Barack Obama

I'm really impressed with this kid, more impressed every time I hear him talk. In addition, I guess I'm partial to him becasue we also share the same racial heritage, another half-breed. Keep an eye on him, he'll go far. I saw a piece on ABC News about him and something disturbed me. This is a shameful statistic:

"If he wins, Obama would be only the fifth black Senator in the nation's history."

I knew there weren't many blacks that served in the Senate, but only FOUR in a couple hundred years? That's just disgraceful.

Clinton

Last night:

[. . .]

Tonight I speak as a citizen, returning to the role I have played for most of my life as a foot soldier in the fight for our future, as we nominate a true New England patriot for president. The state that gave us John Adams and John Kennedy has now given us John Kerry, a good man, a great senator, a visionary leader. We are constantly told America is deeply divided. But all Americans value freedom, faith, and family. We all honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.

[. . .]

To build that kind of world we must make the right choices; and we must have a president who will lead the way. Democrats and Republicans have very different and honestly held ideas on that choices we should make, rooted in fundamentally different views of how we should meet our common challenges at home and how we should play our role in the world. Democrats want to build an America of shared responsibilities and shared opportunities and more global cooperation, acting alone only when we must.

We think the role of government is to give people the tools and conditions to make the most of their lives. Republicans believe in an America run by the right people, their people, in a world in which we act unilaterally when we can, and cooperate when we have to.

They think the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of those who embrace their political, economic, and social views, leaving ordinary citizens to fend for themselves on matters like health care and retirement security. Since most Americans are not that far to the right, they have to portray us Democrats as unacceptable, lacking in strength and values. In other words, they need a divided America. But Americans long to be united. After 9/11, we all wanted to be one nation, strong in the fight against terror. The president had a great opportunity to bring us together under his slogan of compassionate conservatism and to unite the world in common cause against terror.

Instead, he and his congressional allies made a very different choice: to use the moment of unity to push America too far to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their jobs, but in withdrawing American support for the Climate Change Treaty, the International Court for war criminals, the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

[. . .]

When I was in office, the Republicans were pretty mean to me. When I left and made money, I became part of the most important group in the world to them. At first I thought I should send them a thank you note—until I realized they were sending you the bill.

They protected my tax cuts while:

· Withholding promised funding for the Leave No Child Behind Act, leaving over 2 million children behind

· Cutting 140,000 unemployed workers out of job training

· 100,000 working families out of child care assistance

· 300,000 poor children out of after school programs

· Raising out of pocket healthcare costs to veterans

· Weakening or reversing important environmental advances for clean air and the preservation of our forests.

Everyone had to sacrifice except the wealthiest Americans, who wanted to do their part but were asked only to expend the energy necessary to open the envelopes containing our tax cuts. If you agree with these choices, you should vote to return them to the White House and Congress. If not, take a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats.

[. . .]

Read the entire speech here.

Thanks to Bubba for the link, and go here for links to transcripts of all the speeches last night.

Bushisms

President C-student has done so much stupid shit over the last few years, I'd forgtten this stupid shit. From Corrente:

[. . .]


The first three years...
can the English language survive?

"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country."
- George W. Bush

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
- George W. Bush

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'."
- George W. Bush

"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments
in the future."
- George W. Bush

"The future will be better tomorrow."
- George W. Bush

"We're going to have the best educated American people in the
world."
- George W. Bush

"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."
- George W. Bush

"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a
firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."
- George W. Bush

"Public speaking is very easy."
- George W. Bush

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the
polls."
- George W. Bush

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
- George W. Bush

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
- George W. Bush

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our
children."
- George W. Bush

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the
impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
- George W. Bush

"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system."
- George W. Bush

[. . .]

You know, we probably would have been better off with Yogi Berra.

Figures, again

From CNN:

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush and top security officials on Monday studied recommendations by an independent commission that investigated the September 11, 2001, attacks, White House officials said.

The 9/11 commission has pushed the White House and Congress to act quickly on its recommendations, which include appointing a Cabinet-level chief to oversee the nation's 15 intelligence agencies and a counterterrorism center modeled on the military's unified commands.

[. . .]

The president's top priority is to enact the commission's recommendations that he can implement through executive order, White House aides said.

Bush is expected to make decisions on some recommendations "within days," said one White House official, adding, "The president is on the fast track."

