Top Black Leaders: Why We Back Bush

Top black leaders have taken to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to support the re-election of President Bush.

Writing in the Journal, former congressman J.C. Watts, Maryland's Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, Ohio's Lt. Gov. Jennette Bradley, Ohio's Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, and Michael Williams, a Texas Railroad Commissioner, explained why their fellow blacks need to throw their support to the president.

They think these guys are Black leaders. Or maybe they means something by "leader" or "Black leader" other than that the simple definitions of the words would bring to mind.

I mean, c'mon. Where is their constituency in the Black communities? This is like calling the leader of Jews for Jesus a Hasidic Leader.

Quote of note:

Bush, who had a moderate lead over Kerry in polls before Thursday's debate, attacked the Democrat's pledge to take away tax cuts for Americans making more than $200,000 a year.

"It makes no sense to tax the job creators as our economy is getting stronger," Bush said in a campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio.

Not to mention

the really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway

That's why he has the IRS audit poor people instead of the wealthy.

Yup. Makes perfect sense.

---

Bush, Kerry Turn Focus to Domestic Policies

Bush-Kerry Debate Draws 62.5 Million U.S. Viewers
Sat Oct 2, 2004 07:17 AM ET
By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 62.5 million Americans tuned in to President Bush's debate with challenger Sen. John Kerry on Thursday, far surpassing the number who watched either political convention this summer or Bush's debates four years ago with Al Gore.

The 62.5 million fell well short of the record 80.6 million who watched in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter debated Republican challenger Ronald Reagan, according to figures released on Friday by Nielsen Media Research.

But Thursday's television audience far eclipsed both televised debates in 1996 between then-President Bill Clinton and Robert Dole, which averaged just over 36 million each.

digby at Hullabaloo

The Political Animal is somewhat, shall we say, dismayed that the blogosphere is actively disseminating talking points for either side, seeing as we're supposed to be so independent and stuff.

It's not surprising that the campaigns are reaching out to bloggers, of course, but as near as I can tell both sides are eating this up. Bloggers everywhere are basking in the illusion that they're sophisticated media operatives, actively collaborating to figure out the best spin for their guy. Emails are flying around from all parties pleading with fellow bloggers to stay on message.

This is insane. It's bad enough when the mainstream media spends too much time lazily regurgitating talking points, but doesn't the blogosphere supposedly pride itself on being fiercely independent, a small band of brave truthtellers immune to the spin and cant of professional politicos?

The first release candidate for Drupal 4.5 has been released. And all my testing for the next week or so will be working out a proper conversion of the data and the templates. And I think I need to make sure the underpinnings of both my sites differ only in color scheme. Just makes it easier to keep all the ducks in a row.

Are you just now realizing you need to understand the issues in the upcoming election? Well, if you ignored the RNC like a sane person you have quite a backlog. Check here for the Cliff Notes .

Chris Rabb at AfroNetizen linked to an article in the Washington Post that fairly compelled me to write New carrots for old sticks at The Niggerati Network.

1- Alan Keyes is a non-factor who is executing a contract
2- Somebody linked to his daughter's blog using excitable language
3- It's not like our opinion of Keyes could possibly be any lower

CNN's been had.

Natalie at All Facts and Opinions said:

I recommend that you open your eyes and ears to more sources than mainstream ones -- getting the full story (and making up your own mind) will be especially important as we watch the media spin the upcoming presidential debates.

and posted the text of a letter from Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun who has done some travelling.

I have discovered that there is a lot you never find out, even about your own country, unless you go somewhere else.

For instance, Aug. 31 during the Republican National Convention, 203 Asian scholars from 13 countries published a public declaration, endorsed by 42 Asian organizations, appealing to U.S. voters "not to vote for a president who will turn Asia and the global society into America's enemy." The statement, they tell us, was released simultaneously in both New York and Japan, a nation that understands first-hand what war can do to a people for generations.

Quote of note:

…many politicians, academics and analysts expressed dread about the likelihood of a Bush victory. "I'm worried the transatlantic alliance won't survive," said Pauline Neville-Jones, a former chairman of the government's top secret Joint Intelligence Committee. She added, "There is a wide perception this is an America we don't particularly like."

Party Critics Urge Blair to Stand Up to Bush
By Glenn Frankel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, October 1, 2004; Page A22

BRIGHTON, England -- Timothy Garton Ash, an international relations expert at Oxford University, drew rueful chuckles the other day at a panel discussion here when he dubbed Prime Minister Tony Blair's approach to the Bush administration "the inimitable Jeeves school of foreign policy."

Okay, it's because I didn't have to do the work this time. It came via email from Douglas Giles.

Bush made the following false statements in the debate. I am sure there more but this is a good start:

Falsehood #1: “. . . to have bilateral talks with North Korea. It's precisely what Kim Jong Il wants. It will cause the six-party talks to evaporate. It will mean that China no longer is involved.”

Truth: Each of the other four countries involved in the six-part process have also held private talks with North Korea. China has repeatedly asked the Bush administration to talk directly with North Korea and has never said it would pull out of the six-part talks if the U.S. enters bilateral talks. In fact, the Bush Administration has held several direct talks with North Korea. As recently as a few months ago, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met with his North Korean counterpart.

You know the Washington Post has the debate transcript up, right? Well, I checked it to see if I was bugging when I heard a particular line from George Bush. There was a one word difference between what the WaPo printed and what George Bush said.

So I checked the C-Span Presidential Debate page, which has a link to the full 90 minute debate. At 13:45, I found the Washington Post was wrong. They reported Bush's statement as:

Saddam Hussein had no intention of disarming. Why should he? He had 16 other resolutions and nothing took place. As a matter of fact, my opponent talks about inspectors. The facts are that he was systematically deceiving the inspectors.

FROM: PRIZED PIECES FILM FESTIVAL/NATIONAL BLACK PROGRAMMING CONSORTIUM
145 East 125th Street, suite 3R
New York, NY 10035
Terry Scott - 212-828-7588

CONTACT: Moore Projects, Inc. Public Relations
Nicole Moore – 917.532.7198

---

THE NATIONAL BLACK PROGRAMMING CONSORTIUM
CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY WITH
2004 PRIZED PIECES FILM FESTIVAL: 25 FILMS FOR 25 YEARS

Festival to Celebrate 25th Anniversary of NBPC
Opening Film: World Premiere of Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under A Groove
World Premiere of Trumpetistically Clora Bryant
Sundance Winner: Brother to Brother
Free Screening of WATTSTAX
Marlon Riggs Remembered
Appearances by award-winning filmmakers Charles Burnett, Louis Massiah and Stanley Nelson

[New York, NY – September 29, 2004] – The National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC), in partnership with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, announces the 2004 New York debut of the Prized Pieces Film Festival commencing October 8th through October 11, 2004. The four-day festival, held for the first time in New York City at Harlem’s famed Schomburg Center, celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the NBPC and its long-standing commitment to the preservation, funding, production and promotion of independent films and videos of African-Americans and the African Diaspora. Showcasing the seminal works supported by the non-profit national media arts organization over the last 25 years, the festival also includes panels, workshops and discussions with some of today’s most highly acclaimed Black filmmakers.

Yesterday I posted a short piece on Integration as a goal or tactic. It was inspired by a comment; or rather the timing of the statement was.

Couple other cultural announcement-type things. One major item I know of was NOT posted about yet because it's local and I may attend…that decision will determine just what I write about it.

I have a crazy schedule today, so I have to start my spin checking this weekend. But I can still drop some stuff on you and simultaneously confirm my credentials as a "Black leftist" (which I think gets the noun-adjective assignment backward but is something to address later) by linking to CBS News.

