I guess DHS never liked 'Father and Son'

According to the AP, yesterday Cat Stevens was "denied admission to the United States on national security grounds."

Stevens -- who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam -- was flying on a plane from London to Washington, DC before the Department of Homeland Security diverted the plane to Bangor, Maine.

He was expelled from the US after a brief interview. I wonder what they talked about..."Cat, may I call you Cat? I was wondering, how come you chose such wierd names? And why aren't you writing any more of those folksy songs my girlfriend likes?"

Another sign that Kerry is unoriginal

"The big hang-up was George Bush wanted to get life lines, you know, so he could call somebody" -- Kerry on the WH '04 debates ("Live With Regis and Kelly," 9/21/04).


"Bush asked the moderator if he could use one of his lifelines" -- Colin Quinn on the WH '00 debates ("SNL," NBC, 12/11/99).


"After three questions, he had used up two of his lifelines" -- David Letterman on the WH '00 debates ("Late Show," CBS, 12/3/99).


"George W. was asked a question and he said, 'Regis, I'd like to use one of my lifelines'" -- Conan O'Brien on the WH '00 debates ("Late Night," NBC, 12/2/99).

Oh well, at least he hasn't led this nation into the toilet like GWB.

Live from New York...

Its a speech-a-thon, after Kerry's excellent speech yesterday (although he did figit too much), Bush is speaking in front of the UN on the same topic. I have class so I can't watch Bush's speech but I am looking forward to the analysis of it. I wonder if Bush will pretend everything is going great to the international community.

While you are waiting, check out this great corn maze in Pleasant Grove, UT:


(image courtesy of AP/Yahoo! News)

Back to the drawing board?

I just read in the New York Times that a federal judge as tossed out many of the FEC's regulations regarding the new Campaign Finance Reform bill, which House sponsors Marty Meehan (D-MA) and Chris Shays (R-CT) sued over.

The rules involved internet ads, coordination between campaigns, national parties and 527s, specifically outlawing the kinds of ads that were done again Howard Dean in Iowa (which later turned out to be done by ex-Kerry and ex-Gephardt staffers) 120 days before election day.

It is likely however, that nothing will come of this. After all, both parties love all these loopholes and their FEC commissioners will go to bat for them. In fact, they are going to sue to get an injunction on this ruling.

That kind of makes sense, why change the rules with less than 55 days to go in the Election? Seems a bit unfair.

Well I have got to get to Contracts, have fun folks.

Vietnam and Bush's Brain

The Salt Lake Tribune's Rebecca Walsh (with the help of Tom Harvey) has done a good bit of journalism for a small time paper, uncovering the details of Karl Rove's spotted Vietnam-era draft history. Unlike his boss and his boss' boss, Dick Cheney, the meddling to void going into combat isn't as obvious.

In fact, Rove was against the war. Here's a nice nugget:

Far from being a conscientious objector, [Olympus High School classmate Mark] Gustavson recalls, Rove's opposition to the war was political. He considered the conflict a "political skirmish that was not being properly administered."

"I never heard Karl say, 'I hope I don't get drafted,' " Gustavson says. "Everyone went and registered. No matter how we felt about the war, we understood our legal duty. I don't remember Karl saying he would get married or get a student deferment or do anything that would have earned one a deferment."

But Rove got one anyway. Rove graduated from high school in the spring of 1969 and in June was reclassified 1-A, available to be drafted.

Then it gets weird: "Rove received number 84, or within the top one-fourth of the 365 numbers. It would turn out that the highest lottery number drafted from this group was 195, according the Selective Service, putting Rove's number deep within those that could be drafted."

He got a physical, and was deemed eligible, yet somehow they passed him up again because he goes to the University of Utah, monitoring under a staunch Democrat while protesting Hubert Humphrey's speech in Salt Lake. "But in the autumn and spring quarters of 1971, Rove was a part-time student... Despite the apparent lapse in his full-time status, Rove maintained his deferment."

Then Rove transferred to the University of Maryland, "But a letter he prepared to notify the local draft board in Murray of his transfer never made it to Utah."

When at MD, Rove went part time again and went from being 1-A to 1-H after the Pentagon reclassified thousands of men during the wind-down of the Vietnam war. The whole thing seems realistic by Walsh. Stories of real life are often complex and complicated, with no real clear wrong doing on people's parts. I also have trouble blaming people for trying to avoid going to war, my father did, I would have. But John Kerry didn't. Why not? I think it was partly because he was hoping to be the next JFK to become president. He eventual saw the swift boats as his PT-109. He wanted to create a myth out of his tour of duty like the Kennedy family managed to do with Jack's. The fact is, World War II was more a George W. Bush black and white war, where was Vietnam was more a Kerry grayscale.

I think Rove's High School buddy (who's now a Salt Lake City Lawyer) put it best:

"It [the Kerry-Edwards campaign] paints a time in American history with too broad and dramatic a stroke. It [Vietnam] wasn't that black and white," Gustavson says.

"There were a lot of legitimate reasons for not going. There were a lot of legitimate reasons for going," he adds. "Some of my friends were just cowards. But I never heard Karl advocate violating that law. That he didn't go makes him like hundreds of thousands of other guys my age who didn't go."

Getting young people to vote the HARD way

Today's political website of the day is Votergasm.com


Their brilliant idea, have site visitors pledge to have sex with a voter on election day, and at the same time promise they won't have sex with a non-voter. I encourage everyone to sign up for reluctant voters who you might want to have sex with. But no using sex to get someone to vote a certain way, that's just not fair.

We all know that sex is on everyone's minds often and is a good reward/incentive for voting. Now all we need a couple of famous porn stars to get involved. Maybe even a raffle for the lucky voter who gets to have sex with them. Creating civic engagement by going straight for the pants, now that’s a great strategy. P Diddy, whose slogan is "Voter or Die," you were out done again.

After all, everyone knows that not having sex while everyone else is getting laid is worse than dying, right? [ED this snarky post is intended to be a homage to Wonkette]

Constroversy for the sake of it

I am so tired of our so-called press. The media loves to make up items of dispute, take sides that would make McViegh's defense lawyer squirm, and swallows whole bits of GOP propaganda.

Exhibit A, the polls. Anyone who knows 2 bits about polls would have told you that the polls that came out immediately following the GOP convention were suspect and not likely to hold. First of all, they used "likely voters" with over 60 days left which is highly unusual to say the least; secondly, these "likely voters" were disproportionately GOP or GOP-leaning. Now the press is amazed to see two polls that say Kerry and Bush are again essentially tied (one has Kerry up 1 and one has Bush up 1, which is within the margin of error obviously). They are trying to say, "How did Kerry get back up? What did Bush do wrong? Is the National Guard stuff hurting him?" when both sides said privately that their internal polls had Bush up maybe 1 immediately following the convention.

Today on "Inside Politics" Ed Gilespie rightly said look at the state polls, and for his part Terry McAwefull (as I like to call him) said the revolving door at the Kerry campaign has nothing to do with the race and the polls show Kerry is doing just fine. Of course, Ed, being the nasty GOPer that he is, laughed out loud about Kerry, trying to mock Kerry's stance of Iraq. I agree Kerry says things in a way that leaves people with different views to think that he agrees with them most of the time. However, I think John Kerry should pull a media stunt where he sends his Iraq issue paper to Ed's house along with a contribution form with the $100 box checked (since Ed said he would give anyone $100 if they could tell him what Kerry's position was). Of course, he should send a copy of what he sending to the media.

Meanwhile, Kerry is making an important speech to the National Guard that for some unknown reason gave a standing ovation to the man who has sent them off to die while making the whole organization look pathetic and incompetent (since they put him in there instead someone more deserving and can't find W's records or vouch for him showing up in Alabama). Finally, Kerry is starting to say the right things about Iraq: that it is a horrible mess and Bush is an incomp. I still feel he should borrow Lincoln's line to Gen. McCelland "If General McCelland is unwilling to use the Army, I would like to borrow it for awhile." AKA "George Bush is unwilling to win the war against insurgents in Iraq, I would like to borrow the armed forces for the next four years"

Meet Mutt and Jeff

Does this look like anyone you know?


