Countdown: Are the Dems really picking out the Drapes?

Bugman

"I haven't had no ethical problems."



Does the double negative confirm a positive response??


-Desi

The Doors: Unknown Soldier

The Best of the Doors


-Desi

White House Furiously Spinning

Desperate repugs who got nothin'.

-Desi

Action Alert

Washington, DC -- An internal ABC Radio Networks memo obtained by Media Matters for America, originally from a listener to The Peter B. Collins Show, indicates that nearly 100 ABC advertisers insist that their commercials be blacked out on Air America Radio affiliates. According to the memo, the advertisers insist that "NONE of their commercials air during AIR AMERICA programming." Among the advertisers listed are Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, Federal Express, General Electric, McDonald's, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the U.S. Navy.

View Memo Here.


I know that all of you know how to respond to businesses that try to silence or otherwise influence free speech within the media. Get to it.

-Desi

Blogger Assaulted by Senator Allen (R-VA) Staff

More at AmericaBlog.

"The Shamless Robot Dance"

Trick or Treat

Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Congressional candidates this fall are furiously debating Iraq, Medicare and extending tax cuts. Most are staying quiet about an imminent legislative challenge: how to stop a tax increase that will hit more than 20 million households next year, some with incomes as low as $50,000.

Unless Congress acts, the alternative minimum tax will gradually impose $1.35 trillion in additional taxes over the next 10 years. Yet only six candidates in the 28 most-competitive House and Senate races across the country even mention it on their campaign Web sites.


tick, tick, tick ...

-Desi

On the Cover of the Rolling Stone.

Worst. Congress. Ever.


-Desi

Without a Trace

TIKRIT, Iraq, Oct 31 (Reuters) - More than 40 people are missing after armed kidnappers ambushed minibuses travelling to Baghdad on a main road north of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, police in the city of Tikrit said.

An Iraqi spokesman for the Joint Coordination Center of the Iraqi police and U.S. forces in the mainly Sunni Arab province of Salahaddin said "about 42" people were missing after the incident near Tarmiya, 30 km (20 miles) north of Baghdad.

By the time this report was released on the wire, no doubt they've all been tortured and shot dead, their bodies to turn up possibly later in the day. Remember, this is the second beefed up security detail in the Baghdad area. The numbers of the dead and missing have increased each time.



-Desi

Wanker of the Day

I guess people say crazy things when their about to become unable to make two mortgages and feed 7 children and don't have a brain in their head.

Buh-bye, Lil' Ricky.

-Desi

Good-bye Compassionate Conservatism

I wasn't able to attend this event in Ohio yesterday, but from friends who were there ... Rush has turned this election into the anti-Limbaugh election.

Buh-bye, Mike DeWine.

-Desi

Oh, Hell No

Adding a new sense of urgency to the coming elections:

(CBS) President Bush's National Security Adviser showed up unannounced in Baghdad Monday to meet with Iraq's Prime Minister al-Maliki — who, according to U.S. intelligence, is telling his inner circle the situation is "nearly out of control," CBS News correspondent David Martin reports.

CBS News has learned exclusively that Gen. George Casey, the U.S. Commander in Iraq, is expected to recommend the size of Iraqi security forces be increased by up to 100,000. This comes just as the U.S. military is about to reach its long-stated goal of training and equipping 325,000 Iraqis to take over the fighting from American troops.



For those who aren't moved by the immense loss of life, perhaps this will *touch* you:

"It's going to take $3.5 billion to sustain the Iraqi Army next year, and we’re unable to uncover information in the course of the audit to indicate that Iraq was ready to sustain that burden," says Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., the Inspector General.



Buh Bye, Joe Lieberman and company.

Update: New polling puts Ned Lamont within 4 points of Soreloserman. Wheeeee!

-Desi

And a dog ate my homework.

The low point came in August.

Katherine Harris, the whirling, polarizing, feverishly upbeat candidate for U.S. Senate, stepped out of a private plane at Orlando Executive Airport and into a political nightmare.

Though her staff had touted this rally for days, the crowd was uncomfortably small. Maybe 40 people showed up -- and many were Harris staffers or reporters.

Worse yet, there was no sign of the nine elected leaders whom Harris claimed would be there to endorse her. But the Longboat Key Republican pressed ahead, insisting the AWOL officials supported her.

The crowd would have been bigger, too, she said, but a tree fell on the hangar that her staff had originally booked.

"There was a last-minute change in location," said the 49-year-old congresswoman. "I know it was kind of hectic and crazy."


Yikes, this piece in the Orlando Sentinel today reads like an obit. Perhaps even Katy herself realized at some point along the way that the senate wasn't going to happen for her. She never did invest the money she promised her few loyal followers that she would pump into her campaign. I'm certain Jeb Bush and others have had their names removed from her Christmas card list.

Tsk tsk.

-Desi

Dick Cheney: A Big Bowl of Bad

Cafferty smacksdown Rummy

Olbermann to Limbaugh: "Please go back on the Drugs!"

Caption this.

oh-my-gawd.

Uh...need a costume?


And as usual, this is John's fault also!

-Desi

More Tales of Compassionate Conservatism

Scarlet made an appearance on Hannity and Colmes recently, and it seems Hannity had the citizen's rights of North Korea confused with those of us here in the US. A few Faux fans sent letters to thank our Freeway Blogger for his hard work:




















Seems they forgot the 'thanks' part, though. Seems they also don't know that it's a crime to send death threats via the internets.