Experts Rate Debate A Draw
NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2004
By David Paul Kuhn,
CBSNews.com Chief Political Writer

There was no clear winner in Thursday night's first presidential debate, according to interviews with experts across the country.

"It’s more relevant to talk about the winner in terms of expectations," said Shanto Iyengar, a professor of American politics at Stanford University. "Given the fact that this was President Bush’s home turf -- national security and terrorism -- he should have dominated. He didn’t. It’s a positive outcome for Kerry."

Some stuff that doesn't make me feel any better at all…and I'm, what, a thousand miles from the storm:

"This community has to stick behind its police officers and enforce the law," Dwelly said.

Sounds to presidential for my taste. That conjunction is not necessary and in some cases renders compliance impossible.

"Society has created a need for the police officers of the world to go out and fight the drug problem."

This is actually well said. However, the more broadly one generalizes when discussing a specific incident the more closely one need consider the statement.

I'm not saying broad principles are inapplicable, because using broad principles to judge a specific thing is specification, the other major function of intelligence. What I'm saying is, when an explanation consists solely of an attempt to eliminate all the distinctive features of the issue at hand you're generally dealing with an effort to hide something.

When I saw the headline, I immediately thought, "Great. Now McDonald's will get an export tax credit."
Quote of note:

"The tax cuts in this bill were supposed to be restoring benefits for American producers," said Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. "But it seems that stowaway industries have now been given a ticket to ride on this bill."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) also pledged that the final version of the bill would include "conference language to ensure that 'burger flippers' are not included."

Proposal Seeks Wider Tax Cuts For Industries
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer

Look, as far as I'm concerned you need to let quadriplegics smoke all the damn weed they want. And check this:

"Mr. Magbie, I'm not giving you straight probation," the judge said, according to a transcript of the Sept. 20 proceedings. "Although you did not plead guilty to having this gun, it is just unacceptable to be riding around in a car with a loaded gun in this city."

The biggest gun control nut in the world must recognize a quadriplegic is NOT going to be endangering anyone. I can't even imagine how he could shoot the thing but if he can more power to him.

D.C. Jail Stay Ends in Death For Quadriplegic Md. Man
Care Provided by Hospital, Corrections Dept. in Question

Goss Brings 4 Staffers From Hill to CIA
New Director Quickly Makes His Mark on Agency With Personnel Decision
By Walter Pincus and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 1, 2004; Page A04

In his sixth day on the job, CIA Director Porter J. Goss began making changes in the embattled agency's leadership, installing in top-level positions four staff members from the House intelligence committee, which he led for six years.

The moves sent a tremor through CIA headquarters at Langley, where officers already nervous about proposals to reorganize U.S. intelligence worried that Goss was acting too hastily. Some also expressed concern that newcomers from the Republican-run House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence would bring partisan sensibilities to their new roles.

'Security Mom' Bloc Proves Hard to Find
The Phenomenon May Be a Myth

By Richard Morin and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 1, 2004; Page A05

First there were the soccer moms. Then there was Sept. 11, 2001, and now these white married women with children have been recast as "security moms" -- a voting group that some analysts broadly predict will exert unique influence in this year's presidential election.

Stories in recent weeks have hailed the distinctiveness and political importance of security moms. But like the now-discredited "NASCAR dads" swing group before them, there is little if any hard evidence that security moms will have a distinctive impact in this election -- or that they even exist as a distinct group, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll and interviews with strategists from both parties.

Quote of note:

Jack Cox, a spokesman for Pfizer, confirmed that a meeting took place Wednesday between an attorney for Pfizer and Rost and his legal counsel. "The meeting was professional and entirely consistent with Pfizer's policy regarding respect for employees," Cox said.

Note that "Pfizer's policy regarding respect for employees" could read "One lash with a cat o' nine tails and two jokes about yo mama for every minute you're late for work" and that last sentence could still be true.

Like John Kerry told George Bush, you can be sure and wrong at the same time.

Pfizer Lawyers Grill Dissenting Executive
Statements on Drug Imports at Issue
By Tim Craig

Tax Benefits Lift PepsiCo Profit
By REUTERS
Published: September 30, 2004
Filed at 5:53 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc. (PEP.N), the world's No. 2 soft drink company, on Thursday said quarterly profit rose due to tax benefits and strong earnings at its key Frito-Lay snack and North American beverage units.

The company also said it was closing four plants at Frito-Lay, resulting in 780 job cuts at those locations. About 250 of those jobs will be moved to other Frito-Lay operations, which have improved productivity as a result of a plan the company enacted in 2003.

As a result of the job cuts and $221 million in tax benefits, PepsiCo forecast full-year earnings per share of at least $2.35, 6 cents above its previous estimate. It affirmed its 2004 forecast of cash from operating activities of about $4.9 billion.

Check this clown:

In a statement, Mr. DeLay said that he had not intended to violate House rules and that the committee had not previously ruled on such actions

.
"Oh, I had no iDEa offering a bribe to a Congressman was a problem. Hell, I take 'em all the time and no one complains."

"In this report the committee has provided guidance regarding a novel and very specific subject matter," he said. "I accept their guidance."

Given the Republican parsing tendencies, DeLay has just told you the committee hasn't ruled on different types of bribes than endorsements. They only ruled on this very specific matter.

I'd say it's priceless, but obviously the man has a price.

House Ethics Panel Says DeLay Tried to Trade Favor for a Vote

CBS News has Windows Media and RealVideo streaming video, all nicely broken into nice conceptual chunks.

And since it's CBS you know the right wing guys won't be sucking down the bandwidth. It will be my source for fact-checking the spin.

Bush claims he never wanted to commit troops but he said in the second debate in 2000 that he wants to take out Saddam Hussein.

Bush said "The Enemy Attacked us." Kerry said, "Saddam didn't attack us"

And on Sudan, Kerry is on point. We have to give logistical as well as humanitarian support to the African Union. That way the AU can do the work.

John Kerry says we were mislead via:

• Nuclear material that didn't exist
• The coalition
• Exhausting UN remedies
• No plan for post-war, as he promised
• We did not go to war as a last resort.

Kerry says "Don't confuse the war with the warriors." Cool.
Kerry says "The president's plan in four words: More of the same."

And it really looks to me like Bush has exactly five talking points.

Bush now sounds like Molotov.

"I made a mistake in taking about the war. Bush made a mistake invading. Which is worse?"

Bush had the NERVE to ask how something is going to be paid for? To complain about a tax gap?

I love the split screen. Bush looks TOTALLY unhappy listening to John Kerry. I'm at my parents house and Pop is a CNN junkie. I snuck the channel to C-SPAN because there's a permanent split screen.

Mom says she thinks Bush is on the defensive.

And when asked what are the signs that will allow troops home, he starts ducking. He says now they can't come home until Iraq can defend itself. That's means another five years. at least.

Bush decided to go to the UN himself??

Bush said fortunately a group of people other than myself agreed Saddam was a problem??

Who are those "people other than myself?"

Minor cosmetic changes, including the two RSS feed on the left. Folks are supposed to be watching the debate, watching the Bush spin and countering it. The RSS feed will likwly stay there a while, at least through all the debates.

Laptop? Check.
Wireless connection? Check.
Video tape? Check.
Extra hot salsa and corn chip? Check.
Notepad and pen? Check.
Two 20 oz. bottles of Bud Ice (I know Bush will drive me to drink so I thought I'd be ready). Check.

Ready for the The Joint Advertisement a.k.a The Debate.

Allawi and crew just "vowed" to clean up the insurgency by the end of November.

It's come to my attention some right wing site has been collecting reports of alleged voter fraud. I stopped in for a look...it's a pretty disciplined effort.

