I refuse ...

To get giddy. Pardon me for not jumping on the Bandwagon of Happiness at the polls coming out showing Dems will take the House, some saying the Senate too. I'll reserve my elation for Wednesday morning, when all the votes are counted and the results firm.

You see, 72 hours out, I don't put anything past the Republicans, and I refuse to underestimate the stupidity of the American people. A Rethug landslide win on Tuesday wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Over the past 6 years, we've seen more dirty tricks, more questionable vote counting, than you would in some Third World toilet, run by some tin-horn dictator. Does anyone think that's gonna change? Personally, I think it'll get worse this year because the Dems are supposed to pick up a buncha seats.

The reason I'm so 'doom and gloom' is I want Dems to get to the polls Tuesday. I don't want them hearing 'it's a lock' and most of them decide to stay home. Dems have to win, and they have to win going away. No one-run wins in extra innings, this has to be decided by the third, more runs than the Rethugs can ever score in the last 6.

Get out to the polls on Tuesday and cast your vote. I don't care how long you have to wait in line (go when your polling place opens, 6 a.m. for me, and avoid the line), your vote counts more this year than it ever has. The Rethugs want nothing more than for you to stay home.

Citizenship is difficult, and this is the most important election in years, in my memory at least. Put up with the hassle. Deal with the stupid shit the Rethugs will throw in your way. And if you think there was a problem with your voting machine, raise Hell.

Remember, if the Rethugs hold on to a majority, this might be the last election you vote in.

*To be hung by the naughty bits ...

Until dead. The October November surprise:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced Sunday to hang for crimes against humanity in the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single town, as the ousted leader, trembling and defiant, shouted "God is great!"

As he, his half brother and another senior official in his regime were convicted and sentenced to death, Saddam yelled out, "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"

...

So, prepare to hear nothing else on the news for the next couple days.

*Apologies to Monty Python.
Link via citizen spot.

Desperation

I wish I could write like Ed:

...

I haven't seen or heard demagoguery on such a level since the last time that I watched 'Triumph of the Will' and the glazed look on the faces of the zombies in the audience was eerily similar to the normal looking Germans in what is widely hailed as the greatest propaganda film of all time. Bush's speech writers and image masters are now outdoing themselves and are starting to make Leni Riefenstahl and Paul Joseph Goebbels look like rank amateurs by comparison.

...

By Tuesday, that Liberal Hunting License might become a reality. Desperate men are dangerous men.

The Army Times editorial

Full text at Montag's. Gord alluded to this yesterday:

...

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money.

And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand.

Now, the president says he'll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House.

This is a mistake.

...

No shit.

Programming note

Kenneth Quinnell and the Old White Lady have been gracious enough to rerun my novel The Captains over at The Practical Press. If you missed it when I ran it last year, here's another chance. I post a chapter on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings. Chapter 3 just went up.

WTF? - 2

Since all a lot of the Olde Fartes (y!lctp!) bitched about the black, how's the flag motif? We go back to the camo on Wednesday.

Eating their own

Vanity Fair:

As Iraq slips further into chaos, the war's neoconservative boosters have turned sharply on the Bush administration, charging that their grand designs have been undermined by White House incompetence. In a series of exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the president himself.

...

The above named men (and a few more I can think of) should be the first upon the gallows when the revolution comes.

Hat tip to C & L.

Why you should vote Dem

Commander Huber:

...

At the end of the day, we'll likely do something that combines John Murtha's proposal of redeploying to the periphery, focusing whatever troop strength we leave in-country in Baghdad, and a sea change in our diplomatic efforts with Iran and Syria. And the sooner that day comes, the better.

But that day won't come any time soon if we leave the elephants in charge of Congress next week. Neoconservative rule has already put America's ship of state bow down in a sand dune. Two more years of it, and the United States will have guaranteed its fate as a footnote in a Mandarin language history book. [my em]

WTF?

We'll go back to the standard Uniform of the Day on Wednesday. The new look is to remind people how critical this election is.

Dave

Roots.

...

While the two candidates disagree over the accuracy of a recent poll that shows them in a dead heat, the race is close enough to encourage Democratic supporters to reach into their pocketbooks. Mr. Mejias has raised more than $650,000, with roughly 75% coming from individuals.

