IT'S TRUE: REPUBLICANS ARE PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIC SISSIES! who else would be threatened everytime they turn around? they're scared of homosexuality. they're scared of phantom weapons. they're always complaining about the threats from things that 'might' happen. this was the same group that was threatened by women in power. threatened by blacks in power. and then to top it all off, they actually believe God speaks to them on why they're threatened. if that's not downright dillusional, i don't know what is. the kicker of this is that they're supposedly the 'party more trusted with national security' in the polls.

just goes to show, that sick people need other sick people in order to mask their disease.

i think basu never understood that she hit the nail on the head with this paragraph from her column this morning. there was a time when republicans were 'good' people. why do i believe that she never realized that? because she fails to answer the question: why? what happened? wait, maybe she did, and still not realize it.
first the question:
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "There was a time when the conservatism that's associated with being a Republican was primarily fiscal. There were the Bob Ray Republicans who were pro-immigrant, and the Mary Louise Smith Republicans who were feminist, and those who reached out across the partisan divide to support such things as an equal-rights amendment or even affirmative action. These days they'd have their credentials yanked or become so marginalized they couldn't raise any money."

ayup, right there: "the mayor's race in Des Moines is nonpartisan"

a good observation on how poopyheads work
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "'It's like the domestic-violence process. If the dependency switch has been turned on, the will is overborne by coercive forces.'"

got the feelin that we're not getting a clear picture of the big story?
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "The trucks moved toward the border, passing signs that ordered them to not throw food or water to begging children. After crossing the border into Iraq, the trucks passed roadside concrete picnic tables and children, standing barefoot in the blowing sandstorm on the scalding pavement smiling and waving. Then guardsmen saw the children making scooping motions toward their mouths.
Tossing food, though, 'would just bring more kids out and it's very dangerous for everybody when that happens,' said Moore.
The roadside picnic tables are nice. The people just don't have anything to eat"

this is kinda strange. with cheney 'reiterating' the pre-emptive strikes, while wolfy 'reiterates' using murky intel, and topping off the circus is the monkey himself with that "incoherent" news conference yesterday. what a joke. this cabal has gone collectively insane.
U.S. secretly negotiating with Iran

July 31 — The Bush administration is engaged in a secret dialogue with Iran to try to persuade Iran to hand over top al-Qaida operatives, U.S. officials told NBC News.

THE THREE OPERATIVES are among the most wanted members of al-Qaida:

Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, an alleged poison expert who got medical treatment in Iraq.

Sa’ad Bin Laden, Osama bin Laden’s third-oldest son who is believed to be planning new al-Qaida operations.

Suleiman Abu Ghaith, the al-Qaida spokesman famous for introducing bin Laden in a widely seen videotape after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Many U.S. officials believe that Iran is willing to turn them and other key al-Qaida operatives over to the United States or their home countries for a price: in exchange for members of an Iranian opposition group called the Mujahadeen al-Khalq, or MEK.

The MEK has been attacking Iran’s Islamic government from Iraq and is now in Iraq under U.S. military control.

just when you thought it couldnt get any more greedy...
US Dept of State - wf-latest: "President Bush has formally renewed the U.S. sanctions against Iraq, citing continued instability in the country, as well as the need to 'ensure the establishment of a process leading to representative Iraqi self-rule.'
To extend the sanctions, the president certified to Congress that Iraq continues to pose a threat to the United States. Former President George Bush first imposed sanctions on Iraq on August 2, 1990."

i just sent paul begala a fireback, and didn't copy that gem. gonna try and type it if they show it at the end of crossfire. about the only cnn program i make it a point to see.
on edit: i think i know what happened. crossfire@cnn is the address they banner. i sent mail via the web to paul specifically. ohwell.

if this isn't the most insane bushism yet, i dont know what is.
Air marshals pulled from key flightsDespite renewed warnings about possible airline hijackings, the Transportation Security Administration has alerted federal air marshals that as of Friday they will no longer be covering cross-country or international flights, MSNBC.com has learned. The decision to drop coverage on flights that many experts consider to be at the highest risk of attack apparently stems from a policy decision to rework schedules so that air marshals don’t have to incur the expense of staying overnight in hotels.