Senior administration officials describe the task force gathering as a "working meeting" that yielded no decisions but marked the beginning of "an ongoing process" of assessing intelligence and security reforms.

[. . .]

The 9/11 panel, officially called the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, released its findings Thursday in a 570-page report.

Chairman Thomas Kean and his fellow panelists cited a "failure of imagination" that they said kept U.S. officials from understanding al Qaeda's threat before the attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000.

[. . .]

This is all bullshit designed to suck the air away from the Democratic convention. Bush won't commit to anything until after the election. At least, nothing that could be a political football. Don't even expect an executive order unless he's pretty sure congressional Republicans (and asshole Zell Miller) are behind him. This whole gung ho attitude from President Day Off toward the 9/11 Commission's recommendations will stay in Crawford. Remember, Bush and Cheney didn't want the Commission and obstructed them at every turn. Remember Condoliezza Rice and all that executive privilege bullshit? They'll talk about it until the press drops it and you won't hear anything else about it.

Convention Blogging

Ezra and Jesse from Pandagon have their press credentials and are providing running commentary from Boston. Go visit. But sometimes they give out a bit too much information. This was Jesse's post earlier:

Okay, so as virtual nobodies, we've learned a valuable lesson. Knowing about parties does not garner you a way in to parties.

Perhaps the most important lesson of this convention, bar none. I really need to get in someone important's pants by Tuesday in order to actually meet people - at this rate, I'm going to be reduced to hoping that someone shows up at one of the events I've already been invited to. I'll even take a Utah Democrat, I swear!

[. . .]

. . . Obviously, since I'm writing this, that means that my mad quest for sex has been stymied for yet another night. . .

[. . .]

Have I mentioned Jesse and Ezra are young (early twenties)? Anyway, being the asshole I am, I wrote this in comments:

I'd bet you can score an invitation via sexual favors. Of course, you might have to give favor to say . . . Teddy Kennedy but hey, anything for the casue, right? That's the spirit! You're young and you should get over the experience with a minimum of therapy. Good luck and say hi to Ted for me.

Ha!

Theresa Heinz

For her remarks, telling that reporter to shove it? Good for her. Mrs. F thinks so too.

If you're offended, just shut the fuck up. No one cares.

Fascism, again

From me last week:

I know you think I'm crazy when I compare President Dipshit and his Administration to Nazis and that they will do something to affect the elections in November to their benefit. I did that here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Via Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway from Asia Times:

Groupthink and the slide into fascism
By Ritt Goldstein

On July 8, Asia Times Online broke the story (Patriotic pride and fear) of how noted Canadian psychologist Daniel Burston (two PhDs from Canada's York University and a widely acclaimed author) perceived a broad retreat into "social fantasy systems" and "socially patterned defects" as explaining much of the Bush administration's decision-making. He observed for ATol that such flaws bring those involved to "act in ways which - from an outsiders perspective - look insane". On the following day, July 9, the US Senate Intelligence Committee released its report on the United States' justification for the Iraq war, claiming an erroneous "groupthink" was to blame, and coincidentally highlighting the validity of Burston's observations.

Groupthink is defined as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action". In other words, retreat into a "social fantasy system" allowed "socially patterned defects" to flourish within the group's members.

[. . .]

In an October 2003 article titled "Cheney's hawks hijacking policy", this journalist revealed that former senior Pentagon staffer Lieutenant-Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski (retired) described "a subversion of constitutional limits on executive power and a co-optation through deceit of a large segment of the Congress", adding that "in order to take that first step - Iraq - lies had to be told to Congress to bring them on board". Planned and deliberate lies were told in order to manipulate Congress and the American people purposefully, effectively, and criminally, undercutting the very foundations of US democracy.

[. . .]

While groupthink is undoubtedly to blame for the Iraq war's false premises, the full implications of the "groupthink" that occurred, as well as that which is ongoing, appear to have yet to emerge.

Highlighting a disturbing reality, Burston had noted parallels between the social psychology of the present and that of the 1930s.

In a further parallel to the 1930s, on July 9 the conservative Chicago Sun-Times (one of the United States' top 50 papers) ran a commentary on US fascism, stating that "fascism' is not an exaggeration", and adding that anyone who doubted this "doesn't know what fascism is". It went on to note: "Some liberals suggest that the administration is capable of canceling the November election on the grounds of national security if it looks like Bush would lose. I doubt this." But on July 11 and 12, news of the administration seeking legal authority for just such an election postponement - a delay in the November election for national-security reasons - widely broke.

