What will be the "October Surprise"
"We've got a couple of surprises that we intend to spring." - Karl Rove (9/29/04 - On ABC Radio to Sean Hannity)

You can place a $3 bet... at Osama Bin Lotto. "This may seem like a goofy sweepstakes but there is a serious intent. The more that people are aware of the 'October Surprise' before it happens, the less impact it could have and the less likely it will be to happen at all," says Ben Cohen. "Actual winnings will be based on how many tickets are bought overall. The winner gets the pot, which our odds makers predict will be many thousands of dollars or up to half a million dollars."

Want some help to pick a winner?
OctoberSurprise.net has a poll, history lessons and blog where you can learn more about the "October Surprise." Remember the original "October Surprise" back in 1980? It was a plan executed by those who backed the Reagan campaign who set out to unseat Jimmy Carter by making a deal with the Iranians (through the CIA) to continue to hold American hostages beyond the 1980 November elections rather than release them before the vote which would have been a major plus for incumbent Jimmy Carter.

This Mark Green has my endorsement...
He headed Public Citizen's Congress Watch and was Public Advocate of New York City, currently president of the New Democracy Project, a lecturer at New York University and recently edited What We Stand For: A Program for Progressive Patriotism. Mark Green invites readers at his NameTheOctoberSurprise.com Web site to, submit entries to a "Name the October Surprise" contest. "This contest emerges out of history - political history and Bush history," says Mark. "The best modern example occurred in 1972 when then National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger announced at the end of the Nixon-McGovern campaign that 'peace is at hand' with Vietnam."

On Sunday, October 30, Mark Green will, "announce the 'winners' based on the submission(s) which predicted what actually happened. Winners appear live on Air America to bask in the gratitude of a skeptical nation...and will receive a signed copy of The Book on Bush and cool Air America gear."

The beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan is established by the first sighting of the crescent of the new moon... this evening.

The Prophet Muhammad explains, "O people! The gates of the paradises are wide open in this month, so ask your Lord that He would not close them to you, and the gates of Fire are shut, so ask Allah that He would not open them to you. And the Satans are tied, so ask your Lord that He would not enable them over you.”

"To win this election... we need to be winning in Iraq," says another lesser prophet, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard. "The President has to convince people he's stubborn... and right."

He's stubborn... and thus the level of agression increases in Iraq as the President looses all three debates.

Between October 21 and 24, Sinclair Broadcast Group will force the local television stations it owns and operates to preempt regular network broadcasts and devote one hour to an anti-John Kerry documentary. This includes two Wisconsin stations, located in Milwaukee and Madison, but many of the advertisers on these stations serve a broader market and they deserve to hear from you.
Tell Sinclair Broadcast Group not to air right-wing propaganda. Then take a look at the advertisers list and make some phone calls and send e-mail to let them know how you feel - all of the contact info is conveniently provided.

Wisconsin's Capital Times: Customers "hound" Sinclair station advertisers
Restaurants pull Channel 47 ads

"I'm asking you to join me this November in giving America Hell... My name is Satan and I approve this message."

On September 26, 2004 the "futures" on John Kerry were at rock bottom...
That was the day to BUY... damn it! For about .29 I could have locked in with a winner and taken home a few bucks for all of this electioneering. GWB shares were at their all-time high of .74 and that was the day to sell GWB short - just like he's done to the rest of us.

You can track and invest in this market on-line at the University of Iowa's Tippie College of Business Web site: IEM 2004 US Presidential Winner Takes All Market.

If you wish to check the odds and place a traditional bet then go to BetFair.com... Click on "Special Bets," then "USA," then "Politics," then "US President 2004," then "Winning Party." Total bets matched so far as of this posting: $2,622,291.

The last laugh...
Vice-president Dick Chaney encouraged last night's debate listeners to check the facts on Haliburton at the Annenburg FactCheck Web site. Too bad he sent them to FactCheck.com instead of FactCheck.org - because Web surfers who type in the URL Cheney suggests are met with advice from George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, who explains "Why we Must not re-elect President Bush."

Meanwhile... FactCheck.org says
Getting it wrong about combat pay, Halliburton, and FactCheck.org
"Cheney wrongly implied that FactCheck had defended his tenure as CEO of Halliburton Co., and the vice president even got our name wrong. He overstated matters when he said Edwards voted "for the war" and "to commit the troops, to send them to war." He exaggerated the number of times Kerry has voted to raise taxes, and puffed up the number of small business owners who would see a tax increase under Kerry's proposals."

"Edwards falsely claimed the administration "lobbied the Congress" to cut the combat pay of troops in Iraq, something the White House never supported, and he used misleading numbers about jobs."

The Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam is maintained by the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The image automatically updates approximately every five minutes. The VolcanoCam is now the closest operating camera to Mount St. Helens.

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.

Megan Cavanaugh brings the latest news from New York...
"I'm Gonna Kill the President!" A Federal Offense, is now playing through Sept. 4 at an undisclosed location in Manhattan's East Village. When you call 212.802.7446 for ticket reservations a voice explains, "To see the show, go to Manhattan and proceed to the middle of 10th Street, between Avenue A and Avenue B. Our agents will contact you there. You must arrive at least 30 minutes before showtime." The show's reservation line closes with the further warning, "Latecomers will not be shown to the theatre. And make sure you're not followed." The recording also sends a message to the feds: "If you're some kind of law enforcement agent or official, hang up now, there's nothing illegal happening here." Tickets are, "available to Republican delegates (with ID) for free" and are priced at $15.