BTW . . . Happy Birthday, Scarlet! Many safe, healthy, happy returns.


-Desi

U2 and Green Day: Saints are Coming

"Saints are Coming"


-Desi

Gotdamnit

BAGHDAD, (AP) — The American death toll for October climbed past 100, a grim milestone reached as a top White House envoy turned up unexpectedly in Baghdad on Monday to smooth over a rough patch in U.S.-Iraqi ties. At least 80 people were killed across Iraq, 33 in a Sadr City bombing targeting workers.


You know these ingrates are only dying to try to make the repugs look bad on election day.


-Desi

Whoa...

First (that we know of) the fire at Ft. Meade, and today, the shredders arrive at the Cheney compound.


Just over a week to get rid of any evidence.

-Desi

October: 100 US Troops Killed

Blame John, again. :)

-Desi

Poodle Boy Hearts Al Gore

The world cannot afford to wait before tackling climate change, Tony Blair said today at the launch of a report preparing the way for new green taxes.

Tony Blair said the Stern Review showed the scientific evidence of global warming was “overwhelming” and its consequences for the planet “disastrous”.

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, announcing he had recruited the former US Vice President Al Gore as an environment adviser, promised the UK would lead the international response to tackle climate change.

But he warned that consumers would have to play their part, saying there would have to be a “cultural shift” in people’s lifestyles - and that would include new environmental taxes.


Apparently Bush hasn't 'splained to Blair that global warming is a myth.

-Desi

Over There

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb targeting poor Iraqi Shiites lining up for day jobs in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum killed at least 31 people Monday and wounded more than 50 others, police said.

The bomb tore through a collection of food stalls and kiosks at about 6:15 a.m., cutting down men who gather there daily hoping to be hired as laborers. Police Maj. Hashim al-Yasiri put the casualty figure at 31 killed and 51 injured.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the blast was caused by a suicide bomber or a device concealed amid debris by the roadside. The overwhelmingly Shiite area is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia blamed for much of the sectarian violence rocking the city.



No, I still don't understand why we are in Iraq, and neither do many of the troops. They want to come home, and over half of America wants them to come home. Halliburton is wealthy enough, and as for the oil ... fuck the oil.

-Desi

Democracy Bytes

Gunmen have kidnapped and killed 17 policemen near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, police sources have said.

It is believed 15 of them were trainers instructing new recruits at a local police academy. Two were translators.

Their bodies were found scattered around Shuaiba, a town near Basra, some hours after their bus was ambushed.

Correspondents say the killings will be a major setback to British plans for reducing the power of various militias in the area.

The minibus was taking the men from the police academy, which is under the supervision of British forces to Basra, 12km away, according to Reuters news agency.

The bus was ambushed by armed men at around sunset on the outskirts of Shuaiba. They were shot in the head and chest.

Basra police say the vehicle did not have armed protection, which is common in Iraq.



Well, they were just Iraqis. It's not like we're over there because we care about them or anything.

Have I mentioned yet today what a *wonderful* fucking job Rummy is doing over there? He's just the bestest.


-Desi

Caption this.

Got a Costume Yet?

Try Scaricatures.



-Desi

2812

The Toll.


-Desi

Three Doors Down: Kryptonite

"Another 700 Miles"



-Desi

Another Gay Sex Scandal from Florida

Get your score card ready, you'll need it.

-Desi

Buh-Bye, Mean Jean!

This doesn't happen every day: An incumbent member of Congress, in the middle of a re-election battle, says that storing nuclear waste shipments from around the world in her district may be a good idea.

U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt does say that, and her support for studying the idea has become an issue in her re-election campaign, especially in rural Pike County, in the far eastern end of her sprawling Southern Ohio District, where the nuclear wastes would be stored.

"I'm not advocating for it one way or the other," Schmidt told The Enquirer. "I'm saying it is something we need to look at."

Schmidt said she sees potential to create "hundreds, maybe thousands of jobs" in an economically distressed part of the state, where double-digit unemployment rates are the norm.

Schmidt has signed on to an effort by the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI) and a Cleveland-based company called SONIC to seek a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant of up to $5 million for a study of whether the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion plant should be a site for temporary storage and recycling of spent nuclear fuel rods. The 3,400-acre site near Piketon produced highly enriched uranium through the Cold War years for military purposes and for civilian reactors until 2001, when that activity was consolidated at the similar Paducah plant.

A decision on the grant could come this week.

The idea of nuclear waste storage on a site that is still being cleaned up from its previous use has infuriated environmentalists and neighbors of the plant in Pike County and nearby Scioto County, prompting a communitywide petition drive and vows to fight the storage plan to the bitter end.

That and the fact that Schmidt's Democratic opponent, Victoria Wulsin of Indian Hill, has come out against the idea, mean that the issue could have an impact on Schmidt's re-election - meaning it could help determine who represents 650,000 constituents from Greater Cincinnati to Portsmouth.

"All I can tell you is that when it became known that she supports this, every Jean Schmidt yard sign in the county went down overnight," said Geoffrey Sea, a writer whose home abuts the Piketon plant.

I'm not sure, do I laugh here or thank her?

-Desi

Some repugs really want to go down with the ship.

Well, okay, then.


-Desi

Anyone need more reasons *not* to Vote repug?

Today's St. Pete Times:

If you're one of those independent-minded voters who drifted in recent years to the Republican camp and may be thinking twice about that allegiance come November, there is one more reason to do so: Allen Stayman.