Burston had said he believed the US could be poised "on the verge" of a corporate fascism, and eminent political scientist Dr Michael Parenti (Yale PhD in political science and author of 18 books) spoke similarly. And indeed, the slippery slope of "groupthink" in effect provided the basis for the psycho-dynamics dominating the rise of 1930s fascism, its proponents of a "new order" perceiving endless lies, propaganda, repression, mass violence, and even mass murder as legitimate means to what they perceived as their "noble" ends, versus tragic and criminal delusions. Students of history will note the "groupthink" evidenced in Germany's 1930s mass rallies at Nuremberg, though the realization of what was then occurring didn't fully emerge until the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunals of the 1940s.

[. . .]

Full story.

My grandparents, my aunts, and my mom lived through World War Two Germany. If Bush gets reelected, be afraid . . . be very afraid.

And how about another poll?

Via Eschaton:

BOSTON, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- First-time voters in the 2004 presidential election remain in play, according to a non-partisan survey among newly registered first-time voters conducted by the Pace University Poll and Rock the Vote between July 8 and July 20.

[. . .]

The first of these surveys shows only 39% of new voters say the country is headed in the right direction, whereas 50% say it is headed in the wrong direction. In addition, new voters give President George W. Bush a job approval rating of 49%, which is below the threshold political scientists conventionally consider safe for an incumbent.

In a head-to-head race between President Bush and Senator John Kerry, first-time voters back the challenger: 50% for Kerry to 40% for Bush. However, in a three-way race among Bush, Kerry, and Ralph Nader, Bush receives 44%, Kerry 42%, and Nader 6%.

[. . .]

Full story.

How many isolated incidents?

Stolen fully and completely from Jesus' General:

Ninety-four isolated incidents

 


Dear Gen. Mikolashek,

I was relieved to read that your report on the torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan found no systemic problems. I hope it puts an end to the vile lies being spread by those who have for so long rhetorically sodomized Uncle Sam with the treacherous glow sticks of treasonous speech, but I doubt that it will. You still have much work to do.

It is doubtful that much of the public will believe your assertion that the 39 deaths and 94 incidents of torture were all isolated incidents. Indeed, Sen. Carl Levin, a Frenchman, has already questioned it.

You can't let the skeptics get you down. Stand hard behind your findings and eventually the controversy will be forgotten. I know this from personal experience.

About twenty years ago, I managed a fast food restaurant where 57 isolated incidents of food poisoning resulted in three deaths. The owners and the Health Department tried to blame it on my management, saying that it was a systemic problem. I stood my ground, placing all the blame on a few employees I called "bad apples." Sure, I lost my job, but eventually most of the people in my town forgot about it. Now, I lead a fairly normal life--it's been months since I was last spat upon.

I'm sure it'll be the same for you. Most people will have forgotten your report in twenty years. Heck, I'd be very surprised if anyone, other than a few historians, calls you a whore more than two or three times a year by then.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot
Commander, American Christian Militia

And more polls

From the Pollmeister Extraordinaire Kos:

I've been without Internet access the last two days, so these may have already been posted. But here goes regardless...

Florida

Gallup. 7/19-22. Likely voters. MoE 4%. (No trend lines).

Bush 50

Kerry 47

Ohio

Gallup. 7/19-22. Likely voters. MoE 4%. (No trend lines).

Kerry 49

Bush 44

ARG. 7/20-22. Likely voters. MoE 4%. (June 23 results).

Kerry 47 (49)

Bush 45 (43)

Columbus Dispatch. 7/14-22. Likely voters. MoE 4%. (April results).

Bush 47 (45)

Kerry 44 (43)

Nader 2 (3)

Missouri

Gallup. 7/19-22. Likely voters.  MoE 4%. (No trend lines).

Bush 48

Kerry 48

Nevada

SurveyUSA. 7/21-22. MoE 3.5%. (No trend lines).

Kerry 49

Bush 45

The Gallup and ARG polls are the first to show a Kerry lead in Ohio in several months. Don't get too excited about it just yet.

Clusterfuck

Via Today In Iraq:

Iraqi forces aim at each other

COLIN FREEMAN IN BAGHDAD


THE first raid by all-Iraqi security forces on suspected terrorist hide-outs in Baghdad descended into chaos when members of the two teams involved turned their guns on each other, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

The captain in charge of a detachment from the newly-formed Iraqi civil defence corps threatened to shoot anti-terrorist squad officers who were using strong-arm tactics against a taxi driver trying to get through a road block.

