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The Boys in the Bubble

It's truly applying to the Bush adminstration. Once upon a time, the president and press secretary would face the press and own up to tough questioning. THAT was an honest display of strength and resolve. What Bush does...

- Screening out crowds at his rallies
- Surrounding himself with "friendly" press
- Listening only to voices of agreement, not dissention
- And doing it all in the name of "conviction"

...is not real. It's not resolve. It's not strength. It's living in a bubble. It's completely and totally out of touch with reality. Ask Helen Thomas. She's been front and center at every press conference challenging every single president since Kennedy. This administration marginalized her, shoved her to the back and ultimately pushed her out. Challenging is not allowed.

This isn't facing the press. It's locking yourself in your room. And it has no business representing America. This little passage from Howard Kurtz' column in WaPo scares the crap out of me.

Truth and Consequences

In articles, columns and one internal ABC News memo, some journalists have argued that the president has engaged in far more serious distortions than John Kerry has, and that media outlets should blow the whistle on these falsehoods.

"Your instinct is that if we say bad things about one side you have to say bad things about the other side," says Adam Nagourney, the New York Times's chief political reporter. "You want to give equal scrutiny to both sides, but I don't think you should impose a false equivalence that doesn't exist."

The Bush team, which issued a release slamming a recent Nagourney story, is pushing back. "The Bush campaign should be able to make an argument without having it reflexively dismissed as distorted or inaccurate by the biggest papers in the country," says spokesman Steve Schmidt.

At issue is how far reporters should go in analyzing the candidates' attacks and ads, especially if one side is using a howitzer and the other a popgun.

This should NOT be an issue. This should be standard operating procedure in each and every newsroom in the country.

How far should reporters go? FAR. As far as they can go. As far as they can until they get the answers they demand. Skating around the question is NOT acceptable. Fear of being ridiculed by the administration is NOT acceptable. Fear of ANYTHING is NOT acceptable. It's journalism. It's not about finding accusations. It's about finding the TRUTH. These hacks we have today on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, etc. don't care about the truth. They care about deadline and sexy one-liners.

Neither of the candidates are facing the kind of questioning journalists asked up until just a few years ago. And they should. They must. Bush AND Kerry. And I'll tell you this: I know Kerry would have no problem with that. None. He'll step up to the plate and take it. Like a strong and resolute person should.

Bush can't. And won't. Because he's weak. He'd rather sit in his room, watch what Kerry says, pick it to pieces and throw verbal hand grenades from behind his wall.

Because he cannot face reality. He's small. He's not strong. He gets his strength from sycophancy, not opposition. He truly is the Boy in the Bubble.

Frontline on the Election

Mike sends the site containing the Frontline program on the differences between Kerry and Crackhead. Mike succinctly writes:

I only saw part of this last night, but the more I learn about Kerry and Bush the more I think Kerry is really a statesman and Bush is a rich guy riding the wave.

More Bush Campaign Lying

Nicolle Devenish, communications mouthpiece of the Dope-F***Yourself campaign was on MSNBC just now blaming Kerry for the flu shot shortage.

Yes, you read that right. She blamed Kerry for the flu shot drought. The Bush campaign's new meme is that Kerry - as a senator - was part of the problem, not the solution. Drug companies were closed down during the last few years while Kerry was a senator. This, despite the GOP owning both houses, the White House and the Supreme Court. It was Kerry's fault that the warnings of shortages since 2001 went ignored.

The Bush maggots' strategy is to throw so many lies out there that it's impossible for ANYONE to keep up with them. This one is just plain stupid on the surface, but it might play to another ignorance-is-bliss theme. Instead of asking if Americans think Saddam helped plan 9/11 (the outcome is always dismally the same), pollsters should ask Americans if they think Democrats in Congress and the Senate are hindering Bush's grand plans, and if they believe there is a Democratc majority in both.

I'd be willing to bet the house (mine, not Washington's) that the answer will be just as dismal and disappointing.

Bob Herbert, Writing the Blunt Truth - Again

A War Without Reason

There should no longer be any doubt that the war in Iraq is an exercise in lunacy. It was launched with a spurious rationale, the weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be a fantasy relentlessly stoked by obsessively hawkish middle-aged men who ran and hid when they were of fighting age and the nation was at war.

Now we find that we can't win this war we started. Soldiers and civilians alike are trapped in the proverbial briar patch, unable to move around safely in a country that the warmongers thought would be easy to conquer and then rebuild.