You've probably never heard of Stayman, but indicted former lobbyist and Republican insider Jack Abramoff knew him well. Abramoff and his lobbying team went to great lengths to oust Stayman from his State Department post, even dubbing the expulsion the "Stayman Project." Why? Because years earlier as an official in the Interior Department, Stayman led an effort to help exploited workers toiling in Chinese-owned sweatshops in a U.S. commonwealth.

Since the 1980s, the tiny Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific and particularly the main island of Saipan have attracted numerous Chinese garment manufacturers. The Chinese loved this arrangement because it allowed their clothes to carry the label "Made in the U.S.A.," and shipments from the islands didn't face the import quotas or duties that existed at the time.

Conscientious consumers assumed that the garments were made on the U.S. mainland in conformance with our labor laws. To maintain the ruse and keep workers in penury, the islands' government doled out $7.9-million over six years to Abramoff.

Wendy Doromal, who taught school in the Marianas before becoming a human rights activist, told NPR's Weekend Edition in June that the guest workers, primarily from China, were treated as disposable flotsam. "The barbed wire around the factories face inward so that the mostly women couldn't get out."

Many of the workers were minors who were kept in barracks at night in what was described by our government as "labor camps." The workers were charged by recruiters thousands of dollars for "jobs in the U.S." Then they landed on an island 8,000 miles away. Doromal said the women had quotas that were impossible to reach within a normal workday and they wouldn't be paid for the overtime.

Pam Brown, former federal ombudsman for the Northern Marianas, recently told Moyers On America that workers there were forced to sign contracts agreeing that "if they got pregnant they'd have an abortion."

In the late 1990s, Congress almost put a stop to the worst abuses by forcing the Marianas to adopt U.S. minimum wage and immigration laws. A bill passed the Senate unanimously. But former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whom Abramoff brought to the Marianas over the 1998 New Year, blocked the effort in the House.

DeLay was taped during that trip telling officials and business leaders: "You are a shining light for what is happening in the Republican Party and you represent everything good about what we're trying to do in America, in leading the world in the free market system."

So what about Allen Stayman?

Stayman was opposed by Abramoff due to his work leading the Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs. In accordance with a congressional dictate, Stayman tried to negotiate with the Marianas to bring the country into line with American labor and immigration standards. According to Stayman, for Abramoff and DeLay, it was "an inconvenient truth that businessmen were horribly abusing workers." They didn't want to know it and they didn't want it known. The dozens of mostly Republican congressional members and staff flown to the Marianas for golf outings and resort stays were given a quick tour through a model factory.

Newly released e-mails suggest that with the election of George W. Bush, Abramoff saw his opportunity to punish Stayman, who had since moved to the State Department and was no longer dealing with the Marianas. Ken Mehlman, now the chairman of the Republican National Committee but who was then the White House political director, was allegedly intricately involved.

"Mehlman said he would get him fired," read one e-mail from an Abramoff associate. Within months of Bush's inauguration, Stayman was denied renewal of his State Department job even though his supervisors had sought to retain him. Mehlman has said he doesn't remember the case.

A report by the House Government Reform Committee documented more than 400 contacts between the White House and members of Abramoff's lobbying team, many apparently with Mehlman.


Mostly review, but a great pre-election reminder of what the repugnican party stands for.

-Desi

I Smell Lawsuits.

WYOMING, Mich. - A school safety drill that included police officers in riot gear with weapons has caused concern among some parents who say it was too realistic and frightened some students.

Police in the western Michigan community of Wyoming entered two classrooms at Lee Middle and High School on Thursday and announced there was a threat to the school, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

Students, who were unaware police were conducting a drill, were taken from the classroom into the halls, patted down by officers and asked what they had in their pockets, the newspaper said.

"Some of these kids were so scared, they just about wet their pants," said Marge Bradshaw, a parent with four children in Godfrey-Lee Schools. "I think it's pure wrong that the students and parents were not informed of this."

Officers wore protective gear, including vests and helmets, and carried rifles that were unloaded and marked with colored tape to indicate they were not live weapons, the newspaper said.

Diana Silva, a parent of an eighth-grade student, said the drill went too far.

"My child was with his face to the wall in the hallway of the high school," Silva said. "I certainly don't want anything like this happening to my child."

Principal David Britten said students weren't told ahead of time to make the drill as realistic as possible. Teachers were informed moments before it took place, he said.

"I think this is the best way to do it," Britten said. "We're not looking to scare anyone, but we want a sense of urgency."

Speaking strictly for myself, I would want this principal's head on a platter. A silver platter. With a year of his salary stuffed in his mouth.

I'm no psychiatrist, but how much of a brain does it require to realize that if the students don't know it's a drill, that the experience would naturally be just as traumatic as 'the real thing'?

-Desi

The Other, Other Forgotten War

British forces in southern Afghanistan are experiencing periods of lockdown in two key areas, halting patrols to avoid suicide bombings by the Taliban. A senior officer called the security threat "critical".

Lt-Col Andy Price, military spokesman of the British task force in Helmand province, said troops had been staying off the streets of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, and the town of Gereshk, because "suicide bombers are walking around, looking for us", waiting for a convoy or patrol to go past.

A Royal Marine was killed in Lashkar Gah on 19 October by the first suicide attack on British forces in the province. While patrols have now been resumed, high risk areas like the centre of town are still being avoided.

