Bush Laughs at Demos Dancing in Red Zone:

Yes, I know you and Charlie Rose think I'm an idiot because I expect the next election to be stolen, but I'm not the only one. Smarter people than me can explain it. Want to know how? Jon "Hannibal" Stokes over at Ars Technica explains it in some detail. (Note his disclaimer at the bottom of the article.) The truth is that it just isn't that hard. In fact, I've had one Republican insider tell me in no uncertain terms that it will happen. The machines are completely unsafe.

So Bush is out compaigning today on behalf of Republicans who, all the poles say, shouldn't stand a chance two weeks from tomorrow. The question will be whether a substantial number of elections are stolen or only just enough for Bush to keep his rubber stamp majority in both the Senate and the House.

Who's Dancing in the Red Zone?

Bush may be mocking Dems for "dancing in the red zone" (the twenty yards in front of the football end zone), but big business seems prepared to concede that the game is about to swing in the Blue Team's favor. Corporate America has begun to shift its financial reserves into the political version of a "hedge fund" to back the team that's likely to enforce the regulations they might have to live by.

Today's New York Times notes that the big boys are starting to dump last minute political donations into various Democratic campaigns. According to the Times, the shift in financial backing from one party to the other hasn't been this dramatic since 1994, and all Democrats know what happened that year. Maybe Newt GetRich's "revolution" is finally screeching to a hault. It might be interesting to see what happens if the vehicle of government actually stopped driving in high speed reverse for a change.

"I Don't See Color"

Today's New York Times features an editorial denouncing the G.O.P.'s racist attack ad in the Tennessee Senate race, which has a provocative blond lady salaciously inviting Rep. Harold Ford Jr. to call her. Outrage over the ad has been sweeping through the liberal media for a couple of days now, aimed at the G.O.P. for having authorized the ad, although the G.O.P. has denied any responsibility for it.

According to Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, “We didn’t have anything to do with creating it.” Nevertheless, the disclaimer at the end of the ad stipulates quite otherwise.

The real issue here, however, isn't who authorized the ad, but the fact that the ad itself might help to affect the outcome of the election. The fact that either the G.O.P. or its sibling "independent" affiliate would believe that such racial biggotry could easily be exploited indicates that racism and the fear that feeds it still holds a powerful sway in this country.

How Will the Next Election Be Stolen?

With all the talk about computer fraud and voter lockouts at the polls in 2004 (not to mention "hanging chads" in 2000) the next election is likely to be stolen by manipulating absentee ballots.

The New York Times reports that "Experts estimate that more than 20 percent of voters nationwide will cast their ballots before Election Day by mail or at early-voting locations, a proportion of the electorate that is rising with each election."

Historically, many places don't even bother to open absentee ballots, arguing that they are typically insufficient in number to change the results of an election. Just how tempting is this going to be for someone motivated to make sure his/her candidate remains in office?

Beating That Dead Horse:

With the Republican fortunes on the line, Secretary of Defense Donny Rumsfeld and President Bush took their message of "stay the course in Iraq" to the street yesterday. Well, actually they preached it to the Republican choir, but the singers have been contimplating rebellion of late.

According to the Washington Post, "In a briefing … at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld played down the significance of fighting and sectarian violence that have erupted over the past few days outside Baghdad, as U.S. troops in Iraq suffer some of the highest monthly casualties since the 2003 invasion." The Post writers state that "Rumsfeld rejected the suggestion that this means the U.S. strategy of 'clear, hold and build' is failing."

The Post further states,

The remarks came amid growing concern among both Republican and Democratic lawmakers about the administration's Iraq plan, with some predicting that upcoming elections and the apparent lack of progress on the ground would soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended support of the war.

Seems more and more folks are coming to this conclusion. First the lemmings run one way and then they run another. Couldn't you just see this coming? How far in the sand do you have to have your head burried anyway?