Thought I'd offer one or two examples of my own.

They may have dropped out of standard school but they're still working on the diploma. They haven't given up.

So are they just the bits of flesh that Procrustes cuts from his guests' bodies to make them fit in the bed?

---

Help Sites for Dropouts Are Closed
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: September 30, 2004

The New York City Education Department has shut down dozens of sites used by dropouts to prepare for the high school equivalency exam, bewildering staff members and creating a chaotic situation for young people already at risk of abandoning their studies.

Education officials said the closing of the sites, operated by a program called Auxiliary Services for High Schools, was part of a broader reorganization of alternative programs aimed at increasing the number of students who earn either a regular high school diploma or an equivalency degree, known as a G.E.D.

Jesse and Val have picked up the reins at Uppity-Negro.com, and among other things drops this link to the Top 10 Secrets They Don't Want You to Know About the Debates. Good lookin' sisters. I didn't catch that one.

What It Iz: The Potty Wars

Society has rules of conduct, and the hard fact is that your child isn’t going to get far in life without potty training.

…Jalen was pretty curious about the goings-on in the bathrooms . . . albeit not in the most constructive way. Upon finding the bathroom door closed, Jalen had a bad habit of kicking it open hard and fast like a bounty hunter and screaming “HEEEEEEEY!!!!!! WHAAAAT’Z GOIN” ON IN HERE?!”

To date, there is no clinical explanation for this behavior.

Not only did this often interrupt my quality reading time but his grandmother, great aunt and our frequent dinner guests found the intrusion and subsequent interrogations particularly disconcerting. It was just all kinds of wrong. So I enlisted — or should I say, I got drafted — and my time in Toilet Corp was on. T’was a tough tour of duty.

James at J-Notes:

J-Groove - Vol. 1
I am not quite sure what I had in mind in deciding to write a music column. I guess I figured there would be no better place than to try it out here so my friends and loved ones could pick it apart and throw online tomatoes at me. Just consider this my online scratch pad where I will express various music thoughts and hopefully not offend too many. Just sit back and grow along with me. Have I ever steered you wrong in the past couple of years? I did not think so.

J-Groove begins.

Excellent. James has been less than prolific in the last few months From this post it seems he's had good reason. I've missed his stuff and if he's going to get regular about writing for us again, that's seriously a good thing.

Beauties Strut Their Stuff in Peru Prison
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 29, 2004; 9:58 PM

LIMA, Peru - On a red-carpeted catwalk, an international line of elegantly dressed beauty contestants - all doing time for drug running - strutted into the night before an audience of Peruvian dignitaries.

Lee Hefegtz, a 20-year-old blonde Israeli awaiting sentence on drug trafficking charges, was the winner of this year's 10th annual beauty contest Tuesday night at Santa Monica Women's Prison in Lima's Chorrillos district.

Belying a "drug mule" moniker used to refer to their crimes, Hefegtz and the other contestants were judged not only on their looks, but also on artistic ability, personality and poise strutting before the cameras.

Lobbyists' Role in Food Rules Questioned
Industry Figures Attended 10 Meetings, Group Says
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 30, 2004; Page A23

Food industry lobbyists met privately with Bush administration officials 10 times while the government was crafting rules to protect the food supply from bioterrorism, and those congressionally required rules emerged in significantly weakened form as a result, a consumer group said yesterday after analyzing meeting records.

Most of the lobbyists had one meeting each with the Office of Management and Budget, but lobbyists for the Grocery Manufacturers of America and for Altria Group Inc., parent company of Kraft Foods, met with OMB officials three and four times each, according to records on the agency's Web site.

The Wshington Post says GOP Drops Work on Balanced Budget. I'm like, so? They did that almost four years ago.

GOP Drops Work on Balanced Budget
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 30, 2004; Page A23

The timing seemed a bit discordant last week, when the House Judiciary Committee began considering a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, just as Congress moved to pass its fourth tax cut in as many years.

A week later, the committee has not finished its work on the legislation, and the GOP House leadership has decided to drop the issue indefinitely, fearing that any spotlight on the burgeoning deficit would backfire politically.

Assembling Full War Records a Challenge

Although both President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry have repeatedly said they have made public their complete military service records, neither presidential candidate has yet permitted independent access to original files held in a high-security vault.

Merck Withdraws Arthritis Drug Vioxx
Reuters
Thursday, September 30, 2004; 8:32 AM

NEW YORK - Merck & Co. said on Thursday withdrew its arthritis drug Vioxx globally after a colon cancer trial confirmed long-standing concerns the drug raises the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Merck's shares plunged in pre-market trading after the announcment.

A recent study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggested patients taking Vioxx faced a 50 percent greater risk of heart attacks and sudden cardiac death than those taking Pfizer Inc.'s rival Celebrex treatment.

Vioxx had sales last year of $2.55 billion. They have been flat in recent years amid ongoing safety concerns.

Quote of note:

"Under the mantle of secrecy, the self-preservation that ordinarily impels our government to censorship and secrecy may potentially be turned on ourselves as a weapon of self-destruction," Marrero wrote. ". . . At that point, secrecy's protective shield may serve not as much to secure a safe country as simply to save face."

Key Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional
Internet Providers' Data at Issue

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 30, 2004; Page A16

A federal judge in New York ruled yesterday that a key component of the USA Patriot Act is unconstitutional because it allows the FBI to demand information from Internet service providers without judicial oversight or public review.

The Beltway inquisition
- Debra J. Saunders
Thursday, September 30, 2004

IF THE SPECIAL prosecutor's probe into the identity of Bush administration officials who leaked the name of a CIA agent isn't a witch-hunt, it certainly qualifies as a colossal waste of money, one likely to erode the ability of journalists to report information gleaned from whistle-blowers.

…A year later, the investigation lives. Novak won't say if he has been subpoenaed or has testified before a grand jury, but the New York Times reported that four reporters -- none of whom broke the Plume story -- were subpoenaed and testified before the grand jury. Since Fitzgerald had compelled federal employees to sign agreements waiving any confidentiality agreements with journalists, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan has argued that reporters must testify. That's bad news for whistle-blowers.

Quote of note:

Police have interviewed the man who fought with Carbone but are looking for witnesses who can tell them what happened. "Based on what we know of what happened, the man should not be dead,'' Jones said.

Bar patron dies after fight over right to disrobe
- Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 29, 2004

A man who put up his fists for the right to sunbathe nude outside a bar in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood has died of injuries he suffered in the fight, police said Tuesday.

Jay Carbone, 52, hit his head during the scuffle at the Pendulum bar and died at Davies Medical Center. No one has been arrested, but police are investigating whether homicide charges should be brought.

New 'Security' Target: the Press
September 30, 2004

There's a new front in the Justice Department's war on terror — a battle against press freedom. Not content with subpoenaing journalists in his inquiry into the identity of the government official who leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, Patrick J. Fitzgerald — the U.S. attorney in Chicago and special prosecutor in the Plame case — is now seeking phone records of two New York Times reporters in an ostensibly unrelated matter.

Federal prosecutors insist that a 2001 search of the offices of an Illinois-based Islamic charity was foiled when government insiders tipped off the reporters. The Justice Department contends that leak was probably criminal. But its apparent strategy to find the leaker is almost certainly unconstitutional. The government believes that reporter Philip Shenon telephoned the Global Relief Foundation on the eve of the raid to warn the group. Shenon and reporter Judith Miller, who also learned of the imminent search, maintain that they were engaged in routine news-gathering.

Hi Molotov

The black child poverty rate was 36% before President Bush took office - and the low hit in 2002 - so which groundwork do you mean? Or does a six percentage point difference for black kids mean absolutely nothing to you? Or the fact that more blacks entered the middle class during this period of time, thus reducing this rate?