Meanwhile New Yorkers are talking up the show, promoting it with posters and bumper stickers that all shout the name of the show... "I'm Gonna Kill the President!" while bookstores are hawking another new release... Checkpoint: A Novel by Nicholson Baker a novella that explores the peculiar angst many Americans are feeling right now about their country and their president. The book is set up as a conversation between two old high school buddies. One of them, in despair about the direction the country is going, is convinced he must kill the president; the other tries to talk him out of it.

Why are so many New Yorkers angry about the RNC coming to their city?
“Our tests show that it is safe for New Yorkers to go back to work in New York’s financial district,” said Christine Todd Whitman days after the 9/11 attack - even though there were no tests, none that would have told the government to announce that all was safe.

Unlike on Iraq, the Bush administration can’t try to blame this lie on faulty intelligence. Only later did New Yorkers and the general public learn that scientists found the residue from the Twin Towers was as corrosive as drain cleaner, and that between 100 and 1,000 tons of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were released into the local environment.

In fact, the city had never witnessed an incident that resulted in the release of more airborne toxins. Months later, the EPA’s Inspector General admitted that, “National security concerns and the desire to reopen Wall Street played a role in the EPA’s air quality statement.”

On Oct. 26, 2001 Juan Gonzalez with the Daily News, one of only a few crusading journalists posted a front-page expose entitled, “A Toxic Nightmare At Disaster Site.”

New Yorker Mike Burke says, "I remember reading the story where I was working just blocks from the still-burning site. Then I learned what I had been breathing for the past six weeks: benzene, heavy metals, PCBs and other dioxins."

None of the other news outlets felt it was appropriate to warn readers about the danger. And government officials continued lying. The media eventually caught on and would later reveal how the Bush administration pressured the EPA to rewrite press releases to downplay the risks the still-burning site posed to New Yorkers.

But by then Mt. Sinai’s Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine had already treated 4,000 people left ill by the fallout. Hundreds of firefighters and cops went on disability after working at Ground Zero or the Fresh Kills landfill.

Burke remembers, "For ten weeks that smell permeated the lives of the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who worked or lived downtown. Many woke up to the smell. Many more toiled through the workday breathing it in. While working downtown, I would face the smell coming off the train, during lunch breaks and after work. Sometimes when the wind was strong it would fill my office on Nassau Street. This didn’t end until Thanksgiving. All of us New Yorkers were collectively lied to about what we were smelling and how dangerous it was."

The Sierra Club has just released a major 180-page report on the entire affair...
"Air Pollution and Deception at Ground Zero: How the Bush Administration's Reckless Disregard of 9/11 Toxic Hazards Poses Long-Term Threats for New York City and the Nation" criticizing the Bush administration's handling of the post-9/11 clean-up in downtown New York.

"The Republicans chose to hold their convention here, I think most of us believe, to continue the political exploitation of 9/11, which this administration started almost immediately after 9/11," says Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose congressional district in Manhattan includes the site where the World Trade Center once stood.

NYC AGAINST RNC LINKS:
www.rncnotwelcome.org/
www.counterconvention.org
www.windowtreatmentnyc.com
www.norncposters.org/
www.liteupbush.com/

I'm betting the name Merrie Spaeth doesn't ring a bell with most people...
She's the current media representative working for the Vietnam Swift boat veterans critical of John Kerry's decision to make his military service a major part of his campaign for president. They and Spaeth have publicised claims that Kerry is lying about his military service record, that he cannot be trusted, and that he “betrayed all his shipmates.” They spent $550,000 to create and run "Any Questions", a rebuttal to a pro-Kerry spot, in Wisconsin, Ohio, and West Virginia. I'm betting that not many people also know that Texas Republican activist Merrie Spaeth also served as former President Reagan's chief press officer and later as an advisor to Ken Starr.

Salon's Joe Conason says, "Behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth you will also find eternal Kerry antagonist and Dallas attorney John E. O'Neill, law partner of Spaeth's late husband, Tex Lezar; and retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, a cigar-chomping former Vietnam commander once described as 'the classic body-count guy' who 'wanted hooches destroyed and people killed.'"

Conason further explains, "In 2000, Spaeth participated in the most subterranean episode of the Republican primary contest when a shadowy group billed as 'Republicans for Clean Air' produced television ads falsely attacking the environmental record of Sen. John McCain in California, New York and Ohio. While the identity of those funding the supposedly 'independent' ads was carefully hidden, reporters soon learned that Republicans for Clean Air was simply Sam Wyly -- a big Bush contributor and beneficiary of Bush administration decisions in Texas -- and his brother, Charles, another Bush 'Pioneer' contributor."

Journalist Greg Palast bets that while you might remember the name Katharine Harris there is a lot more that you don't know...
So he provided the facts behind a short new on-line video all about how Harris changed Florida's election laws and expanded the data from Choicepoint to "scrub" 55,100 eligible voters from the rolls.

OpenSecrets.org provides a handy bi-partisan guide to help you identify all of the Active Advocacy Groups in the 2004 Election Cycle.

WEBLINKS...
One of the DC Compass Web Board regulars, cheese_hunter recently posted a helpful link to a great resource: SpellCheck.net, a free on-line spell checker. The site has a bunch of other handy useful tools.

Paper Napkin explains that they are, "a service to help passive-agressive cowards avoid people who would like to date them." They explain, "If someone random asks you for your email address so they can contact you for a date, give them any email address @papernapkin.net (write it on a cocktail napkin for maximum effect) and we will send them a rejection message."

