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