There is no way to overstate how profoundly wrong they were.
_______

As the pointlessness of this war grows ever clearer, the president's grand alliance, like some of the soldiers on the ground, is losing its resolve. When John Kerry, in the first presidential debate, mentioned only Britain and Australia as he mocked Mr. Bush's "coalition" in Iraq, the president famously replied, "You forgot Poland."

Poland has 2,400 troops in Iraq. But on Friday the prime minister, Marek Belka, announced that he will cut that number early next year, and then "will engage in talks on a further reduction."

Mr. Belka has a political problem. He can't explain the war to his constituents. And that's because there is no rational explanation.
_______

The president and his apologists never understood what they were getting into in Iraq. What is unmistakable now is that Americans will never be willing to commit the overwhelming numbers of troops and spend the hundreds of billions of additional dollars necessary to have even a hope of bringing long-term stability to Iraq.

This is a war that never made sense and now we are seeing - from the troops on the ground, from our allies overseas and increasingly from the population here at home - the inevitable reluctance to forge ahead with the madness.

The president likes to say he made exactly the right decision on Iraq. Each new death of a soldier or a civilian, each child who loses a parent to the carnage, each healthy body that is broken or burned in this war that didn't have to happen, is a reminder of how horribly wrong he was.

From the Pen of: Ann Telnaes

Bush Begins Playing the Speech Card

Knowing he has unfettered media coverage everytime he makes a "major policy speech," Bush will no doubt take the opportunity to once again try to clarify his muddled performance of last Wednesday's debate while taking unlimited stabs at Kerry. All this against a backdrop of heavily screened loyalty-oath signees cheering on Bubble Boy. NOW what?

LINK - The president took a day off from campaigning. While his rival was in Ohio and Florida, Bush readied what aides called a major speech on terrorism for Monday in New Jersey, where millions live within sight of the terrorist-scarred lower Manhattan skyline.

Is bin Laden in China?

Hats on, readers...

Sgt. Bill sent along this 10/10 article from Spain's El Mundo.

Here's the original story.

Here's the translation.

Bin Laden Is In China
So confirms Gordon Thomas, a journalist with contacts in major intelligence services. The terrorist might have reached an agreement with China, which is now negotiociating his return with President Bush. It's the latter's great electoral trick.

GORDON THOMAS

During the final stretch leading up to the U.S. elections, Osama bin Laden could become the ace up President Bush's sleeve. At this very moment, Washington is negociating, in utmost secrecy, a deal with Beijing, the Chinese capital, to extract bin Laden from his sanctuary in the turbulent Muslim provinces of China, to the northwest of the country of the Great Wall.

More than five million people, many of them fanatical followers of Osama, live in what is considered one of the most volatile regions on Earth. Thousands of them work for the crime syndicates that traffic in human beings or drugs to the west. Last summer, bin Laden finalized a treaty with the government in Beijing, in which the latter would guarantee safety for bin Laden, while he would guarantee the cessation of the guerilla war by Chinese Muslims against the Chinese government.

So who's Gordon Thomas? A self-proclaimed terrorism and intelligence expert who runs a website with great big piles of "evidence" - available only if you subscribe.

Uh...right. Thank you for calling, Gordo. Nonetheless, Sarge hopes Teresa will outbid Bush on this. I like that. Me? The ballgame's coming on. C'mon, 'Stros!

Endorsementmania

Kerry is wiping the floor with Bush. If only it will translate to real votes...

LINK TO EDITOR AND PUBLISHER - Kerry gained the editorial backing of at least 22 papers, with Bush winning the support of just five, giving Kerry the lead by 37-18 in E&P's exclusive tally. He has many more large papers on his side, maintaining his "circulation edge" at about 4-1: approximately 8 million to 2 million (we will post a complete tally later today).

Among his new supporters were three papers that had backed Bush in 2000: the Bradenton Herald in Florida, the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado and the Daily-Herald in Arlington Heights, Ill.

However, Bush did pick up the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune and The Dallas Morning News in his home state.

Among the papers endorsing Kerry today were newspapers in key swing states: The Miami Herald, St. Petersburg Times, Palm Beach Post, Daytona Beach News Journal and Bradenton Herald in Florida; the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in Minnesota; the Daily Camera in Colorado, and the Dayton Daily News and Akron Beacon-Journal in Ohio.

He also got the nod from major papers in states already friendly to him: The New York Times, The Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury-News, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee and Modesto Bee.