If you think this form of rejection is a bit mean I'd like to introduce you to some angry Knickerbockers...
No passive-agression here. They spit it out in plain and simple English, "We are New Yorkers adamantly opposed to the Republican's selection of our city to celebrate rising unemployment, their gutting of social services, tax cuts for the mega-rich, unlawful detention of immigrants, and their unrelenting exploitation of the 9/11 victims while standing on their ashes." RNCnotwelcome.org reads like a manual for uncivil disobedience... "The Republican National Committee has, for the first time in its 150 year history, selected New York for their Convention from August 29-September 2, 2004. In a shallow attempt at exploiting the lives lost at the World Trade Center, the RNC has pushed the Convention date to September. We have witnessed two unjust wars, at least one American life lost each day overseas, a depressed economy, the collapse of the dollar, $87 billion to boost war profiteering, the closing of our firehouses, a health-care crisis, millions of children being left behind, and now this. We say, Enough!"

Dear Bloggers: Media Discover Promotional Potential of Blogosphere
"The Wall Street Journal Online is promoting one story per day outside its subscription wall to bloggers. NYTimes.com is boosting the number of RSS feeds it offers. Media companies are starting to work with -- instead of against -- the blogosphere."

In May of 2001 energy giant Chevron Corp quietly renamed one of its big oil tankers. The Condoleeza Rice, named after the former Chevron director and current National Security Adviser to President Bush, was renamed the Altair Voyager. In April, at a White House press briefing, assistant press secretary Scott McLellan was asked about the oil tanker.

A reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle questioned with, “Before she became National Security Advisor, [Rice] was on the board of directors of Chevron Corporation. Chevron –– before she left –– named an oil tanker after her. There’s an oil tanker named the Condoleeza Rice. It’s a 136,000 ton oil tanker that carries oil around the world. Given that Chevron has been accused of human rights abuses with the Nigerian Mobile Police against civilians in Nigeria, I’m wondering whether the president thinks it’s wise to have this close a relationship with Chevron.”

McLellan said that he thought “the issue has already been addressed by Dr. Rice and she will uphold the highest ethical standards in office.”

When asked whether the president should call the CEO of Chevron and say, “Take the name off the tanker,” McLellan said, “I think the issue has been addressed.”

“We made the change to eliminate unnecessary attention caused by the vessel’s original name,” says Chevron spokesperson Fred Gorell.

When it comes to campaign contributions, the Republican Party’s ties to the oil and gas industry have been well documented to say the least. No longer is it a surprise to note that 78 cents out of every dollar the industry has contributed to federal parties and candidates over the last decade has gone to the GOP or that President Bush was the No. 1 recipient of the industry’s money during the last election. But here’s something you might not know: Bush, with more than $1.8 million in contributions, got more money from the industry during 1999-2000 than any other federal candidate over the last decade, barely eclipsing two fellow Texans in the process. Sen. Phil Gramm (R) is the No. 2 recipient of oil money since 1989, with $1.6 million from industry PACs and individuals, while his oil patch colleague Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) ranks second with $1.3 million. Texas-based companies dominate the industry’s giving. The most generous: the Houston-based Enron, the industry’s No. 1 contributor during 1999-2000 with more than $2.3 million in contributions, about $1 million more than No. 2 ranked Exxon-Mobil.

George Bush, of course, is a Texas oilman, although not a very successful one. His company, Arbusto, merged with Spectrum 7 in 1984 as it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Spectrum was bought out by Harken Energy in 1986, giving Bush a seat on Harken’s board, some stock options and a $120,000 consulting contract. As the first president to have an MBA, Bush has surrounded himself with people with similar (and more successful) corporate backgrounds.

Deadline... "an excellent documentary...chronicling the astonishingly flawed criminal justice system in Illinois." - Richard Roeper, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

What would you do if you discovered that 13 people slated for execution had been found innocent? That was exactly the question that Illinois Governor George Ryan faced in his final days in office. He alone was left to decide whether 167 remaining death row inmates should live or die. In the riveting countdown to Ryan's decision, Deadline details the gripping drama of the state's clemency hearings. Documented as the events unfolded, Deadline is a compelling look inside America's prisons, highlighting one man's unlikely and historic actions against the system.

Among them, 33 African American men had been tried by all-white juries. In a nation where approximately 13% of the population is Black, over 50% of jail inmates are African American with one in every three Black men under 30 are either in jail or on probation...

Yesterday WPR entertained the idea that, "Blacks have a compassionate friend in President Bush," providing valuable on-air time to Charles Sahm, deputy director, Inter-American Policy Exchange, Manhattan Institute - a right-wing think tank. He is the author of a piece by the same name that appeared in the August 2nd issue of the L.A. Times.

As governor of Texas, Bush became known as the Texecutioner, presiding over 155 executions (a record number - more than any other elected official in recorded American history!) including the mentally ill and juveniles. After a 38 year hiatus on executions in Texas, Governor Dubya quickly reinstituted the policy after his innaguration. Many of those sentenced to die had incompetent attorneys, including one who slept through parts of the trial and an unusual percentage were African Americans. Of 76 clemency petitions filed by death row inmates between 1993 and 1998, none were granted. Note: Governor George W. Bush was elected to his 1st term in 1994.

Compassionate Conservatism...
On February 3rd of 1998, the State of Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker Brown for her part in 2 extremely brutal murders committed in 1983. In the 15 years that passed between Karla's sentencing and her death she experienced what an extended period of incarceration sometimes precipitates, remorse and rehabilitation becoming a born-again Christian spending her time in prison working in ministry to her fellow inmates.

In early August 1999, then Presidential candidate Governor George W. Bush mocked Karla Tucker's plea for clemency during an interview with Talk Magazine. Bush mentioned that he had watched Larry King's Texas Death Row interview with Karla Tucker.