The anti-terrorist officers then drew their guns in a Hollywood-style stand-off that only ended when the captain’s own men defused the situation by surrounding him and persuading him to lower his weapon.

Tensions rose again later in the raid when one of the defence corps was accused of looting one of the suspects’ houses.

[. . .]

Back at base, Daham blamed the infighting on the civil defence corps, which, like the rest of Iraq’s rookie security forces, he holds in low regard.

"Occasionally the police use a bit of force - we have seen the Americans do the same thing, you know," he said. "But what were the civil defence corps doing? You saw how that captain tried to shoot everybody. It is no good the Americans just giving them guns. I’ve been a policeman 17 years, and there’s a lot more to it than that."

[. . .]

Formed five months ago from a cabal of experienced Saddam-era detectives, the occasional reversion by anti-terrorist officers to old-school methods does not always go down well with Iraq’s other fledgling security agencies.

[. . ]

Full story.

I know, why don't we just give EVERYBODY Kalashnikovs and split. Oh yeah, that's what we're setting up to do at the end of September or early October. Let's see if Bush declares a partial pullout of U.S. troops just before the election. After all, the Iraqis have had sovereignty sine 1 July. It's about time they did something with it. Right?

More Polls

Via DemFromCT at Kos:



More data at Polling Report.

Nader=Asshole

Stole this from Josh Marshall at TPM:

From ABCNews ...

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader's quixotic presidential campaign says it submitted about 5,400 signatures to get on the Michigan ballot, far short of the required number of 30,000. Luckily for him, approximately 43,000 signatures were filed by Michigan Republicans on his behalf, more than meeting the requirement.

Speaks for itself.

Idiots ...

You know, I used to like Nader, until he set off on this silly ego trip of his. I can't believe he doesn't know he's being used, and I can't believe he's that divorced from reality to let it happen. He's taken a wonderful legacy of being a consumer advocate and shit all over it. You know what he'll be remembered for?

Ralph Nader, Republican tool.

A damn shame and the ruination of a good man.

More security

From Asia Times:

ATHENS - The Greek government appears to be forfeiting control over vital aspects of security preparations for the Summer Olympic Games, even as the security budget spirals to an unprecedented US$1.5 billion.

Teams of US, Israeli and British intelligence officials have been in Greece since last year, preparing for the massive policing operation that will unfold during the Games, which run from August 13-29. The Americans are particularly active in securing Greece's border posts and the central Piraeus harbor, while an Israeli team has been providing the Greek police with training on how to deal with suicide bombers.

But with just weeks before the high-profile opening ceremony, current and former Greek government officials are admitting to being the recipients of "insufferable pressures for a long time, not just from the Americans".

[. . .]

With Athens already swarming with foreign intelligence services and despite public claims to the contrary, it has emerged in the past two months that US and Israeli guards will be armed, while the US Coast Guard will shoulder some of the burden of securing high-profile targets, such as the port of Piraeus, where foreign dignitaries will stay aboard eight cruise ships.

[. . .]

Hundreds of US troops will be on standby on an aircraft carrier somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean, ready to be flown into Athens within 20 minutes of an incident. A Czech NATO squad specializing in nuclear, biological and chemical catastrophes will be secretly based in the Greek capital, according to a British security contractor involved in the security of the Olympics.

Concerns over a possible CBR (chemical, biological, radiological) attack have loomed. A senior doctor at Athens' central Evangelismos Hospital - where members of the International Olympic Committee will be treated in case of an emergency - told Asia Times Online that, although staff at most hospitals in Athens had attended some seminars on how to react to a CBR emergency, he has doubts over their ability to react competently in the event of an attack.

[. . .]

In interviews, Greek and Western officials, analysts and contractors described to Asia Times Online how the Greek government had progressively surrendered sovereignty on key issues related to the security of the Olympics. A former government official charged with security for the Games estimated that at least 300 armed guards would participate in the Olympics, aside from "the intelligence people who'll come in who are totally undercover and we'll never know about".

While the Greek government has spent $1.5 billion and will deploy up to 70,000 police and soldiers around Olympic venues, the US, British and Israeli insistence on operational involvement appears to betray concern over preparations. It comes on the back of reported poor showings by Greek forces in several role-playing exercises.