The bombing signalled a change of strategy by the Taliban. In August and September the movement suffered heavy losses in "swarm attacks" on isolated British outposts in northern Helmand. Seventeen soldiers of the Parachute Regiment were killed in the fighting, described as the most intense British forces had seen since the Korean war.

But the last serious clash was on 27 September, as 42 Commando of the Royal Marines took over from 3 Para, and Taliban commanders said they would resort to suicide attacks instead. One boasted that the movement had "hundreds" of volunteers waiting to cross the border from Pakistan.

Lt-Col Price did not give an estimate of numbers, but said the Marines were less confident than 3 Para that the Taliban had suffered significant attrition: "For every Taliban you kill, you recruit three or four more." The bombers, while not getting help directly from Iraq, were following the Iraqi example "more and more", he added. The lethal effect of their attacks had been increased by placing a vest full of ball bearings and nails over the explosives, turning the wearers into "human Claymore mines".

Another good reason to redeploy US troops out of Iraq. We might actually be able to win this war -- again -- if we send in enough troops to focus on doing that, and ridding the land of the Taliban regime once and for all.

-Desi

That's it.

You keep it in the spotlight Limbaugh. If the media wants the repugnican party to be synonomous with scum, liars, drug addicts, pedophiles, adulterers, hate mongers, well ... whatever.



-Desi

AC/DC: Thunderstruck

"The Razor's Edge"


-Desi

Voter's Bill of Rights - Know Your Rights

I imagine all states have a voters bill of rights, here in MI, we distributed copies door-to-door, and via the mail. I don't know if they differ state to state, so find out if your state has them, and get copies to hand out to friends and neighbors, and take it with you to the polls!

Here are your rights for those without this leaflet, please feel free to print this and distribute:

REGISTRATION: You must register to vote at least 30 days before the election, or by Oct.10., 2006

APPLICATION: At your precinct on election day, you must fill out an application to vote form showing your name and address. If your name is then found on the precinct voter list, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to receive a ballot and to vote.

NO ID REQUIRED: YOU have the right to vote without showing identification of any kind, including a photo ID. You do not have to show your voter ID card. First time voters must provide identification.

RIGHT TO VOTE IF YOUR NAME IS MISSING: IF your name is not on the voter list at the precinct where you go to vote, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to vote a provisional ballot.

RIGHT TO VOTE FREE FROM HARASSMENT: You have the right to vote without being harassed by anyone, including being asked about child support, debts, or any other matter. The election officials have the obligation to protect you from harassment.

RIGHT TO USE A SAMPLE BALLOT ENDORSEMENT LIST, OR SLATE CARD: You have a right to take these into the polling booth.

RIGHT TO VOTE A STRAIGHT PARTY TICKET: You have the right to vote a straight party ticket if you so choose.

RIGHT TO VOTE A SECRET BALLOT: You have the right to vote a secret ballot.

RIGHT TO VOTE IF IN LINE WHEN POLLS CLOSE: If you are standing in line when the polls close, you have the right to vote.

RIGHT TO INSTRUCTIONS AND SAMPLE BALLOT: You have the right to see a sample ballot and to ask for and receive instructions on all aspects of the voting process.

RIGHT TO ASSISTANCE: If you are blind, disabled, or unable to read or write, you have the right to be assisted in the voting booth by a person of YOUR choosing so long as the person is NOT your employer, your employer's agent or an officer or agent in your union.

RIGHT TO CORRECT MISTAKES: You have the right to a new ballot if you make mistakes on your ballot. If the ballot counting machine rejects your ballot because of errors, you have the right to receive a new ballot and vote AGAIN.

RIGHT TO TAKE YOUR TIME: You have the right to as much time as you need. Your voting time cannot be arbitrarily be limited.

RIGHT OF FELONS TO VOTE: Felons have the right to vote if not in prison.

RIGHT TO VOTE IF CHALLENGED: Others can challenge your right to vote based on reliable information that you are ineligible because you are not 18, not a US citizen, or not a resident of the jurisdiction where you are voting. If you are challenged, you will be questioned by the elections inspector, and you have the right, after swearing truthfully to the facts of your eligibility, to receive and vote a challenged ballot.

RIGHT TO VOTE IF YOU HAVE MOVED: IF you have moved within 60 days of the election and have not changed your registration, you have the right to vote one last time in the precinct where you are registered if you have proper identification and also fill out a cancellation of your old registration and an application for registration at your new address. If you have moved within the same city or township, you will have to fill out an election day change of address notice.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE THIS BILL OF RIGHTS INTO THE VOTING BOOTH WITH YOU!

Get your copy, and take it with you on election day!


Election Protection Lawyer Hot Line


Toll Free

1-866-OUR-VOTE

(1-866-687-8683)

Bring that number along with you to the polls, as well as your cell phone.

-Desi

Democracy Bytes

Iraqi women grieve over the body of a relative after he was shot by unknown gunmen in a local market, at the local Baquba hospital morgue. A family of six has been killed during fighting in the Iraqi town of Ramadi, a hospital doctor said, as US forces battled to regain control of an area claimed by Al-Qaeda-led insurgents.(AFP/Ali Yussef)


-Desi

Caption this.

O'Reilly Discusses Iraq with Letterman

Shameful

Our troops have to speak up themselves to ask congress to support them, and bring them home.



They have a website HERE. How *will* Karl Rove swift boat the entire Army and Marine Corps?

-Desi

Bobo's World

Batavia, Ohio Chapter.