"I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it," Bush told the magazine. "I watched his interview with (Tucker), though. He asked her real difficult questions, like, 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' "

The Talk Magazine reporter asked Bush how she answered.
"'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me,' " according to the magazine.

"Trying to eliminate Saddam...would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq... There was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land." - from "A World Transformed" by George Bush Sr. explaining why he didn't go after Saddam Hussein at the end of the Gulf War.

Hmmmmm, now if only Dubya could read...

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D. says, "A good place to have started the War on Drugs all those years ago would have been to bring down GD Searle Corp. and prosecute its CEO, Donald Rumsfeld, for his blatant violations of the Constitution and his shameless disregard for the safety of the American people. You see, Rumsfeld is not only the current point man for the disaster in Iraq, but he was also the point man who brought to your table the most toxic substance ever added to food - aspartame (commonly known as NutraSweet). Now that NutraSweet's cousin, Splenda, is taking over the packaged food industry in all those new low-carb products, it's time to take a look back at how these mutants made their way into our lives in the first place." Read on... The sweet poison even the FDA didn't want to approve

Mark Brown of the Rocky Mountain News says, "Driving into work this week, there's Steve Earle live on Bret Saunders' morning show on KBCO, previewing two new songs: The Revolution Starts Here and Rich Man's War."

"At virtually the same time, Mike Mills from R.E.M. is on TV, talking about the Vote For Change tour in October, when his band will hit swing states with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Dave Matthews, James Taylor, Pearl Jam, the Dixie Chicks, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and more, in an attempt to vote George W. Bush out of office." More... Brown: Musicians sing praises, protests to attract voters

"Meanwhile, Fogerty has released a new antiwar single, Déjà vu (All Over Again) that's getting airplay. Prince has more quietly released, through his Web site, The United States of Division, which joins previously released antiwar songs by the Beastie Boys, R.E.M., Mellencamp, Ani DiFranco and more."

The United States of Division
2004, still at war and everybody hates Americans

Flyin' in an aero-plane with pen in hand
Over miles and miles of deep blue
Wonderin' if it was all part of a master plan
Forget the 1 and become 2

How could your brother hear the same music? (music, music, music)
Yet somehow dance 2 a different tune
I guess that once you go divide this precious land
This precious land will divide you

Sing!

Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Everybody stop fighting!
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Everybody make love!

Drivin' a brand new Cadillac through my neighborhood
Everything still look the same, uh
Everything except the fact I wish I could
Take away all the hurt and pain

We let Supafly straighten up our curly hair
He took the Afro out the game
It's kinda cool but the guns and drugs 2 much 2 bear
10 years later Scarface came

Sing the hook

Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Everybody stop fighting!
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Everybody make Love!

Bridge

A united state of mind will never be divided
The real definition of unity is 1
People can slam their door, disagree and fight it
But how you gonna love the Father but not love the Son,
United States of Division

Walkin' down the street
No flag in hand
No stars and stripes
No claim 2 land
No crescent moon
Just a holy man, holy man

How far from heaven must we go?
Before the winds of change will blow and show
This world how it's supposed 2 be, land of PEACE and HARMONY.

Everybody stop fighting!
Everybody make love!
Everybody stop fighting!
United States of Division

People can slam their door, disagree and fight it
But how you gonna say you love the Father & not love the Son?

United States of Division
BLACK (Division)
WHITE (Division)
STRAIGHT (Division)
GAY (Division)
CHRISTIAN (Division)
MUSLIM

Why must I say "God Bless America"?
And not the rest of the world
Oh say can you see?
I love my country but I love God more
Every man, women, boy and girl

Oooh, can you say it with me?

Doo doo doo doo doo doo, come on
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, everybody
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, oh
Everybody stop fighting! Put your gun down
Doo doo doo doo doo doo, hey
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, everybody gather round
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Everybody make Love!

Doo doo doo doo doo doo, oow
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, talk 2 me
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, what is this rush 2 declare war?
Everybody stop fighting! What we fightin' for?
Doo doo doo doo doo doo, hey
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, oh
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, come here baby
Everybody make Love!

Talkin' 2 United States, United States, United States of Division!

Everybody make music

Everybody make love

©NPG Music Club

Brown explains, "It's not just the old guard speaking out. Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2, is coming out next week with tracks from Yellowcard, No Doubt, Green Day, Bad Religion, Foo Fighters, Rancid and 22 more bands. Radiohead struck one of the first blows last year, naming its album Hail to the Thief, a commentary on the Florida voting controversy."

The Republican Party of Florida apologized Thursday for sending out a flier over the weekend to some Miami-Dade County Republicans that raised questions about the accuracy of touch-screen machines. Featuring a smiling picture of President Bush flashing a thumbs-up, the flier urged Republicans living in south and west Miami-Dade County to order an absentee ballot to "make sure your vote counts."

"The liberal Democrats have already begun their attacks and the new electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your vote in case of a recount," reads the flier. "Make sure your vote counts, order your absentee ballot today."

The flier directly contradicts statements from Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who have spent weeks trying to reassure Florida voters that the new touch-screen machines used in 15 counties will work for the upcoming elections.

But civil rights groups who have been questioning how well touch-screen machines will work attacked Gov. Bush and the Republicans for "hypocrisy." The governor and the division of elections have refused to order an independent audit of the machines. The department has also adopted a rule that prohibits a manual recount on touch-screen machines, which will be used in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and 12 other counties.

This past week, Miami-Dade County election supervisors acknowledged they lost audit logs from the 2002 gubernatorial primary due to two computer crashes and that there is now no record from that election.