I'm saying Bush isn't responsible for any of those changes. I'm saying Bush hasn't taken any action that reduced Black child poverty rates. Black people took those actions.This is no reason to vote for George Bush.

By the way, USA's unemployment rate is lower now than it was in Clinton’s first term. Perhaps because of insourcing as well? You may want to diss the #1 outsourcing problem that hurts blacks: illegal immigration.

Women May Run Faster Than Men in 2156 Games -Study
Wed Sep 29, 2004 02:06 PM ET

By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Women could be faster 100-meter sprinters than men by the 2156 Olympics, according to a study on Wednesday.

By the middle of the next century women may be leaving men in the dust and could, for the first time, beat them in the 100 meters.

If projections by scientists at Oxford University in England are correct, women will close the gender gap by clocking 8.079 seconds in the 100 meters, ahead of the best male time of 8.098 seconds. The current world record stands at 9.78 seconds.

"If current trends continue, the women will run faster than the men at the 2156 Olympics," said Andrew Tatem, an epidemiologist at the university.

Congress Passes Bill to Keep Government Running
Wed Sep 29, 2004 08:16 PM ET

By Anna Willard
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Wednesday passed a stop-gap bill to keep the government running into November avoiding some tough election-year votes as Republican admitted they could not finish their budget work.

The House of Representatives voted 389-32 to support the bill to fund government programs outside defense at 2004 levels until Nov. 20 and the Senate then approved it unanimously.

The bill also grants President Bush's request to shift $3.5 billion away from reconstruction projects in Iraq to improve security and gives officials authority to write off 95 percent of Iraqi debt owed to the United States.

Judge Rules Against Patriot Act Provision
Wed Sep 29, 2004 05:08 PM ET

By Gail Appleson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Surveillance powers granted to the FBI under the Patriot Act, a cornerstone of the Bush Administration's war on terror, were ruled unconstitutional by a judge on Wednesday in a new blow to U.S. security policies.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero, in the first decision against a surveillance portion of the act, ruled for the American Civil Liberties Union in its challenge against what it called "unchecked power" by the FBI to demand confidential customer records from communication companies, such as Internet service providers or telephone companies.

At best he's assuming we're stupid because we don't agree with him. At worst he's doing it as part of his job.

No one delivering such a message is on my side. Period.

---

Jackson Chides Black Political Leaders
Wednesday September 29, 2004 11:16 PM
By GENARO C. ARMAS

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Black political leaders such as Jesse Jackson have convinced African-Americans that they are victims who must vote Democratic to erase decades of discrimination, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson contended on Wednesday.

The HUD secretary said President Bush's campaign is trying to counter by focusing on younger black voters rather than those who grew up during the civil rights era of the 1960s. Those voters have especially ``been conditioned that if you are Republican and white, you hate black people, and that's nonsense,'' he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

I owe a debt of gratitude to a Bollweevil on a mailing list. Because I went to see a lecture he gave at Columbia University and left my email address I'm getting the best spam in the world:

---

"Power, Politics, and the Future of New York's Black Community"

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2004 at 4:00PM

Room 758 Schermerhorn Extension

Columbia University Morningside campus

Lecture Description:
Errol Louis cuts an odd figure in the tabloid newsroom of the Daily News. He is an award-winning journalist who has written about local, national and international affairs, but was trained as a scholar, holding political science degrees from Harvard and Yale. He describes his job as "social science on the installment plan -- 500 words at a time, on deadline." Mr. Louis will be discussing three stories he

No, two lines:

George Bush was against the homeland security department, before he proposed one. He was against the 9/11 Commission, before he supported it. And he was for providing troops enough body armor, before he decided it was better to let families have bake sales to pay for it themselves.

5. This is what a reader sent to LO, to further clarify Kerry's basic Iraq position:

Congress, myself included, voted to give the president permission to put the bullet in the gun.

We did not give him permission to shoot us in the foot.

Tomorrow's topic is Foreign Policy, right?

And you REALLY don't need me to recap at this point. I just want to suggest that you keep in mind what you KNOW. Neither of these gentlemen need tell you what is happening in Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Iraq or Israel. If foreign policy is a concern of yours at all, you know the current state of affairs.

And as Bush is talking I want you to ask yourself, "If I were in his shoes, would I lie?"

This is Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast:

Hey, Joisey! Wake the F*** Up!!

My fellow Amjersicans:

What
on earth are you thinking? Are you seriously thinking of allowing the
thugs in Washington to screw our state for another four years? Why? Do
you honestly think he'll "make us safer"? Do you feel one bit safer
today than you did on September 11, 2001? If not, why not? Maybe it's
because your president doesn't know what the hell he's doing, and
doesn't give a rat's ass about the Communist homosexual black Jewish
feminist industrial northeast?

Why would you reward people who take your money and give very little back?

I blew off the socially relevant stuff and wrote a short review of The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad. Meanwhile, Professor Kim gets both thoughtful and lyric:

Theme for Mr. Hughes

Keith Woods has an article about the disturbing lack of historical knowledge young people have about our racial history, to wit:

It will be a grand day when all racist slurs and their attendant allusions go the way of the woodpile in the age of global warming. But I believe that one of the reasons so many of today's stories about explosive racial and ethnic incidents are put before the public without adequate context is that many journalists don't know history.

So the reversionary activist little pissant should resign.

I mean, if he really honors the principles he claims.
Scalia decries judicial activism in Harvard talk
By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff | September 29, 2004

CAMBRIDGE -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the high court's most conservative justices, told a packed forum in one of the nation's most liberal cities that the courts have strayed into a realm of judicial activism that is ultimately bad for democracy.

In a wide-ranging talk at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government last night, Scalia told about 400 students that issues such as capital punishment, abortion, and physician-assisted suicide should be matters for voters, not judges.

MacArthur Foundation Gives $500,000 'Genius Awards' to 23
By FELICIA R. LEE

Published: September 28, 2004

A barber, a high school debating coach, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, a farmer and a ragtime pianist are among the 23 recipients of $500,000 "genius awards" being announced today by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This is one of the few years women and nonacademics have dominated the list since the annual awards program began in 1981.

The 13 women and 10 men, ranging in age from 29 to 64, will receive annual checks for $100,000 for the next five years, to be used however they want. Most are unknown to the public, but some are renowned, like Edward P. Jones, 53, who won a Pulitzer this year for his novel "The Known World" (Amistad/HarperCollins), about an African-American slaveowner.

I know they're actually Bush supporters by the little coat hanger in the middle of their shirts, but I have no idea if this was posted by a Bush or Kerry supporter.

Cecily at Formica started the Identity Blogger thread by asking "What does it mean to be a Black Blogger?"

Now she's drawn up the beginnings of a social network map of those bloggers of her acquaintance who are Black (in the Identity Blogging thread folks acknowledged that "Black people who blog" is a superset of "Black folks who write on Black issues").

Lawrence at [caught In between] thinks it's a good beginning too.

Me, being too old to hang and basically antisocial to begin with, I've considered setting up a sort of directory where you search on Political Compass scores. In any event I'll be setting up the blogroll mechanisms for The Niggerati Network shortly and initializing it by stealing some folks's whole blogroll.

I remember similar stories from the old South too.

Quote of note:

Meanwhile, villagers say that relatives of the rapists are waiting for the police to leave and then will put Ms. Mukhtaran in her place by slaughtering her and her entire family. I walked to the area where the high-status tribesmen live. They denied planning to kill Ms. Mukhtaran, but were unapologetic about her rape.

"Mukhtaran is totally disgraced," Taj Bibi, a matriarch in a high-status family, said with satisfaction. "She has no respect in society."