Other papers backing him were the Kansas City Star, the Roanoke (Va.) Times, the Grand Fords (ND) Herald, Charlotte Observer, and the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader. Clearly, many papers in the Knight Ridder and McClatchy chains have rallied to his side.

Big Poll

Last results: How are you voting this year?

In Person 57%
Absentee 41%
Not Voting 2%

New non-political Sunday poll is up.

From the Pen of: Ben Sargent

NY Times: Kerry for President

It's now official. The endorsement is in. And they do so without any reservation.

John Kerry for President

Senator John Kerry goes toward the election with a base that is built more on opposition to George W. Bush than loyalty to his own candidacy. But over the last year we have come to know Mr. Kerry as more than just an alternative to the status quo. We like what we've seen. He has qualities that could be the basis for a great chief executive, not just a modest improvement on the incumbent.

We have been impressed with Mr. Kerry's wide knowledge and clear thinking - something that became more apparent once he was reined in by that two-minute debate light. He is blessedly willing to re-evaluate decisions when conditions change. And while Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam was first over-promoted and then over-pilloried, his entire life has been devoted to public service, from the war to a series of elected offices. He strikes us, above all, as a man with a strong moral core.
_______

We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better.

Voting for president is a leap of faith. A candidate can explain his positions in minute detail and wind up governing with a hostile Congress that refuses to let him deliver. A disaster can upend the best-laid plans. All citizens can do is mix guesswork and hope, examining what the candidates have done in the past, their apparent priorities and their general character. It's on those three grounds that we enthusiastically endorse John Kerry for president.

More Jon Stewart Thoughts

I got a video of the Crossfire appearance yesterday (you cannot call it an interview since he didn't let either Begala or Carlson get a fluffy question in), and just watched it on a real TV screen - not a postage-stamp-sized internet stream.

First of all, I haven't seen Stewart this "real" and this passionate since his first Daily Show after 9/11. He was almost despondent that he had to come on and say what he needed to say about how CNN - as all network news - is completely negligent in its duty as an outpost of journalism. Begala and Carlson kept trying to steer the conversation to Stewart's book, but Jon wouldn't have any of it. He was following a calling, and he seized the chance too many others have missed. Carlson was so rattled by Stewart's comments that he resorted to character assassinations - his show is funny, but his lectures are boring; he's not funny; he's better on his own show than he is on Crossfire - until Stewart was pushed into finally calling Carlson "a dick." And after watching these guys' inability to counter him, you realized how shallow they are at debating, and how...well, dicklike they are as defenders of their "craft."

As long as folks like Jon Stewart roam the landscape, the emperors will always have someone calling them naked. God bless 'im.

Get Ready for Sunday Morning

The NY Times Magazine article tomorrow about Bush is going to reveal the little crackhead's secret weapon - the absolutism of the evangelicals who really feel he's God's annointed crusader. Scary stuff. And the Sunday talk shows ought to be good watchin'.

It's a chilling account of the blind and irrational cult-like craziness that are the Bush believers.

"This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them...

"This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts," [Bruce] Bartlett went on to say. "He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence." Bartlett paused, then said, "But you can't run the world on faith."

Truthout has the article free and clear. Go read it.

My Wife Got George Bush's Fortune at Dinner Tonight

(Actual scan of actual fortune from actual fortune cookie)

Mixed Messages from the Troops

Although they resoundingly say that Bush underestimated how many troops would be needed in Iraq - and that the war's been basically bungled - they still trust the little crackhead over the war hero. Battle fatigue or brainwashing. That's all I can chalk it up to. There's no other explanation.

U.S. Military Faults Lack of Troops in Iraq - Poll

A majority of U.S. troops serving in Iraq and their families said the Bush administration did not send enough forces to Iraq and relied too heavily on the National Guard and reserve troops, a poll showed on Saturday.

Almost two-thirds of those surveyed by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, or 65 percent, said they believed President Bush "had underestimated the number of troops needed in Iraq," the poll said.

But while 60 percent said part-time troops were overburdened and the number of regular troops should have been expanded, a larger majority, 74 percent, said they were opposed to reinstating the draft.

Annenberg researchers surveyed 186 troops who were serving on active duty in Iraq between February and October, including full-time, National Guard and reservist forces. If they were not available for polling, a family member was surveyed.

The results were part of a larger survey of 655 troops or their families.