"The hypocrisy just digs deep," said Sharon Lettman Pacheco of the People for the American Way Foundation, one of the groups suing to overturn the manual recount rule. "It doesn't pass the smell test."

How They Could Steal the Election this Time
"The result could be the failure of an American presidential election and its collapse into suspicions, accusations and a civic fury that will make Florida 2000 seem like a family spat in the kitchen."

"In the election of 2000, John Ashcroft managed to lose his Missouri seat in the U.S. Senate by losing to a dead man. However, in the last few weeks, we have seen the U.S. dollar do one better, as it has lost ground to what was supposed to be a dead currency, the Iraqi dinar, better known as the Saddam dinar, which portrayed the face of the allegedly-deceased Iraqi president. In both cases, the loser was thought to be invulnerable only to be bitten by reality." ...more at Dollar or Dinar? by William L. Anderson

Welcome to SilverDinar.com. We at SilverDinar.com strive to provide excellent prices with un-paralled customer service for all your Dinar investment needs.

"The Finnish army is in a right old state if one official is to be believed. A bunch of young men are being excused from military service due to a debilitating modern illness - internet addiction." ...more at Conscripts booted out of army for 'internet addiction' by Jo Best

"On Tuesday evening, 150 billionaires courageously marched through the dirty streets of Boston, captivating the media, dodging the filthy commoners, and exposing John Kerry's democratic values which threaten our enormous power and wealth," say the Billionaires for Bush. Next they proceeded to the Massachusets offices of the Republican Party, where they presented a check for "Whatever it takes" to ensure another four years of putting profits over people.

Just for the record, a spell-check on Massachusets (above) reveals that they are a Native American people formerly located along Massachusetts Bay from Plymouth north to Salem. Reduced by epidemics, the Massachuset ceased to exist as a people during the 17th century - the state is spelled with two Ts.

Meanwhile the Billionaires are hitting the campaign trail, taking their limo through the crucial Midwestern swing states to let the voters know that, "Dubya and Dick are the best friends Billionaires have ever had in the White House. Four more years! Four more wars!"

Bush's search for clean Cuban hookers goes awry... once again "intelligence" lifted from a college student's research papers turns out to be completely false. The worst part of this latest Neoconjob is the irony that Cubans have a better healthcare system than you and I do here in the USA - because ALL healthcare in Cuba is provided to everyone for FREE. The Neoconartist tried to take Castro's bragging about having an extremely low level of AIDS and twist it into Fidel hyping the Cuban sex trade.

Here's what Castro actually did say in his 1992 speech: "There are hookers, but prostitution is not allowed in our country. There are no women forced to sell themselves to a man, to a foreigner, to a tourist. Those who do so do it on their own, voluntarily…. We can say that they are highly educated hookers and quite healthy, because we are the country with the lowest number of AIDS cases."

More from Moore...
In October he plans to set up camp in Florida bringing camera crews and "an army of lawyers" who will serve as poll watchers in November to focus attention on voting rights issues and try to prevent a repeat of the 2000 election debacle.

"I am going to be in Florida," Moore said to cheers at a delegation breakfast, "and together - together, we will guarantee to every Floridian that their vote will be counted this year. I will have my cameras. We will put a huge spotlight on them. They will not get away with it this time."

Speaking of grapefruit...
Miss America pageant axes talent routines
In response to last year's all-time low interest level - only 10.3 million viewers tuned in, marking a steady decline over the last few years - the talent routines, introduced in 1935 to help make Miss America something more than a beauty contest, are being eliminated. “It’s a tragedy,” says Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000. “That’s what separates us from the type of contestant that goes to Miss USA. Our young ladies get into it for the scholarships and the talent.”

"There you have it, the speeches by the skinny guy with the funny name and the fat guy with the simple name are two of the biggest performances at the (Democratic) convention. Even if you weren't there to hear Moore's speech, it makes for a great read, nonetheless," says Don Hazen, Executive Editor, AlterNet.

Here's an excerpt from Moore's speech ...
"The one thing I hear when people come out of the theater over and over again is I never saw that on the news. Right? I never saw those Black congressmen being shut down one after another. Did anyone see that?"

"I didn't know there was a riot at the inauguration parade. I never saw the egg hit the limo. I never saw that! I don't hear from the amputees who sit in our hospitals, 5,000 or 6,000 of them. How come I don't hear from them on the nightly news? I don't hear from the mothers. I don't see them on the evening news, the mothers of children who have been killed in Iraq and who state their opposition to this war. I haven't seen them on the news."

Michael Moore also loves to tell about NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who told Fox News no less, that he took his pit crew to see "Fahrenheit 9/11," and said all Americans should see it.

Barack Obama is the name of another person Wisconsinites should start to get familiar with... soon to be elected Senator from the state of Illinois.

Here's an excerpt from Obama's speech...
"Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America - there's the United States of America."

"There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States."

"There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

Take the time to read Obama's entire speech.

Linda Ronstadt not the only one...
Winding up her summer tour across Europe, Bonnie Raitt drew thunderous applause at the Stockholm Jazz Festival for dedicating a classic to President George Bush. "We're gonna sing this for George Bush because he's out of here, people!" Raitt crowed Tuesday night before she launched into the opening licks of "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)," a cover that was featured on her 1979 album, "The Glow."
Check out her activist Web site... Some of the vehicles on the Bonnie Raitt/Lyle Lovett Summer Tour, are running on biodiesel!

Web findings...
9/11 Commission Final Report (complete original source material)

An on-line cartoon that pokes fun at both the Bush and Kerry campaigns is burning up the Web, exploding in popularity. CBS News National Correspondent Hattie Kauffman paid a visit to the brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis who created it.