Compare


We had dinner at my parent's tonight, and they said we looked like Mutt and Jeff. And we said who? Appearantly it is a famous cartoon that predates the peanuts. Some times my parents say such archaic things, I feel like a need a dictionary for their saying that involve grammophones, and they are only in the mid-50s!

Then again, I say things old fashioned ways too; I must have picked it up from them. I like to say the "Thou version" of the Lord's daily prayer. So go figure. Here's to the oldies, but goodies, like Mutt and Jeff.

What were they thinking?

Here's another reason why I am glad I don't live in and around DC anymore, they elected cnvicted crack smoking ex-mayor Marion Berry to be on the city council, 57% of them. At it wasn't a black poor neighborhood which one might say they feel for his persecution, it was Ward 8, the one where all the snobbyist, richest DC-ers live who don't live in the suburbs. This is the home of Georgetown and Friendship Heights.

The other thing I am glad about missing is how dumb they get during a snowstorm, acting like 2 flakes are sign of the appocalypse. It snows every year people! Barry is the worst too, he went on vacation during one big storm and left them in the lurch. What morons is all I gotta say.

Doin' the Lynndie

Remeber Lynndie? Sure you do:

And Bush claims it was a few bad apples and he has nothing to do with it. Well, it seems he likes her style at least:

Ralph "Ivan" Nader

I know I have only had 3 weeks of Civil Procedure and no Constitutional Law yet, but I am pretty sure the executive branch can't short curuit the judical process and overrule it.

Yet that is exactly what Jeb "that's my brother" Bush's appointee Division of Elections director Dawn Roberts claimed that Hurricane Ivan, which could hit parts of the state by week's end, forced her to act. No, the possibility that Jeb's brother might lose the state forced her to act. Dawn is a former Northern Florida Mayor, and while not BC04 state campaign chair like her 2000 counterpart, the whole think reeks even more because she is appointed and not elected (which in theory would make one more independent from one's party)

Florida Circuit Court Judge Kevin Davey had issued a temporary injunction last week preventing the state from putting Nader on the 2004 ballot, siding with a Democratic challenge that the Reform Party did not qualify as a national party under state law. By the way, when was the last time former Green Nader had anything in common with Bucannan's Reform party? Oh wait, when was the last time Nader stood up for anything he believes in besides himself?

The FL Democratic Party is pissed, but I assume they can bring this to the FL supreme court, who have proven themselves to be anti-Bush in 2000. After 2000, I thought we all learned all we needed to know about Florida election law, but I guess there is a new wrinkle after all. Now I guess Dawn's next step is to certify the state for Bush, you know, just in case another Hurricane comes by.

The Pottery Barn Rule

A Diarist a Daily Kos came up with a new idea for what Kerry should say now that "W is for wrong" has gotten old he calls it "Mr. President, you own it". Here's the speach:

"Mr. president, Colin Powell told you about this war that 'if you break it, you own it.' And now you're going around talking about an 'ownership society.' Well, Mr. President, let me tell you what you own. A million jobs lost. You own that. A thousand soldiers lost. You own that. 1.4 million new people living below the poverty line. You own that. 1.2 million less people covered by health insurance. You own that. A seventeen percent medicare increase. You own that. Health care costs skyrocketing. You own that. The tax burden increasing amongst the middle class. You own that. Mr. President, if you want to talk about an ownership society, let's talk about what you own."


I agree with this slogan. I would go on to say: "Mr. President, you blamed Clinton for the bad economy when he left you with a gigantic surplus and seemingly endless prosperity. Then you blamed 9/11 on Clinton and then blamed 9/11 for the bad economy and your catastrophic war. Mr. President, we have waited for 3 and half years, and we still haven't heard you accept responsibility for anything. Yet your party controls the congress, the white house, and the supreme court. How come we have a massive deficit, a bumbling foreign policy, a stumbling economy, and none of your agenda (save your precious tax cuts for the top 1%) has passed. Who's to blame Mr. President if it isn't you? Where are the faith-based initiatives? Why has the tone in Washington gone from bad to worse? Where is the humble foreign policy?

In 2000, Dick Cheney told the armed forces "help is on the way." Well, Mr. President, they are still waiting for help. Unfortunately, they will have to wait until January 20th, 2005 because you have proven unwilling to help them. Our forces are stretched thinner, with lower moral than any time in our history. You had no plan to win the peace in Iraq and Your actions thus far show that either have no plan or no will to win the war against insurgents there. You have abandoned Afghanistan for this horrendous adventure to topple Saddam, you have let the Israeli conflict fester, and allowed Iran and North Korea to further develop nuclear weapons. If elected president, I will take the fight to the insurgents, internationalize the security forces in Iraq, kick the Taliban and Al-Qaeda permanently out of Afghanistan, and get tough with rogue states that develop nuclear weapons."

How about them apples?

Not-so-bad and Good news

First the not-so-bad news: Scott Matheson has now narrowed Huntsman's lead to 10.



While that sounds pathetic, it isn't that bad considering he was down by like 20 point before. I guess those cheezy ads with him in a classroom have paid off.

Now the good news: Jim Matheson is creaming his 2002-04 oposition, John Swallow , by 31 points. Ouch. I think it is over for Swallow, who will certainly narrow that but never as much as last time (1,600 votes).



In other polling news, according to the Deseret News:

[Dan] Jones found that if the election were today, Bush would get 65 percent support to Kerry's 25 percent. U.S. GOP Sen. Bob Bennett, seeking his third, six-year term, leads Democratic challenger Paul Van Dam, 60-23 percent. In the 1st Congressional District, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, leads Democrat Steve Thompson, 53-23 percent, Jones found. Third District incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, leads Democrat Beau Babka, 51-27 percent. And GOP Attorney General Mark Shurtleff leads Democratic challenger Greg Skordas, 57-20 percent.

I wonder if a Democratic guy who is losing 20-57 can help a Republican woman who is losing 20-40. File this under "Ironic," Atlantis.

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."

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.

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?

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).

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)

back for more

I didn't end up watching Bush's prime time speech, nor did most of this red-state that I live in. Why? The University of Utah football team was playing Texas A&M for their home opener. Since Rick Majerius retired due to poor health, this basketball town has been starved for a winner. The Jazz didn't manage to get into the playoffs this spring, so now everyone's hopes are pinned on the 19th ranked Utes football team. And they crushed those Aggies, 41-21, using mostly backups in the 4th quarter. Supposidly 35 million people saw this on ESPN.

Anyway, I read some of the line from his speech and it seemed somewhat stirring but mostly the same old vacuous promises. Slate's Saletan was right on the money saying the speech was asking people to give Bush another shot by ignoring or blaming someone else for the last 3.5 years. Bush says he wants accountability in schools (which must be why he hired a Education Secretary whose city defrauded students of an education by cooking the books to have low dropout numbers...Houston Miracle indeed) but none for himself appearantly.

And if you follow nutbar ex-Democrat Zell Miller's logic, we shouldn't even be having an election since there is a war on. Gee, I think FDR had elections, didn't Lincoln too, and that was during the Civil War. In short, I am glad I didn't watch, I might have thrown stuff at the TV.

This weekend I am watching the media sell Bush landslide via one suspecious poll by TIME that has him up 11 when 2 other polls have him up 3 or so points. Don't loose sleep yet, DC Democrats. Instead of whinning to your media sources, get off your butt and campaign for Kerry-Edwards.

Bill Clinton has an excuse. All those trips to McDonald's finally caught up with the poor guy. My prayers and best wishes are with him and the rest of the Clinton family. George W. Bush was classy yesterday, by the way, to share his prayers and wishes with this hard-right wing crowd at a rally. Reports of boos were false, although the right-wing shock jocks basically said Clinton was trying to step on Bush's post-convention bounce. Yeah I am sure that he would stoop to open heart double bypass surgery to reduce Dubya's bounce. That is about as convincing as saying Vince Foster was killed by the Clinton's...oh wait they did say that. Maybe that was one of Rush's drug induced statements.