Sentenced to Be Raped
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: September 29, 2004

In June 2002, the police say, members of a high-status tribe sexually abused one of Ms. Mukhtaran's brothers and then covered up their crime by falsely accusing him of having an affair with a high-status woman. The village's tribal council determined that the suitable punishment for the supposed affair was for high-status men to rape one of the boy's sisters, so the council sentenced Ms. Mukhtaran to be gang-raped.

Quote of note:

Dr. Allawi said that of Iraq's 18 provinces, "14 to 15 are completely safe." He added that the other provinces suffer "pockets of terrorists" who inflict damage in them and plot attacks carried out elsewhere in the country. In other appearances, Dr. Allawi asserted that elections could be held in 15 of the 18 provinces.

…Statistics collected by private security firms, which include attacks on Iraqi civilians and private security contractors, tend to be more comprehensive than those collected by the military, which focuses on attacks against foreign troops. The period covered by Special Operations Consulting's data represents a typical month, with its average of 79 attacks a day falling between the valleys during quiet periods and the peaks during the outbreak of insurgency in April or the battle with Moktada al-Sadr's militia in August for control of Najaf.

Quote of note:

The definition of security, I suppose, can depend on who you think poses the greatest threat to the nation. In the age of Bush, Republicans (with a few notable exceptions) surely don't believe it's al Qaeda, from which they diverted our forces to fight in Iraq. Nor do they believe it's now our enemies in Iraq, against whom they did not prepare so much as a battle plan. Only if you believe the greatest threat to Republicans -- excuse me, to America -- is the Democrats, that it's worth blowing off the danger from Osama bin Laden to eliminate the peril posed by Daschle, does the Republicans' security policy make any sense at all.

How Republicans Define Security

Quote of note:

Williams, Ramsey, Janey and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) walked into the office of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) yesterday afternoon seeking an impromptu meeting but left after waiting 20 minutes. Norton said DeLay later told her he was tied up but would call Williams.

Bid to Lift Gun Bans Infuriates Williams
Congress's Push Called 'Outrageous'
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 29, 2004; Page B04

An angry Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) accused members of Congress yesterday of hypocrisy and abuse of power as the U.S. House of Representatives prepared to vote today on a bill repealing virtually all of the District's gun laws.

Sharp Rhetoric, Similar Goals
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 29, 2004; Page A15

Iraq, the issue most likely to ignite fire in tomorrow's debate, has become the chief symbol of differences between presidential candidates George W. Bush and John F. Kerry.

Bush cites Kerry's positions on Iraq to portray him as an indecisive flip-flopper on strategic issues. Kerry says Iraq demonstrates Bush's arrogant misuse of U.S. power.

Iraq also best illustrates their disparate worldviews. Bush advocates preemptive strikes -- leading alone in defiance of U.N. allies if necessary -- to prevent potential future threats. Kerry gives preference to international diplomacy and collaboration -- and burden-sharing of physical and financial resources -- in a globalizing world.

Interceptor System Set, But Doubts Remain
Network Hasn't Undergone Realistic Testing
By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 29, 2004; Page A01

With five installed so far and one more due by mid-October, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is preparing to activate the site sometime this autumn. President Bush already has begun to claim fulfillment of a 2000 presidential campaign pledge -- and longtime Republican Party goal -- to build a nationwide missile defense.

But what the administration had hoped would be a triumphant achievement is clouded by doubts, even within the Pentagon, about whether a system that is on its way to costing more than $100 billion will work. Several key components have fallen years behind schedule and will not be available until later. Flight tests, plagued by delays, have yet to advance beyond elementary, highly scripted events.

October 11, 2000 - The Second Gore-Bush Presidential Debate

MODERATOR: Somalia.

BUSH: Started off as a humanitarian mission and it changed into a nation-building mission, and that's where the mission went wrong. The mission was changed. And as a result, our nation paid a price. And so I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building. I think our troops ought to be used to fight and win war. I think our troops ought to be used to help overthrow the dictator when it's in our best interests. But in this case it was a nation-building exercise, and same with Haiti. I wouldn't have supported either.

MODERATOR: So what would you say, Governor, that somebody would say hey wait a minute, why not Africa, I mean why the Middle East, why the Balkans, but not Africa, when 600,000 people's lives are at risk?

I've had the thought that George Bush has a better claim to being The First Black President than Clinton did (which, frankly, ain't hard anyway) because after the Election 2000 debates people were all, "Oh, he spoke so well!" and "He was far more articulate than I thought he'd be!" It seems to me the best summary of how George Bush got into office is "he just got by."

I think we need a sterner test than that.

I'd love it if the Election 2000 debates were online as streaming video but Bush's performance was so bad (if you remember, they had Cheney and Powell follow up immediately with explanations of what Bush was trying to say) it would likely be considered prejudicial. Transcripts don't give you the full flavor of just what the Supreme Court foisted on us.

But here's a few quote you may want to think about.

Interestingly enough, this "Online NewsHour Update" closes with this:

-- Compiled from wire reports and other media sources

which is very bloggy indeed.

Quote of note:

Rather than degrading the standards of "old-line media organizations," Sullivan argued Internet columnists have improved the accountability of such news organizations by acting as online whistleblowers of journalistic fraud -- notably the forgery of the 60 Minutes documents.

Sullivan wrote: "Without the blogosphere, the arrogance and folly of Raines and Rather would have continued long past their expiration dates... Blogs have helped bring these 'stars' back to earth."

POST COLUMNIST SPARKS MEDIA ETHICS DEBATE, CRITICISM

Check this to see why I'll be stuck in front of the TV all night.

REPORT: Iraq War Keeping Thousands Out Of Unemployment Line

WASHINGTON, DC—A Department of Labor report praised the positive effect the Iraq War has had on the strained U.S. job market, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said Monday. "A whopping 140,000 U.S. citizens are gainfully employed as military personnel in Iraq," Chao said. "The war is not just keeping these young men and women out of the unemployment lines, but it's also teaching them such valuable skills as operating radar equipment, driving an M1A1 Abrams battle tank, or bagging and tagging bodies." Chao said that most troops won't need to look for new work for another four to seven years.

---

I should probably note this comes from The Onion.

Documents Reveal Gaps In Bush's Service As President

WASHINGTON, DC—Freshly unearthed public documents, ranging from newspapers to cabinet-meeting minutes, seem to indicate large gaps in George W. Bush's service as president, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens for an Informed Society announced Monday.
Bush, who stands accused of shirking his presidential duties.

"We originally invoked the Freedom Of Information Act to request material relating to Bush's spotty record while in office," CIS director Catherine Rocklin said. "But then we realized that the information was readily available at the corner newsstand, on the Internet, and from our friends and neighbors who pay attention to the news."

Before you decide in favor of switching a part of your Social Security fund into private investment account, we should have a realistic discussion of what you can expect and you’ll have to do.

To begin with, you will want to be very careful. If you guess wrong you can wind up like all the Enron employees that lost their pensions. And it’s very easy to guess wrong, so a competent advisor will suggest you invest in an index fund. Immediately. Because there aren’t an infinite number of shares available. You will not get rich; your rate of return will be the market rate. And you should recognize what an accomplishment that is.

Some investors find it incredible when they learn that most mutual funds are flops, at least when it comes to generating returns for their shareholders. In 1998, for instance, 85 percent of all mutual funds that were set up to beat the S&P 500 failed to meet that goal. When you think about it, that's an amazing statistic -- eight out of ten mutual funds didn't beat the market!

Bollywood Comes to Nigeria: Indian Films and African Cultures
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
7 PM
Julius S. Held Lecture Hall
304 Barnard Hall
Barnard College
117th and Broadway

Reception to follow.

