WE WANT OUR WAGES BACK!

HI OPEN THREAD!

Where'd they go pee-wee? Your boss won't pay you? You can sue for that.

THANK YOU Christy, for your dilegence on a Weekend!

Every Jean Schmidt yard sign in the county went down overnight

MAKE SURE YOU PRINT THIS OFF AND CARRY IT WITH YOU IN YOUR PHONE BANKING AND DOOR TO DOORS!

tHEY WANT TO TRY AND RUN ON THE ECONOMY???

LET THEM:

Top Government Official Says US on Verge of Economic Disaster
Written by the AP

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102906Z.shtml

Esme: Still thinking about your family!

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ BIG HUGS }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Todays big hugs for Esme and all those hard working Democratic Candidate grassroots workers!
You know who you are, and again I thank you!

Keep up the efforts - it all helps.

It shouldn't be a partisan issue.

Pamb - hows everything looking for Lamont? Is he hanging in there o k? I know you all are working really, really hard.

Anyone planning to put up Governor Dean's outstanding appearance on Face the Nation today?
I was looking for it at You Tube under Democratic Videos.

Don't know whether you're going to voter Republican or not? Here, take some government money. Think that will help you decide?

GOP at a loss? Karl Rove has an 11th-hour plan to win.

He taps government resources to boost candidates in need.

During a whirlwind five-hour trip to bolster an endangered GOP congressman's reelection prospects, White House political guru Karl Rove last week delivered a fiery speech to 500 party activists, then shook every available hand and posed for snapshots like a rock star. He toured suburbs recently trashed by a snowstorm. He also found time to huddle with local strategists.

But the most significant element of Rove's effort to help four-term Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds keep his job may have occurred behind closed doors, when the White House strategist met with a federal disaster relief official contemplating how to respond to the storm. Four days later, Reynolds announced that President Bush would authorize millions of dollars in federal disaster aid for the area.

The timing was perfect: Reynolds broke the news hours after testifying before the House Ethics Committee about his role in the Mark Foley sex scandal — knocking reports on the scandal out of the spotlight.

LA Times

Mehlman vs. Dean- FACE THE NATION

I'm still shocked that we are still fighting a tactic, terrorism, after six years and are just now beginning to realize that no central command linking all who use terror to their advantage ever existed. Why can't our president and his administration apply concepts as simple as "know your enemy" before launching a full scale military assualt?

It shouldn't be a partisan issue.

The Wal-Mart puke, Terry Nelsen was forced to resign from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart, fearing a backlash because of the racist ad against Harold Ford, canidate for the Sanate let Nelsen go. Nelsen, who is a pug consultant was responsible for the ad.

Saudi Arabia is the central front in the War On Terror.
Mississippi is the central front in the War On Poverty.

domingo- guess this schmidt story is going to get some play around the country- glad to see it- i posted the enquirer article at the end of the last marathon thread- the guy at kos is right about the article- here's the thing, no real attempt to grapple with what her record actually is and what it might mean to southern ohio- their pathetic endorsement of her (she knows how to step in it but we're endorsing her anyway because she is such a busy little congresswoman) touts her "experience" when what they really need to be asking are why she consistently sides with corporate interests to the long-term detriment of her constituents- neither the article or their endorsement address this as the reason that she is now apparently beholden to some company that wants to bring nuclear waste to southern ohio

gotta run

Partisan rhetoric even in wartime sets Bush apart.

Bush now routinely labels Democrats "the party of cut-and-run." At a recent Republican fundraiser, Bush went much further. "The Democrat Party … has evolved from one that was confident in its capacity to help deal with the problems of the world to one that … has an approach of doubt and defeat," he declared.

Bush has absorbed his share of body blows from Democrats criticizing his management of the war. But tagging his rivals as the party of "defeat" is nonetheless extraordinary language for a commander in chief to use in a political campaign.

Other wartime presidents have been much more reluctant to argue that only their party was committed to success. Consider the way President Johnson approached the 1966 elections as the Vietnam War was escalating. To begin with, Johnson spent most of that October away from the campaign, on a 17-day tour of Asia that included Vietnam.

Then, at a news conference just before election day, Johnson dismissed the idea that congressional losses for the Democratic Party would affect either the thinking of the North Vietnamese or America's support for the troops in the field. If Republicans gained seats, he continued, "They may talk, and argue, and fight, and criticize, and play politics from time to time, but when they call the vote on supporting the men … in the Senate it will be 83 to 2 and in the House it will be 410-5."

In 1942, the first election after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was even more emphatic about separating war and politics. Roosevelt spent much of that fall visiting defense facilities on a tour during which he barred press coverage and insisted on being accompanied by Republican as well as Democratic local officials. When the chairman of the Democratic National Committee suggested that a GOP takeover of the House would be bad for the country, Roosevelt publicly rebuked him.

Even President Nixon displayed more restraint during the 1970 midterm election. Nixon barnstormed the country asking voters to elect members of Congress who would support his war policy. But he took pains to avoid claiming that only his party wanted to win. "This is not a partisan issue," Nixon declared that October at a rally for a Texas Republican Senate candidate named George H.W. Bush.

LA Times

You bring up a very good point Domingo. By dividing our country so politically, the president turns his back on his role as Commander in Chief. He believes himself to be the leader of the Republican party when he is, in fact, the leader of both. The division he creates extends to our military members as well. Where is our uniter?

One of the first lessons a leader must learn is that he has no favorites, just subordinates. Bush would rather have friends than lead effectively.

WE WANT OUR WAGES BACK!

Has anyone been looking into the North American Union, I have not heard it come up in any of the debates, and I have listened to many not just in TN.?