Lynne F. Stewart, Lawyer Who Battles Big Government, Receives 28-Month Sentence:

Stewart, characterized by the New York Times as "the firebrand lawyer known for defending unsavory criminals," received a sentence of just over two years, not the 30 years that the government asked for in its case against her for divulging information to the press passed on to her by her client, an imprisoned terrorist.

Stewart, 67, was found guilty by a jury in February of 2005. She is recovering from breast surgery and is said to be afraid that it will return in prison, where the government can control its treatment, or the lack thereof, as a means of controlling her.

Although only a few reporters were allowed in the courtroom during sentencing, the general report is that Stewart's followers view the sentence as a victory of sorts. The government was intent on sending a strong message to those who would speak out against the current policy regarding terrorism with a sentence against Stewart that would virtually amount to a death sentence.

Technology: The New Media

Newspapers are so afraid of it that they tie themselves into knotts. The music industry has sued the pants off of its on customer base. The movie industry sent out its spokesman to accuse college students of universally stealing its property. And Steve Jobs discovered a way to use it and make the company he helped found profitable again. And what's this stuff about Google—isn't that a search engine—paying a king's fortune to some group of guys who invented some Web site called YouTube?

Today's New York Times features an article by David Carr called, "Idiosyncratic and Personal, PC Edges TV," that addresses the subject in the most articulate manner I've seen yet. (Eat your heart out, Charlie Rose.)

Have We Simply Substituted Façade for Substance?

David Hajdu, the music critic for The New Republic, seems to think so, as he addresses the recent sale of YouTube for mega bucks to the guys at Google, in an op-ed piece in today's New York Times. Let me spoil his joke by revealing his punch line: "Like a great many of the people on YouTube clips … Chad and Steve [co-founders] treat themselves as a joke without bothering to be funny."

Hajdu's thesis is that the tell all medium reveals little more about us than that there seems little enough to reveal. But then maybe Hajdu is just jealous of that $1.65 billion payday the boys just walked into, provided Google's stock value remains high.

Oddities I Bet You Didn't Know:

China, according to a story in The New York Times, is preparing to enact laws to protect workers, including the boosting of unions. Now here's the kicker, WallyWorld fans, recently " Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s biggest retailer, was forced to accept unions in its Chinese outlets."

Now is that a progressive country or what?

P. S. China will soon own more of America than Americans do. Thanks again, GW.

Ney Cops Plea:

Ohio Republican Bob Ney pleaded guilty to bribery charges today, in connection with the Jack Abramoff scandal. Ney faces jail time (in some federal country club where he'll no doubt write a tell all book) of 27 months to 10 years.

According to an AP report, Ney's attourney "told the judge the congressman would resign from office before sentencing on Jan. 19." Ironically, his term expires January 3. Oh, well, minor slip of the tongue.

P. S. Does anyone else find it interesting that the first crook caught comes from Ohio, the state where Republicans claim to value morals above all else?

G. O. P. Scrambles to Put Foley Behind Them:

The Grand Old Party has gerrymandered the nation to ensure that it can retain a majority in both houses of congress, but now the party is running scared over the Foley business. The party of the moral majority (self-righteous and sanctimonious) has been harboring at least one sexual predator (not to mention all those folks sucking down the graft – Tom DeLay and others).

"Harboring" turns out to be quite the telling word as the House leadership seems to have known of the situation for years and did nothing about it. So isn't it curious that we are hearing Republican statements like the following:

“This is one more thing that makes people wonder about politicians and politics,” George Rasley, an aide to Representative Deborah Pryce, Republican of Ohio said. “It reinforces this notion of Washington being a place that bears no resemblance to real America.”

The "real America"? Where does George Rasley live? What America is he talking about? The one I live in has televangilists who meet with prostitutes, rip old people off from their savings, and develop TV empires so they can run for president, and priests who abuse children and then receive help from their officials in hiding from the legal repercussions.The "real America" I know has madmen in it who go into school rooms and murder little girls. What "real America" does George Rasley live in? Real America is a dangerous place where bad people do bad things and power corrupts just as assuredly as it does anywhere else in the world.