The DCCC has taken note, adding Mr. Mejias to its Red to Blue program, which introduces congressional candidates to Democratic donors across the country. [my em]

...

As I was telling Froggy in comments on another "Dave" post, I've seen the grassroots following for Dave swell from just Mrs F and me attending his events to people stacked 5 deep and a city block long on the sidewalk on Thursday afternoon. Long Islanders are waking up.

Read the entire New York Sun article at PKW.

Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America

Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.

Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?

Rumsfeld! Fall out!

Pensito Review

On MSNBC, Keith Olbermann is reporting that on Monday, the day before the midterm elections, editorials will run in the most influential military newspapers calling on President Bush to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The editorials will say they are giving voice to a silent majority of uniformed personnel who are are prohibited from speaking because of respect for the office of the presidency.

The editorials will run in Army Times, Air Force Times, Marine Corps Times and Navy Times, which are privately owned and not affiliated with government.

This is good and the timing is right for the election, but I doubt it will accomplish anything vis-a-vis getting rid of the senile evil old fool

PTSD

Our pal Scout Prime emailed me yesterday about a story on PTSD and I meant to send you over there this morning. Do it now.

Some sad statistics and I worry we are creating a generation of folks who find just living day to day a real challenge.

139 - 1

Karena:

... Amnesty International won a major victory today when a the UN passed a vote to draft resolution for a global Arms Trade Treaty to curtail the international weapons trade that fuels " conflict, poverty, and serious human rights violations." Amnesty International formed a Control Arms Trade alliance with individuals and other groups to persuade the UN to take these measures. The vote to draft the resolution was the first step, with 139 nations voting in favor, and only one nation voting against, the United States... [my em]

Because every household should have at least one Kalashnikov.

Laughable ...

A buncha reality-based vets refused to take a Rethug seriously. Good on 'em:

PALMETTO -- Republican Vern Buchanan was interrupted by laughter during a debate before a group of veterans Thursday when he insisted that the White House has a strategy for the war in Iraq.

...

Buchanan had objected to [Democrat Christine] Jennings' repeating her frequent charge that the Bush administration doesn't have a strategy for winning the war.

"But there is a strategy and it needs to be flexible," he said.

Some of the veterans started chuckling, and Buchanan had to stop speaking after telling them that he expected the White House would adopt a more flexible strategy.

...

They heard it before, pal. 40 years ago, and it means as much now as it did then.

Great thanks to Maru.

Bechtel bags bucks, boogies...

Paul Krugman

As Bechtel goes, so goes the whole reconstruction effort. Whatever our leaders may say about their determination to stay the course complete the mission, when it comes to rebuilding Iraq they've already cut and run. The $21 billion allocated for reconstruction over the last three years has been spent, much of it on security rather than its intended purpose, and there's no more money in the pipeline.

The failure of reconstruction in Iraq raises three questions. First, how much did that failure contribute to the overall failure of the war? Second, how was it that America, the great can-do nation, in this case couldn't and didn't? Finally, if we've given up on rebuilding Iraq, what are our troops dying for?

That's an easy one: they're dying for oil, capitalistic greed, imperialism, and Bush's ego.

Consider the symbolism of Iraq's new police academy, which Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, has called "the most essential civil security project in the country." It was built at a cost of $75 million by Parsons Corporation, which received a total of about $1 billion for Iraq reconstruction projects. But the academy was so badly built that feces and urine leak from the ceilings in the student barracks.

Think about it. We want the Iraqis to stand up so we can stand down. But if they do stand up, we'll dump excrement on their heads.

I think we have more in common with the Iraqis than we knew.

As for how this could have happened, that's easy: major contractors believed, correctly, that their political connections insulated them from accountability. Halliburton and other companies with huge Iraq contracts were basically in the same position as Donald Rumsfeld: they were so closely identified with President Bush and, especially, Vice President Cheney that firing or even disciplining them would have been seen as an admission of personal failure on the part of top elected officials.

As a result, the administration and its allies in Congress fought accountability all the way. Administration officials have made repeated backdoor efforts to close the office of Mr. Bowen, whose job is to oversee the use of reconstruction money. Just this past May, with the failed reconstruction already winding down, the White House arranged for the last $1.5 billion of reconstruction money to be placed outside Mr. Bowen's jurisdiction. And now, finally, Congress has passed a bill whose provisions include the complete elimination of his agency next October.

The bottom line is that those charged with rebuilding Iraq had no incentive to do the job right, so they didn't.

You can see, by the way, why a Democratic takeover of the House, if it happens next week, would be such a pivotal event: suddenly, committee chairmen with subpoena power would be in a position to investigate where all the Iraq money went.

You can bet your bottom dollar the administration doesn't want that to happen. They'd have to let a bunch of pot smokers out of prison to make room.

And we're not planning to do anything about it: the U.S.-led reconstruction effort in Iraq is basically over. I don't know whether the administration is afraid to ask U.S. voters for more money, or simply considers the situation hopeless. Either way, the United States has accepted defeat on reconstruction.

Since reconstruction is done with, and Bush's puppet Iraqi government now appears to be strong enough to tell U.S. troops what to do, all that's left is the dying.

Somebody please slant-drill into Iraq and siphon off all the oil so our men and women can come home.

Please go to the link and read the first comment.

Dave

Following up on my post from the Mejias press conference with Ambassador Joe Wilson yesterday. From the Mejias camp via email:

FARMINGDALE - Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson came to Long Island today to campaign with Nassau County Legislator Dave Mejias, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's Third Congressional District. While on Long Island, Wilson and Mejias spoke to members of the press about the failures of Peter King and this Republican-controlled Congress to provide the necessary oversight their positions demand because of blind partisanship. Our country was mislead into a war with no end in sight, because Congressmen like Peter King were too busy vying for power instead of asking the tough questions. Now that King is Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, he is a reliable rubber stamp for George Bush, and has voted with the President 100% of the time on matters of Iraq.

"Peter King cares more about keeping his job than doing his job," said Mejias. "Our young men and women are fighting and dying in Iraq with no end in sight because Peter King and the Republican controlled Congress rubber stamped Bush's failed policies. King is President Bush's most ardent supporter; he votes lock step with President Bush and refuses to recognize the severity of the situation in Iraq. King recently said that downtown Baghdad is as safe as downtown Iraq, and stood by his statement that 95 percent of Iraq is secure and safe."

Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson gained national attention in July 2003 when he penned an opinion-editorial article in the New York Times questioning President Bush's rationale for going to war in Iraq. Shortly thereafter, Bush administration officials disclosed to the press that his wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA officer who held non-official cover status. Wilson has been campaigning across America for various Congressional candidates and came to Long Island to lend support to Dave Mejias, who he calls the personification of the American success story.

"This is the most important election of my life, it is about restoring accountability in American Government and this can only be done with a Democratic majority in Congress," said former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. "The Republicans have marched lock step in every way behind George Bush and his White House minions sacrificing the Constitution of the United States on the altar of misplaced partisan loyalty."

At today's press conference Dave Mejias and Ambassador Wilson were joined by U.S. veterans Tom Cleere, Richard Wood, George Olenick, and Al Britvan. Tom Cleere, a former United States Army Captain and Iraq war veteran spoke at the event. "I served in Iraq and I can attest that Downtown Baghdad is not as safe as Downtown Manhattan, Peter King is out of touch with the realities in the Middle East. I have known Dave Mejias for many years, I am confident that Dave will better represent us in Congress because he knows about honor, commitment and the need to ask questions; all qualities that I learned about during my service in the Army."

While introducing Ambassador Wilson, Dave Mejias commended Wilson for his great service and unwavering dedication to our Country. "I greatly admire Joe Wilson's courage and determination," said Mejias. "It is no wonder he chose Dante Alighieri's quote 'The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality' from The Divine Comedy as the epigraph in his book The Politics of Truth." [my ems]

Learn about the candidate and volunteer - Dave for America

Contribute - Dave's ActBlue page.

Vote for Dave Mejias. Do you live in NY-03?

DIY*

Yeah, ya gotta watch them terrists and the Axis of Eeeevil. They want to learn how to make a nuke. I wonder where they'll get the know-how? Why, from the U.S. government of course:

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to "leverage the Internet" to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb. [my em]

...

God, what a buncha idiots running this country. 5 days left, ladies and germs. If you're a Dem, you'd better have your ass at the polls on Tuesday, goddammit.

*Do It Yourself. Tip o' the Brain to Digby for the link.

November 7 May Be Point Of No Return

Robert Parry

In many ways, Election 2006 not only marks the last chance to exact some accountability from those responsible for the disastrous Iraq War and other failures, but it also represents a point of no return for a nation hurtling toward a future of endless warfare abroad and a new-age totalitarianism at home.

If Bush follows the pattern of 2002 and 2004, he will interpret a Republican victory on Nov. 7 as a mandate for pursuing and expanding his policies.

That would presumably please neoconservative activists and prominent Republicans, such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who have spoken eagerly about waging "World War III" against Islamic militants around the globe.

Since much of the "World War III" talk is tossed about in a cavalier fashion, it is not clear if its promoters have weighed the likely consequences of fighting a global conflict with many of the world's one billion Muslims. How the United States would muster the vast numbers of troops needed for such an endeavor has never been explained.

In his stump speeches, Bush agrees that Election 2006 represents a crucial turning point for the nation, although his warning is of the dire consequences from a Democratic victory.

On Oct. 30 in a speech in Statesboro, Georgia, Bush added, "However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses."

Despite the sometimes over-heated rhetoric, Election 2006 does come down to these fundamental questions:

Does the public's desire for more safety from terrorists trump the nation's historic commitment to constitutional liberties? Should the United States abandon its founding principles as a Republic where citizens possess "unalienable rights" and trade that in for a system where one man decides where to wage war and whom to imprison?

Is "World War III" between the United States and Islamic militants inevitable or should other alternatives be tried first aimed at reducing tensions and isolating the hard-core extremists?

Granted, these are difficult and complex issues for the U.S. press corps to explain. It's a lot easier to frame a story around John Kerry's joke.

But no American should go to the polls on Nov. 7 - whether voting Republican or Democratic - without recognizing what that vote will mean. The United States is at a dangerous crossroads. Indeed, it may be at a point of no return.

November 7th may be the salvation or the damnation of the United States for generations to come. It's our choice, depending on who counts the votes.

Go read this one.

Halp!

These guys are smarter than Bush and his evil dwarves. They apparently got the joke even though it was botched.

Tourist Bounty

EssEffChron

Iran is offering money to travel agents who can lure certain types of tourists to Iran, and the rate is double for bringing European and American travelers.

"Iran's Tourism Department will pay $20 for every American or European tourist that travel agents can bring," Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, deputy director of the Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization, said Tuesday in a statement reported by the news agency IRNA. The statement also specified a $10 payment for luring Asian tourists.

Well, they're small.

"We do not have a problem with American people," Ahmadinejad said. "We oppose only the U.S. government's bullying and arrogance."

Hmmm. I got more of a problem with American people than he does. About 30% of 'em anyway. I totally agree about the government.

Last month, Iran offered to open its nuclear sites to foreign visitors as another incentive for visitors. Esfandiar Rahim-Masahai, head of the Tourism and Cultural Heritage Organization, said Ahmadinejad had ordered the move and that it was intended, in part, to convince the world that the nuclear program is peaceful.

I think, given who's in charge of our B-52s and Tomahawks, that I'd rather go to the zoo, thank you.

Despite Iran's diverse landscape and ancient historical sites, the effort to attract more foreign tourists has failed so far.

A ban on alcohol and a law that requires women to cover their hair have been powerful hindrances.

Iran also has insufficient hotels and tourist facilities around the country because of its isolation since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Most tourists are Shiite Muslim pilgrims from the region who travel to religious sites.

This is just soundin' better and better, huh?

Malekzadeh said tourists can also apply for visas on the Internet to ease the process.

Boy, that'd settle your vacation plans! All expenses paid, free rides to and from the airport, accommodations to rival the finest in Teheran, warm breezes. Gitmo, here I come!