Does anyone have any information.
I remember that several companies are involved, such as Fedex, UPS and I believe Wal-mart. I don't like the fact that it allows crossroad long haul drivers to travel from canada all the way through the USA on to Mexico and vice-versa.

Lot's of activity here today I see. Everyone must be out campaigning for losers.

hi dk2

this is the official information from the guvmint

this is an interesting take from Canadian sources

This is too funny. Apple-Bobbing">http://bluegalinaredstate.blogspot.com/2006/10/blog-post.html">Apple-Bobbing at the Cheney's.

Our spy kids got this one:

Mr. Will, active in left-leaning political causes, was filming the standoff for an organization called Independent Media Center, or Indymedia. He was among the plaintiffs who had won a $120,000 settlement from New York City after officials demolished an East Fifth Street building despite a judge’s order that it remain standing until people squatting there could retrieve their belongings.

Mr. Will worked as a freelance photographer and reporter for the New York City chapter of the Indypendent, a radical collective that published a weekly newspaper and maintained a Web site dedicated to subjects like immigration, the Iraq war and the struggles of the developing world. In recent years he traveled widely in Latin America.

In Manhattan on Saturday night, about 100 people gathered outside the Mexican Consulate for a somber remembrance of Mr. Will. People lighted candles and incense and held a large banner that read, “Bring Brad Will’s Assassin to Justice.”

Witnesses in Oaxaca said a plainclothes police officer was responsible for his death. Protest leaders said such violence by the authorities would only inflame the already volatile situation.

The Oaxaca attorney general, Lizbeth Cana, labeled the protesters urban guerrillas and said it was understandable that local people were lashing out at them violently. “The people are fed up with permanent violence, threats and kidnappings,” she said, according to The Associated Press. But the mayor of a nearby town said the five men being detained for possible involvement in Mr. Will’s killing were not disgruntled ordinary local citizens but police officers and local officials.

There is no central command of terrorism. Terrorism is a tactic used by many independent groups in the Middle East. All fight for their own reasons, sometimes against one another. Because their is no central command of terrorism, we must focus our attention on those groups who threaten the United States specifically.

If we choose to continue to refer to our enemies as simply terrorists, then we will never develop the understanding of them that will allow us to defeat or to otherwise subdue them. We will instead be left running around like chickens with our heads cut off as we despirately attempt to destroy a movement that does not exist. This is where the president has gone wrong.

Recognize your true enemies. Do not confuse them with their tactics or their ethnicity. Do not attack their ethnicity especially, because doing so will only lead to increased interest in their movement by people of that ethnicity and thus greater recruitment. Many Americans are confused and need despirately to learn these lessons.

I thought Sun Tzu was required readign for the MBA.

Terror is an emotion and terrorism a tactic. Neither describes a human organization that can be defeated through military means.

Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 29, 2006 at 03:15 PM

Thanks - A good laugh was needed

I thought Sun Tzu was required readign for the MBA.

You noticed that I've gone back to basics have you?

I aim to please. And to skewer.

Or were you looking over the reading lists posted here earlier?

Outstanding journalistic report on the effects of extreme poverty: Africa’s World of Forced Labor, in a 6-Year-Old’s Eyes

By SHARON LaFRANIERE

Don't miss the short video. This is where we should be focusing our eleven million dollars an hour on war. This is why the most courageous of our humans will stop this insane cycle of violence and evolve. This is why our thrust for world domination is so evil.

Marine,
do you recall the story from last week where the "military experts" couldn't describe the differences between Sunni and Shia? we are geographic in our self-identification. not all cultures are, especially ancient ones like the tribal people of the region where we're flushing eleven million an hour

i am totally opposed to the whole operation in Iraq and was appalled when we bombed Afghanistan. what are your comments on the french intel reports coming out of that quagmire?

Africa is a basket case. They obviously can't govern themselves. Rhodesisa was an exporter of wheat before they kicked the British out and now they can't even feed themselves. They need to invite the colonial powers back in.

Posted by dixiehen on October 29, 2006 at 03:37 PM

dixiehen, did i read you lost your nephew in the war?

I haven't seen everything that the French are reporting, but what little I have seen leads me to believe that what I'm suggesting here is true, that Bush and company went after a tactic and failed to identify their human enemy beforehand. These uneducated politcal leaders thought that a similar tactic meant that a centralized command element existed. Only now do they admit that this was not the case, although they do so far too slowly for strategy to catch up.

Democrats: To fix Iraq, first GOP must go
Full story:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/28/Dems.radio.ap/index.html

Posted by fade2bluz on October 29, 2006 at 03:19 PM

thanks for the info on Brad Will.

Mexican riot police have advanced on the southern city of Oaxaca, where protesters have been rallying against the state governor for five months.
Backed by helicopters and armoured trucks, police destroyed a street barricade erected by demonstrators, but met little initial resistance.

The unrest began when striking teachers and leftists occupied the town centre.

But now some 70,000 teachers, who were demanding higher pay, have reportedly agreed to return to work on Monday. bbc

Bloomberg is an idiot! Look what this moron is doing! Bloomberg raises cash for Lieberman

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/28/lieberman.bloomberg.ap/index.html

The New York Times endorses Ned Lamont! Read and then forward the article to your friends and personal contacts.

http://www.nedlamont.com

As a Canadian general prepares to hand over command of NATO troops in southern Afghanistan, he says the environment has been "more dangerous" than any other he's faced in a 26-year career.
The Canadian Press

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/10/29/afghanistan-fraser.html

Lieberman is just going to divide the Republican and Independant vote, he never was a Democrat.

fade - He was a cousin and thanks for remembering.