[. . .]

This is gonna be a fucking mess. Mark my words.

Mo Dowd on 9/11 and our safety

Maureen Dowd:

[. . .]

Maybe it's because the F.B.I. is still learning how to Google and the C.I.A. has an acting head who spends most of his time acting defensive over his agency's failure to get anything right. Maybe it's because so many of those federal twits who missed the 10 chances to stop the 9/11 hijackers, who blew off our Paul Reveres - Richard Clarke, Coleen Rowley and the Phoenix memo author - still run things. Call me crazy, Mr. President, but I don't feel any safer.

The nation's mesmerizing new best seller, the 9/11 commission report, lays bare how naked we still are against an attack, and how vulnerable we are because of the time and money the fuzzy-headed Bush belligerents wasted going after the wrong target.

[. . .]

The report offers vivid details on our worst fears. Instead of focusing on immediately hitting back at Osama, Bush officials indulged their idiotic idée fixe on Saddam and ignored the memo from their counter-terrorism experts dismissing any connection between the religious fanatic bin Laden and the secular Hussein.

"On the afternoon of 9/11, according to contemporaneous notes, Secretary Rumsfeld instructed General Myers to obtain quickly as much information as possible," the report says. " The notes indicate that he also told Myers that he was not simply interested in striking empty training sites. The secretary said his instinct was to hit Saddam Hussein at the same time - not only bin Laden."

[. . .]

The commissioners warn that the price for the Bush bullies' attention deficit disorder could be high: "If, for example, Iraq becomes a failed state, it will go to the top of the list of places that are breeding grounds for attacks against Americans at home. Similarly, if we are paying insufficient attention to Afghanistan, the rule of the Taliban or warlords and narcotraffickers may re-emerge and its countryside could once again offer refuge to Al Qaeda, or its successor."

[. . .]

If the Bush crowd hadn't been besotted with the idea of smoking Saddam, they could have stomped Osama in Tora Bora. Now it's too late. Al Qaeda has become a state of mind.

Go read the whole thing.

So, here we are. Osama's been forgotten, and Iraq is a mess. The 9/11 Commission is calling for changes now, and President War on Terror is "considering" their recommendations. Never mind Fat Denny Hastert and Bill 'Trust Me, I'm a Doctor' Frist, hemming and hawing until they get talking points from 1600. And speaking of talking points, they're already warming us up for another terror attack between now and election time. And if Wolf Shitzer can be believed, it'll be worse than the last one. Isn't Bush saying he's made us safer?

Assholes.

Human Chain

From The Agonist:

Protesters forming 'human chain' to protest pullout
Nadav Shragai | July 25

Haaretz - Protesters on Sunday evening began forming a 90-kilometer-long "human chain" between the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip and the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, to protest against the disengagement plan.

According to the police, some 70,000 people were taking part in the event, spreading out from the Nissanit settlement in Gaza to Jerusalem.

[. . .]

The protesters were set to link hands at 5 P.M. and at 7 P.M., when the chain is completer, will sing the "Hatikvah" national anthem.

"We came here to protest the program of expelling Jews from their land," said Avraham Yitzhaki, 54, from the Gaza settlement of Ganei Tal.

[. . .]

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin is among the some 30 Knesset members expected to take part in the chain, including some 15 from the Likud, as well as others from the National Religious Party, the National Union, Shas, and United Torah Judaism. Rivlin will form part of the last section of the chain in Jerusalem.

Delegates from the settlers' Yesha Council will demonstrate at Jerusalem's Safra Square. Also expected to take part are new immigrants from the United States who arrived in Israel just a week ago, former Prisoners of Zion from the former Soviet Union, disabled Israel Defense Forces veterans, and Israelis whose relatives are buried in Gush Katif.

[. . .]

You know, I fully believe in Israel's right to exist, but I got a problem with the settlements, always have, always will. Most of these folks are as zealous as converts, and most believe in Israel's right to the West Bank and Gaza as well. They're just as bad as the Palestinians who want to destroy Israel.

While both sides, and the British, are to blame for the current situation, both states (Israel and Palestine) have to accept they will be joined at the hip for the foreseeable future. They have to coexist, and for one to control the Holy Land would mean the death of the other.

Their destinies are inextricably intertwined and have to go forward together, the Israelis behind the Green Line and the Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza. For any sort of peace to last, the settlements have to go.