The many films of Bollywood have followed the path of Indian migration across the globe, connecting diasporic Indians to an archive of images, songs and memories of the homeland. More interesting, however, is the longstanding popularity of Indian films with non-Indian audiences in Asia, the Middle east, Africa and Europe. The sight of a fifteen foot image of Sridevi, dancing on the screens of northern Nigeria, or of Amitabh Bachchan seen through the snowy reception of television have become powerful images within the culture of Hausa people of Nigeria. There, for over fifty years, Indian films, their stars and fashions, music and stories, have been a dominant part of everyday African life. This popularity is mimicked by the extraordinary global reach of Bollywood, which has been truly successful in marginalizing Hollywood in many world markets yet which has, until recently, rarely been analyzed in discussions of global media. It is this migration across the boundaries of nation, language, culture and religion that makes Hindi films truly global media.

Quote of note:

"department's view that it may adopt a legal position while shielding from public view the analysis that yielded that position is offensive"

Civil rights groups cheer judge's New York ruling on release of secret immigration document
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
Associated Press Writer

September 27, 2004, 7:25 PM EDT

NEW YORK -- Civil rights lawyers claimed a victory Monday after a judge ordered the Department of Justice to share a secret document showing why the federal government concluded local police officers can enforce federal immigration laws.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Friday that the April 2002 report must be turned over to the civil rights lawyers after Attorney General John Ashcroft and his representatives repeatedly cited it to justify their decision to let local police have more authority.

That editorial I just stole one post prior to this one had a whole bag of "Quotes of note" too.

The right to criticize the policies of those in power is not just one of democracy's fringe benefits; it is essential to making the democratic machinery work.

…the Vietnam antiwar movement (or at least the part of it Kerry was associated with) was the essence of patriotism, trying to rescue our country from a terrible mistake and to prevent the waste of any more young lives. Those who attack Kerry today for opposing the war back then overlook the fact that the country came to agree with him. If Kerry and others had refrained from criticism out of a crude notion of patriotism and a misguided "respect" for American troops, many more of those troops would be long dead today.

How Dare Kerry Speak Up
September 28, 2004

The suggestion that terrorists support Sen. John F. Kerry for president is ugly, but basically silly. The suggestion that Kerry supports the terrorists is flat-out disgusting. President Bush has allowed surrogates to spread the former idea, but he himself has helped to promote the latter. Last week, Bush declared that Kerry's criticism of him and his Iraq policy "can embolden an enemy" and called Kerry "destructive" to the war on terror.

Since election day 2000 and through his first term, Bush has talked a better game of democratic values than he has played. And he is not one for nuances in any event. But the point here is not subtle: The right to criticize the policies of those in power is not just one of democracy's fringe benefits; it is essential to making the democratic machinery work. And questions of war and peace — dead young Americans, dead Iraqis, a radicalized Middle East, billions of dollars: Was it worth all this? — are the ones that need democracy the most. Why would any president even wish to plunge this country into war and keep it there without a level of support from the citizenry that is strong enough to survive the obvious counterarguments?

Quote of note:

This is the time to decide whether this country and, by logical extension, the fate of the world should be in the hands of a leader whose essential mode of governance mocks the ideals of a free society.

This is too dangerous a time for voters to be blinded by the extra bucks in those tax breaks that are bankrupting our future economy or to indulge in some comic book fantasy about zapping the bad guys in those foreign countries. It is a time to think hard about the unbridled power of a second Bush term and whether you want Bush, Cheney & Co. to decide, on a political whim, to send your kid, or the one next door, to war.

The Dangers of a 'What the Heck' Vote

Quote of note:

"Fear works," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a political advertising historian who is director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "It gets people's attention. And it prompts quick inferences and it diminishes analytical processing."

Bin Laden's Image Crops Up in Ads
Analysts say the move is risky for both parties. It reminds voters that the terrorist is still missing, but could also allude to a Bush strength.
By Nick Anderson
Times Staff Writer

September 28, 2004

WASHINGTON — He was Public Enemy No. 1 three years ago — "wanted dead or alive" — before receding from the spotlight when the United States invaded Iraq to oust dictator Saddam Hussein.

Spaceflights Bound for Virgin Territory
Entrepreneur Richard Branson plans to offer suborbital trips for $190,000, with drinks.
By Peter Pae
Times Staff Writer

September 28, 2004

Richard Branson, the daredevil British billionaire and owner of Virgin Atlantic Airways, said Monday that he was launching a commercial rocket service that would take well-heeled passengers for a suborbital ride into space.

The two-hour trip, including drinks and four minutes of weightlessness in space, is set to cost about $190,000. [P6:]

Branson, meanwhile, will spend $100 million to buy five passenger rocket ships from Mojave-based aviation designer Burt Rutan for his Virgin Galactic space tourism business. He expects to launch the first flight in 2007.

Quote (or point) of note:

U.S. military officials said the core of the insurgency in Iraq was — and always had been — Hussein's fiercest loyalists, who melted into Iraq's urban landscape when the war began in March 2003. During the succeeding months, they say, the insurgents' ranks have been bolstered by Iraqis who grew disillusioned with the U.S. failure to deliver basic services, jobs and reconstruction projects.

It is this expanding group, they say, that has given the insurgency its deadly power and which represents the biggest challenge to an Iraqi government trying to establish legitimacy countrywide.

"People try to turn this into the mujahedin, jihad war. It's not that," said one U.S. intelligence official. "How many foreign fighters have been captured and processed? Very few."

Losing Faith in the Intifada
As uprising enters fifth year, some Palestinians call it a political and economic disaster.
By Laura King
Times Staff Writer

September 28, 2004

RAMALLAH, West Bank — When Abu Fahdi joined a Palestinian militant group and took up arms against Israel, he thought he was serving his people. Now he believes he did them only harm.

"We achieved nothing in all this time, and we lost so much," said the baby-faced 29-year-old, who, because of his status as a fugitive, insisted on being identified by a nickname meaning "father of Fahdi." "People hate us for that and wish we were dead."

The young militant, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, is not alone in such thinking. Among Palestinians from all walks of life, there is a quiet but growing sentiment that their intifada, or uprising — which broke out four years ago today — has largely failed as an armed struggle, and lost its character as a popular resistance movement.

The prospective category name is 'White Folks Who Get It." Not only have we recently seen a conservative white guy who actually gets it (a long-needed proof of concept), we now see Brad at Silentio, who says of himself:

my whiteness is that of old marble

yet responds to Molotov's challenge to Kerry supporter in marvelous fashion.

Anyone whose "whiteness is that of old marble" that can read The Black Commentator without feeling they've been poked in their third eye with a very sharp stick impresses the hell out of me.

My daughter is on Live Journal, into the Harry Potter fan fiction community (which, like dwarfs the political blogging community…I strongly suggest anyone that wants to get famous by blogging go there and write slash).

Apparently there's been some political discussion at Hogwarts.

Now, I'm not even allowed to visit the kid's blog but since this post managed to draw in folks outside her usual circle I was allowed to read it. Still not allowed to link, though.

I should never, ever go around Livejournal reading people's political posts.  It makes me want to stab the world  in the face.  There's a huge thing over on Fandom Wank about it, although I actually found out about it through wayfairer's Livejournal this morning, and the parade of posts that led from one to another after that.

The Corsair has not one, but TWO political posts. Long ones. On the same day.

Biden Versus Holbrooke: Quien Es Mas Macho

It looks like a Foggy Bottom Smackdown is blowing our way, and you might have to duck for cover, as leaks -- "not for attribution," of course -- are the traditional weaponry of statesmen-wannabe's in our endlessly fascinating democratic pageant.