A roadside blast killed one NATO soldier and wounded eight others in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said Sunday, without disclosing the nationality of any of the soldiers.
Three civilians were wounded in the blast, which occurred Sunday in Uruzgan province, NATO said.
Full story:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/10/29/afghanistan.html

Lieberman is just going to divide the Republican and Independant vote, he never was a Democrat.

Posted by Marine on October 29, 2006 at 03:55 PM

Which is exactly why some serious activism is needed by Democrats to help Ned Lamont win this election. We can't afford to lose this Senate seat to Liberman.

The Kansas City Star endorsed McCaskill today.

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6097180.stm

We can't afford to lose this Senate seat to Liberman.

I agree.

from Asia Times:

'Stability First': Newspeak for rape of Iraq

By Pepe Escobar

Marine: On the topic of The Art of WarI'm the wife of a cold-war officer. They won theirs using those principles. It is much better to win without ever firing a shot. That's as basic as it gets. It's all very Zen. I know my Sun Tzu and have been trying to get people to go back to the basics for a long time.

Tony Blair's most trusted military commander yesterday branded as 'cuckoo' the way Britain's overstretched army was sent into Afghanistan.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1934413,00.html

Hello Dems,

Feeling a little down today. Just got back from phone banking for Tammy, and I got a lot of people cursing at me. This race is going down to the wire.

On a good note, I got to meet Dick Durbin.

On the Sunni/Shia thing, I was an advisor to the Afghan National Army for a year, and half of my fellow advisors couldn't tell you the difference between the two. It is very similar to Protestant vs. Catholic thing. The Shia believe their religious leaders are actually the descendents of chosen profits--you have to be one of them to be a mullah, while the sunni view their leaders as just representatives. They accuse each other of being radicals and on the wrong path. Oh, how I hate religion.

Posted by DemocratKickingAss on October 29, 2006 at 03:49 PM

God bless Webb and keep his son safe.

marine, your confirmation bias aside:

well, it's not going well in Afghanistan. hello, lockdown?

To those of us here that can't understand that Africa is a continent and not a single political entity, I feel sorry for you.

Actually, some countries in Africa are pretty stable and democratic, (i.e. Ghana)

Oops I stepped in cow dung, sorry.

Feel free to use this if you are so inclined:

We are going to keep winning because we are not out parents democratic party. Rather, we are our grandparents Democratic Party.

Why did we invade Iraq?

{{{ranger}}}

imagine...eh? Durbin is a gem. I met him at St. Louis Kerry HQ and he is so gracious. You're in the trenches.

We stopped our calling, since we met our objectives. There is a danger, as in Claire McKaskill's campaign, that the voters are pestered by too many groups and it does more harm than good.

You're doing what you can. Thank you!

Posted by pee-wee on October 29, 2006 at 04:10 PM

So that a select few contractors with close ties to republicans could get filthy rich....MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

BlueGirl, I expected Iraq to be handled in the same manner. All would be well today if it had.

It just makes me sick, seeing how ignorant some of our political leaders are when it comes to warfare, mainly because they influence our military approach. In six years, I haven't seen one intelligent move accepted by these people.

Oops I stepped in cow dung, sorry.

Posted by ranger995 on October 29, 2006 at 04:09 PM

yes, okay. now wipe your slippers off and grab yourself a cold drink. these things are best ignored. i wish we'd put the "smash the troll" button up again. when we slipped up, we'd donate ten bucks. sometimes i weighed out my options and made that ten bucks count!

again, it's okay. you've earned it

Posted by fade2bluz on October 29, 2006 at 04:08 PM

It breaks my heart to see things going poorly in Afghanistan, I think everyone there had such high hopes. If only we put the effort there and not elsewhere. Now it is starting to look like what I worked hard to do for a year in that place is for nothing. Meanwhile, the Taleban, Al Qaeda, and HIG are growing in popularity both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Just great!!!

ranger - welcome to friendly territory - I promise not to curse you.

Thank for your work helping Tammy and serving this country.

Hope you plan to be here for the celebration on 11/8

Remember it ain't over til the fat lady sings. We need to keep phoning, canvassing, and GOTV

I am g;ad they finally canceled daylight savings time. the extra hour of daylight is what was causing global warming.

Fade,

From now on, we will only be doing door to door canvassing and GOTV. I hope that has better affects. My mood has definitely grown sour lately.

Marine - Do you know many SAC officers? They are a unique group.

ranger, I just saw a Marine Reserve Unit, one trained specifically for Cold Weather operations, come back from Iraq after 7 months deployed. This was a unit of gunners who could have done a lot of good in Afghanistan this winter who's time was instead wasted in the desert.

Durbin is a great guy, and he made a point to come and speak with everyone individually. He also made a great speech. I am glad he represents us. Glad you were here today fade!

Hi dixiehen, Marine, and others...

Ok, we are going to host a Halloween thing at our place tonight, and I promised to make a pumpkin pie. I have always like making pies. I once had an officer make fun of me for making pies, he said "men don't make no pies in the south where I come from!" I never took shit from officers, so I replied "Maybe if your boys had some better field cookin' you wouldn't have gotten your asses beat in the civil war"

Marine,

I don't know how long ago you were in, but when I was in the Marines we all had to go to cold weather training--all infantry anyway.

I served in Afghanistan as a tactical advisor to the Afghan National Army, and I lived with them in 3/3 and 2/3 area of operations in Afghanistan. I understand the Marines are not doing anymore rotations there. Oh well, the people I worked on the company level with were pretty good, but their BC was a retard, just like the Army. Getting rank has become extremely political--all nay sayers are thrown out. That is why I think we are not getting any fresh ideas out of the military commanders.

Maybe if your boys had some better field cookin' you wouldn't have gotten your asses beat in the civil war"

Posted by ranger995 on October 29, 2006 at 04:25 PM

LMAO and great to see you! Best regards to your wife and our sincere thanks for all that you both do. Enjoy the party and the creativity with pumpkin.