Anyway, I should get going, I have basketball and homework over this long weekend. Aloha!

MIA

sorry loyal readers. I have been derelict in my duties of commentary and general posting because I was so damned tired yesterday. Wednesday's start at 7:35 AM for me and end at 4:45 PM. I know I shouldn't be complaining, many people work much harder than I do.

I tried to watch the convention, I really did. But it just makes me ill to hear them spouting their anger like that. There is no vision for the future or policy critique, just the twisting of roll calls or statements to say that you can't trust John Kerry. Why is their convention about Kerry, shouldn't it be about Bush? The only nice thing they say about him is about Terrorism and "moral clarity" some how insinuating that Democrats are immoral. They don't talk about Jobs, or Healthcare, or Fiscal policy or environmental policy or foreign policy (other than the War on Terror and Iraq).

Maybe Bush tonight will say something about why he should be reelected. He claims in his ads that he knows "exactly where to lead this country" but hasn't felt inclined to share that direction with us, until tonight. If it is the same direction we have been going in (my bet), the majority of Americans believe it is the Wrong Track. According to media sources and Matt Stoller's infiltration, Bush is going to appeal to married white women big time, primarily with "Flextime" legislation.

All I have to say is, too little too late. Democrats have pushed for this kind of thing for ages. I believe it was GOPers who tried to block paid family leave, upon request of their big business friends. Flex-Time is already the norm in many companies and the need to such legislation is not as dire. Simply put, it is classic Bush: a photo-op.

Republicans can talk all they want about "Family Values" (which is code for Right-Wing Christian beliefs) but if they don't start valuing families, there isn't much behind it. We aren't going to put prayer in schools (unless you count the Pledge of Allegiance), creationism, abstinence-only/no sex education, and so in all of America's schools. That is not what these married white women will go for. The ones that do are already in Bush's camp.

Democrats of course need to minimize the trend of married white women voting with their spouses, who tend to go 60-40 GOP and turn out the unmarried women in droves (because they are like 80-20 Democrats). I agree with those GOP pollsters that Women are the key to this election. Whether they act like sheep to their NASCAR husbands, or whether they want their kids (and their friends kids) to get out of this mess in Iraq will decide who is president.

Incidently, "W" doesn't stand for Women. "W" stands for Walker, and George Walker Bush stands for Corporate Cronism. In fact, he is their poster-child.

Awarded for Attendence

It was "demeaning to the nation," Senator Dole argued at the GOP 1996 convention, to be governed by people "who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered and never learned."

And now he is supporting Bush? Bush has made his whole life about making appearances, or in the case of the TX National Guard, not making them. This man is staking his reelection (according to last night's speakers) on showing up to ground zero a couple days after 9/11, despite Secret Service grumbles and giving our troops a fake turkey last year for Thanksgiving. Or getting Pakistan to join us on the War on Terror, which he decided yesterday on the Today Show isn't winnable (he had as recently as the 21st said it was winnable). That is all pretty pathetic.

Slate's Will Staletan makes basically this point in his piece. But the meta-point here is that anybody could have comforted the rescue workers on 9/14/01 or given troops fake turkey last year or even (with a half-decent State Department) gotten Pakistan to join us in the War on Terror.

But it takes a real brave man to send others off to an optional war waged under knowingly false (or at the very least, wantonly misleading) pretenses. Soon, one thousand American soldiers will have died because of George W. Bush's actions. Sure, Saddam is an evil, crazy man. But Osama Bin Laden (and Al-Qaeda in general) and Mullah Omar (and the rest of the Taliban) are much more pressing threats to this country than Saddam ever was, and yet they are still at large. Moreover, they are in a much stronger position to recover even if Bush manages to find them, because they have had 3 years to delegate control and set up contingency plans should one of them die/get captured.

If anything, Al Qaeda is harder to pin down (maybe not stronger) than they were before the War in Afghanistan, because we pulled out troops and intelligence services to go find imaginary stuff on Saddam and wage war on him.

America, let's not reward George W. Bush for attendence; let's punish him for his inattention to fighting the terrorists and truly keeping our country safe.

Protesting in Code

To Paraphrase the Comic Book guy, "Nerdiest sign ever." [courtesy of Edgewise]

GOP Convention, day 1

Wow, I am very unimpressed.

I didn't get a chance to watch Senator McCain, but I am watching Rudy and it is so very sad.

There is nothing of substance in his speech; here is the formula: 9-11, 9-11, terrorism, Saddam Hussien, John Kerry flip flops (with the entire audience laughing at Sen Kerry), you can't trust Kerry to keep you safe, 9-11, terrorism, amen. (oh they ran 25 minutes over)

There is nothing about what Bush has to offer for his second term or any domestic policies, or any policies either. Basically, it was to defend Bush's foriegn policy. There was nothing positive at all. It had the feel of a high school teen angst movie, where the pretty-ugly girl is being made fun of by the pretty girl who will ultimately get her comeuppance (maybe I was influenced by the movie I watched the last few minutes of Jawbreaker). I have also decided that when push comes to shove, GOPer are fundamentally immature. Oh and by the way, a "Nation of Courage" is a terrible slogan; "Hope is on the Way" actually is positive and makes sense.

How is George W. Bush going to convince Middle America to vote for him? By making Kerry seem even worse than him? CNN tried hard to say nice things, but I could see from their body language that they thought it was a terrible evening (0ne shook their head). The only thing they managed to say honestly was that Rudy went on too long. Bill Schneider is talking about how the choice of NYC was a big mistake because it shows how many people disapprove of Bush for all his behavior and the failure of Bush to live up to 2000 pledge to be a "uniter not a divider"

Democrats were sad that Kerry muzzled the Bush bashing, but it seem Bush isn't holding his crowd back. When Democrats critiquted Bush, it was his policy, not his character, unlike GOPers.

My friends at the convention (the bloggers) have basically the same impression. But you should still read them because they can tell you about the protestors, while I just have to read their blogs. But I having trouble suppressing vomiting after watching that travesty of a convention.

Best news billboard ever

Administative update

dear third aveuners,

as you might notice, I have added a few more links on the side (groan, you have way too many already). Two of them are blogs, one is of an acquantince of mine from my past job at the DLC called New Donkey, which is being pushed by Josh Marshall and other mainline Democrats. It seems to be Ed Kilgore unplugged, but I am not sure who exactly is writing it. I must say though, allowing commentary would be nice and not seem so comperable to George Bush's campaign site.

The other blog is of a High School friend of mine, called the Guatemalan Word Project. He writes the most amazing emails from all his world travels and adventures, and so a couple of us indenpendently convinced him to start a travel dairy of sorts. I think he would make a great addition to the New York Times Travel page. He is the kind of soul that is brilliant, but restless and traveling is perfect for him. And if you are reading this, happy birthday buddy!

Lastly, there is PolticalWire, who gave us all such great scoops on exit polls and other gossip. Oh and This is Rumor Control has been on there for awhile but I didn't plug it. Basically, it is a group of disgrunted but anonymous journalists who can see the U.S. lurching towards another war with Iran. I sure hope they are wrong.

Motto of the week

For the Company Taco Time, a mexican fast-food resturant

Taco Time, it sure is

Remorse

Well, I just back from a great film Garden State and just one thing bothers me: what is the name of that song that they use in the commercial and end credits? It is so good, although I can't understand a word of the lyrics. That film is kind of an extreme version of what everyone my age kind of goes through. I am doing a mini-Beehive State right now.

The dad (the dude who played Bilbo Baggins) in the movie feels that the son should feel remorse for accidently paralyizing his mother when he was 9. But as a result, the dad (who's a shrink) pumped up the son (played, written and directed by Zack Braff) on drugs since then that he can't feel anything. Who should feel sorry?