Forty percent of National Guard members and reservists surveyed said they did not have enough training or supplies for their mission in Iraq, compared with 35 percent who said they were adequately prepared, the poll found.
_______

Despite those doubts, the military generally supports Bush and the efforts in Iraq, the poll showed. But support from those who spent time in Iraq was lower by about 10 percent.
_______

The poll, conducted from Sept. 22 to Oct. 5, also found the military "overwhelmingly disagreed" with the administration's photo ban of military coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

(SF Chron story of same poll) Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they approved of the way President Bush was doing his job, compared with 49 percent in a sample of the general public collected during the same period.

Similarly, 69 percent of survey respondents said they had a favorable opinion of the president, while just 29 percent had a favorable opinion of his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry. That compared to a nationwide favorability rating of 49 percent for Bush and 44 percent for Kerry.

Quote This

"Although I am a longtime Republican, it is time to make a statement, and it is this: Vote for Kerry-Edwards, I implore you, on Nov. 2."

Former MN Governor Elmer Andersen

Stewart on Crossfire - Video

Theyeti points us to this. Jon Stewart had the choice between plugging his book and telling CNN what needed to be said. You'll see he made the right choice.

Jon Stewart on Today's "Crossfire"

It was sensational. This Salon piece by Charles Taylor covers it nicely.

Jon Stewart: Crossfire "hurting America"

"I think you're a lot more fun on your show," said Tucker Carlson to "Crossfire" guest Jon Stewart this afternoon. "And I think you're as much of a dick on your show as on any other," Stewart shot back. It wasn't the faux avuncularity we've come to expect from Stewart on "The Daily Show" but there, of course, he's playing a role. Here he was himself -- and he wasn't buying any of it.

From the moment Stewart sat down he made no secret of how repugnant he found the show. In fact, he said to Carlson and co-host Paul Begala that he had been so hard on the show he felt it was his duty to come on and say to their faces what he has said to friends and in interviews. What he said was that their show was "hurting America," and he was being only slightly hyperbolic. Stewart told them that when America needed journalists to be journalists they had instead chosen to present theater.

Carlson, trying to affect an air of dry amusement that a comedian would presume to lecture him, important pundit that he is, but looking as if his bow-tie were about to start spinning, could barely contain his outrage. In an absolutely mind-boggling moment, Carlson tried to counter Stewart's criticism by pointing out that during John Kerry's recent appearance on "The Daily Show," Stewart asked the candidate softball questions. "If you want to measure yourself against a comedy show," Stewart said, "be my guest."

Paul Begala tried to put a more conciliatory face on things by pointing out that theirs was a "debate" show. Stewart was having none of it. "I would love to see a real debate show," he said. And went on to tell them that instead of holding politicians' feet to the fire by asking tough question, "you're part of their strategy. You're partisan -- what's the word? -- uh, hacks."

It's almost a cliche by now to talk about "The Daily Show" being more trusted than real newscasts, but Stewart showed why. He pointed out to Carlson that he had asked Kerry if he really were in Cambodia but "I don't care," and when Carlson asked him what he thought about the "Bill O'Reilly vibrator flap," Stewart said, "I don't." It was as concise a demonstration of the triviality of the media as you could hope for.

"I thought you were going to be funny," Carlson said toward the end of the interview. Stewart responded, "No, I'm not going to be your monkey." And that was what was so bracing.

Stewart's "Crossfire" appearance is going to generate talk about how prickly he was, how he wasn't "nice" like he is on "The Daily Show." But prickliness is just what was needed. If you've built your reputation as a satirist pointing out how the media falls down on the job, you're not going to make yourself a part of their charade.

I've heard people talk about "The Daily Show" as an oasis of sanity, a public service. I couldn't agree more. Stewart's appearance on "Crossfire" was another public service. He went on and acted as if the show's purpose really was to confront tough issues, instead of being the political equivalent of pro wrestling. Given a chance to say absolutely what he thought, Stewart took it. He accomplished what almost never happens on television anymore: He made the dots come alive.

From the Pen of: John Sherffius

From the Pen of: Lalo Alcaraz

Quote This

"Our country is the greatest in the world in spite of our leadership. Our country should be the greatest in the world because of our leadership."

- Gov. Howard Dean this morning on KPCC's "Air Talk"

By the way, listen for Dean's new radio commercial for Yahoo! Local. It's a hoot. And a holler.

We're America! Planet Earth's Fat Obnoxious Neighbor!

Bush is killin' us worldwide. Our reputation is shot. Time to fix the yard, rebuild the house and get a new tenant.