Singer Linda Ronstadt was not asked to leave a Las Vegas casino Saturday after she endorsed Michael Moore's controversial film "Fahrenheit 9/11," the Tucson native told the Tucson Citizen Wednesday. "This is an election year. I want people to get their head up out of their mashed potatoes and learn something about the issues and go and vote."

Open Letter to Bill Timmins, President Aladdin Casino and Hotel from Michael Moore

Rumor has it that...
A group of activists is pushing for a ballot measure in the upcoming State of Montana that says if George W. Bush is re-elected as President of the United States then Montana will automatically become an independent country.

The measure is expected to be on the ballot as a result of the highly organized Libertarians and survivalists in the state. "We´re tired of the federal government dictating what we do and squandering our tax money on foreign entanglements," said Second Montana Militia Commander Frank Morris. "George W. Bush has proven to be fiscally irresponsible and diplomatically inept. If this is the way the rest of the country thinks we should be headed, they´re going to have to go without us."

I have seen the light...
Today I have been uplifted by the divine ministry of Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian. She provides one of the most popular sites on the Internet for "Christian Advice" according to Google.

Web discoveries...
Last Sunday night over 70 folks turned up at here at the Compass Coffeehouse to watch "Outfoxed," a documentary on the FOX network. It is the first of our regular cinema screening events in Fish Creek. As a follow up I discovered that on July 19 Rupert Murdoch began an interview session about "Outfoxed" in Doonesbury! Enjoy the latest from Gary Trudeau and don't fail to click on "next date" to keep up with his ongoing focus on FOX.

More FOX grins...
Al Franken just mentioned Sweet Jesus, I hate Bill O'Reilly, International an organization dedicated to the dissemination of information that exposes Bill O'Reilly for what he is: The most dangerous man in "news".

giggles...
Intelligence Memo Misspelled Country Name; Iran Not Iraq Had 9/11 Ties
"In an incredible turn of events, John McLaughlin, acting CIA director, discovered a mistake that clears Iraq and Saddam Hussein from any ties to 9/11 and in turn places the blame straight on Iran and it's government."

and a noteable recent Compass Internet Cafe visitor...
A multi-media performance artist, Tony Allard from San Diego stopped in yesterday to check his e-mail and started talking about his WorldMix projects. Tony collects Fossil Media, on a DAT recorder that he carries everywhere, then he takes his collection of fossils to a studio and broadcasts sound mixes, built in layers that include his own stuff and the sounds of all types of local radio signals that end up in a sound collage. You can hear examples on-line, and learn about his films and other work at Fossil Media.

A week slips by...

‘IF THE PUBLIC ONLY KNEW...’
Elections in Jeb Bush’s Florida
Since 27,000 votes were literally thrown out in Jacksonville, Florida in the 2000 presidential election Congresswoman Corrine Brown spoke out last week in support of HR-4818, a bill that would provide international monitoring of the November 2004 presidential election.

Brown said, "I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Over and over again after the election when you stole the election, you came back here and said get over it. No we're not going to get over it and we want verification from the world."

Republican members of the House immediately objected and moved to strike her comments from the record - which is why I like recording them here... The House then censured Brown which kept her from talking on the House floor for the rest of the day. But she's just getting started talking, and galvanizing people to Support the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act.

She has taken over 2,000 people in her district to see Fahrenheit 9/11. Cheers to WBDK's Roger Utnehmer, who gave each of his employees at Nicolet Broadcasting $20 and told them to take a friend to Sturgeon Bay's Cinema 6 to see Michael Moore's film.

More Orwellian news from the Ministry of Truth...
Today the AP reports, "the Bush administration will propose a new plan to open up national forests to more logging." The plan would end a prohibition on road building in remote portions of national forests. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman explains that the new plan demonstrates "President Bush's commitment to cooperatively conserving roadless areas on national forests." The new plan will be published in the Federal Register this week, with a 60-day comment period extending into September.

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, calls the new proposal "the biggest single giveaway to the timber industry in the history of the national forests." The timber industry has given over $35 million in political donations since 2000, almost 80% of which went to President Bush and his allies in Congress.

The proposal is open to comment for the next sixty days. Whether you're a hiker, an environmentalist, or just don't think we should tear up the nation's forests, now is the time to let the government know how you feel. Written comments on the proposed rule may be faxed to (801) 517-1014 or e-mailed to statepetitionroadless@fs.fed.us.

But it gets worse...
Forest Service Proposes to Log Sequoia National Monument
"Under the guise of forest fire prevention, the Forest Service has proposed massive logging in Sequoia National Monument, thumbing its nose at the special monument designation meant to protect its giant Sequoias."

When all else fails... take Class Action
When businesses and individuals in Door County and all along the shoreline of Lake Michigan are forced to suffer a loss from the irresponsible actions of others perhaps there is a legal means of demanding a solution. I have been asking several individuals for their legal opinion on the possibility of a class action lawsuit against the MMSD for dumping raw sewage into Lake Michigan and just now I discovered another means on-line:

"Thank you for submitting your complaint to Online Legal Services Ltd.."

"Your case number is 282227. You can track the status of your complaint at any time by visiting www.BigClassAction.com/mycase.html and entering your case number."

"In most cases, a lawyer will contact you within 1 to 7 days. If you have not been contacted after 7 days, we encourage you to contact other counsel, and you should do so promptly to avoid having your case barred by the statute of limitations. Please note that we are not offering any opinion whatsoever concerning the merits of any claim you might have."