Well I will tell you someone who feels sorry former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes who says in this video that he helped George W. Bush get into the guard when he was LG and he feels bad about it now looking back at how he helped donors and rich people (daddy was a congressman at the time). If that link doesn't work, try this raw link http://69.59.167.160/Barnes%20on%20Vietnam.mov

Lap it up. By the way, Barnes is a Democrat and has endorsed John Kerry, but Texas Democrats and Texas Republicans are usually more civil towards each other, its a Southern thing.

Going through the motions

Sorry for not posting yesterday, I had a pretty busy day of class non-stop. I also woke up 2 minutes before one of my classes was to start so I had no time to brush my teeth and put on deodorant etc. So I felt really gross all day.

Today I got a bit more sleep and more organized. My fiancee is out getting the car tuned up because her and her dad worry about every little thing. But I guess he has a car from 1985 that is still running well, so it is worth it I suppose.

I watched Kerry's Daily Show appearance in rerun last night, and I came away with a couple impressions. He is still basically the guy I didn't want to have win in 2003; a charmless stereotypical politican who would vote against his own shaddow if it would help him win. On the other hand, he does have some good ideas for reform in the system and he will throughly investigate the wrongdoings of the current investigation.

Kerry dragged out this SBVT story another day by sending up his parapalegic former colleague and "Brother in Arms" Max Clelland to hand a letter by Democratic Senators asking Bush to condem the ads. Of course, Bush has his own surrogate block him from getting there, despite claiming that Max "wheeling around so fast." That stunt was cheap, but it forced Bush's spokesman said BC04 is joining McCain in his lawsuit against 527s (but not joining McCain in specifically condeming the Switfies ads).

As the Post points out

The action promised today by McClellan is largely symbolic. There is virtually no chance that a lawsuit could be resolved before the Nov. 2 election. But the Bush campaign is eager to regain its footing on the issue after Benjamin L. Ginsberg, the chief outside counsel to the campaign, resigned Wednesday after revealing that he had done work for the Swift Boat group. The campaign had denied any ties between it and the Swift boat veterans group.

Bush et al is trying to kill this story before it drowns out his nice little propaganda fest called the GOP convention. However, whenever the nat'l conversation has been Bush-focused, we've seen Kerry bump up in the polls. And it is this phenomenon that presents an interesting problem for the Bushies going into next week. Why is this so? Because if the media did its job, most people other than die-hard conversatives would still vote for Georgie if they knew about all the bad things he has done, or left undone.

First Real Day

So this morning I decided to ride my bike to campus for the first time and see if that was nice. I don't know if I will do it again, maybe if I want to get back and forth quickly. Anyway, class was pretty OK today. I had a bit of trouble spotting my TA for our lunch meeting. I am in a group with 3 people whom I have all the same classes with: Mikelle, Mike, and Justin. All of them seem nice, including the TA. I am annoyed with the LDS Law Student Association already. (LDS stands for Latter Day Saints which is what Mormons call themselves, their church is called the church of jesus christ and latter day saints) Why you ask? They sent out an email announcing their lunch meeting to the entire student body. If I am not a mormon, nor a mormon who wants to join this group, why do I care about this meeting? Personally, I don't like people's religion being shoved in my face and being made inferior or impious for not doing something. These holier-than-thous can, in the famous words our hopefully future first lady "shove it"

My fiancee's family left this afternoon but their flight is tied up by a rare case of rain/thunderstorms in the SL Valley.

On to other news, Kerry's team were a bit slow this month, but the last two weeks they have really made up for it, putting Bush on notice that Kerry will not be bullied by Georgie's thugs and thug-tatics. His appearance on the Daily Show tonight is recognition that if you want to reach out to young and/or informed voters, this is how you do it. You are not going to convince anyone by appearing on a Sunday talk show or softball Larry King Live at this point.

Equally pleasing is the tough response ads Kerry is running this week and the tough talk by the candidate himself in Boston and NYC. The Bush family is famous for its underhandedness (See Horton, Willie) and out-and-out lying to get what they want, a win (see South Carolina primary, McCain). The right wing can keep trying to smear him, but Kerry has put them on notice that he won't take it lying down and he will force the media to evalute their claims (instead of pretending to be "balanced" by saying people can disagree about what happened). Their are facs as to what happened: Naval Records, 3rd party accounts (AKA not people Kerry puts on his ads), etc. There are also arbitors of what smells, namely John McCain, who had the same experience Bush proxies with even flimsier evidence against him in 2000.

I am off to CostCo for some shopping. Let me know if you need a barrel full of mayo.

A day dream for the GOP

I was just thinking the other day about what would have happened had Al Gore won the recount battle. So just play along with my scenario and write a comment if you think something is missing or off.

Gore faces a incredibly hostile congress who is sure that he cheated Bush out of the presidency; as a result, almost none of his agenda or appointees move. In the spring of 2001, moderate Republicans in the senate from Rhode Island and Vermont are so fed up with their colleagues that they both leave the party and form their own moderate caucus, thus giving control of the Senate to the Democrats. Gore's appointees move on, and some of his agenda is passed, although his health care initiative is stalled in the house.

After 9/11, America rallies around Gore but the media quickly asks why this wasn't prevented by the Clinton-Gore administration. Clinton administration alums are paraded up to the Hill to explain themselves. Gore uses temporary popularity to dethrone the Taliban in Afghanistan and convince Pakistan to join in the hunt. By December, Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden have been caught. Gore's State Department begins negotiations with UN for financial and security assistance for newly democratic Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Gore dispatches Clinton to Israel/Palestine to help restart the peace process (and Carter to North Korea to get a better deal than the 1994 agreement). Not much progress is made on either front, but the Infedada that started after PM Ehud Barak's loss the winter of 2000 ends and tensions are relatively low.

Gore's popularity hovers around 55-60%, due to the lingering animosity from the right wing over Florida and moderate voters doubts about the Clinton administrations culpability in 9/11.

During the GOP primaries, all the usual right wing nut jobs seem to do well at first, only to flop in Iowa to "America's Mayor" Rudy Giuliani. The former NYC mayor has used his post-9/11 popularity to overcome his pro-choice stance and overwhelm his GOP opponents. Media pundits talk endlessly how the GOP party has radically changed to become more moderate, but Rudy's nomination has made many party groups uneasy and nervous about turn out. Although Giuliani's first choice is John McCain, he instead chooses Senate Minority Leader Bill Frist (Lott still gets dethroned for his comment at Strom's b-day party) from Tennessee. Frist is perfect, a radical conservative with a moderate tone, good looks, and a "Doctor" to boot [IMHO he is as much a doctor as Bill Clinton is a lawyer]. Frist helps neutralize the Democratic advantage in health care, even though he owns an HMO.

On November 2, 2004 Al Gore loses due to an unexcited Democratic base and moderate undecided voters moving towards America's Mayor and America's Doctor. Frist gets lots of publicity when he saves the life of a man in Iowa while campaigning. GOPers win NY, TN, IA, and PA to score a convincing electoral vote win.

That evening, Governor George W Bush sits in his ranch in Texas and shakes his head, wondering what might have been.

And now the real fun begins

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I was quite busy, what with the fake exam at 8:30, joining the Public Interest Law Organization ($20 and I got a t-shirt), buying textbooks, trying to save 5% via my U card (and the machine wouldn't take the new, multi-colored twenties. Grand total: $435), trying to convince a professor to let me into a Academic Support Program, going to a wedding photographer ($600/hr), then to a spouse/family law school BBQ, doing some contracts homework for Tuesday (boring), and finally playing Maj Jongg with my fiancee's parents. Her dad got so tired that he fell asleep during his turn, so we stopped.

This morning they are going to two wedding cake shops and a musican's house (for the band at the wedding reception, of course). At one PM, my fiancee and I are going to a spouse program that will teach them what we law students are going through (she has to brief a case) and will give some general counciling for couples undergoing this process. Meanwhile, her parents (and brother) will go up to Park City for the afternoon.