Polls Show U.S. Reputation Spirals Down
America's Reputation Abroad Is Worsening, According to Polls in 10 Nations, Including Close Allies

America's popularity around the world has taken a beating in recent years, according to a set of coordinated polls conducted in 10 different countries. But the survey also found that despite widespread animosity toward President Bush, huge majorities said they have a good opinion of Americans.

"We like Americans, we don't like Bush," was how Britain's Guardian newspaper summarized the results of the surveys published Friday.

The polls found that to an overwhelming degree, respondents in most of the countries have a more negative view of the United States now than a few years ago, disapprove of the war in Iraq and dislike Bush. Democratic challenger John Kerry is favored often by landslide proportions in all but two of the nations.
_______

On average, 57 percent said they had a worse opinion of the United States than two to three years ago, compared to 20 percent who said they had a higher opinion now. That question was asked each country except Russia.

In eight of the nations, more people said their view of America had worsened than improved. Seventy-four percent of Japanese, 70 percent of French, 67 percent of South Koreans, 64 percent of Canadians and 60 percent of Spaniards said they had a lower opinion of America now than a few years ago.

Whoops! Almost Forgot!

Your daily Sinclair stock update!

Mutiny

The troops are getting fed up with dying for this war.

Platoon defies orders in Iraq
Miss. soldier calls home, cites safety concerns

A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson, Miss., and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday.

The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq - north of Baghdad - because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.

Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County, Miss., Detention Center, and the 16 other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C., were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents, Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call about 5 a.m. Thursday.

The platoon could be charged with the willful disobeying of orders, punishable by dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five years confinement, said military law expert Mark Stevens, an associate professor of justice studies at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C.

On Friday, the Army confirmed that the unit's actions were under scrutiny.

Rove Testifies at Plame Investigation

INteresting...

KARL ROVE TESTIFIES BEFORE GRAND JURY INVESTIGATING CIA LEAK...MORE

NO COMMENT TO CAMERAS: Rove testifies for over 2.5 hours, escorted out with unidentified male, possibly an attorney, ABC News' Jason Ryan reports...

Applause for "Nightline"

Last night, Ted Koppel dissected, sliced and diced Swift Boat Vets for Bush leader John O'Neill, as Nightline presented a story from the witnesses in Vietnam and what they saw during John Kerry's day at the delta. Read the interviews here.

After the piece, Koppel interviewed O'Neill who kept holding books (both his and the Boston Globe book on Kerry) up to the camera. Koppel implored him to stop holding up books since the camera couldn't pick up the text, and to just speak to him. O'Neill was so married to this strategy that he couldn't stop fumbling for books and he continued to hold them up to the camera to prove his point. O'Neill looked like a world class bag lady and a befuddled clown as Koppel pleaded with him to just answer the questions he was being asked, and to draw on what he saw himself. No dice.

O'Neill - without much help from Koppel - made himself look like the blithering fool he is.

Democratic Underground has links to the episode with a few mirror sites. Check it out here - or right-click here to download it.

Jon Stewart Makes His Decision

The New Yorker who saw the WTC towers collapsing from his apartment window wants Kerry to take over the reins.

Comedy Central Darling Jon Stewart Backs Kerry

Comedian Jon Stewart, whose nightly cable television show is popular with the young voters considered key in the upcoming presidential election, said on Thursday he prefers Democrat John Kerry over Republican President Bush.

"It looks like Kerry," said Stewart, host of "The Daily Show," a satirical late-night review of politics on Viacom Inc.-owned cable channel Comedy Central. "I would be stunned if something happened to change my mind."

He called the U.S.-led war in Iraq a "mistake" and said he failed to understand the "Bush doctrine" of preemptive strikes against perceived security threats.

"If one guy drove me into a ditch and said, 'Don't worry, I know how to get us out of this,' I'd give the keys to a 7-year-old," Stewart said during a media event sponsored by Syracuse University's Newhouse School.
_______

Stewart roasted both candidates for their repetitive stumping during their final public debate.

"I thought both men took rhetoric to another level," he said, adding that Bush appeared "well coached."

"He wasn't the angry Bush of the second debate or the retarded Bush from the first," Stewart said.

Stewart also took aim at the mainstream U.S. media -- which he mocks regularly -- and said it fails to take politicians or big business to task.

"The press has bravely and nobly eroded the public trust," he said. "What I'm advocating is the media come back and work for us again. ... The bias of the media is not liberal. It's lazy and sensationalist."