-Desi

The Forgotten War

WaPo:

It had been almost a year since I was in the Iraqi capital, where I worked as a reporter in the days of Saddam Hussein, the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and the occupation, guerrilla war and religious resurgence that followed. On my return, it was difficult to grasp how atomized and violent the 1,250-year-old city has become. Even on the worst days, I had always found Baghdad's most redeeming quality to be its resilience, a tenacious refusal among people I met over three years to surrender to the chaos unleashed when the Americans arrived. That resilience is gone, overwhelmed by civil war, anarchy or whatever term could possibly fit. Baghdad now is convulsed by hatred, paralyzed by suspicion; fear has forced many to leave. Carnage its rhythm and despair its mantra, the capital, it seems, no longer embraces life.

"A city of ghosts," a friend told me, her tone almost funereal.

The commotion in the streets -- goods spilling across sidewalks, traffic snarled under a searing sun -- once prompted the uninitiated to conclude that Baghdad was reviving. Of course, they were seeing the city through a windshield, the often angry voices on the streets inaudible. Today, with traffic dwindling, stores shuttered and streets empty by nightfall, that conceit no longer holds.

Even the propaganda, once ubiquitous and often incongruous, is gone. One piece I recalled from two years ago: a map of Iraq divided into three colored bands. In white, it read, "Progress." In red, "Iraq." In white again, "Prosperity." The promises are now more modest: "However strong the wind," reads a new poster of a woman clutching her child, "it will pass." More indicative of the mood, perhaps, was one of the old banners still hanging. Faded and draped over a building scarred with craters from the invasion, it was an ad for the U.S.-funded Iraqi network, al-Iraqiya. In Arabic, its slogan reads, "Prepare your eyes for more."



This is the result of a 'democracy' delivered via brute force. As I was viewing several photographs of Iraq during the initial invasion of Baghdad in '03 I was struck by that rather now infamous photograph of one of Saddam's palaces being hit by an airstrike, the city was lit with electricity and sparkled rather like a jewel in the desert. The neat, tidy rows of buildings, many of which no longer exist, once home to families and shops. Where are they now? New mass graves? Are they refugees in other countries? Or are they some of the many tortured bodies lying in wait in the ever growing Baghdad morgue?

We lost this war the night of that strike on Baghdad. Its continuation is just further cruelty to the remaining people of Iraq, and those waiting to return to their homeland. How much hatred and death has to come from this bad decision before everyone gets it?

-Desi

The Scarlet "R"

The Guardian:

"When I was 18 I worked in a pub, and, one evening, the landlord and his son tried to rape me. Somehow I managed to get away. I didn't report the incident to the police because, back in 1980, it was widely recognised that women who reported a sexual assault were usually seen as liars. I imagined that the police would have grilled me on why I was upstairs with two men (I was taking a sneaky break and sharing a cigarette with the son), and why I had been drinking (I had had half a pint of lager). For years afterwards, while campaigning against rape and other crimes as a founder of the group Justice for Women, I bitterly regretted not reporting my attackers. My overwhelming feeling was guilt. What if they succeeded next time?

Now that guilt has been replaced by anger. While in the 1980s and 1990s police and public attitudes towards rape victims seemed to be improving, they more recently appear to be ricocheting backwards. So much so, that a couple of years ago I made a pact with myself, which I vowed never to reveal publicly. At this juncture I feel I must, though: if I was raped now, I do not think I would report it to the police."



A must-read for everyone with some surprising statistics about rape conviction rates, aquittal rates, and most surprising of all the fact that research shows that there are no more false accusations of rape than of any other crime. You never would guess that given the msm's obsession with revealing 'questionable' activities or lifestyles of rape victims.

The accused are always considered innocent until proven guilty. The victim is always very often considered a liar until it's proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is not. Then, if that moment of vindication ever arrives for the victim, the cost to her emotional health atop of the damage already done by the crime can be enormous.

-Desi

Rob Thomas: This is How a Heart Breaks

"This is How a Heart Breaks"



If you've ever been to a Piston's game, you've no doubt heard this one a lot. :)

-Desi

Status quo

WASHINGTON -- The Halliburton subsidiary that provides food, shelter and other logistics to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exploited federal regulations to hide details on its contract performance, according to a report released Friday.

The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found that Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root Services routinely marked all information it gave to the government as proprietary, whether it actually was or not. The government promises not to disclose proprietary data so a company's most valuable information is not divulged to its competitors.

By marking all information proprietary - including such normally releasable data as labor rates - the company abused federal regulations, the report says.
Click here to find out more!

In effect, Kellogg, Brown & Root turned the regulations "into a mechanism to prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus potentially hindering competition and oversight."


Another amazing shocker of a story. [*rolls eyes*]


-Desi

Relocation update #3

fuckity, fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck!


-Desi

Former Bush Administration Official, David Safavian, gets 18 month Prison Term

Another to add to the list of convicted repug felons from this administration's rule.


-Desi

Will the Saddam Verdict Backfire on Repugs?

Washington, DC -- The Bush administration has a long history of timing national security-related actions with the political calendar, and the media should be asking if it has done so again. The verdict of the Saddam Hussein trial, which was originally scheduled to be announced on October 16, 2006, has been postponed until November 5, 2006, just two days before the U.S. midterm elections.


Well, election day would be just too, too much. Although I fear that the results of this trial may also blow up in the Bush administration's face. The Iraqis miss the days of law and order, electricity and other basic needs. A guilty verdict, and execution of Saddam may well lead to even more chaos, if you can imagine that.