Perhaps taking legal action is an effective way to fight air pollution and mercury emmissions from coal-fired power plants down the coastline. Stay tuned to find out. The Bush Administration offers another solution... Try Not to Breathe


Whew...
Despite having enough bipartisan support to ensure approval, the measure -- which would have moved class action lawsuits from state to federal jurisdiction -- failed late Thursday July 9, 2004 to gain the votes needed to move forward to a final vote.

In May of this year the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District dumped 4.6 billion gallons of storm water and raw sewage into Lake Michigan, claiming that excessive rains between May 7-27, 2004 caused a surge in the volume they could handle.

Over the past weekend they did it again. This time with no explanation... dumping 1.6 million gallons of raw sewage into the Lake. Is there anyone still trying to figure out why beaches are closed on a regular basis when bans are tied to high levels of E. coli, created mostly by human and animal waste?

State Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee) says, "such dumping simply shouldn't happen in anything less than extreme weather. If penalties in state law aren't severe enough to deter MMSD from dumping raw sewage, the Legislature should increase the penalties."

Garey would you please call this guy tomorrow, even if it means jumping over the fence to talk with a Dem... the shit is rising up over our waders here in North Bay and we need a little non-partisan cooperation.

Congratulations to Ellison Bay bookseller-publisher Kubie Luchterhand, appointed by Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle to the state's Historic Preservation Review Board for a term to expire July 1, 2007. This Board, attached to the Wisconsin State Historical Society, consists of 15 members appointed for staggered 3-year terms. At least 9 members must be persons with professional qualifications in the fields of architecture, archaeology, art history, or history and up to 6 members may be persons qualified in related fields including, but not limited to, landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, law, or real estate.

Buzzed boaters beware…
Operation Midnight Badger is cracking down on drunken boaters. The US Coast Guard has cited more than 60 boaters from Chicago to Door County so far this season. “Half of all boating accidents are alcohol-related,” says the Coast Guard so they are now set up with portable Breathalyzers as a means of monitoring boater sobriety, and fines of up to $5,500 for the guilty.

Speaking of drunks...
Did you witness GW Bush performing any National Guard Service between May 1972 and October 1973, in either Alabama or Texas? If so, you could be eligible for thousands of dollars in unclaimed reward money!! Here are the details of earlier Texas and Alabama rewards... that went unclaimed. And now, $10,000 for anyone who can provide for proof of service by GW Bush at Dannelly AFB!

Artist and patriot G.B. Trudeau, creator of Doonesbury says, "Don't let the smear artists define the president. If you personally witnessed George W. Bush reporting for drills at Dannelly Air National Guard Base between the months of May and November of 1972 we want to hear about it."

I just installed the updated 0.91 version of Firefox by Mozilla...
and while I was getting this latest release of a great browser replacement for Internet Explorer I stopped to think about how long it's been since I last saw a pop-up ad - a few months - ever since I installed Firefox 0.7 and turned the pop-ups off. The reason I am taking time to talk tech is that there are a new breed of virus bugs that IE has proven to be susceptible to. Security advisories and reports typically include preventive measures that computer users can take to avoid malicious Internet attacks, but one piece of advice is on the rise: Use a Web browser other than Microsoft's!

Thanks to Jim Sullivan for pointing out a very simple Web site with a simply profound essay on GREED... http://www.g-r-e-e-d.com/.
And a game...
Next time friends gather you can test them with the "Nuts Game" as site author, Julian Edney states, "in which you can watch greed in the person sitting next to you. Three people sit around a kitchen bowl. You, the fourth person, with a timer, start off placing ten small items in the bowl - quarters, dollar bills, or nuts. Tell the three players the goal is for each of them to get as many items as they can. Tell them one other thing before they start: every ten seconds (you have your watch ready) you will look in the bowl, and double the number of items remaining there, by replenishing from an outside source (a separate pile of quarters on the side)."

Julian Edney says, "You would think the players would figure out that if they all waited, and didn't take anything out of the bowl for a while, then the contents of the bowl would soon get very big, automatically doubling every ten seconds. Eventually they could each divide up a pot that had grown large. But in fact, sixty percent of these groups never make it to the first 10-second replenishment cycle."

Despite his political leanings...
Dave Harden, manager of Sturgeon Bay's Cinema 6 deserves a big round of applause for making a tremendous effort to bring a copy of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" to Door County (even though he takes opposition to Moore's point of view). Thanks to Dave's persistence he secured one of a limited number of prints of the film for local screening, making it available here in Sturgeon Bay starting Friday, July 2. Show times are 1:30, 4:15, 7:00 and 9:15.

If you need a break from reality surf over to the... Top Ten Tabloid Headlines

Every month Evanston's MAGBAG takes time to salute those journalists who write the great headlines in America's finest newspapers, the supermarket tabloids. Most of these headlines are drawn from the Weekly World News and the SUN. Here's the June winners:

10 STUNNING REAL REASON FOR IRAQ WAR REVEALED: U.S. BELIEVES SADDAM IS THE ANTICHRIST! — WWN
9 ENGLISH ARE WORLD'S MOST UNATTRACTIVE PEOPLE, SAYS FRENCH STUDY — WWN
8 CONCRETE ENEMAS A BAD IDEA, DOCS WARN — WWN
7 GOTCHA! JEWELER INVENTS WEDDING RING THAT CHANGES COLOR IF YOU CHEAT! — WWN
6 Comet caused great Chicago fire — SUN
5 NEW BEACH PERIL: SQUIRREL FISH — WWN
4 MY TOILET ROLL HOLDER IS POSSESSED! — WWN
3 TERROR TOADS INVADING AMERICA'S TOILETS! — WWN
2 LOUSE FROM SADDAM'S BEARD WORTH MILLIONS — WWN
1 WARNING: SMOKING CAN TURN YOU GAY! — WWN

Click the link to see all of the monthly winners back to January, 1998 when they began their salute to the Top Ten Tabloid Headlines.