So far I am feeling OK about law school. Or at least I was until I saw the actual assignments. Torts seems like it will be interesting but contracts, I just don't really care about. But I suppose it is a basic part of the law and I need to learn it if I want to be a hot shot or even to graduate, let alone pass the bar.

Anywho, I should get back to work since her family left me her because I told them I had to do my homework.

McGreeving over McGreevey

So DSCC chair Senator Jon Corzine has turned down running for governor since McGreevey said he won't resign until November 15 (to avoid a special election and basically appoint the NJ Senate President governor until 2005).

And now, SNL alum Joe Piscopo has, according to the New York Daily News, has confirmed that "some prominent business guys" are "trying to persuade him to run" for McGreevey's seat. Is that funny ha-ha? Is he a clown to you?

I will tell you what, the news makes me laugh, but he doesn't. Why can't The Boss run? If I was from New Jersey, I would vote for Springstein. Or even Jon Bon Jovi for that matter. If the GOP were smart, they would try to get Bruce, but I don't think he will say yes to them. Jovi has already been "outed" as a Democrat anyway.

And on a fun note here is the quote of the day:

"I gambled, drank alcohol, worked in a topless, bottomless club, smoked marijuana, drove hookers around in a 1971 green Ford Pinto, took hookers home and a host of other activities that I should not have done" -- NV 01 candidate Lewis Byer (R)

Look Ma, no wires

This is my first wireless posting. They finally got it all working all over the law school (or at least in the IL reading room and the classrooms) last night and so now I am very happy to get online anywhere without having to get out another thing for my laptop. Plus, I feel fancy. In fact, I am in the middle of class right now, but I feel like I am on top of this case we are discussing.

In current events news, a retiring Republican Congressman said that in 20/20 hindsight he wouldn't have voted for the war. Doug Bereuter of Nebraska went on to say

The cost in casualties is already large and growing, and the immediate and long-term financial costs are incredible.<> Our country's reputation around the world has never been lower and our alliances are weakened. Now we are immersed in a dangerous, costly mess and there is no easy and quick way to end our responsibilities in Iraq without creating bigger future problems in the region and, in general, in the Muslim world.

I like GOPers better already.

Only Tuesday?

I hate to whine but getting up this morning at 7:50 was really tough. I had gotten like zero sleep again, but this time it was due to my fiancee eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in bed and the humidity, on top of previous days sleep deprevation.

Boy I have become so intolerant of moisture now that I live in a desert. I am sure a couple months ago I would have gladly opened the window to enjoy the cool, dry air.

This morning's discussion didn't help any. I really don't need to know about programs and services that aren't possible for me to do until my second year spring semester at 8:30. The best part of the day to me was the law class. Professor Lund is very funny and very socratic.

Many upperclassmen and women have said he is super tough, but they loved his classes and learned so much. I can see why. He comes up with pretty amusing hypotheticals (which is like 90% of law school) and can really bour into students. The guy next to me really got rattled even though he was doing fine. I didn't see what the big deal was. It is perfectly OK to be wrong in this class and in any real law school class. I got some answers right and some I was a bit off but it doesn't count normally and certainly not now.

The lack of internet connection was really annoying me, however. They had this whole talk about how email and wireless internet would be all ready by today yesterday, but nothing worked. Even more annoying was that our voluntary lunch with upper classmen/women to bond and ask Q was a bust. Either 8 of us misheard the Deans or the 2L/3L never showed. Plus the A/C was on super high so that I froze my butt off. But hey, at least I got a free giant bag of chips (I had sun chips 3x the normal snack size) and soda out of it (I had iced tea, to make me feel slightly healthier).

Today 's oreintation sessions ended with a time-management /study lecture. It sounded so promising that, even though optional (we have to sign in on a sheet for the mandatory stuff) , most 1Ls were there. Too bad it was a rehash of the same old same old. The only advice I learned was that I have to shedule out my study and freetime as well as my classes.

By 5 PM, I was whiped out and stumbled home. Hopefully I can fall asleep tonight.

First day

Well I just awoke from a nap (4:30 MST) after my first day of law school. I wasn’t napping because today was particularly grueling; if anything I was bored into sleep. My upstairs neighbor in the apartment building has a knack of starting to make noise just when I am trying to get to sleep, whether it is 10 PM or 1 AM. He used to launder a million pairs of pants in the middle of the night (we are told he is a traveling pants salesman) until my fiancée gave him a stern talking to. For my part, I leaned against the doorframe menacingly with my arms crossed (I am shy). Next, he moved on to watching TV late at night. I am not sure whether it is the hardwood floor that amplifies his noise or just his general insensitivity, but it is annoying nonetheless whenever he walks on the balls of the feet.

I met some interesting fellows in my class of 135 people (demographics, 50-some odd women, 22 countries, and a whopping 13 minorities…which sadly enough is still better than the state average). At my table for lunch was a geneticist, a computer scientist, an economist, and myself, a political hack. They all seemed smart and nice enough. Oh a kid from my high school who was always a high-achiever (and high-stresser) in the class below me is now in my law school class. So there are two ivy leaguers in this class at least too (he went to Yale).

(9:18 MST) Sorry this post is so delayed. Right as I was writing this, my uncle informed me via email that my grandmother had fallen and fractured her shoulder. My fiancée and I naturally drove over there and helped her out with my parents who were fixing a “CostCo dinner” of roasted chicken, salad, and bread. Anyway, it was a free dinner and my parents were dying to hear about my first day of law school anyway. Since she is currently unemployed and gets along famously with my Grammy, my fiancée will be coming by tomorrow to take her back to the hospital and hang out with her. Both went to women’s colleges and are (correspondingly?) very tough, smart cookies. Very similar personalities.

Anyway, hope all is well in your world and in the one we all share.

Odd Ends

Have you ever noticed that you can't go to President Bush's campaign website on Mozilla Firefox without the whole browser crashing. Bloggers have previously talked about which candidate is open-source due to what servers they use, etc. Much has been made about the fact that Bush uses Microsoft servers and, surprise surprise, Bill Gates' company was one of the GOP's biggest donors in 2000 (I don't know about 2004, but I would suspect they would if they could). Not only that, but it was the Bush/Ashcroft Justice Department that decided to drop/settle the Fed's case against the software giant. All I can say is, I am annoyed at GeorgeWBush.com for crashing my browser.

A couple comments on the Opening Ceremonies last night. In general good, but some items were completely odd without explanation (I wonder what the audience in the stadium thought), like the "Cube Man." I guess it was artsy but to me it was a combination of a SoHo performance artist with that scary scene from Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory (you know, the one were they ride the trippy ferry boat).

Also, the worst ad of the Olympics (worst not only visually and audio wise, but the fact that we will be subjected to it over and over again) goes to Mazda, whose annoying "Zoom-zoom" campaign has been made worse with the addition of the even more annoying "zoom-zoom" cell phone rings in the commerical to alert Models/Mazda drivers to all drive to the Bonneville Salt Flats so that Mazda Corp. can show off their entire line of cars.

Why do car companies think this is a good idea? If I want a small sedan, why do I care that they make a 1/2 ton truck? Why do I need to see them all driving on the Salt Flats doing circles or making trails of smoke in a flying-V? What a waste of gas. Who is impressed by this? "Wow, look Mazda makes cars and trucks!" I can get bragging about your brand's general resale value, its durability, etc, but not your whole line-up. Chevy has this ad idea too, but they have an imaginary semi hauling the car company's line while each car and truck one by one speeds on to the carrier. At least the stunt driving is mildly entertaining. But I would still never buy a Chevy.

After spending the day shopping at the outlet mall in Park City, today we did some badly needed cleaning and will be going up to Deer Valley to watch HMS Pinafore as performed by the Utah Symphony and Opera (who merged to save money, and it somehow worked). I am trying to watch as many Olympic events at the same time as possible and get the most out of my temporary platinum digital cable. Tune in later for my first day of law school on Monday (gulp)! Wish me luck.