-Desi

Lieberman "Stay the Course"

The Dixie Chick Ad NBC won't Show You

Olbermann: Grace

Creepy

Momma dressed them alike today.

-Desi

Setup

BAQUBA, Iraq, Oct. 26 — Police officers acting on a tip about several kidnapped colleagues rode into deadly insurgent ambushes near here on Thursday, resulting in two intense battles that left at least 42 people dead, including 24 police officers, officials said.

Five American service members were killed Wednesday in Anbar Province, the military command reported Thursday, raising the American death toll in October to at least 96, one of the worst monthly tolls of the war.

The insurgent ambushes came as dozens of police officers converged on an area between Baquba and Baghdad, near a town called Khan Bani Saad. Word had come down late on Wednesday from the Interior Ministry that several Iraqi policemen who had been kidnapped days earlier near Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, were being held south of there, and province officials ordered a raid. But as the police officers rode out, what they found was a large and well-armed Sunni insurgent force. A spokesman for the joint Iraqi-American command center in Baquba described the clashes as “very violent, brutal and heavy.”



I know that this is really complicated stuff, and we should just all back off(ah, shades of O'Reilly's "Shut up! Shut up!" moment) and just let the people in charge do their work. But, um, who would that be exactly?

I'll "back off" when we have someone competent running things. Fair enough, methinks.


-Desi

[Photo: Helmiy al-Azawi/Reuters]

Jeebus

PHOTOGRAPHS of German soldiers posing with a human skull in Afghanistan have triggered outrage in Germany and cast a shadow over plans to raise its military profile worldwide.

The Bild newspaper printed a close-up of an unidentified soldier smiling and holding up a skull under the headline "German soldiers desecrate the dead". Other photos showed the skull balanced on a jeep and a soldier holding the skull next to his exposed penis.



Apparently, the US allies are trying to help win Afghanistan . . . for the Taliban.

-Desi

Kimmel:

Bleak days for the repugnican party. (Video)



-Desi

"Uncle"

Washington -- The Republican Party has canceled its plans to run ads supporting Mike DeWine in the crucial final week of his tough re-election race, the party confirmed Thursday night.

The Republican National Committee notified television stations in Ohio that it will not use time it reserved from next Tuesday until the Nov. 7 election.



Heh heh.

-Desi

19 Point Dem Lead

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The 2006 election is shaping up to be a repeat of 1994. This time, Democrats are favored to sweep Republicans from power in the House after a dozen years of GOP rule.

Less than two weeks before the Nov. 7 election, the latest Associated Press-AOL News poll found that likely voters overwhelmingly prefer Democrats over Republicans. They are angry at President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, and say Iraq and the economy are their top issues.

At the same time, fickle middle-class voters are embracing the Democratic Party and fleeing the GOP - just as they abandoned Democrats a dozen years ago and ushered in an era of Republican control.

"I don't think the Republican Party represents what I stand for. The guys I golf with, we're in the middle class, we're getting hurt," says Joseph Altland, 73, a retired teacher in York, Pa. He is a registered Republican but says he is considering becoming an independent.

The AP-AOL News telephone poll of 2,000 adults, 970 of whom are likely voters, was conducted by Ipsos from Oct. 20-25.

In it, 56 percent of likely voters said they would vote to send a Democrat to the House and 37 percent said they would vote Republican - a 19-point difference. Democrats had a 10-point edge in early October.

"I don't care if I vote for Happy the Clown, just so it's not who's there now," said Mary Nyilas, 51, an independent voter from Cologne, N.J.


Well over a year ago, as the 'Big Three' laid off, and fired engineers, and other degreed employees in droves -- and sent others off to die in war -- I said that middle America wouldn't take that for long. Finally, Bush has hit them hard and long enough that they're bolting. Welcome to reality, people. The repugs are not the party of the people, they're the party of CYA, and screw the little people. Enjoy sweeping them away in November.

-Desi

Ben Harper: Better Way

"Both Sides of the Gun"


-Desi

Flashback to 2000

Willow

I was raised in checkered silence
in the cool nursery of the young century.
Human voices did not touch me,
it was the wind whose words I heard.
I favoured burdocks and nettles,
but dearest to me was the silver willow,
my long companion through the years,
whose weeping branches
fanned my insomnia with dreams.
Oddly, I have survived it:
out there a stump remains. Now other willows
with alien voices intone
under our skies.
And I am silent... as though a brother had died.

-Anna Akhmatova

Rovian

(CBS/AP) A protégé of White House political guru Karl Rove produced the controversial Republican National Committee ad targeting Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Harold Ford Jr., that some have called racist, CBS News has learned.



Well D'oh.

-Desi

Uh oh.

A source close to former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl told ABC News that Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) was one of a small number of "problem members" of Congress who page program supervisors complained spent too much time socializing with pages, taking them to dinner or sporting events outside of official duties.

Mark Foley was also on the list.

The source said Trandahl frequently cautioned both congressmen that "adults should hang out with adults, pages should hang out with pages," a message Trandahl also conveyed to pages during their orientation.



It could get real busy at the Sierra Tucson Treatment Center. I hope they have more room.

-Desi

Stem Cells, to the tune of 'Brain Damage' by Pink Floyd

The embryo is in the trash

The embryo is in the trash

Needed but the fundie said 'don't you dare!'

