shamed them into stopping until the next formal session, which will be after the election.

To make a long story short, vote Coroon for SL County Mayor. After all, his Howard Dean's cousin.

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Back to the Future

As Bill Clinton and many other famous politicans noted, elections are about the future, not the past. So why are we stuck reliving the late 1960's and early 1970's? We all knew that Bush got special treatment (he still does by the way) . I don't care where Kerry was for Christmas in 1968. Matt Stoller does have a good point that we should care because the man who likes to attack another's character often has many character flaws himself (and is the bigger smearer). Nevertheless, I am tired of hearing about Vietnam by Kerry and Bush's lies about his whereabouts.

This debate isn't going to bring home the over 1,000 dead American soliders in Iraq. Over a million jobs aren't going to come back because John Kerry was in Vietnam and got 3 purple hearts, and Silver and Bronze Star, but his policies might. We sure know that Bush's policies aren't going to, since we have the results right in front of us.

Speaking of results, yesterday I read about the Rx Drug bill fraud. Remember that? About a year ago, Bush was able to get enough votes for his phony Rx Drug bill on the promise that it would only cost $400 billion. Even though everyone knew these numbers were phony, now we have real proof even the Administration knew it was phony. They muzzled an actuary from telling Congress that is was well over $500 billion. The GAO's lawyers said the muzzler should forfeit his salary from then on, about $67,000. He works for big Pharma now, so he can afford. Of course the Bushies won't do it, citing executive authority. To do what, lie to Congress?

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Crazy as they come

Think your congressman or woman is crazy? What about your Senator? None are as crazy as an independent candidate for the open Oklahoma Senate seat. [Well, maybe Texas' Congressman Paul...but lets not get ahead of ourselves]

Activist Sheila Bilyeu (I) claims the fed. gov't implanted a device inside her head in the '70s and has sent messages for years to annoy her. She "accepts she has little chance of winning. However, there is some dispute about whether her candidacy might affect the outcome." OK Dem chair Jay Parmley: "Under most normal circumstances, an independent ... wouldn't make much difference, but this race could be so close that she will definitely pull votes away from either" Rep. Brad Carson (D-02) or ex-Rep. Tom Coburn (R) "and could very well influence this election." OK GOP chair Gary Jones: "I personally believe that as we get closer to November that Dr. Coburn is going to pull away and I don't think it will be a problem for him at all."

Bilyeu: "It's like a little radio. They can transmit in stuff and talk to me. It sounds like I'm a schizophrenic, but I'm not. Anyway, it has caused me a lot of trouble and pretty much ruined my life and so I've filed these lawsuits about that." She said she "has been sleeping in my car for much of the last 10 years and living below the poverty line because of politics and greed." In one lawsuit, U.S. Dist. Judge Richard Roberts wrote: "Plaintiff has filed a narrative, stream-of-consciousness complaint that, as best as I can tell, revolves around the plaintiff's belief that a conspiracy led by President Clinton has implanted a transmission device in her head, 'gassed' her and stolen her dog." In the '90s, "Bilyeu unsuccessfully sued Ponca City schools, game show host Alex Trebek, CBS anchor Dan Rather and others" (thanks Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman)

W stands for Wrong, part....oh who's counting anyway

Tonight, former TX Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes is going on 60 Minutes with fellow Texan Dan Rather to talk about how he got Dubya into the TX National Guard back in the 1970s to avoid the draft. The funny thing, as Josh Marshall points out, is that won't be the big news.

The real story is not why George W. Bush got into the TX National Guard ahead of hundreds of other deserving men in that era, but what he did once he got there. Or rather, what he didn't do. AP and others have requested the files that would prove Bush showed up in Alabama in 1972 (he requested and was granted a transfer so he could work on a Senate campaign of his father's friend) and what he did most of that year, why he failed to show up to his physical, etc. The Air Force claims it can't find anything else on the matter. Meanwhile there is a 527-group who are going to attack Bush on his apparant AWOL to the AL National Guard, called Texas for Truth (see sidebar under "WHO4 players;" see also the Edior's Note on this post for more details), with this ad.

This is the same man who uses surrogates to smear decorated war veterans (McCain, Cleland, and now Kerry) for his political advantage. Disgusting.

Kerry has a nice mantra he started up this week, perhaps thanks to Bill Clinton's hospital bed advice: "W stands for Wrong" The Democratic Nominee said today that Iraq was "the wrong war at the wrong time" with no post-war planning. Then he stupidly said he would have troops out of there in 4 years. Buddy, never over promise. Oh well. He went on to say that Bush's domestic policies were wrong too, manifesting themselves in millions more impoverished, unemployed, underemployed, uninsured, and as of today, a thousand dead soldiers in Iraq (thanks iCasualties.org) None of this Bush can dispute, they are facts.

Perhaps he can claim that we've "turned the corner" or his VP can claim that if Kerry is elected, the terrorists will win-- and attack the U.S. But reality will attest to these obvious falsehoods. 144,000 new jobs in a construction-rich month like August is hardly turning the corner. Bush has presided over more than a million jobs lost-- including the recent gains. Sure, he can blame Clinton, 9/11, corporate malfeasance, and the tooth fairy if he wants to, but (to paraphrase Harry Truman) the buck stops at the Oval Office ultimately, especially if its occupant is using his so-called accomplishments (see "Awarded for Attendance") in his attempt to be reelected.


EDITOR'S NOTE: I have added links to the following organizations: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (the now famously Bush-connected Kerry smear group), Texans for Truth (a liberal group with ties to MoveOn, Million Mom March, and a Howard Dean-affiliated group called "Democracy for Texas" who is calling Bush AWOL), and MoveOnForAmerica.org (a deceptively titled neo-conservative group who aims for a new wave of Willie Horton ads bashing Kerry).

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Bush for Rapists

My quote of the day: "Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country" -- Bush, offering "an unexpected reason" for cracking down on frivolous lawsuits. (Source, Reuters)