Later, everyone

Posted by fade2bluz on October 29, 2006 at 04:14 PM

{{{FADE}}}

SAC officers can be some insufferable pricks. I used to hear the following, shall we say, ad nauseum...

"Peace Through Strength -- Victory Through Devastation"

"Peace Is Our Profession" or more ferquently "peace is our profession. War is out hobby

"To err is human. To forgive is divine. Neither is SAC policy"

Now I hear constantly...

"The Cold War didn't just end, it was WON!" Motto of the Society of the Strategic Air Command.

But think about it...Never before in history did any group of people have at their fingertips so much raw paower. And neveer has any group of people shown more restraint. I include the cold warriors on both sides in that assessment.

ranger, I know everyone attends cold weather training, but these guys lived in cold weather environments and do much better operating under those conditions because of it. Other units suffer, despite their cold weather training, because there is only so much that infrequent cold weather ops can prepare a unit for.

Steve, you are no longer funny. You are no longer clever. You are a g'd awful nusience. Very tiresome. Why do you like to be hated so?
You must have a horrible personality deficiency. Feeling sorry for you is beyound capacity. Either adapt a new persona or leave.

John Kerry teams up with Ned Lamont at a veterans event. Watch the video:

http://video.johnkerry.com/video/flash/102506_lamont.html

Getting rank has become extremely political

The most political SOB on the planet is a Bird Colonel with stars in his (or her) eyes.

Blue, I know only one man who worked so close to the power you describe, and he's still serving, just not for this country.

The hardest thing for me to accept when I became a Marine is that the Marine Corps as a whole hasn't got a clue when it comes to Cold Weather Operations.

Marine,

Didn't mean to offend you if I did. Anyway, it would probably have been better for them to go to NTC to get ready for Iraq. However, I think it does get cold there, particulary in western and northern Iraq. Anyway, Marine units are no longer in the rotation for Afghanistan. I think it is going to be the sole work of the 10th Mountain division, which makes sense to me. I worked with both over there, and they were pretty comparable. I just wish we would put more effort into training the ANA.

Oh well, take care Dems

dk, sorry I missed you this morning.

Your question on Lamont.

A supposed Rasmusson poll about to be released, if true, has Lieberman at 48%, Lamont at 40%, and the Republican up to 9%. Lieberman now below 50% mark.

Lamont's own polling has it much closer than that obviously flawed one of Quinnipiac a couple weeks ago.

We shall see on Election day.

I just got my mail from yesterday. There was a Mailer from Lieberman in it. IT IS SO pathetic, inside big red section "Warning, Do not Ned Lamont's Lies".

Now Ned has been playing old Joe Lieberman tapes, word for word. He has been printing articles of Joe's, word for word. He has been showing Joe's voting record, and what they mean.

Yet Joe wants people to think these are LIES?

too freaken pitiful!

I live with one of the cocky bastards.

They do one little thing like win the Cold War, and they get all insufferable.

seriously, at any given time there were 90 ELAB enlisted troops and maybe ten officers, spread over all three Titan II bases. There were maybe 30 enlisted personnel who could be trused in the silos and perhaps 4 or 5 officers. It's a really small club.

ranger, I couldn't agree with you more. And you didn't offend.

Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 29, 2006 at 04:36 PM

I know that this has always been true, but I have 17 years of experience and it is a lot worse now than when I joined. Commanders use to invite the opinions of PLs, COs, and senior NCOS, now you are reprimanded for voicing your opinion, and I am talking about for tactical reasons, not political. I remember getting threatened with an article 15 when I pointed out some inconsistencies in an OPORD once, it has gotten crazy.

ranger - I think I know your southern officer (or several of his ilk).

marine - my son who was in marine reserve unit said the marines get the navy left overs. The reserves get active duty left overs.

Can anyone explain to me why we can train American military for Iraq in months but can't train Iraqis in years?

That is a good question dixie. I'd say that it has something to do with the fact that we were unwilling to work with the army in existance after Saddam was removed. There is an awful shortage when it comes to experienced leadership because most of it went to militias and insurgent groups then.

Posted by Marine on October 29, 2006 at 04:40 PM

You really think so? I served in both Army and Marines, and I got much better cold weather training in the Marines. That being said, Marine units rarely deploy to cold weather areas for training as a unit. Mostly, just individual stuff. At least the Marines from 2/3 went to the mountain warfare training center before they came to Afghanistan. I went to Fort Hood, not a mountain in site. Oh well, I really have to get cookin' now.

Good luck to all Dems

BGRS,

I am not too sure they should take so much credit for "winning the cold war" I think we owe a little bit of that to people like Boris Yeltsin, who stood on the turret of a tank and convinced them to shoot the Duma instead of the people. Although a drunk, he was pretty heroic. Maybe some of those people in Russia who wanted change should get some credit.

Hey guys did anyone see an article from the LA Times about Rove's plan for the midterms. Interesting read.

Pam B

Hang in there. Anything is possible. Lamont took Joe once, hopefully he can do it again.

NYT endorsement may help.

Thanks for all your hard work!!!!!

ranger, I ran into the same political atmosphere a few times during my time in service. In most cases I considered this to be a result of inexperienced leadership, while in other cases I saw a simple lack of understanding at work. Too many of our leaders were perverted by agressive anti-fraternization regulations that convinced them that simple communication was to be avoided. For whatever reason, many of todays leaders fail to understand that they can communicate and issue orders.

ranger, I might be biased because I've always been use to cold weather.

Sadam's lawyers want verdict held up until after election.

Foley should be out of rehab before the election.

It will be getting interesting.