Got to keep the masses on the path

The embryo is in the trash

The embryos are in your house

The vials hold their cells in the glass

And every day reproductive systems bring billions more

And if the vial breaks open many moments too soon

The embryos will still be dead

And if your head explodes with painful knowledge

I'll see you in the laboratory too

The embryo is in the trash

The embryo is in the trash

Did you forget that we throw them all away?

You re-arrange the tale 'till I'm confused

You twist the laws

And throw the embryos away

There's fundies in my head but they're not me.

And if the millions of suffering people

Shout and no one seems to hear

And if the fundies start singing different tunes

I'll see stem cells in the lab.



"I can't think of anything to say except...

the embryos will still be dead!"


-Desi

Uh huh.

Here's your 'thriving economy' , repugs.


-Desi

Oh, look. Here it is again.

Bill Clinton: "Claim the Future"

John Kerry: $900,000 in 48 Hours

"You are incredible! The story of what the johnkerry.com community has done over the last two years to win these mid term elections is one of the best untold stories in politics. You could’ve licked your wounds, you could've given up, but you kept fighting, you dug deeper, you got stronger – and now with it all on the line in the last 48 hours you contributed $900,000 to these must-win Senate races. You’ve scared the hell out of Ken Mehlman and the Republicans! Now it’s onwards."


This really is incredible. Be proud, and keep on, everyone!

-Desi

MI: Jennifer Granholm

Diversify.



(Quicktime video)


-Desi

The Other Forgotten War

"Wow, we knew we fucked up, but we didn't realize we fucked up that badly."


-Desi

Caption this.

Santorum: Iraq war retaliation for 9/11

Should be the Headline . . .

President insane. Thinks we're winning war.



-Desi

No-Brainer, indeed.

Vice President Dick Cheney has confirmed that U.S. interrogators subjected captured senior al Qaeda suspects to a controversial interrogation technique called ''water-boarding,'' which creates a sensation of drowning.

Cheney indicated that the Bush administration doesn't regard water-boarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. ''It's a no-brainer for me,'' Cheney said at one point in an interview.


With one US soldier kidnapped this week, and another who was captured over two years ago, way to ensure their humane treatment Preznit Cheney.

-Desi

2809, no, 2810

The Toll, including four more Marines, and one Navy sailor yesterday, bring the October Toll to 96 , edit- now 97 - for the deadliest month in more than two years.

-Desi

Cheap Trick: I Want You to Want Me

Cheap Trick: Greatest Hits



-Desi

Wednesday Monkey Blogging

30K

The facility where Mark Foley has checked into for treatment at $30,000 for a 30 day stay:

"pain is met with compassion, fear is met with reassurance, and anger is met with understanding." In addition to treating drug and alcohol abuse, it is "licensed to facilitate healing for psychiatric issues," including "Sexual Addiction/Compulsivity."



Oy vey.

-Desi

US Troops:

"Bring us Home!"


-Desi

No memorial services noted.

It seems we can bury 'stay the course' in the same shallow, unmarked grave with 'mission accomplished', 'bring 'em on', and 'shock and awe.'


-Desi

The Evil Liberal Media

I just had a lengthy discussion with the department of my local news that deals with their website homepage. I called them about this article: Limbaugh: Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's 'Acting'

It seems that national news for the Detroit site is handled by someone in Minnesota, but you can phone the local 'web staff' here:313-223-2222 if you so desire, or use this contact page for email.

The only portion of the article that woefully disputes Limbaughs baseless bullshit is this:

Dr. John Boockvar, a neurosurgeon and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical Center at New York's Presbyterian Hospital, called Limbaugh's claim "ludicrous." Boockvar said those with Parkinson's have "on" and "off" spells.

"If there is one single disease that has the highest potential for benefit from stem cell research," Boockvar said Tuesday, "it's Parkinson's."

The good doctor doesn't continue to explain dyskenesia(the jerking motions)and how they are the result of medication, as without it a Parkinson's patient would be stiff, and rigid.

The webmistress defended the article in it's form because of links to information about stem cell research in the sidebars. I always read that site, and I've never clicked on sidebar information there once, she insists readers use it frequently.

I asked her to explain why the stressing of Fox supporting Dem candidates in the article, as he had backed Arlen Specter (thanks to Atrios for his excellent memory)in the past and no one on the right seemed to mind his Parkinsons then, and she had no reply.

Anyone care to read the article and offer your thoughts? If you agree with me, I sure won't mind if you let channel 4 know about it.

-Desi

Oy.

I see Condi did another bang-up job with foreign diplomacy.


-Desi

Staying the Course

Relatives pray over coffins of four men killed in joint U.S. and Iraqi forces raid in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City Wednesday Oct. 25, 2006. The men were killed in a U.S. airstrike during a raid by US and Iraqi forces to capture a top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death squad activity throughout eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)


-Desi

Criminal

Fourteen-year-old Danieal Kelly, bedridden and nearly paralyzed with cerebral palsy, wasted away in her stifling Mantua apartment, gaping bedsores exposing her bones. When she died, she weighed just 46 pounds.

The tragedy happened in plain sight of Philadelphia's troubled Department of Human Services - an agency that failed her, city officials acknowledged yesterday.

As Danieal faded, a private company was being paid by the city to visit the home at least twice a week. How often the visits actually occurred is in dispute.

She died, dehydrated, in a record heat wave Aug. 4, nine days after the last scheduled visit. Maggots were found in her wounds.

...