Granted, of course, that Kerry wins the Presidency is not a foregone conclusion at this point, but already NBC Correspondent and connoisseur of power, Andrea Mitchell, on the Chris Matthews Show's "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" segment, speculates -- either Senator Joe Biden or Richard Holbrooke will be Kerry's pick at Foggy Bottom.

Waveflux said:

The full text of Turner's essay - a web-exclusive Newsweek piece - should be shared and read widely. He punctures the dangerous illusions fostered by the Bush administration and suggests a clear-eyed strategy for John Kerry to employ during the debates and, presumably, afterwards

Therefore:

‘Staying the Course’ Isn’t an Option
Iraq is probably already lost, says former military-policy planner Mike Turner. But there are still some smart strategies for Kerry to adopt
By Mike Turner
Newsweek
Updated: 5:31 p.m. ET Sept. 24, 2004

Sept. 24 - One of the great mysteries of this election is the inability of John Kerry to challenge George W. Bush on his national-security credentials and to hold his administration accountable for its monumental failure in Iraq. These two issues remain the soft underbelly of the Bush campaign. That the Kerry campaign hasn't effectively exploited them is disheartening. That he's allowed Bush to actually spin them into strengths is mind-boggling. Since the American people seem to be buying the GOP's reality-TV version of events in Iraq, let's take a hard look at the military realities.

Professor Kim has a post on Stanford's new Black Studies recruits. And Henry Gates' latest NY Times editorial gave me an excuse to write about something that's bothered me for a while: settling for equality.

New Routes For Money to Sway Voters
501c Groups Escape Disclosure Rules
By Thomas B. Edsall and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 27, 2004; Page A01

…Known as 501c groups, for a statute in the tax code, these tax-exempt advocacy and charitable organizations are conduits for a steady stream of secretive cash flowing into the election, in many respects unaffected by the McCain-Feingold legislation enacted in 2002. Unlike other political groups, 501c organizations are not governed by the Federal Election Commission but by the Internal Revenue Service, which in a complex set of regulations delineates a range of allowable activities that are subject to minimal disclosure long after Election Day.

Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote
By Jimmy Carter
Monday, September 27, 2004; Page A19

After the debacle in Florida four years ago, former president Gerald Ford and I were asked to lead a blue-ribbon commission to recommend changes in the American electoral process. After months of concerted effort by a dedicated and bipartisan group of experts, we presented unanimous recommendations to the president and Congress. The government responded with the Help America Vote Act of October 2002. Unfortunately, however, many of the act's key provisions have not been implemented because of inadequate funding or political disputes.

The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other nations are conducting elections that are internationally certified to be transparent, honest and fair.

Quote of note:

We must support what's happening in Iraq, even though we believe it isn't helping and may even be making us more vulnerable to terrorist attack, because otherwise we'd be doing nothing about terrorism.

Change the Iraq Conversation
By William Raspberry
Monday, September 27, 2004; Page A19

…But while the candidates can't talk about it, the public, indeed the world, already has. And the new consensus seems to be that bringing American-style democracy to Iraq is no longer an achievable goal -- that the best we can hope for is a truce sufficient to get our troops out of a situation they shouldn't have been in in the first place. Even the president's touchstone question -- Aren't the Iraqi people better off for our toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime? -- no longer gets quite so resounding a "yes."

Politics as performance rather than policy is ascendant. This year is the test to see if we, collectively, have jumped the shark…and to see if the national media can execute the complicated maneuver of jumping it backward.

Quote of note:

The accounts of the Kennedy-Nixon debates relied on accounts of what was said. So did the reporting of the 1976 debates. In that year and in 1980, articles pointing out major inaccuracies (like Gerald Ford's assertion that Eastern Europe was not under Soviet domination or Ronald Reagan's denial that he had ever said nuclear proliferation was not the United States's business) made the front pages.

Sometime in the 1980's political coverage began to confuse itself with drama criticism. The word "performance" started showing up frequently in debate analyses, and reporters started citing Samuel Beckett in their front-page articles.

Quote of note:

The Senate bill is fiercely resisted by miffed Defense officials and turf-jealous committee lions. Sponsored by Susan Collins of Maine and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, it would end the Pentagon's chokehold on most of the $40 billion intelligence budget - and declassify at least its broad outlines. Contrary to claims by the bill's opponents, the Pentagon would suffer no loss of tactical intelligence on the battlefield.

There's actually quote more specific to the topic I could highlight, but I'm recognizing Joe Lieberman as much as Republican mendacity. Mr. Lieberman caught a hard time for being the second most conservative Democrat alive during the primaries. I would have been TOTALLY upset had he gotten the nomination.

But he's no more Republican than McCain is a Democrat. I disagree with him strongly on many issues but he's still on the side of the angels. After the rhetoric he caught this spring I think that should be acknowledged.

WHERE IS NOVAK'S SUBPOENA???

Quote of note:

If an official at the White House intentionally triggered publication of the name of a C.I.A. operative to undermine Mr. Wilson's credibility and silence criticism of Iraq policy, it was a serious abuse of power. The legacy of the investigation should not be a perverse legal precedent that makes it easy for prosecutors to undo a reporter's pledge of confidentiality, thereby discouraging people with knowledge of real abuses to blow the whistle to the press.

A Leak Probe Gone Awry

…The focus of the leak inquiry has lately shifted from the Bush White House, where it properly belongs, to an attempt to compel journalists to testify and reveal their sources. In an ominous development for freedom of the press and government accountability that hits particularly close to home, a federal judge in Washington has ordered a reporter for The New York Times, Judith Miller, to testify before a grand jury investigating the disclosure of the covert operative's identity and to describe any conversations she had with "a specified executive branch official."

Harlem Yacht Club Defends Its Custom of Firing Cannon
By MIKE McINTIRE

On City Island, a mile-long sliver deep in the gullet of Long Island Sound, a band of seafaring patriots equipped with a cannon has fired the latest salvo in New York's noise wars.

They are members of the Harlem Yacht Club, which is in a dispute with the city over its longtime practice of blasting a miniature cannon at sundown to herald the lowering of the American flag. Municipal inspectors concluded four years ago that the cannon shots violated antinoise rules, putting a stop to what the club said was a 100-year tradition at its island compound off the Bronx shore.

Now, the club has filed a lawsuit in Bronx County Supreme Court, contending that the city violated its constitutional rights by arbitrarily suppressing a patriotic expression of free speech. Comments by the judge have left the club hopeful that its argument will get a sympathetic hearing.

But Pouty White People by Gregory Rodriguez is so on point…

One reason for California's post-World War II success was the willingness of government and civic institutions to invest in the aspirations and hard work of newcomers to the state. California built an extraordinary infrastructure — aqueducts, roads, universities and schools — to enable largely Anglo migrants to realize their dreams. Taxpayers gladly footed the cost because their future depended on the improvements. Because the electorate had an optimistic vision, they were willing to bear the sacrifices. California's leading social, political and cultural institutions echoed this sentiment and articulated the goals of the ascendant Anglo population. The editorial visions of the state's leading newspapers resonated with the energy and outlook of a hopeful, striving population.

The politics of wordplay
The Future Dictionary of America: A Book to Benefit Progressive Causes in the 2004 Elections Featuring Over 170 of America's Best Writers and Artists, Edited by Jonathan Safran Foer, Dave Eggers, Nico
By David L. Ulin
David L. Ulin is the author of "The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Faultline Between Reason and Faith" and the editor of "Another City: Writing From Los Angeles" and "Writing L

September 26, 2004

…This notion of engagement, of the dictionary as a scrapbook of its culture, is very much at the heart of "The Future Dictionary of America," the latest project from McSweeney's Books. Edited by Jonathan Safran Foer, Dave Eggers, Nicole Krauss and Eli Horowitz, it functions in its own way as a speculative riff on Johnson, in which writers and artists collectively seek to reinvent the language, offering a vision not of English as it exists but as it might one day become. The conceit is simple: The editors want us to imagine that we are reading at some point in the future, when (according to the book's jacket) "all or most of our country's problems are solved and the present administration is a distant memory." That gives "The Future Dictionary" an air of whimsy, of conjecture, but at the same time an introductory note informs us that it "was conceived as a way for a great number of American writers and artists to voice their displeasure with the current political leadership, and to collectively imagine a brighter future…. Thus, all proceeds from the sales of this dictionary go directly to groups devoted to expressing their outrage over the Bush Administration's assault on free speech, overtime, drinking water, truth, the rule of law, humility, the separation of Church and State, a woman's right to choose, clear air, and every other good idea this country has ever had."

Quote of note:

But Bush appears to be the worse offender this year, in terms of the number of misleading claims and the consistency of their appearance in his stump speech. A review of Bush's public statements in recent days reveals a number of areas where he is repeatedly using exaggerated claims and incomplete statistics, in an apparent attempt to fit his campaign themes.

On the stump, the art of distortion
Remarks by Bush, Kerry scrutinized
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | September 26, 2004

BANGOR -- As he often does at campaign events, President Bush got his biggest rise out of the crowd in Bangor Thursday afternoon when he said he was simply paraphrasing Senator John F. Kerry's statements.

Medicare drug benefits could cost more than estimated
Increase of $42b over decade cited
By Ceci Connolly, Washington Post | September 26, 2004

WASHINGTON -- President Bush promised Congress that his Medicare prescription drug benefit would cost no more than $400 billion over 10 years, but once the legislation was enacted, federal actuaries boosted the estimate to $534 billion. Now, Bush administration projections indicate that the cost could be considerably higher.

According to internal White House budget office estimates of the long-term cost of Medicare, spending related to the new drug benefit could increase by $42 billion over the coming decade.

CAN'T EVEN AGREE ON TIME OF DAY
23.9.2004. 08:02:14

The animosity between Israel and the Occupied Territories has ventured into the absurd with both sides unable to agree on daylight saving.

While Israel will today put the clocks back one hour to winter time, the Palestinians say a date for the change hasn't been fixed.

Israel will be only two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) rather than three after the switch at 1:00 am today.

But the West Bank and Gaza Strip will remain on Daylight Saving Time until some time next week before changing their clocks back.

The decision on the clock has frustrated peace activists who ask, how can a resolution to the problem be achieved, when the beligerent neighbours can't even agree on the time of day.

The Guardian has a Race in the U.K. page with links to a number in interesting articles.

How to handle racism
The government can - and should - stop BNP members joining the Civil Service
Nick Cohen
Sunday September 26, 2004
The Observer

Extremism is an affront to Britain's national myth. Extremism in either its fascist or communist forms was what excitable continentals embraced in the twentieth century to the horror of the temperate British who carried on muddling through in our endearingly commonsensical way, and were much the happier for it.

The idea of dear old Blighty standing apart from a deranged Europe doesn't hold up too well today. Leaving aside the fact that no European country has been hit as hard by extreme free market ideology as Britain, the British can no longer pretend that fascism begins at Calais. In the summer local and European elections the British National Party received 800,000 votes. As there have been incessant exposés of the party's true nature, only the most dim-witted among that 800,000 could have failed to know they were supporting neo-Nazis. The rest knew, but didn't care.

Bush Preps for First Debate Against Kerry
Sat Sep 25, 2004 06:48 PM ET

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush prepared and practiced on Saturday for the first of three presidential debates with rival John Kerry that could be pivotal in the close election race.

Kerry, meanwhile, was at his Boston townhouse "resting and starting to get ready" for next week's debate, according to his spokesman, Phil Singer.

I would like all the news commentary and interviews and counterpoints to the debates to take place 24 hours after it ends.

Britain Offering to Pay Off 10% of Third World Debt
By ALAN COWELL

LONDON, Sept. 25 - Britain is planning a new effort to help poor countries reduce their huge debts by offering to pay off 10 percent of the total owed to international agencies and challenging other nations to follow suit, said Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the Exchequer.

In an address on Sunday to an advocacy group called the Trade Justice Movement, Mr. Brown also plans to repeat an earlier proposal that the International Monetary Fund should revalue its vast gold reserves, currently priced at a tenth of their market value, and use the proceeds to cancel some third world debt, according to a text of his remarks published Saturday in The Guardian and later confirmed by the Treasury.

Osama's Candidate
By Michael Kinsley
Sunday, September 26, 2004; Page B07

…With the invasion of Iraq, bin Laden got all the benefits of being America's public enemy No. 1 but none of the disadvantages. He got an explosion of anti-Americanism around the world, potential recruits lined up out the cave door and around the block for future suicide missions, swell new opportunities for terrorism in the chaos of Iraq itself, and the forced retirement of Saddam Hussein, whom he never cared for. He got a thousand Americans dead and hundreds of billions of capitalist dollars gone -- results that would make any terrorist episode a huge success -- without his having to lift a finger. And meanwhile, every bomb dropped on Iraq was a bomb not dropped on him. What's not to like?

For my part, if they actually address the issues of importance to minorities I couldn't care less who asks the questions. But they won't.

Quote of note:

Graciously, the commission asked PBS's Gwen Ifill, who is African American, to moderate the vice presidential debate. It was a vice president, John Nance Garner, who described that office as "not worth a bucket of warm spit."

Missing Hues in the Debates
By Marc H. Morial
Sunday, September 26, 2004; Page B07

During the National Urban League's national convention in mid-July in Detroit, we challenged the Commission on Presidential Debates to call for a debate focused on issues of concern to urban Americans and people of color all over the United States. We were concerned that the issues of importance to our communities would be neglected by the mainstream national media and by the two campaigns, which are both keenly focused on issues of national security and not on the economic security that affects millions of Americans of color.

Insiders Worked Both Sides of Gaming Issue
E-mails Suggest Men Tried to Exploit Closure of Casino for Huge Fees From Tribe
By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 26, 2004; Page A01

Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations consultant Michael Scanlon quietly worked with conservative religious activist Ralph Reed to help the state of Texas shut down an Indian tribe's casino in 2002, then the two quickly persuaded the tribe to pay $4.2 million to try to get Congress to reopen it.

Dozens of e-mails written by the three men and obtained by The Washington Post show how they built public support for then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn's effort get the courts to close the Tigua tribe's Speaking Rock Casino in El Paso in late 2001 and early 2002. The e-mails also reveal what appears to be an effort on the part of Abramoff and Scanlon to then exploit the financial crisis they were helping to create for the tribe by securing both the multimillion-dollar fee and $300,000 in federal political contributions, which the tribe paid.

Of course this only annoys thoughtful, moral people.

There's a reason Republicans feel so comfortable claiming that terrorists are trying to get John Kerry elected. And a column at Pop Matters give the key reminders:

President Jimmy Carter's chances for re-election looked slim. A disastrous economy and what appeared to be a never-ending Hostage Crisis tarnished his hopes for a second term. Ronald Reagan won the election, and a few minutes after he was inaugurated, the hostages were released. Ayatollah Khomeini's regime had, in effect, manipulated the results of the 1980 US elections by ensuring Reagan's victory.

That's right. The Iran Hostage Crisis, remember that? When people talk about October Surprise nowadays they're talking some wimpy press release, not hostage releases…or, more accurately hostage retention.