Got to run- keep the faith

Posted by dixiehen on October 29, 2006 at 04:46 PM

For several reasons, I know because we are not doing a great job in Afghanistan either, and that was part of my mission there.

1) We do not take it seriously. We are not putting a great deal of money or effort into the training. For example, I worked with a team advising an ANA infantry battalion, there were 12 of us, and only 5-6 were infantrymen. Tell me, how can an LTC from the Corps of Engineers teach the Afghan BC to be an Infantry commander? We had two navy guys assigned to our team that had never been on an infantry patrol, not even in training. Yet they were expected to teach these things to the ANA

2) The ANA don't trust us that much, because we give them shitty supplies and bases. While our large bases in Baghram and Kabul were getting dairy queens built on them, we couldn't get materials to build defensive barriers on our bases in the Kunar province, where we were rocketed a lot.

3) The Americans doing the training don't get sufficient cultural training beforehand. This leads to a lot of American advisors despising their ANA counterparts. I found that the Afghans do not respond to yelling or degredation like our soldiers do. This is a big faux paux, you have to sit down have tea and always maintain your cool, then they respect you and will do anything for you. Most Americans scream and yell, because that works with our joes, but this would only make the Afghans not want to do anything at all--then people called them lazy.

4) Lastly, the vast majority of Afhgans were joining the Army to get paid. They were not nationalistic or patriotic. That is not to say that they weren't brave and trustworthy--I learned they were firsthand. However, they tended no to care all that much about routing out the enemy. Also, there is an enormous amount of corruption in the ANA, I mean out right stealing going on.

Credit goes to both sides. have you ever heard of Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov?

I was just saying that theya re an insufferable lot. Especially when you get them together.

The remnants of the Cold War are all gone, just about (We'll always have Incirlik!!!) but we went to a big "Do" as Molly Ivins would say -bby a "Big Do" I mean gowns and mess dress - one night at the O Club when we were at Rhine Mein. It was after the Soviet Union disbanded, and there were Russian officers in attendance. It was surreal to sit at a table with my husbands cold war counterpart and ooh and aah over pictures of one anothers kids.

Hi Pamb:

Don't you all give up yet, man the torpedos and batten down the hatches, it may be a bumpy ride, we must get all the big wig Democrats there this week to help. I hope Tim T is sending out the SOS to Hillary and BIll, and all the others, it would be a smash week if you all could get many big names there to out show the other side.

You all are doing great, many prayers for your success! BIG HUGS TO ALL OF YOU THERE!

Someone needs to tell them to get rid of that slogan because it's well known and documented that Lincoln had absolutely no use for the slaves

Posted by J on October 29, 2006 at 01:26 AM

Well of course Lincoln had no use for the slaves - he lived in a free state. Duh

Posted by FrostyMacCowpie on October 29, 2006 at 01:44 AM

I would hope you didn't intend your response to be funny or to make light of the institution of slavery and the people that endured it. Or maybe you're not intelligent enough to understand the connotation or meaning of the word "use" as it applied to the post.

Lincoln was not a fan of black people and wanted as others of that time for the "negro problem" to go away. I notice that you use the word "negro" in refering to African-Americans. Can it be that you're caught in a loop of that time frame?

Here is a great Radio ad of Ned's about to come out this week! Give it a quick listen.

You will get a chuckle,

"Throw Him Out A Second Time"
Had enough?

Download: (mp3)

http://www.nedlamont.com/blog

Thanks dk, and dixie and all of you.

One of the things that helped so much, was the out of state support that we Lamont supporters got! We won't ever give up, don;'t worry.

Copied from The Washington Monthly

THE GRANDEUR OF THE PRESIDENCY....What's the most addle-brained thing George Bush said during his sit-down with conservative columnists on Wednesday? It's a tough choice, so I'm going to let you make it. Here are the nominees:

Bush: "Iran empowered Hezbollah, Hezbollah takes the attack, and — which creates an interesting dynamic, and it gives us an opportunity to fashion kind of – an alliance of reasonable people headed toward a clash — all kinds of different ways, by the way — with extremists and radicals."

Matt Yglesias: It's easy to get distracted by the fact that Bush doesn't seem familiar with the English language and miss the fact that beneath the garbled syntax Bush is making a clear — and utterly incorrect — factual claim here that the upshot of the war was to cement an alliance between the United States, Israel, and moderate forces in the Arab world.

Bush: "One of the stories — interesting stories I tell is about the fellow that came here. He got kidnapped and he was rescued pretty early by our Delta team. I said, 'What's it like to be kidnapped, man? It must have been weird — Baghdad, to be kidnapped.'"

Steve Benen: For some reason, reading this reminded me an episode of The West Wing called, "Posse Comitatus."....

Bush: "A lot of people are just saying, 'You're not doing enough to win. We're not winning, you're not doing enough to win, and I'm frustrated, I want it over with, with victory.' And I'm trying to figure out a matrix that says things are getting better. I think that one way to measure is less violence than before, I guess...."

Byron York: But that, of course, leads back to the president's statement that the enemy gets to define victory by killing people. If the sectarian forces are able to keep up the killing, then they will determine who wins in Iraq. [Kinda weak, Byron. Needs more snark. You can do better. –ed]

Bush: "If we do not defeat the terrorists or extremists in Iraq, they will gain access to vast oil reserves, and use Iraq as a base to overthrow moderate governments across the broader Middle East."

Marc Lynch: This is just idiotic. The Sunni areas in which al-Qaeda would hope to reconstitute a base don't have any significant oil reserves — this is one of the primary problems with most partition or federalism schemes.

Leave your vote in comments!

—Kevin Drum

Has to be #2, by a mile. I mean, come on:

"One of the stories — interesting stories I tell is about the fellow that came here. He got kidnapped and he was rescued pretty early by our Delta team. I said, 'What's it like to be kidnapped, man? It must have been weird — Baghdad, to be kidnapped."