Different Strokes

Old-time Washingtonians keep remarking that the Dick Cheney they knew, as a deputy chief of staff to President Ford, as congressman, as secretary of defense, is the not the Dick Cheney they see sitting in the West Wing today. The old Cheney was a reasonable, yet conservative man. The new Dick Cheney cannot be reasoned with and is still a conservative man. Why is that? Did Cheney snap? What caused it?

I talked to a former journalist (he was once the WH correspondent for WSJ during Reagan) friend of my parents, who had met and interviewed the old Cheney too and told me his theory: Lots of people, he said, undergo a personality change post-stroke. Some become less cautious and more eager to live whatever life they have left. Others, of course, have trouble talking or walking because of their strokes. Many like Cheney change, from being kind gentle souls (regular old staffers and bureaucrats) to becoming angry, disgruntled characters of their former selves. It is a Dr. Hyde and Mr. Jeckyll result, and exactly what he and I think happened.

In the early 90s Cheney was hesitant on expanding the first Gulf War. The Cheney of the late 1990s and early 2000s couldn't wait to go to war with Iraq and overthrow Saddam, evidence or reality be damned. The old Cheney never would have been caught calling the Time's Adam Clymer a "Big Time [a@@hole]" But that is exactly what the new Cheney did campaigning in 2000 in Naperville, IL (earning him the nickname "Big Time" ever since). The pre-stroke[s] Cheney was sensitive, the post-stroke[s] Cheney is making fun of Kerry for being sensitive while his boss is nearly simultaneously using the same word in the same context (meaning diplomatic/judicious).

So in a way, I feel sorry for the Cheney family. Their dad/husband has changed overnight into what Jon Stewart called "the personification of a grumble." Then again, they don't seem to have tried to help him; if anything, they have embraced and encouraged the radicalized Cheney (especially his wife Lynn, who somehow was in the situation room on 9/11, thinking she could give orders). On second thought, I feel sorry for the American people who were baited and switched, they were sold the old Cheney, who was supposed to temper hot-blooded George W. Bush, but they got new Cheney, who has pushed Bush's buttons to go to war.

Our Pet Peeve (and then some more of my own peeves)

We got him at PetCo today, his accessories cost more than he did. (For those who are curious, he is a male Beta Fish. Other interesting tidbits on the adventure can be found here.

Here's another look:


OK now on to intelligence scandals. The first involves Valerie Plame and the Journos that are hiding the name of the scumbag in the White House who revealed Former Ambassador Wilson's wife was a covert CIA agent (something the scum would sit in jail for). TIME's Michael Cooper is making himself the martyr to the journalistic shrine. This way, we can all write about him and magazine, newspaper, and TV people can get up on a pedestal and remind us mortals of how wonderful and ethical journalists are. If a politician did this, we would all scoff and ignore it, but since journalists do this worshiping, we all have to listen to this crap. I am sorry but if you are covering up in a crime by not revealing a source, then you should go to jail too. Another problem is the over-reliance on unnamed sources, who can slander and lie without real repercussions. The Plame Affair is the apex of the phenomenon (and hopefully the end of it).

The second is Chuck "Hey I am the senior Senator from New York" Schumer and his fuss over the leaking the news of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan's capture (who as a double agent in Pakistan) and blaming it on the White House. But reading the tea leaves of another unnamed source it seems that this is a person at State maybe CIA/FBI, but definitely not the White House.

The third is another Senator, Republican Richard Shelby, who like Schumer is going to coast to reelection and is hoarding his multimillion dollar warchest despite public groans from other senators and their party's campaign committees. The Senator from Alabama was the source of intelligence leaks that were fussed over last summer (and he was the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time).

Well, ok I lied, we got 4 things. Retiring Florida Republican Congressman (and ex-clandestine service CIA agent) Porter Goss has finally been named by President Bush to replace disgraced and departed DCI George "It's a slam dunk" Tenet. Finally, Democrats are growing what Bush calls cajones (he speaks 5 words of Spanish remember? Of course, that alone means Hispanics should vote for him right? Viva Bush indeed.) and will be grilling the crap out of Goss, just in time for the election. The committee vote (with John Edwards having a seat) will be soon so that the full Senate (and more importantly John Kerry) will have a vote on Porter by September.

Not such a great move Bush. Lets just all remind everyone what a crappy job the CIA did on Iraq and WMDs and lets recall that Goss and his House Committee (he was chair of the House Intelligence Committee) rubber stamped the intel to the house and possibly other senators in the rush to war with Iraq. Goss was also supposed to be asking the tough questions to intelligence officials in making us safe before 9/11, but I guess being one of the guys might have compromised things just a bit.

You see Porter, Congress has a role in government, they are supposed to look out for the people and be watchdogs over government agencies to make sure they keep us safe and don't rip us off. I think you failed on both accounts sir. We were charged hundreds of billions, not to mention the loss of over 900 of our young men and women, or our standing in the world for a war that actually made us more vulnerable to attack from terrorists. Somehow I don't think he deserves a promotion to DCI.

Playing Dumb

Tonight I watched Nightline, where they discussed Vietnam and the presidential race. Turns out that there are more obvious connections between the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth than I previously thought, despite Bush camp protestations that they have no control over them (and cynically call on Kerry to tell off Democratic 527s).

The head of the group also headed the 2000 anti-McCain group that smeared his good name in South Carolina, saying that he went nuts in the so-called Hanoi Hilton after years of torture and was therefore unfit to be President. Not only that but this woman’s husband is good friends with Karl Rove, having run for LG of Texas in 1994, the same year Bush successfully ran for governor himself.

If that weren’t bad enough, we learn that not only did almost all of the veterans who claimed to have served with Kerry never actually did so (they were near him but not on his boats), but also one guy who said Kerry can’t be trusted during the $500,000 ad buy was singing his praises in that infamous 1996 Senate race. Why are they all now coming out of the woodwork against Kerry?

[To be fair, the left has its attack hound group with tight links to Kerry. Jim Jordan, the spokesman for the 527 called the Media Fund, was Kerry’s presidential campaign manager until he was unceremoniously fired in the fall due to Kerry’s then-faltering campaign. I don’t think the Media Fund has called Bush a coward for not serving in Vietnam though, they left that up to MoveOn.org PAC, which Kerry has no real ties to as far as I can tell.]

I can see how many Vietnam Vets might feel betrayed by Kerry for speaking out against the war the way he did. And I can see why they might not like him for that or not want to vote for him, that’s fine. What isn’t acceptable is calling into question the Naval records and testimony of the men who served with Lieutenant (junior grade) John Kerry. How can you doubt the fact that he got injured three times and got three purple hearts? Or the fact that he saved a man’s life, and then possibly saved more by going after a would-be rocket launcher.

Senator Kerry annoys me too when all he talks about is Vietnam. I understand what his staff are trying to do and that it was a defining moment in the life of the junior senator from Massachusetts. Having said all that, I still find it disgusting that men who never served in war (DeLay, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Bush, Rice) would not only send men and women off to an optional war, but would also use men who had served as weapon to defeat political opponents.

Have they no shame? Have they no sense of decency left at all? Are they so intoxicated with power that all bets are off? Sure looks like it.

Doesn't sound good for 43

I had been reading on blogs that the Kerry-Edwards turnout to all these events in the past weeks had been huge, but I know from experience that supporters in a room tend to overestimate crowds. So when the Times did three articles on the race today, one on Kerry, one on Edwards, and one on Bush, I was pleased to see that image had been confirmed.

"In Harrisburg, Pa., on July 30, more than 15,000 people mobbed the Capitol plaza. In Grand Rapids, Mich., home of the Republican former president Gerald R. Ford, Mr. Kerry drew close to 10,000 people near where President Bush had attracted just 4,500 a few days before."