msnbc is reporting (on tv) that al-Q is planning another terrorist attack, again using jets. this supposedly is coming from the washington post, which doesn't have anything on the web yet. but one thing that really bothers me: the terror alert level isn't changing. please, dear God, let our defenses and intel agencies have the ability to stop this before it happens.

more from slate:

The LAT plays that angle up, while the NYT emphasizes that U.S. special ops teams looking for Saddam in Baghdad shoot up two cars of civilians yesterday, killing five Iraqis. USAT says that the cars "drove through a roadblock." The LAT says the soldiers fired after they "apparently [became] unnerved" after spotting cars speeding by in a nearby street. The conflicting accounts might stem from the fact that the military has refused to comment, saying that the operation is on-going. The NYT also mentions that troops in Karbala trying to keep an unruly crowd under control, fired into the gathering and killed a cafeteria worker.

Slate's Today's Papers

The piece also includes this suspect contention: "The continuing casualties—such as the four soldiers killed Saturday—are the direct result of the intensified U.S. offensive, the military officials added." Most of the casualties haven't come during raids. They've resulted from ambushes on exposed GIs. How exactly are those "the direct result" of intensified U.S. raids?

in that same article, another prediction on how long it'll be. 2 weeks. that should put it at AUGUST 10.
U.S. Adopts Aggressive Tactics on Iraqi Fighters (washingtonpost.com): "Hogg, whose troops are still engaged in combat every day, agreed. 'I think we're fixing to turn the corner,' he said Thursday. 'I think the operations over the next couple of weeks will get us there.'"

wait a minute here. whats up with the WP today, in their 'assessment'? they claim that the damage was due to 70-ton M1 abrams tanks, then mentions the schools, clinics, water treatment plants and police stations that got the funds for repair. why are we destroying these things in the first place?
U.S. Adopts Aggressive Tactics on Iraqi Fighters (washingtonpost.com): "After the fighting is over, U.S. military officials say, it becomes important to repair the damage -- a door smashed, a wall breached, an irrigation culvert flattened by a 70-ton M1 Abrams tank. Every U.S. brigade commander in Iraq has a 'Commander's Emergency Repair Fund' of $200,000 that is replenished as he spends it. Over the past six weeks of the U.S. offensive, commanders across Iraq dispensed $13 million to rebuild schools, clinics, water treatment plans and police stations, said Army Col. David MacEwen, who helps coordinate the civic works. "

more cartoon material: a young boy standing in front of his mother, whining about the neighbor kids saying nasty things about him. the mother calls the police and they come only to find out that the kid was lying (no neighbor kids around), so when they scold the young boy, he points to mommy and says to the cops: "well, SHE's the one who called you." actually, the neighborhood boys are in the distant background with t-shirts saying economy, terrorism, healthcare.

another letter writer from west des moines. you can usually tell the author is from west des moines even before ya get to the 2nd paragraph. bigot central has setup headquarters in their townsquare mall. but notice, this guy, if that is indeed what he likes to see himself as, forgets to mention that the COSTS of those services is what makes him stagger, not free-wheeling doling out of state's money.
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Iowa continues to spend more and more on goods and services for fewer and fewer people, and that is'staggering.'
Robert F. Anderson,
West Des Moines. "

i wish i was a cartoonist. i'd draw a picture of the shrub in a deep deep hole, asking for a bigger shovel. while everybody around him is pointing fingers asking, did you take his shovel? then the big pile of dirt piled up behind them with the letters I R A Q. and then some nasty looking clouds overhead with lightning bolts with the names of dem presidential candidates. oh yah, they all gotta be standing in water. :)

so andrea mitchell is on imus right now, saying that wolfowitz' comments on meet the press yesterday should garner some heat. where wolfowitz tried to slip in the saddam-kobel towers & cole attacks. unbelievable that he said that, and my jaw did drop. especially when timmy came back with the question, are you saying that saddam is tied to those attacks? wolfie being the 'oh no, no' whine, then covering up with some crapola about how we wouldnt even be there for those attacks to have happened had it not been for saddam. i swear, it just gets more laughable every fuckn day. laughable at the stupidity of these white men in power. certainly not laughable at the mess they've made.

and lastly, we have this one, who thinks that paying state employees' salaries from private funds is unethical, to say the least i'm sure. do i agree? yes. vilsack, for all the good he's done, isn't perfect and made a whopper of a 'mistake' with this one. i'm sure he has his reasons, and they're probably as sound as a bu$h excuse. but hey, lets not get in the habit of this sort of thing. if donors want to pay state employees' salaries, let them pay the road workers and the social workers.
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Private payouts
Regarding the plan to pay Iowa's director of economic development in part with private funds:
The use of private funds to supplement state employee wages is inappropriate, especially if the beneficiaries of the private largess will be making decisions about the distribution of state money that could go to the donors.
Mark L. Smith,
Des Moines "

the register is just full of it today. it != shit .. but a good example of how a whole lotta people seem to be feeling these day. here we have someone who would have a very hard time sweating out an answer as to just where did george bu$h "plant his seeds?"
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Being rich: An OK goal
As the gap between the 'rich' and the 'poor' continues to increase, several thoughts come to mind.
I remember when those 'without' used to admire those 'with.' I remember when those 'without' aspired to be like those 'with.' I remember the media didn't make a big deal out of the difference.
As years go by, this gap between incomes and net worth will continue to widen due to the following fact:
Rich people continue to do what makes them rich, and poor people continue to do what makes them poor. Imagine that. That is why no matter what is done to try to make everyone the same, it will never happen.
A wise man once told me, 'Young man, if you never get around to planting any seeds, how do you ever expect to live off of the harvest?'
Kurt E. Brewer,
Des Moines."

the hangover must be wearing off.
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Regarding a quote in the July 20 Register story, 'Swift Victory, Ill-Planned Peace':
'Pentagon officials said they are studying the lessons of Iraq closely - to ensure that the next U.S. takeover of a foreign country goes more smoothly.
' 'We are going to get better over time,' promised Lawrence DiRita, a special assistant to [Secretary of State Donald] Rumsfeld. 'We'll get better as we do it more often'.'
What outrageous statements. U.S. citizens gave President Bush a free pass with Iraq because it seemed terrorism could be encouraged by Saddam Hussein. But to talk of other takeovers is chilling.
What country and time are we in? I do not see any understanding or appreciation of other cultures by this administration. No wonder Bush's poll numbers continue to slide.
Bonnie Pitz,
Newton."

great letter today in the register.
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Hook President Bush up to a lie detector and ask him if he hyped intelligence to justify the Iraq war. He will answer 'no' and the needle won't even quiver.
The deception Bush practices is self-deception. He hears what he wants to hear and believes what he wants to believe. Common enough, but potentially deadly in a president.
Ian Brinnie,
Des Moines."

corporate welfare? if we're going to do a cost-estimate ratio thing, then lets get busy. because the cost of not providing basic healthcare and foodstamps to the poor, is right up there when it comes to how much the state could save by offering the tidbit assistance it's being asked for, and in cases where poopyheads are writing the checks, denied.
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Wells Fargo reportedly may ask state and local officials for $25 million to $30 million in aid. "

i didnt even have to get past the 1st line, much less to the end of the 1st paragraph to know this letter writer was from west des moines, poopyville of the midwest.
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "I'm afraid I can't conjure up any sympathy for these complaining U.S. soldiers. The poor babies have been away from Mama for almost six months now. But it is easy to see where the liberal media would pick it up and try to make a big deal out of it."

a few months ago, mason city iowa voters approved a 1% local option sales tax that was supposed to offset the budget cuts hitting our schools. today, news of the school board continuing to cut staff & services to the tune of $373,000. i'm just sick.

as they say in washington: how much do ya got?
Yahoo! News - Police Departments Turn to Private Money: "Police and foundation officials say they guard against the possibility of wealthy donors winning undue influence.
Without question, some donors are helping themselves. The handbag manufacturer Coach, Major League Baseball and the Motion Picture Association of America earmark their donations for the NYPD's trademark-infringement unit, contributing to a $200,000 account that is used to make undercover purchases of counterfeit CDs, clothes and other goods.
Supervising Sgt. Tom McFadden said the funding does not compromise his unit's independence. "

FBI AND US SPY AGENTS SAY BUSH SPIKED BIN LADEN PROBES BEFORE 11 SEPTEMBER: "But the FBI files were closed in 1996 apparently before any conclusions could be reached on either the Bin Laden brothers or the organisation itself. High-placed intelligence sources in Washington told the Guardian this week: 'There were always constraints on investigating the Saudis'.

They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to 'back off' from investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Pakistan."

DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "In his July 14 letter, Greg Heartsill indulges in some illogic by equating the donors to a given political party with those most helped by a party. He claims that more big-money donations are given to Democrats than to Republicans and then draws the conclusion that the 'Democrats are actually the party of the rich.'
That can only be true if one assumes that the Democratic Party pays back these rich donors with pro-wealthy policies. Heartsill makes no such claim.
Of course there are wealthy Democrats, just as there are Republicans of modest means. But the test of a party lies in its policies and values, not in its donors. The policies of the Democratic Party are more closely aligned with the economic interests of families of average means than are those of the Republicans.
Robert Bataille,
Ames."

i was never scared about the threat from iraq. but i AM scared of the north korean threat.

it's one thing that a governor (in this case, Iowa's Tom Vilsack) admitting that he can't read email, it's quite another when another leader (in this case, the current resident of the whitehouse) bounces it. from today's slate:

Finally, the NYT fronts George W.'s new email address, in case you want to weigh in on any of the above. The new address dumps you smack into an e-bureaucracy, however—you've got to wade through nine Web pages, pick your topic from a list and then state your intentions, i.e., friend or foe? After your message is sent, you have to confirm that you really meant to send it. Jimmy Orr, first identified in the article as a White House spokesman and then, two paragraphs later, as Internet news director, calls the new system an "enhancement," but he adds that the old address is still perfectly fine—except that your message may not be read or responded to.

my letter to the editor of the globe gazette

there's just too much to track, so to enlist some help here's a couple of links:

ITN

and

BARTCOP

DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Cozy ties between business and government get in the way of economic freedom, too. When governments intervene on behalf of various businesses, give welfare to corporations or adopt supposedly business-friendly policies, it skews the market. Business and government must maintain an arm's-length relationship for both business and democracy to function correctly, argues The Economist. When business lobbyists dominate government, public policy is inevitably twisted into the service of private greed."

DAMN i wish he'd run for president.
Janeane Garofalo Interview | Elizabeth DiNovella | May 2003 Issue: "Question: Why are you so active in social justice and peace issues?
Martin Sheen: I do it because I can't seem to live with myself if I do not. I don't know any other way to be. It isn't something you can explain; it is just something that you do; it is something that you are."

NBC’s instant expert. Appearing by phone from Baghdad on MSNBC’s Imus in the Morning on Thursday, NBC News reporter Tom Aspell complained about the lack of electricity and suggested U.S. officials aren’t being forthcoming about why there isn’t guaranteed electricity as he asserted that “we're being led to believe that the blame is entirely at the feet of saboteurs.” Noting how hot it is, Aspell suggested the solution is easy: “It's really quite unbearable and so easy to fix if they'd just rolled in and brought a lot of power lines and really did make a concentrated effort, I'm sure things would calm down a lot sooner."

So how much time has Aspell spent in Baghdad to gain such expertise on how the solution is so easy? Imus: "How long have you been there?" Aspell: "Two days.”

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030711.asp#2

give this girl a ceegar
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "We continually hear that drug companies need the money to continue their research into new medications, yet their advertising budgets far exceed their research budgets."
Carol Dupic,
Emmetsburg.

DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Supporting the troops means using every resource available to speed the completion of their mission so they can come home."

DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "If the benefit for seniors is really as good as politicians want America to believe, why isn't it good enough for lawmakers?
Congressman Fortney Stark of California observed, 'This bill says, 'We take care of our own, and to hell with the average American.' "

TOMPAINE.com - From The New York Times Best-seller: See No Evil: "On my BBC television show, Newsnight, an American journalist confessed that, since the 9/11 attacks, U.S. reporters are simply too afraid to ask the uncomfortable questions that could kill careers: 'It's an obscene comparison, but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be neck-laced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck,' Dan Rather said. Without his makeup, Rather looked drawn, old and defeated in confessing that he too had given in. 'It's that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions and to continue to bore in on the tough questions so often.' "

BUSH LIED AND THOUSANDS DIED
Jihad Unspun - A Clear View On The US War On "Terrorism": "New information from remote locations of Iraq has pushed up the civilian death toll from the U.S.-led war by 500 in the last month to at least 6,000, an Anglo-American research group says. The Iraq Body Count's (IBC) latest figures, based on media reports and more than a dozen counting projects from independent investigators in and outside Iraq, put the minimum number of civilians dead at 6,055 and the maximum at 7,706"

the excuse du jour:
Yahoo! News - Rumsfeld: No New Iraq Weapons Evidence Before War: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday the United States did not go to war with Iraq (news - web sites) because of dramatic new evidence of banned weapons but because it saw existing information on Iraqi arms programs in a new light after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. "

well, DUH. what else should we have expected from liars, cheats and thieves.
2002 Federal Register Is Longest Ever (washingtonpost.com): "The Bush administration, philosophically wedded to the idea of smaller government, issued a record-high number of pages of new federal regulations last year, according to a study to be released today by the Cato Institute.
The libertarian think tank found that the Federal Register boasted 75,606 pages of federal regulations in 2002, up from a high of 74,528 pages in 2000, when President Bill Clinton was still in office. The surge is part of a decade-long rise in this crude index of federal regulatory activity, with the number of pages in the Federal Register increasing by 24 percent between 1993 and 2002."

dueling quotes comin up:
Yahoo! News - Dems Urge Probe of Iraqi Uranium Claim: "On June 8, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), too, had said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' that Bush was wrong when he said the British government had learned that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa to build weapons.
'No one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery,' she said. 'Of course, it was information that was mistaken.' "

the voice of the grunt, david hackworth writes:

that's tellin 'em clark. :)
DesMoinesRegister.com | Opinion: "Bruce Fleming's June 27 letter, 'More Gun Owners Equals Less Gun Violence,' makes the statement that 'Guns are used 2.5 million times per year to defend life and home from criminals.'
The figure appears statistically impossible. If accurate, it would mean approximately one in 100 Americans - man, woman and child - would have used a firearm in the last year to defend their lives or property.
Yet a majority of Americans don't own a gun, much less use it annually to blast away at attackers. Translated to my town of 5,000, it would imply there were 50 such incidents of defensive shooting in the last year. I would have heard about such a wave of violence.
The only way the numbers work is if recreational hunting is included in the mix. Perhaps the source of the data has counted ducks, deer and other game in his definition of 'criminals.'
This sounds improbable, but it makes the statistic believable and is on a similar intellectual level to other arguments by the National Rifle Association and its supporters.
Clark Sheets,
Sheldon. "

t r u t h o u t - William Rivers Pitt | The Insiders Are Coming Out: "'As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.'"

carolyn kay over at makethemaccountable points out all the good news lately. well, DUH. evil greed has that way of overbiting and choking on it.

republicons will say: yes sir, yes sir.
democrats will say: say WHAT?

To cut to the chase, we have just revealed a hole in the U.S. Electoral system through which you could drive a mack truck. The details follow below and are at the following two links… with pictures….

Inside A U.S. Election Vote Counting Program

Story with, for the first time, a link to the full 40,000 files from the
Diebold ftp site

BRAAAH VO

New Page 1: "Fox gives misinformation.
Conservatives watch Fox.
Therefore, conservatives who follow the news closely are misinformed."

Go-Along First Lady Shows She Can Go It Alone: "But in a White House where senior staff members are commended for keeping their heads down and letting the president be the star"

Go-Along First Lady Shows She Can Go It Alone: "Laura Bush collected nearly $2 million last month at three fund-raisers for President Bush's re-election campaign, Bush-Cheney '04, and campaign officials expect her to appear at some 20 more."