Not only is this just a stooopidly obtuse thing to say, it reveals Bush's genuine lack of empathic ability and tendency to look on the rest of the world as if it were filled with toys instead of living beings. Gee, fella, what's it like? 'Cause I don't have time to think much about stuff like that. As fatuous as talking heads who ask newly grieving parents what it's like to watch their children die. But since he actually holds the lives of millions in his hands, it's far more dangerous.

Posted by: Riggsveda on October 27, 2006 at 1:44 PM

Agree with him completely, Riggsveda that is.

BEWARE, THEY ARE STARTING ALREADY !

11 in O.C. Charged With Voter Registration Fraud
By Christian Berthelsen and Christine Hanley
The Los Angeles Times

Friday 27 October 2006

Dozens of people who thought they were signing up to be Democrats ended up Republican. Those accused in the case are low-level, per-signature workers.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102906D.shtml

"As Richard Holbrooke, the broker of the Bosnia peace accords, has observed, the only real choice left for the president now is either "escalation or disengagement." But there are no troops, let alone money or national will, for escalation. Disengagement within a year, however, is favored by 54 percent of Americans and, more important, 71 percent of Iraqis. After Election Day, adults in Washington will step in, bow to the obvious and pull the plug. The current administration strategy - praying for a miracle - is not an option. The current panacea favored by anxious Republican Congressional candidates - firing Donald Rumsfeld - is too little, too late.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102906G.shtml

You know, I think I'm living in bizarro world . . .

Togetherness In Baghdad By George F. Will

A surreal and ultimately disgusting facet of the Iraq fiasco is the lag between when a fact becomes obvious and when the fiasco's architects acknowledge that fact. Iraq's civil war has been raging for more than a year; so has the Washington debate about whether it is what it is.

In a recent interview with Vice President Cheney, Time magazine asked, "If you had to take back any one thing you'd said about Iraq, what would it be?" Selecting from what one hopes is a very long list, Cheney replied: "I thought that the elections that we went through in '05 would have had a bigger impact on the level of violence than they have ... I thought we were over the hump in terms of violence. I think that was premature."

He thinks so? Clearly, and weirdly, he implies that the elections had some positive impact on the level of violence. Worse, in the full transcript of the interview posted online he said the big impact he expected from the elections "hasn't happened yet." "Yet"? Doggedness can be admirable, but this is clinical.

Anyway, what Cheney actually said 17 months ago was that the insurgency was in its "last throes." That was much stronger than saying we were "over the hump" regarding violence. Beware of people who misquote themselves while purporting to display candor.

Posted by BlueGirlRedState on October 29, 2006 at 03:15 PM

Love that cartoon. Thanks for sharing.

Posted by fade2bluz on October 29, 2006 at 03:10 PM

fade,

So the North America corporate empire is complete?

Posted by Veneita on October 29, 2006 at 05:50 PM

Venitia,

George Will was come out of the Beltway castle long enough to acknowledge one disaster but refuses to face the truth about the true state of the economy.
Go figure.

HEY I HAVE A WAY TO SECURE VOTES. FIRST STAND UP AND GET TOUGH ON BORDER SECURITY, YES AS PAINFULL AS IT IS WE MUST GROW A BACKBONE AND SECURE OUR COUNTRY AT THE RISK OF OFFENDING A FEW. WE DONT HAVE TO KICK OUT ALL THE IMMIGRANTS THAT ARE HERE BUT THEY NEED DOCUMENTATION. HOWEVER IF THEY DO COMMIT A FELONY OR FAIL TO REGISTER THEY SHOULD BE DEPORTED NO QUESTIONS ASKED. NEXT REALIZE THAT WE CANT HELP EVERYBODY ALL THE TIME IT JUST COSTS TOO MUCH. JUST COVER THE BASICS EVERYTHING ELSE IS THE INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBILITY. RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE WILL REDUCE THE NEED FOR ALOT OF PROGRAMS. SO IF WE CAN GET THE DONE WELL BE LOOKING GREAT IN 08'

True, Unfortunately:

http://www.counterpunch.org/taylor10272006.html

If control of Congress changes hands in January, it will be because the Republicans lost, not because the Democrats won. The national Democratic Party is not trying to win elections this year. It is sitting back, playing it safe, and watching the Republican Party self-destruct. The Democrats have no message beyond tired old clichés they've been spouting for decades. The Republicans are reduced to a different set of clichés-about winning the war and keeping taxes low and standing up for traditional values-but to most Americans these words ring hollow. The Republican record speaks for itself and it contradicts the party's rhetoric.

If Democrats unseat Republicans in Congress, the party should not interpret the result as a mandate for the Clintons, Rahm Emanuel, and the Democratic Leadership Council. It will be nothing of the sort. If Democratic leaders had populist principles and genuine guts, they would bury the Republican hacks in a landslide of 1932 or 1974 proportions. Instead, they will be lucky to eke out a narrow victory. They have pulled their punches and relied on mushy talking points with little popular appeal. They are complicit in the very policies most disliked by Americans: war in Iraq, plutocratic government, dogmatic materialism, runaway federal expenditures, outsourcing of jobs, illegal immigration for the sake of corporate exploitation, and civil liberties sacrificed in a climate of fear.

Democrats in Washington have nothing to offer populist, libertarian, or evangelical Americans, but it's become obvious to many Republicans of those varieties that they've been taken for a ride. So, on Election Day they will either stay home or vote (D) to teach (R) a lesson. But the 2006 results will not change the fact that the Democratic Party has serious ongoing problems.

There has been an organized concerted effort by certain "conservative" Republicans to establish a Republican party that will never again lose control of Congress or the White House. This program started during Reagan's term in office and the effectiveness of this group became evident in the surprising takeover of congress by the Republican Party during the Clinton Administration. Sure, Clinton beat Bush, but the focus was on Congress. If you have that you can either capture or neutralize the presidency. And they did both. It isn't just election politics. It is deeply invasive of every part of Government. Their intent was to eliminate all Democrat sources of money and influence by capturing and controlling the Lobby industry. They purposefully promoted programs that would export manufacturing jobs, the historical strength of the Democrats, overseas, eliminating this base of support. They were far down the road to locking Democrats out when the illusions their program was based on evaporated and it began to implode. De Lay was even travelling to defeated Democratic candidates home areas and attempting to damage their reputations to eliminate them from future races. Although I haven't run across any references suggesting they were trying to establish a one-party system, many of the people central to this effort have spoken about the organized intent to lock Democrats out of power permanently. Hence the rhetoric accusing Democrats of being cowardly, dishonest, disloyal and stupid. Yet this entire effort, so well organized and orchestrated successfully over so many years, is the perfect example of all of those characterizations. The concept of "unethical" pales in comparison to the abominably evil, scheming, piratical plans of this group of Republicans. Fortunately, they don't truly represent the greater body of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, that GOP willingly blinded themselves to the greater moral depravity of this naked assault on our hard-won principles just to be part of the dominant political party for the immediate moment.

http://www.counterpunch.org/taylor10272006.html

True, Unfortunately:

If control of Congress changes hands in January, it will be because the Republicans lost, not because the Democrats won. The national Democratic Party is not trying to win elections this year. It is sitting back, playing it safe, and watching the Republican Party self-destruct. The Democrats have no message beyond tired old clichés they've been spouting for decades.

If Democrats unseat Republicans in Congress, the party should not interpret the result as a mandate for the Clintons, Rahm Emanuel, and the Democratic Leadership Council. It will be nothing of the sort. If Democratic leaders had populist principles and genuine guts, they would bury the Republican hacks in a landslide of 1932 or 1974 proportions. Instead, they will be lucky to eek out a narrow victory. They have pulled their punches and relied on mushy talking points with little popular appeal. They are complicit in the very policies most disliked by Americans: war in Iraq, plutocratic government, dogmatic materialism, runaway federal expenditures, outsourcing of jobs, illegal immigration for the sake of corporate exploitation, and civil liberties sacrificed in a climate of fear.

Democrats in Washington have nothing to offer populist, libertarian, or evangelical Americans, but it's become obvious to many Republicans of those varieties that they've been taken for a ride. So, on Election Day they will either stay home or vote (D) to teach (R) a lesson. But the 2006 results will not change the fact that the Democratic Party has serious ongoing problems.

Sorry for the double post.

Worth emphasizing, however.

Emanuel, Schumer, and the DLC hacks and other DINOs are preventing a Democratic landslide.

Every human enterprise on the face of the earth has problems.

Personally, I am feeling better about the Democratic Party than I even have, and I have been a Democrat all my adult life.

At least we are working on our problems, and rebuilding the party from the grass-roots up. I think I will pass on the hand-wringing and concentrate on growing my party from the local level and building on whats right, rather than setting my hair on fire over the things that need work.

Huron,

I don't think one week before the most important election possibly in our lifetime, that we can afford to be spewing Negativism about the party.

The chips have fallen, and tuesday will tell where they lay.

If we do NOT win this, the Democratic Party might just as well roll up it's tent, the Country accept we have and will always have One Party, that being the Republican Facist Party of the USA, and that from this point on, we will be controlled, physically, mentally, emotionally, religiously, family, by the Ideological ideals of the Far Right Wingers!

WOW, Even George Will gets it! Remember when the rest of us were called Anti-american, and un-patriotic when we talked like this???? Now it is the COOL, intelligent thing to do!

A surreal facet of the Iraq fiasco is the lag between when a fact becomes obvious and when the fiasco's architects acknowledge it.

Nov. 6, 2006 issue - Many months ago it became obvious to all but the most ideologically blinkered that America is losing the war launched to deal with a chimeric problem (an arsenal of WMD) and to achieve a delusory goal (a democracy that would inspire emulation, transforming the region). Last week the president retired his mantra "stay the course" because it does not do justice to the nimbleness and subtlety of U.S. tactics for winning the war.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15460708/site/newsweek/

I think I will...concentrate on...the local level.

Absolutely. That is where the war is won. But you have to be aware of what is happening locally all over the country. Thats how we lost control. The Republicans, in the late 80's and early 90's, didn't try to win over the country to their message. Instead they attacked each Democratic candidate one at a time on their own turf, not just to win that office, but to cripple the local Democratic machine and remove potential candidates. The managed to change voting precinct boundaries and cut local Democratic parties off at the knees. It wasn't all done in the press, and it wasn't all done in the election year. It was constant below-the-radar pressure put on individuals. Not just candidates, but potential financial supporters, and even potential campaign workers. A precinct at a time, they tried to cripple the base of the Democratic Party. And now we wonder why the party seems to be so uncoordinated, so dispassionate. We were chopped to pieces for 20 years, and we are just now recognizing it, but still saying "oh surely it wasn't that extensive, that's not politics". Right, it is the actual destruction of a once-powerful political party. Time will tell how close they came.

This bothers me. About a month after Bill Clinton took office the World Trade Center was bombed. This obviously was not in response to any new approach taken by that administration as it had not been in office long enough to change much of anything. On the other hand George W. Bush had been in office for 9 months and had put into practice many new policies by the time the attacks of September 11, 2001 occurred. I honestly believe that these attacks targetted his administration specifically. I'm sure they felt the pressure he applied and were responding to it.

Not only are we losing the hearts and minds of the middle eastern populations, we are losing jobs (as if you need a reminder) Not only are we exporting jobs, we are exporting the technology needed to perform those jobs. When countries such as China and Vietnam start to take over those factories and facilities which American corporations have extablished in their countries, the economic impact will be staggering. The more bogged down we become in the middle east, the weaker we are perceived by our "not so friendly" allies. A country supported by terciary industry alone is destined to become an ex-superpower. If measures are not taken soon to regulate the outsourcing frenzy of today, we are going to pay a high price.

I personally feel that our current government in control feels that they know best, and Do Not have to held accountable, or that the AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO QUESTION "OUR GOVERNMENT". However, they do not seem to understand that "THEY ARE ONLY ELECTED OFFICIALS, and CAN BE REPLACED" for trying to take away our civil liberties. We the people have the right to watch over and question our government. As the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE states, We The People have an obligation and a right to ensure that Any Government in control can not have too much control or power. And if such government attempts to seek such power, that we have the right to replace and put other gaurds in their place to look out for the welfare, and civil liberties for the people. President Bush seems to think that the American People should not be allowed to think, and by his management of "Our Government" he thinks that he is beyond be held accountable, or questioned. The way I see it, President Bush, and his followers are only looking out for the rich, and seems to act as if the rest of the people in the U.S. are not worth making their lives alittle better. Ofcourse, he is a Republican, and heaven forbid if the gap between the rich and poor were to become too close. I see the Republican party as self proclaimed royalty, who really see the majority of America as peasants who need to remember their place and not dare question their tactics or motivations. We the people need to really be worrying if the republican party keeps control, Our Civil Liberties Are In Serious Trouble.

Marine,

here is the indictment from the first bombing of the WTC.

i. At various times between in or about 1992 and

in or about 1996, the defendants USAMA BIN LADEN, MAMDOUH MAHMUD

SALIM, and other ranking members of al Qaeda, stated privately to

other members of al Qaeda that al Qaeda should put aside its

differences with Shiite Muslim terrorist organizations, including

the Government of Iran and its affiliated terrorist group

15

Hizballah, to cooperate against the perceived common enemy, the

United States and its allies;

{i like links, just sayin'}

We can't go back to the days before the invasion of Iraq, when Saddam was in charge and destroying Scuds in a last ditch attempt to ward off that invasion. This frustrates most of us because we saw his behavior for what it was all along, at first defensive and then appeasing. He behaved much like a troubled child who learns as time goes by that he may only get what he wants through cooperation.

Our friends were impatient and now we must suffer the consequences. That's also very difficult to handle. We know that we would not be in this situation had it not been for their overzealous invasion of Saddam's subdued nation. It's obvious now that they saw only opportunity and were in such a hurry to attack that they didn't even give consideration to the mountain of intelligence discussing post-invasion Iraq and how we might best deal with it.

We can't do anything with all these feelings, but be upset, so we must set them aside and prepare for our future. We must pick up where others, unprepared for their own future, left off and we must do so quick. We will need to develop relationships with those we've alienated since this all began. And so much more, too much to list here.

"Not only are we losing the hearts and minds..."

I agree with most of what you have said. But the Peoples Republic of China doesn't want to nationalize those plants. They are quite happy to take just a share of the profits. Why? Because they are getting ALL of the tax revenues brought in by the workers increased wages, as well as the sales tax revenues generated when these workers spend their new disposeable income. And the jobs that spending creates generates more taxes...
Governments don't make money by owning or running industries. They make money by taxing them. We taught them that, now they are beating us about the head and shoulders with it.

Here is part of what DNC is doing with Democracy Bond dollars! You may not see it, but it is happening:

"DNC state-level organizers have been contacting drop-off Democrats-those who vote in presidential elections but not midterms-and have reached half a million in Pennsylvania alone in the past year and a half. Roughly 4,500 of those contacted have taken an active role in this election, displaying a yard sign or staffing a phone bank. "We're doing exactly what we need to do to be organized ..." says Claire McCaskill, the challenger to Republican Jim Talent in Missouri's tight Senate race. "This year just feels so much different than last time."

Unlike the centralized Republican effort, the DNC and the Democrats' House and Senate election committees are each running separate turnout programs. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has put $10 million into its effort, more than twice as much as in 2002, and started working last summer with 40 Democratic House campaigns-mostly challengers-to create field programs that could replicate the GOP's 72-hour plan. The DCCC is also microtargeting voters for the first time, identifying Democratic voters in majority Republican areas rather than simply working Democratic strongholds.

Simply put, every vote counts in every competitive race. As Mike Podhorzer over at AFL-CIO has emphasized:

Easily forgotten is how close 15 of the Republicans' victories were in 1994. Had Democrats in key districts won a combined 52,000 more votes, there would have been no "Speaker Gingrich." That failure continues to devastate our country.

Every vote counts. Take some time and email everyone in your address book and remind them to vote Democratic on November 7th. Follow up again on Election Day.

Get involved. Stay involved. Make history.

http://www.dailykos.com/

call your local Dem offices. See if you can help pull this information for them. It means going to Towns and cities, going through their past voting records and getting information on these voters. Going back and helping input this information into computers ! We MUST catch up with the Repug GOTV machine that has been far more sophisticated than our's up to this point! Finally, we are catching up. Help with the effort.

...I see the Republican party as self proclaimed royalty, who really see the majority of America as peasants who need to remember their place and not dare question their tactics or motivations. We the people need to really be worrying if the republican party keeps control, Our Civil Liberties Are In Serious Trouble.

Posted by Tim_WV on October 29, 2006 at 07:10 PM

Peasants,