Update 13:15:

From the Jerusalem Post:

Conflicting police reports Sunday evening said that between 70,000 to 130,00 demonstrators held hands from the edge of Gush Katif to Jerusalem on in protest Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.

Settler organizers said 200,000 protestors joined the human chain. . .

[. . .]

Lance Armstrong

Wins Tour de France for the 6th time. Big fucking deal. All he's doing is setting another bad example for cyclists here. More of 'em will think they own the road. A word of warning to you fat ass morons in your little spandex shorts. Stay out of my fucking way on the road. To me, you're just a potential hood ornament.

Just a thought. Do you think he keeps his testicles in a jar, for old times' sake? Do you think he showed them to Cheryl?

Protests

I got a bunch of shit last week over the settlement in New York, curbing the NYPD's search and siezure policy toward protesters and my stand on the situation:

Sorry, Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Bush, this is still NYC, the most diverse city in the world. We also don't put up with police state bullshit. You had to have your convention here? Well then, you'll have to put up with us. New Yorkers don't roll over because some village idiot from Texas tells us to.

Atrios sums up my feelings succinctly in his post this morning:

Protests

Unsurprisingly, I'm not a fan of the measures being taken against protesters at the convention. But, having said that, I really think that protesting conventions is rather silly (either the RNC or the DNC). Note I'm of course not questioning anyone's right to do so. But, both in terms of what protesters hope to achieve and what the message of protesting itself I really don't understand why the conventions are appropriate targets.

Conventions, though largely for show, are still a piece of the electoral process in this country. Protesting them, to me, is a bit like protesting polling places. No, they're not the same thing, but still conventions seem like an odd target for protests.

More generally, there is the question of whether street protest is really worth the time money and energy of those involved. It's a bit different in other countries, where public spaces are much more integrated with daily life, and protests can be much more visible and effective. But, in the US even when protest are allowed to operate on prime real estate, the fact that public spaces are for the most part already on the edges of daily life, protests and protesters are intrinsically marginalized, even when they aren't happening behind razowire in pens.

So, am I saying there should never be protests? Of course not. Protests serve a few purposes - to rally people around a cause and educate them, to bring attention to an issue, and, ultimately, to perhaps to affect some sort of change. But, given that protesting in this country almost by its nature marginalizes an issue by portraying it as something which is out of the mainstream, one has to ask whether the costs are greater than the benefits.

I thought the anti-war protests were highly appropriate precisely because there was a huge disconnect between public opinion before the war (with support for Bush's war, at best, garnering a slim majority of support), and the range of viewpoints presented by the media on the subject. The "anti-this-war" view, despite having broad support in the country, had been marginalized by the mainstream media. Mass protest was, therefore, a last resort way of getting the message out, of trying to remind the country and the media that the war did not actually have the universal support they were pretending it did.

But, having said all of that, the right to stand on a public street corner and hold up a sign should be a right which is given far more respect and protection than it currently is. Security efforts which are there to discourage people from doing so are incredibly un-American. And, therefore, perhaps protesting in these cases serves another purpose - to try to reassert the right of protest itself.[my emphasis]

Yes, this is still America. And once again I'll paraphrase Ben Franklin:

Men who willingly give up their freedom for security, deserve neither freedom nor security.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Okay, here's what I'm gonna do. Since I can't find anyone willing to spend the time blogging here(and I'm tired of looking), and I'm tired of choosing content for both blogs (here and The Fixer), this is what I'm gonna do.

This blog will be nothing but my political rants and news, and The Fixer will be for all my little bits of automotive wisdom I impart from time to time.

It's just gotten out of hand. Wish me luck.

Polls

While polls don't turn me on in the least, this from My DD is very promising:

The long-awaited flash-rendered proportional Electoral Vote map will launch here shortly (crossing fingers) that will map out all the latest state polls done, giving a 'right now' outlook for the 2004 Presidential election. Here's the latest polls:

ARG: Ohio

Kerry  47

Bush   45

Nader  3



ARG: New Hampshire

Kerry  47

Bush   45

Nader  3



LA Times: Florida

Kerry  46

Bush   48

Nader  2



Mason-Dixon: Florida

Kerry  42

Bush   45

Nader  2



ARG: Oregon

Kerry  50

Bush   42

Nader  4



LA Times: Pennsylvania

Kerry  48

Bush   38

Nader  5

[. . .]

Looks good to me. I especially like the Ohio and Pennsylvania results.