I was in Appleton yesterday and managed to include the 4:10 PM showing of 'Fahrenheit 9/11' in my agenda... there was a long line to get in. The film was everything I expected from Michael Moore, without the stilted, conclusion-building techniques that I found irritating in some of his earlier films. This is a documentary film - no matter what point of view it supports. The challenge faced by Moore in presenting a whole lot of history is keeping you and me awake. I did not drift... despite the weighty information. The mix of emotions runs full-spectrum and plays well, as evidenced by the audience, standing and applauding for over a minute at the close.

"With a single stroke, Michael Moore has undone three years of poor, slanted, biased, factually bereft, compromised television journalism," says William Rivers Pitt. "This, in the end, is the final greatness of 'Fahrenheit 9/11.' Not only will Americans get a sense of the depth of the deception they have endured, but 'journalists' all across the country will be forced to endure the humiliation they so richly deserve." Read his entire review: Thank You, Michael Moore.

As I left the Marcus Theater there was another long line of people waiting to get into the next show. Black and white posters with a picture of George W. Bush had been affixed to each of the several glass entry doors with a simple line of block text that stated, "And you thought he was Pro-Life."

Call the live phone at Sturgeon Bay's Cinema 6 box office at: 920.746.8371 or e-mail sbcin@doorpi.net and thank them for working hard to secure a copy of the film to start showing it locally on July 2 or July 9.

Hope to see you Monday evening!

On Monday, June 28 at 7 PM, you are invited to the Compass Coffee House in Fish Creek to get together with neighbors to hear Michael Moore live on-line, as part of "Turn Up the Heat: A National Town Meeting on Fahrenheit 9/11." Michael Moore's new movie which opens today is an incredibly controversial film that speaks to the ever-mounting majority of Americans who are convinced that starting a war in Iraq was a mistake. The Movie, "is full of footage that few people in this country have ever seen - footage that has the power to sway the 2004 election," says organizers at MoveOn.org.

Tens of thousands of MoveOn.org members are being encouraged to gather nationwide on Monday... so the Compass Coffee House will provide free Web access here in Fish Creek to join in live, on-line for an interactive audio conference with Michael Moore. We'll discuss the movie, and of course continue planning local GRID actions to help win back the White House. And, of course, there'll be snacks.

I hope you find a way to go see the movie this weekend in Appleton or Green Bay and, if you can, join us here in the national town meeting! You can click to sign up and join me at the Compass Coffee House gathering below, to find one near you, or to host your own "Turn Up the Heat Party."

Here are the details on Micheal Moore's 9/11 Turn Up the Heat Party at:
The Door County Compass Coffee House and Internet Cafe
9341 Spring road, Unit 18-B
Top of the Hill Shops
Fish Creek, WI 54212
Monday, June 28, 7:00 PM

I hope you'll come!

Congratulations and thanks go out to everyone who has called or e-mailed Wisconsin theaters to endorse the screening of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" (see Friday, June 18 posting below). On a statewide basis there are now 14 theaters including all of the Marcus-owned theaters statewide, and in Green Bay and Appleton, that plan to show the film on opening day June 25:

Appleton, WI Marcus Hollywood Cinema
Ashwaubenon, WI Marcus Bay Park Cinemas
Brookfield, WI Marcus West Point Cinemas 8
Eau Claire, WI Carmike Oakwood Mall 12
La Crosse, WI Marcus La Crosse Quad Cinemas
Madison, WI Marcus Eastgate Cinema 16
Madison, WI Marcus Westgate 3 Cinemas
Menomonee Falls, WI Marcus Cinemas Menomonee Falls
Milwaukee, WI Landmark Oriental 3
New Berlin, WI Marcus Ridge Cinema
Oak Creek, WI Marcus South Shore Cinemas
Racine, WI Marcus Westgate Twin Cinemas
Wauwatosa, WI AMC Mayfair Mall
West Bend, WI Paradise Theatre

Tomorrow night (June 24) at 7 PM you are invited to attend the next Door County Kerry Meetup in Fish Creek at the Compass Coffee House. All interested individuals are welcome to stop in and chat. We are working to create a GRID network of Greens, Republicans, Independents and Democrats who wish to make an effort to restore democracy to the American political climate by defeating George W. Bush.

You can also help to encourage Bruce Springsteen to headline a major concert in New York City on September 1, the same day and in the same city as Republicans who will hold their convention to nominate George Bush for President. Promoters intend to broadcast the Springsteen concert live on all the major television networks as an opportunity to make it clear to Americans that they can choose an alternative to George Bush. Sign on at DraftBruce.com.

Rueters says, "The New Jersey rocker has typically stayed out of politics, but in May posted the text of an anti-war speech by former Vice President Al Gore on his official Web site, calling it 'one of the most important speeches I've heard in a long time.'"

Big Brother is watching... and testing your mental health.
The British medical journal, BMJ posted an article on June 19 that does indeed seem to be inspired by the darkest fantasies of George Orwell: Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness...

In a classic doublespeak plan entitled the New Freedom Initiative the Bush administration intends to link your mental health test results to a prescribed medication.

The big winner according to the BMJ report will be, "Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, (with) multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000—82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party."

The New Freedom Initiative will be modeled after a plan then governor GW Bush put into effect in Texas beginning in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas.