And the winner is...
Toronto Star's Voices: Presidential debate winner

Republicans for Kerry 2004

Republicans for Kerry

Evidence that the RNC has completely run out of anything meaningful to say about Kerry... Flipper searching for Lambert Field. Seems like another "mexed missage" to me.

Florida 2000 Deja Vu?
Carter predicts vote trouble in Florida again...
Despite recommendations that he and Gerald Ford drafted together in 2000, some of the basic international requirements for a fair election in Florida on Nov. 2 are still missing says CATV News.

"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," says former President Jimmy Carter.

Eric Blumrich provides a disturbing history lesson in Grand Theft America , a 5-minute documentayr flash video with music from Grand Theft Auto that paints a picture of the "Theft of the Presidency" as originally reported by Greg Palast for BBC-TV 's Newsnight. You can read the transcript above or actually watch Palast's entire TV video feature to see him chase down the facts.

How will electoral votes in the closely fought states tally up for Bush and Kerry? Play with this interactive map to find out how different state-by-state outcomes will add up.

Which candidate shares your views? Take this interactive quiz to find out.
Test your political skills with this campaign simulation game. It will tell you which candidate most closely matches your beliefs on the 3 basic areas of core cultural issues.

Isn't it about time for another preemptive strike?
"The Bush administration responded calmly yesterday to North Korean statements it has turned the plutonium from 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods into nuclear weapons," reports the Associated Press today. "We take all their claims seriously," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, but he also suggested a touch of theater in the North Korean diplomat's statement, saying Pyongyang "is bragging about violating its commitments and its promises."

North Korean theater has great special effects...
On 9/12/2004 Rueters announced, "A huge explosion rocked North Korea last week but U.S. and South Korean officials said Sunday it was unlikely to have been a nuclear weapons test despite the appearance of a 'peculiar cloud' over the area."

Condi Rice played down sightings of a mushroom cloud and a huge explosion in North Korea. "There are all kinds of reports and there are all kinds of assessments that are going on. Maybe it was a fire, some kind of forest fire," she said.

Maybe not 50 cent... but 50 Billion (Will B) and Felonius Ax (aka Clifford J. Tasner)have produced a new video for Billionaires for Bush with vocals by Ho’ Lotta Bling (Marion Ramsey), Warren Proffet (Ross Wright) & Felonius Ax. They continue to wage a relentless campaign with a Florida Limo Tour to promote 50 Billion's new release , Don't Vote! (MP3) and now daily punditry in The Privileged Perspective - Speaking Power to Truth.

The belief that, "Hip Hop can help send George Bush back to Texas where he belongs," spawned the creation of Slam Bush Battles throughout the US starting in August. "Milwaukee turned out so many heads to slam “W” they had to hold three consecutive nights of battles, one of which was graced by the presence of none other than Congresswoman and Warrior Goddess, Maxine Waters!" Wisconsin's winner, "Darlin" Nikki Janzen, is an 8th grade English, Reading, and Social Studies teacher for Milwaukee Public Schools who uses poetry to inspire and educate youth and adults. On Sept. 29, the night before the first Bush/Kerry debate at the University of Miami, winners from around the country will converge on Miami for the National Slam Bush Championship.

Despite the 32-page agreement between the parties stifling the upcoming Presidential debates it's great to see that in Madison the Baldwin-Magnum debate gets rowdy.

Getting to know Iyad Allawi...

John F. Burns reports, "Visiting Dr. Allawi at his sprawling residence is a short course in just how bad the situation has become for anybody associated with the American purpose in Iraq. To reach the house is to navigate a fantastical obstacle course of checkpoints, with Iraqi police cars and Humvees parked athwart a zigzag course through relays of concrete barriers. An hour or more is taken up with body searches and sniffing by dogs, while American soldiers man turreted machine guns. A boxlike infrared imaging device can detect the body heat of anybody approaching through a neighboring playground. The final security ring is manned by C.I.A.-trained guards from Iraqi Kurdistan. If Dr. Allawi were Ian Fleming's Dr. No, no more elaborate defenses could be conceived."

"This is the man who has been chosen to lead Iraq to the haven of a democratic future, but he is sealed off about as completely as he could be from ordinary Iraqis, in the virtual certainty that insurgents will kill him if they ever get a clear shot."

Who's who in Iraq: Iyad Allawi
Iyad Allawi is one of a US-backed clique of secular Iraqi opposition figures who lived in exile until the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003.

Exiled Allawi was Responsible for 45-Minute WMD Claim

Australian press broke this story in July...
Allawi shot prisoners in cold blood: witnesses

Bush Twins Studiously Avoid UW Madison Campus
On Wednesday Jenna and Barbara, made campaign appearances at St. Norbert College in De Pere, UW-Oshkosh and Marquette University in Milwaukee, stumping for their father. Barbara encouraged the students to vote and not be afraid of being a young Republican.

"Both wearing casual tops in shades of green — Jenna in olive and Barbara in seafoam — the twin daughters of President Bush stumped for their dad Wednesday in the home of the Green Knights," reports Lee Reinsch in the GB Press Gazette.

Jim Hightower encourages both sisters not to be afraid to fully support their father...
WHY AREN'T JENNA AND BARBARA IN FATIGUES?
9/14/2004

Did you take full and proper notice of the political coming out of George W's twin daughters?

Jenna and Barbara, the 22-year-old twins, have long been kept away from the political glare, but they're now adults who have just graduated from college, and both have been brought into the limelight by the Bush political campaign. Their first outing was for a photo spread and puff piece that ran in Vogue, the fashion magazine. Indeed, they looked splendiferous, beautifully made up and swathed in glamorous designer gowns––one by Oscar de la Renta, the other by Calvin Klein. No telling how many silk worms toiled to make this photo spread possible.

But––tacky me–– I couldn't help thinking as I viewed the photos: Why aren't they in fatigues and Kevlar vests, like other women and men their age?

Jenna and Barbara announced that they would be joining their daddy's election campaign, but I had to ask myself: Why aren't they joining their daddy's war?

After all, he says that his war in Iraq is absolutely essential to our national security. And he insists that his policies over there are absolutely worth all the troops who have been killed, worth the horrible mutilations of thousands of other soldiers, worth the horrific beheadings, worth the untold illnesses and poisonings being contracted by the men and women he has sent there, and worth the illegal conscription of tens of thousands of Americans forced to stay in this disastrous war beyond their legitimate tour of duty.

So, if daddy's war is absolutely worth the sacrifice of America's workaday families––why is it not worth the enlistment of his military-age family?

Maybe it's genetic. After all, George himself was a "ferocious war hawk" who used family connections to keep himself 8,000 miles from Vietnam. And now that he's president, he can start his own war that leaves his loved ones safely swathed in silk...while our families see our loved ones come home in shrouds.

A Trillion has 12 zeros after it... 000,000,000,000
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deficit will balloon to $2.29 trillion over the next decade, congressional analysts said Tuesday. This represents a worse outlook than previously forecast and one likely to stir election-year debate about President Bush's economic policies. The CBO confirmed a preliminary forecast made in August for a record deficit of $422 billion for the 2004 fiscal year.

"This report underscores that our policies are working to create a stronger economy, more jobs and a lower deficit," said House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican.

And everything is going great in Iraq, George Bush was an awesome member of the Texas National Guard, there's no problem with assualt weapons back on the streets again and that mushroom cloud over North Korea... "It was probably just a forest fire" says the Whitehouse Sphinx - the same security advisor who earlier reverse-poked, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," as we veered away from Osama and gunned it for Baghdad.

Dick Cheney, the Queen of Denial can't stop displaying a brazen disregard for the facts, telling an audience in Cincinnati Thursday that Iraq had "provided safe harbor and sanctuary...for Al Qaeda," despite the findings of the 9/11 Commission.

Watch Pentagon Strike... and then please explain how Flight 77, a Boeing 757 weighing 80 tons simply vanished.

Deny this: There are only two spots in the US that are located below sea level... Death Valley, CA and New Orleans, LA. What might a true Department of Homeland Security provide for the citizens who Can't Evacuate New Orleans for Ivan, the estimated 100,000 poorer New Orleans residents who have no cars, the ones who often rely on City Transportation for all of their travel who now can't flee to safety.

"Got no place to go and no way to get there," said a 57-year-old grandmother, who lives on a disability check and money she picks up cleaning houses or baby sitting. "They say evacuate, but they don't say how I'm supposed to do that," Latonya Hill said. "If I can't walk it or get there on the bus, I don't go. I don't got a car. My daughter don't either."

TALK
President Bush shows that he has compassion, "There are still some people looking for work because of the recession. There are people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas. And we need to act in this country. We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home, and people are more likely to retain a job."

WALK
The Republican National Committee is such a staunch believer in creating these jobs that they used a firm in Maharashtra, India, to create its database of approximately 165 million registered voters.

WALK'in the WALK:
For the record, The Dems’ voter database was developed by a company, Plus Three, based in a distant suburb of New Delhi, India, called Washington, D.C.

In commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act the State of Utah auctioned off 40,000 acres of Utah wilderness lands to oil and gas exploration firms. Their expected findings will satisfy a possible 4 days of US oil consumption and 4 weeks useage of natural gas.

The Truth-Telling Project, led by Daniel Ellsberg, encourages whistleblowing in the national interest. It urges current and recently retired government officials to reveal the truth to Congress and the public about governmental wrongdoing. lies and cover-up. It aims to change the norms and practices that sustain the cult of secrecy, and to de-legitimize silence that costs lives.

Randolph Bourne, a notable American critic and social activist, courageously opposed World War I. The Randolph Bourne Institute (RBI) seeks to honor his memory by promoting a non-interventionist foreign policy for the United States as the best way of fostering a peaceful, more prosperous world.

"We support a former Baathist assassin as president, while a Shi'ite cleric, whose father was murdered by Saddam Hussein, is our most implacable foe." Ghost of Madison a warning for Iraq war

Two Americas... Going Nowhere Workers' Wages Since the Mid-1970s
Since 2000 average wages for American workers have stopped growing. From post WWII 1947 until the mid-70s wages for all US workers were rising steadily, and faster than the inflation rate.

Not only are wages declining, health insurance benefits are shrinking as group policy rates continue to rise at a rate way beyond that of inflation. "Alone among developed nations, the United States relies primarily on employers to provide health insurance for its citizens. More than 60 percent of Americans obtain medical coverage as a benefit from their own jobs or from family members’ jobs." - America’s Achilles’ Heel Job-Based Health Coverage and the Uninsured

"American Jobs Blog" discusses the ongoing development, film information, issues, and ideas relating to the documentary film "American Jobs" directed by Greg Spotts that explores the loss of American jobs to foreign competition. Watch for an upcoming free screening at the Compass Coffeehouse.

Many Americans wonder why we don’t just take a big atomic bomb and drop it on Hurricane Ivan. Little do they realize that not only would Ivan fail to even notice the blast from the largest bomb we can muster, Ivan would absentmindedly scoop up all of the nuclear poison created by the blast and sprinkle it throughout the jet stream for equitable distribution over the entire planet. Hurricane Ivan contains 4 times more power than the entire sum total of all of the energy being used at any one time by all of the people everywhere on planet Earth.

Under federal election law, college students are legally entitled to vote from their residence at school. The New Voters Project intends to make sure they get registered, informed and encouraged to do so on November 2nd.

New Voters Project registers success in UW vote campaign
The Daily Cardinal says, "With election day less than two months away, the UW-Madison branch of the New Voters Project announced they have already registered 3,218 young voters, and said they hope to register a total of 10,000 by November 2."

Fighting Bob Fest Saturday, September 18 in Baraboo...
is named for its inspiration, Robert M. “Fighting Bob” La Follette, Wisconsin’s former governor, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, who fought to expose and stop governmental corruption, reduce the influence of big business and to empower the people to participate in their democracy.

The theme for this year's Fighting Bob Fest is "Rights at Risk" - the right of a woman to choose; the right of children to a good public education; the rights of minorities to fully participate in our economic and political life; the right of citizens of this country and, indeed, the world, to clean air, water, and sensible growth.

Tom Harkin, Peg Lautenschlager, Jim Hightower, John Nichols, Bob McChesney, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tammy Baldwin, Gerald Bracey and others will lay out their view of the risks, and they are asking you to write to FightingBob.com and give your views on the risks and the top three things you will do to fight for our rights.

"No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots." — Barbara Ehrenreich

"Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive." — John F. Kennedy

"A conservative is one who admires radicals centuries after they're dead." — Leo C. Rosten

"The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out, the conservative adopts them." — Mark Twain

"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" — Eleanor Roosevelt

The above quotes from:
http://activismispatriotism.org/

If you miss Donald Rumsfeld at the Republican National Convention, you can still listen to "His" music; Rummy's "Poetic" language makes sweet music on new CD... The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld

Others missing in action: Secretary of State Colin Powell, Attorney General John Ashcroft and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.

Peter Schurman of MoveOn.org says, "Tom DeLay of Texas was kept out of sight, and for good reason. DeLay's in charge of ramming the right wing's agenda through Congress, as the Republican leader in the House. Nicknamed "The Hammer" for his ruthless style, DeLay is nearly as central to right-wing control in Washington as Bush, Cheney, and Karl Rove."

"DeLay was the mastermind behind last year's outrageous redistricting in Texas; he refuses to allow a vote in the House on limiting media consolidation, because it will win; and when other Congresspeople question Bush's war policy, he accuses them of undermining our troopsand surrendering to terrorists. DeLay has literally locked House Democrats out of negotiations on major bills like Medicare, and held votes open for hours while arms are twisted with threats and bribe offers -- and that's according to fellow Republicans."

Schurman says it's time to stop him. "In Texas, DeLay's immersed in a campaign finance scandal that could get him indicted. And meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, he's facing the first formal ethics complaint in seven years, which could force him to resign his post as Majority Leader. The problem is, four of the Ethics Committee's five Republican members have received campaign contributions from DeLay.

Please call your Representative now to "demand an outside counsel to investigate Tom DeLay."

Call Congressman Mark Green:
Washington, DC: 202-225-5665
Local phone: 920-437-1954

Other topics never mentioned at the recent GOP convention... the Crisis in Sudan or the connection between Sadam and 9/11.

Kid's Quotes...
"Since we've graduated from college, we're looking around for something to do for the next few years. Kind of like dad," - Barbara Bush, 1/2 of The First Twins.

"We don't need Mr. Bush to teach us a lesson in democracy... It's funny to Arabs to listen to the President talking about democracy, and at the same time half the population in America still has doubts about his legitimacy as a President."
- Seif Khadafy, 32-year-old son of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy

Comentators on the radio this morning say Bush is popular with some folks because he's the kind of a guy you might pick when asked, "Who do you want to have a beer with?"

My response is to ask those same folks, "And after you've had those beers, who do you want to drive home?"

"It's Time for a Change" vs. "You've Never Had It So Good" "You've Never Been So Safe" opens today in NYC, in hopes of capitalizing on memories of 9/11. But on Thursday Sept. 2, the night GWB is set to make his acceptance speech, British TV will be airing "The Hamburg Cell", the first major documentary dramatization of the 9/11 plot specifically from the perpetrators' perspective. It will indeed stir controversy because it reveals the hijackers as regular, ordinary, educated, middle class guys who were somehow motivated to strike at the US.

"The central figure in the two-hour long film is Ziad Jarrah, who was at the controls of United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed in Pennsylvania. It shows him being transformed from a moderate Muslim into a suicide hijacker in the months before the attacks," says Malcolm Fitzwilliams and Anthony Barnes of the Independant.

"It is difficult to watch and to hear these facts come out," says David Potorti, whose older brother Jim died in the World Trade Centre. "But the only way to prevent 9/11 from happening again is to face the facts courageously."

Potorti is co-director of Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an international peace campaign set up after 9/11... "As family members of September 11th victims, we know how it feels to experience "shock and awe," and we do not want other innocent families to suffer the trauma and grief that we have endured. While we also condemn the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime, it does not justify the brutality, death and destruction being visited upon Iraq and its citizens by our own government."

"The Hamburg Cell" was one of a plethora of films focusing on Sept. 11 that premiered at the recent Edinburgh Film Festival.

MissionNotAccomplished.com
The real Flipper... GWB's Administration Shifts on Global Warming, the latest flip flop from President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief. Read 'em and weep... 25 of his biggest flip-flops.

Steve Earle has begun hosting a radio show on Air America Sunday nights. His new album is called The Revolution Starts …Now. Read this Friday, August 27, 2004 transcript of his interview with Amy Goodman - The Revolution Starts Now: Steve Earle on the Republican Convention, the Death Penalty and the GOP Hijacking of Johnny Cash

On RetroVsMetro.org you can learn about how the escalating war between two Americas, "one traditional and rooted in the past, and one modern and focused on the future," affects each of our lives. Pick up a copy of The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America, just published (8/24/2004) and already one of Amazon's top 25 best sellers.


Caitlin, Valerie, Carly and friends provide a new twist on dissent with their sports fashion conversation openers... They have created a collection of new team names on colorful sports jerseys ("made in the USA by companies paying prevailing wages") that pay tribute to the national pastime - special interest politics. Support your favorite team: "Axis of Evil Doers", "Far Righteous Indignators", "Family Devaluers", "Corporate Apologists", "Halliburton Overchargers", "Constitutional Tramplers." and many more at ClothingOfTheAmericanMind.com.

On a more serious note the One Thousand Coffins Procession is set to take place in New York City at 10 AM on August 29. "a serene observance parade of realistic symbolic caskets draped in the Flag - to represent and honor each of our fallen soldiers and marines, and make a bold statement that the truth of their sacrifice cannot be censored."

‘His Scream’ Marine’s Father Burns Van, Himself After Learning of Son’s Death in Iraq
"This was his scream that his Chi-Chi — that's what he called Alex — this is his scream that his child is dead and the war needs to stop," said wife and mother Melida Arredondo.
Luz Marina Arredondo, Alexander's grandmother, said the government is at fault in her grandson's death. "I blame them a lot," she said. "They send them like guinea pigs over there."

"America Alone" a new book by Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke is hitting the book stores, describing how a group of radical intellectuals seized the reins of US national security policy after 9/11. Republicans and Democrats alike are finding it a valuable resource in assessing what has happened to the nation under the leadership of George W. Bush.

To quote the description, "It shows how, at this 'inflection point' in US history an inexperienced president was persuaded to abandon his campaign pledges and the successful consensus-driven, bi-partisan diplomacy that managed the lethal Soviet threat over the past half century, and adopt a neo-conservative foreign policy emphasizing military confrontation and 'nation-building.' To date, the costs - in blood, money and credibility - have been great, and the benefits few. Traditional conservatives deplore this approach. This book outlines the costs in terms of economic damage, distortion of priorities, rising anti-Americanism, encroachment on civil liberties, domestic political polarization and reduced security. Then, it sets out an alternative approach emphasizing the traditional conservative principles of containing risk, consensus diplomacy and balance of power. "



LINKS:
The Centre for Public Opinion & Democracy has been established at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia in order to further research, information exchange, and education on the changing dynamic of public opinion on both global and regional issues. It is unique among the handful of similar centres around the world in that its principle focus is not only the public opinion climate of its home country — Canada — but also the attitudes and perceptions of citizens around the world on the political, social, and economic happenings that shape the future of humanity.