After the death, the city moved in and took custody of Andrea Kelly's eight other children, ranging in age from 2 to 18. They have been placed in foster homes.

On Oct. 10, she gave birth to another child. DHS took this baby boy away from her in the hospital.

According to Giusini, his client was a good-hearted woman who has no criminal record or drug and alcohol problems. She was simply overwhelmed by the task of caring for so many children, especially given the extra demands of the wheelchair-bound Danieal, the attorney said.

There's always plenty of blame to go around in cases such as this, but after reading it becomes especially appalling that not only would some people seek to ban abortion, but would also seek to do away with birth control -- and basic sex-health education.


-Desi

Bobo's World

Ohio Chapter.


-Desi

Bullshit

WASHINGTON -- President Bush will meet next month with the CEOs of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group after more than six months of delays, a senior Bush aide said Tuesday.

Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, told WJR Radio that a meeting was set for next month at the White House. He did not cite a specific date, but auto industry officials said it would likely be Nov. 14, although that could slip a day or two to accommodate the CEOs' schedules. Bush leaves the country Nov. 18.

On the agenda: soaring health care costs, alternative energy and trade.

Rove offered some conciliatory comments on what role the government should play in reining in the auto industry's health care costs a day after Bush rejected the notion of federal intervention.

"We need to find a way to help moderate their dramatic increase in health care costs," Rove told WJR's Paul W. Smith in an interview from the White House. "We need to expand markets. We need to have a level playing field so they can sell their products abroad."

I don't believe this meeting will happen, ever. Bush in his bubble is convinced that a thriving stock market = a thriving US economy, and he couldn't possibly sit through a meeting that attempts to contradict his truth.

And Karl? We don't need help selling abroad, we need a level playing field here in the US. This administration is so far divorced from reality that...AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

'Scuse me. I feel better now. Well, not really, but . . .

-Desi

GAAAAAAH!!!!

Faux news has called in the Grimspeaker! Ughhhhhh . . .

-Desi

Pot, meet Kettle

As state treasurer, Blackwell unknowingly hired a man with a long record of arrests and kept him on the payroll even after his office discovered the man’s record and brought it to Blackwell’s attention. Under Blackwell, who was treasurer from March 1994 to January 1999, Michael A. Toomer received two pay increases before leaving the treasurer’s office in 2002 and landing in prison for the next four years.

Records obtained from the treasurer’s office show that Toomer was hired Nov. 17, 1997, as a $10.32-per-hour mail clerk/ messenger. On his application, Toomer indicated no felony offenses, and a State Highway Patrol record check at that time turned up none.

But when the treasurer’s office sought clearance for Toomer to have access to the Ohio Computer Center, a second check turned up numerous arrests. On Jan. 26, 1998, the Department of Public Safety denied access to Toomer, alias Glenn K. Williams.

Hand-written notes in the report showed that Toomer had been arrested in Florida for armed robbery in 1981, cocaine possession twice in 1991, and again in 1993. Records from Broward County, Fla., authorities show that the charges for armed robbery and the first incident of cocaine possession were dropped.

Toomer completed a drugtreatment program for the second 1991 cocaine possession charge and was placed on probation. In 1993, he was charged again with cocaine possession and his probation was extended for six months.

On Feb. 3, 1998, a week after learning of Toomer’s criminal record, Beth Gilger, then the treasurer’s director of human resources, wrote on office stationery that "we have enough to terminate" Toomer. At the time, and for the following six weeks, Toomer could have been fired without cause because he wasn’t yet a member of the state employees union.

Blackwell said he opted not to fire Toomer on the recommendation of Gilger and the treasurer’s office legal counsel. Blackwell said Toomer was an admitted drug addict who, after completing a Florida treatment program and passing treasurer’s office drug tests, showed no signs of drug usage.

"He had met the drug screening, he was willing to undergo a pattern of drugscreening tests and he had a local church community that vouched for his turning his life around," Blackwell said.

Although the second background check turned up numerous arrests, Blackwell said he saw no documentation showing that Toomer actually had been convicted.

In a check of Toomer’s file at the treasurer’s office, The Dispatch found two records indicating that Toomer’s probation had been extended after his Jan. 14, 1993, arrest for possessing cocaine.

Blackwell’s successor as treasurer, Joseph T. Deters, now the Hamilton County prosecutor, said he did not know Toomer and received no information about his criminal record while he was treasurer.

"If I had been aware of it, I would have terminated him because we handled so much cash, and if somebody had demonstrated a problem with drugs the chances of falling back into them were too high," Deters said.

In May 2002, about three months after leaving the treasurer’s office, Toomer was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a girl, beginning in September 1994 when she was 7 and continuing until 2001.

Blackwell said he did not know Toomer was a child molester until yesterday. If he had had any indication that Toomer was abusing a child while an employee of the treasurer’s office, Blackwell said, "He would have been history."

This revelation comes after Mr. Blackwell, the repug candidate, attacked Mr. Strickland, the Dem candidate for using what he called 'poor judgement' in hiring a man with a 1994 fourthdegree misdemeanor public indecency conviction that had been expunged at the time of his hire. Blackwell's campaign had also embarked on a push poll calling spree informing people of the expunged offense of Strickland's employee, and smarmily trying to portray Strickland -- a psychologist -- as somehow improperly sympathetic to pedophiles.



-Desi

Happy Eid

An Iranian woman holds her praying beads before the start of Eid al-Fitr prayers at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Mosalla. (AFP/Behrouz Mehri)

-Desi