Bush's article is about Karl Rove playing out his theory that 1,000,000 Christian conservatives stayed home in 2000, which made Bush lose the popular vote and made it so close overall. The shamelessness with which they are pandering to conservatives is pervasive in the article. They are hoping for The Passion of the Christ-like mobilization with their "moral action teams." Too bad that it is illegal for churches to endorse or do GOTV for you (they would lose their tax-exempt status). The most they can do is speechify and register voters. Equally unfortunate for Rove, most of those million people live in neon red states, ones where he will win easily.

That said, even red ol' Kansas seems riper for the pickin' than it did four years ago. First off, they have a Democratic Governor (Kathleen Sebelius) . Edwards' train blew past the state once, had to reshedule/relocate after that but "Come over they did. Hand-drawn signs in the park and a message on the local cable channel sent about 1,000 people to the former barbed wire factory on the banks of the Kaw River, filling it to capacity and leaving more than 2,000 people stuck outside."

"For all those politicians and pollsters who say, wait a minute, why are you taking one valuable day to come back to Kansas to campaign, Kansas is a red state,'' Edwards said. "To John Kerry and I, there is no red state, there is no blue state, there is only one United States of America.''

Afterwards, the Republican bar owner (where they staged the event) said, "I voted for Bush in the last election but let's just say I am undecided for now.''

Two observations; one, the Kerry-Edwards advance team is good. They are getting big crowds in conservative areas, including some small town in Missouri the President's motorcade was supposed to stop in but didn't (very shrewd and quick planning to turn on a dime and show up there). Second, if Bush is still worrying about and shoring up his base, and Kerry is busy chipping into Bush's, then obviously Kerry is sitting on better numbers.

The Democrats aren't worried about their base, after all, they would vote in droves for a ham sandwich over Dubya. Middle America is growing increasingly weary of Bush too. Even in the evangelical article, some Baptist preachers where wondering why the poor had to send their children off to war while the rich got sent their massive tax cuts.

So the Bush campaign sent Mr. [Ralph] Reed [former spokesman for the Christain Coalition, now head of the GA GOP] to recruit pastors at the annual meeting of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention. According to campaign memorandums, it has asked "people of faith team leaders" to help identify thousands of "friendly congregations" around the country. It asked religious outreach volunteers to petition their pastors to hold voter registration drives, and to speak on behalf of the campaign to Bible studies and church groups.

The campaign has asked volunteers to send in copies of congregational directories for comparison with voter registration rolls - a move some conservative religious leaders have denounced as a violation of the privacy of the church and its members.

The Republican Party has sent has organized a special Catholic outreach tour, including a speech by the party chairman, Ed Gillespie, in St. Charles, a St. Louis suburb.

All this sounds like they are working their butts off for sure, but they sound pretty fearful they might lose. As well they should be, since their man is below 50% and big crowds are showing up for Kerry in every neck of the woods.

41's Son is a Preacher Man

Slate's Chris Suellentrop points out that George W. Bush's recent campaign rallies have the feel of a revival-tent traveling preacher more than of an incumbent president.

"'All of you are soldiers in the army of compassion,' the clergyman-in-chief tells the crowd. 'And one of the reasons I'm seeking the office for four more years is to call upon our citizens to love your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.' After his usual endorsement of the Golden Rule, Bush speaks of souls, which also isn't unusual for him: 'We can change America one soul at a time by encouraging people to spread something government cannot spread, which is love.'"

The whole session gets creepier and creepier after that. Maybe over-religiosity makes me nervous, especially when it comes from our commander-in-chief. Maybe I am just not his audience, which is a of a conservative Christian bent. Nevertheless, the turn out numbers of Kerry-Edwards events and the types of people coming to them versus a Bush/Cheney audience are very different.

The Democratic ticket seems to be gaining strength in moderate to conservative areas, with lots of people turning out just to see the train pass by, whereas, Bush/Cheney events are so tighly controlled they make the Soviet May Day parades look disorganized.

All of this give me hope ("Hope is on the Way"), especially the news that Marylander Alan Keyes is going to challenge IL State Senator Barack Obama for IL's US Senate seat. Republicans, just because Keyes is also black doesn't make him a good candidate. First of all Keyes is a nutto, although entertaining to listen to in debates like the Reverend Al (both ran/are running to up their speaking fees). Secondly, he is a carpet bagger who himself slammed Hillary Clinton in 2000 for shopping for a Senate seat saying, "I won't imitate that." Well guess what Alan? You just did.

Another Alan, well Alexander, is in the political news too. Rodney Alexander (LA-nee D) just switched parties immediately following the filing dateline so that Democrats could not run someone against him. I was wondering why no GOPers were thinking about challenging him. After all, his win last time was a surprise and he had flirted with becoming a Republican earlier this year. Rumor has it that he sold his soul to the GOP for a plum committee seat. Wouldn't it be ironic if the Democrats won back the House and he didn't get his seat after all that? Would he come crawling back to the Donkeys?

Speaking of irony, Slate's Daniel Gross thinks that Bush will ultimately lose reelection because of his tax cuts...which also went to rich liberals who gave generously to Kerry et al. Study up Atlantis.

A different kind of meetup

Today marks the second time my online self and offline self met up. The first was when I went to a Draft Clark Meetup and met legendary bloggers. The second was when a Stanford student stopped me today and asked, "Are you the Third Avenue?"

No one has ever called me that before, but in my shock I managed to say yes. One of my readers had reached out via this student to encourage me to keep on posting, despite my fear that law school will consume my being. And to this reader I say, thanks. I also want to [very] belatedly thank those who read my blog during the gay marriage debate in the Massachusetts legislature. Your words of encouragement and personal stories emboldened me to keep on and feel a sense of justice in the cause my boss was working towards.

Without you, dear reader, I would merely be shouting into the wind. It is good to know that I am not alone in my opinions. Today's encounter reminded me of the awesome power and potential of blogs to connect people who otherwise would never find each other in this planet crawling with people.

My goal in all this is to share my thoughts and frustrations so that they may be used towards a great cause of making this place just a little bit better. I know, it is cheesy, but that's just the kind of guy I am.

Something I already knew

I just called in this morning and found out that the University of Utah has deemed me to be a resident of the state, saving me over $10,000 in tuition per year.

Thank goodness. The state gave me a hard time because I went to school out of state and lived out of state on and off for two years. But I never made any effort to establish residency in any other state, nor did I consider myself anything other than a Utahn.

This will give me more time to focus on the terribly misleading anti-Kerry ads put out by pro-Bush groups (who, like Nixon before him, are hiding behind Vietnam veterans to smear Kerry) . They found other swift boaters who were never more than 50 yards from Kerry and claim that old Johnny is a coward.

John McCain, who was tortured by the Vietnamese for years, has denounced the ad calling it "dishonest and dishonorable" and "the same kind of deal that was pulled on me" by the Bush camp in the 2000 South Carolina GOP primary. Then, Bush's surrogates hinted that he was a traitor, and fathered an illegitimate black child. McCain called on Bu$hCo to denounce the ads and ask for them to be pulled down.

The Senator from Arizona really could still turn on and destroy Bush. And I sure hope he does. I don't get what he gets out of supporting Bush in TV ads and in speeches. McCain is already the most powerful senator around. Almost no big piece of legislation leaves the floor without either his name or his tacit approval. He doesn't need the GOP, they need him. And since McCain seems to not want to be a Cabinet or VP man for either ticket (or a Presidential nominee in 2008) what's to gain? Maybe there is some grand strategy I am missing, an October Surprise if you will.

And you thought Karl Rove was clever. I would love to see McCain get his revenge this fall.

PS: I return from the South Lake Tahoe region on Saturday night; hope the weekend treats everyone well.

This is the last time, I swear

This week (July 31st-August 7th) I will be in the Sierra Nevadas doing some R & R at a Stanford Alumni Camp South of Lake Tahoe.

There are no TVs, and as far as I can tell, my cell phone can't pick up a signal (maybe in the middle of the lake will work).

This morning I got up at 7 am PST to row a skull for 20 minutes. Even though I was one of the last ones out, the water was still pretty glassy and you could still imagine it was just you, the water and the sun. Usually, I am not a morning person but this camp's clock goes by the sun in a sense, and it really energized me except for the big headache I have from not much sleep. An army of ants has decided to make Christina and my bedroom their base camp. So far, 10-15 were KIA by yours truly, but they keep on coming.

I still enjoy some parts of the camp, which I have gone to every summer on and off for two decades, but it is starting to get old. I outgrew the kids groups about 9 years ago and I am not especially close with campers of my age group, who are coming less and less anyway. This is the last year I will be here, I promise and this time I really mean it. Law school and the law will become my life for at least the next three years and after that, I really shouldn't be going camp with my parents when I am nearing thirty.

From reading BOPnews and watching my fair share of C-SPAN, I think Kerry and the Democrats had a pretty good week. The Daily Show hit the nail on the head with their Mockumentary of Kerry: he was the least objectionable candidate to everyone in the party. Or to put in Current Events SAT-style

Kerry:Dem Nominee::WMDs:rationale for going to war with Iraq

My two Johns will go dark this month and the 527s will try to keep pace with Bu$hCo. I have been reading the Cook Report and he makes some pretty good points that my nervous nelly Democratic friends should pay attention to: incumbants that went on to win had high approval ratings than GWB but ones that went on to lose had lower ratings. You shouldn't be tied if you have spent $150M+ attacking the other guy. Plus, if is 45-45-3-2 (bush, kerry, nader, undecided), then it really is 45.3-47-1.6, since usually at least two-thirds of undecideds break towards the challenger (as Charlie Cook says, if they are undecided it means they have decided not to support Bush but haven't decided whether to vote for the other two) and Nader's 3% is highly over inflated given that the overwhelming majority of his 2000 supporters will vote for Kerry, if at all (and that Nader won't be on every state's ballot).

In sum, I am cautiously optimistic about Kerry and the Democrats in general. It seems like they finally have their sh@t together, so to speak.

13 months

Back when we signed the lease for our old apartment in Cambridge, we thought that we would want to stay in Boston for the convention and want to volunteer, so we signed a 13-month lease.

That was a dumb move, because we never used the apartment in July either time. We were also happy to leave Boston for Salt Lake because of the idiosyncrasies of the place. The inability of construction workers to finish a project, the constant traffic, the unfriendliness of the natives, the difficulty in navigating the city, etc.

While it might have been fun to fill up balloons, I seem to be enjoying the fruits of other people's labor by watching it on C-SPAN. A friend or two from the Clark campaign will be there a first-ever blog-correspondent and I will be curious to see how it all turns out.

Meanwhile, I keep trying to stay busy here. Maybe I should volunteer or something. I just have trouble staying motivated these days. The looming pile of unknown work is really frightening. Hopefully, 13 months from now, I will married, much more knowledgeable, and happy.

Oh Pioneers!

Today is the day, in 1847, Brigham Young and his troop of Mormons came into the Salt Lake Valley via Emigration Canyon (the same route that the Donner party lost so much time on) and famously said, "This is the Place."

Every year since, Mormons have made this day (Pioneer Day) a state holiday, complete with a pathetic parade through downtown with everyone and their mother's float made out of foam and crepe paper.

In that spirit, my fiancee, her old high school friend, and my cousin from NYC (who strangely also is friends with her) set off fireworks in our high school faculty parking lot Thursday night. The grand finale was a row of whistlers as we sophomorically peeled away. My fiancee, who grew up in suburban Chicago, and the New Yorker had never set off fireworks for some reason, so us Utahns had to show them how it was done.

Speaking of being Utahn, I am a sixth-generation Utahn and I finally found out more about our family legend about how we left the LDS church. My grandfather's grandmother's father was Mr. Long (can't remember his first name but it was long and biblical sounding like Jebediah) was Brigham Young's personal secretary. As such, he got to see how Young ruled his colony of Mormons with a ruthless, iron fist. He saw how Young had dissidents asssasinated by his goon squad, led by Porter Rockwell, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and other stuff we don't even know about.

Family legand has it that he was going to spill the beans on all this stuff, finding it to be out of keeping with the principles of the religion. So Rockwell's squad murdered him. His picture still hangs in our house. Of course, there are also family stories that we had the rights to Bingham Canyon (which is now the world's biggest man-made hole in the ground and copper mine) but my grandfather's grandmother had to pay for college for the children. So maybe both tales are a bit exaggerated for two key effects: distrust of the Mormon heirarchy and feeling guilty over your great education.

3rd Ave version 3.1

Well here we go again...another long gap in coverage and sinking hits. I am just about finished moving into the apartment and finally my back and upper body can rest.

Meanwhile, I hope you noticed the photo on the top right so you can see where I get the title of the blog and my mug. The layout and style of the blog has also been revamped to look a bit nicer, I trust. Please comment to tell me what you think if you feel up to it.

Reading the newspaper today (I have been doing that a lot lately, but sadly only the two local papers my parents subscribe to), I was really annoyed with the Deseret News' front page, top-of-the-fold article: "Edwards 'rarely present'" This article is clearly nothing but a RNC press release that the incompetent Lee Davidson plagiarized. Who in Utah cares that North Carolina Senator John Edwards wasn't there at Judiciary Committee meetings? Maybe North Carolinians might, or would-be federal judges, but it is pretty small potatoes. I have been to my share of committee meetings and most members/senators aren't there for them even if they aren't running for (Vice) President.

Below the fold was the obvious above the fold article (the Salt Lake Tribune had it in the right place anyway) : Marine Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun's mysterious abstains and return (whose family happens to live in South Jordan, Utah). This is the kind of thing big newspapers like the Globe, Times or Post will get the scoop on but it is a big story.

The Muslim Marine will have some big questions he needs to satisfactorily answer: Did he go AWOL? How did he get 500 miles to Beirut? How was he abducted from such a secure location? Did he escape from the captors? In sum: what the h-e-double hockey sticks happened to him?

In fairness, let's include his complete statement:

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun's statement:
Good afternoon. In the name of God, I am glad to be home and thank you all for your prayers and support.
I understand that there are many questions . . . and respectfully ask that the media respect my need to spend some private time with my family.
I did not desert my post. I was captured and held against my will by anti-coalition forces for 19 days.
This was a very difficult and challenging time for me. Since my release, I have been fully participating in the repatriation process.
I thank everyone who was looking for me and give thanks to God for everything.
I would like to tell all the Marines as well as all those others serving in Iraq to keep their heads up and spirits high.
Once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper fi.
Thank you.

I don't know about you, but I still got questions.

On a personal note, I am going to dinner at my grandmother's house to see my cousin from NYC who went to college with me for two years (I was older) and the rest of the family. Have a nice day everyone.

Another long inexcusable gap

Boy the blog is really getting as out of shape as I am. In the past week, I have really been busy though, honest.

Moving stuff into our new apartment, buying a new TV (we sold our old one in Boston) and office chair. My back, arms, and shoulders have been taking a beating from lifting all these heavy boxes and furniture, but we are mostly done and it is starting to look like someone lives there.

This weekend, my mom is already in Jackson Hole with her friends the Cummings, whose Lucadia Corporation has made a bid to buy half of the ailing MCI (nee MCIWorldcom). The Cummings, incidently are also major donors to the democratic party, especially the Utah state branch. And the real reason she is up there is it is Ian's birthday.

My father meanwhile is being shipped off to Boston again for a labor arbitration case (he visited Christina and I last fall for part one of this case) Early in the morn on Saturday. I , of course have to deliver him to the airport at the crack o'dawn. My reward though for this is to have the house to myself...ourselves for the weekend.

This afternoon, the cable guy will come and we will have a million channels and a 3MBS internet connection in the apartment. To copy a cheesy movie title, I can't hardly wait.