In other words, as long as America has people in it, it will suffer the same threats as most other countries. As long as we foolishly believe "it can't happen here," it will continue to happen here. Pretending that it can't is the most foolish path of all to follow. So go ahead and walk down the path barefoot, just keep your eyes open for the snake hiding in the grass. The one certainty is that he is lying there somewhere.

Tribune Company Bows to Street: Fires LA Times Editor

The Tribune Company has seen its stock under valued by Wall Street for some time now, and the majority stock holders have been outraged, but that hasn't prevented them from forcing the company to take action that the Street deems appropriate for the stock's value to rise back to where it belongs.

The LA Times has long been noted as one of the plushes plumbs, from a newswriter's standpoint, meaning the editorial staff is overstaffed and very well paid. Nevertheless, the newspaper has shown a consistant and even enviable profit over the years. So what's the problem?

The Street loves to see reorganization in a company. Stasis is anathema to the Street's willingness to value stock prices, and the one thing the Street loves more than anything is employee reductions. (That means "layoffs," "people being fired," "outsourcing.")

So the long and short of it is that one of the country's top five newspapers, a business that has consistantly run at a 20 percent profit margin, and whose business is to provide a service beyond the notions of simple quarterly profits, is being sacrificed to the Street's obsession with the next quarter's earnings.

Iraq: Stay the Course? Not Likely

G.W. has stated he'd stay the course in Iraq even if the only two people to back him were his wife and his dog. (NOTE: No mention of daughters or Mom and Dad.) Just how likely is this policy to continue?

In the meantime (or "as the lame duck Prez's term runs down"), the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, a man whose ambitions towards the White House are well known, has said, “In two or three months if this thing hasn’t come to fruition and this level of violence is not under control, I think it’s a responsibility of our government to determine: Is there a change of course we should take?” (qtd. David S. Cloud).

Sounds like Sen. Warner is notifying the rats they'd better learn how to swim.

Warner's term as chair, by the way, comes to an end at the conclusion of this year, just in time to kick off his two year campaign to unseat Sen. McCain as the front runner in the Grand Ol' Party's attempt to keep Sen. Clinton out of the White House.

"No One Could Have Imagined …"

Sec. of State Rice notoriously told the 9/11 Commission that the Bush administration had absolutely no warning about the 9/11 attacks, shifting the blame squarely on the intelligence community, particularly the C. I. A. and Director George Tenet. Later the Bush people pushed Tenet out of his office with a Medal of Freedom award.

Now White House Records reveal that Tenet in fact briefed the White House on the threat from Al Qaeda as early as July 10, 2001, two months before the attack.

Ms Rice, the national security advisor at the time, characterized the suggestion that the warnings were ignored as "incomprehensible." Perhaps she meant that the electorate would simply not be able to comprehend such ignorance on the part of the administration.

You can read more about it at The New York Times.

Woodward Debunks Bush Myth He Helped Create:

According to MICHIKO KAKUTANI over at The New York Times, Bob Woodward's latest book on the Bush presidency, State of Denial, paints a new picture of the Commander in Chief and his cabinet:

President Bush emerges as a passive, impatient, sophomoric and intellectually incurious leader, presiding over a grossly dysfunctional war cabinet and given to an almost religious certainty that makes him disinclined to rethink or re-evaluate decisions he has made about the war.

Woodward has staked his reputation on being the ulitmate Washington insider. How deep did he have to go to figure this out?

Some of you will wonder how such a man could ever have been elected to the White House, not once, but twice. The answer, my friends, is quite simple. GW is a man of the people. This little Wasp from the north-east, born with a silver spoon in his mouth and blood lines that go to the English crown, is just as regular, folks, as salt on a cracker.