In Case Your Local Sinclair Affiliate Glosses Over These...

Item One:

LINK - Senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have privately told colleagues they are determined to pin a fourth star on [Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo] Sanchez, two senior defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this week.

Rumsfeld and others recognize that Sanchez remains politically "radioactive," in the words of a third senior defense official, and would wait until after the Nov. 2 presidential election and investigations of the Abu Ghraib scandal have faded before putting his name forward.

Item Two:

LINK - The Bush administration plans to delay major assaults on rebel-held cities in Iraq until after U.S. elections in November, say administration officials, mindful that large-scale military offensives could affect the U.S. presidential race.

Item Three:

LINK - Expect more gas pains.

Worries over lagging supplies sent crude oil and heating oil futures to new peaks Thursday, sparking predictions of higher gasoline prices in the coming weeks.

As it was, the average in California reached a record $2.378 for a gallon of self-serve regular Thursday, according to the Auto Club. Fresh highs were set in nearly two-thirds of the communities in a survey by the club, with the Santa Barbara region topping all others at an average of $2.499 a gallon.

And yet the big story is that Kerry called Mary Cheney a lesbian, which she is.

The media's priorities are no more straight than Mary Cheney is. What an abysmal campaign Bush is running. Attack, attack, attack, but smokescreen the bullcrap he caused. A desperate little crackhead. And again, the media are buying into it, because petulance makes great TV.

So What IS The Difference Between Vietnam and Iraq?

Bush had a plan to get out of Vietnam.

Thankyew. G'night.

We Voted Tuesday

As we had been planning for months, we've voted absentee and will get the hell out of the country over election day to turn off the brains. California counts its absentee ballots the day before election day, so everyone in our family's feeling real good about it.

Absentee voting has its plusses. No hurry. No parking hassles. You can quintuple-check before submitting it. You can do it over dinner or a glass of wine. (I tried that latter activity with online driving school to erase points off my record - I wouldn't advise it.) The only stumbling block is that you're at the mercy of the U.S. Postal Service - which really ain't bad. I know I'd never personally deliver a birthday card from Los Angeles to a log cabin in the mountains of Colorado within three days - for 37 cents. But they do it.

So as I'm looking forward to hearing the election results that night on Irie-FM (and deciding if I should return, depending on the result), let us know how you're planning to vote in the new Big Poll.

Ya See, This is What I Was Kinda Worried About

When Bush and his gang of liars told the world that Saddam was sitting on a stockpile of chemical weapons, and he wanted to send our soldiers in there to 'splode 'em - the first thought that crossed my mind is, what kind of sicko would send American kids unilaterally into the maws of death?

I mean, if he HAD WMDs as Bush said he did, what would he wait to use them for? An invasion of his country by his sworn enemy? HELLO?

Well, the brave soldiers of the last Gulf War walked into those maws back when he HAD a weapons program.

Chemicals Sickened '91 Gulf War Veterans, Latest Study Finds

A federal panel of medical experts studying illnesses among veterans of the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf has broken with several earlier studies and concluded that many suffer from neurological damage caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, rejecting past findings that the ailments resulted mostly from wartime stress.

Citing new scientific research on the effects of exposure to low levels of neurotoxins, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses concludes in its draft report that "a substantial proportion of Gulf War veterans are ill with multisymptom conditions not explained by wartime stress or psychiatric illness."

It says a growing body of research suggests that many veterans' symptoms have a neurological cause and that there is a "probable link" to exposure to neurotoxins.

The report says possible sources include sarin, a nerve gas, from an Iraqi weapons depot blown up by American forces in 1991; a drug, pyridostigmine bromide, given to troops to protect against nerve gas; and pesticides used to protect soldiers in the region.

Uh-Oh - NY Times: Saudis Pissed at Bush

Wow...Bush's last friends on the planet seem to be turning against him.

Saudis Blame U.S. and Its Role in Iraq for Rise of Terror

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 13 - Seventeen months into a shadowy terror campaign that has killed more than 100 people, numerous Saudis express less anger at the insurgents than at the United States for its invasion of Iraq, the signal event that they say touched off the attacks inside the kingdom.

In interviews over the last week, the Saudis condemned the terror attacks, aimed primarily at foreigners, but called them a small inconvenience that has not forced them to make significant changes in their daily lives. By contrast, they expressed unremitting disdain for the United States.

Many Saudis appear to have reached a form of intellectual accommodation with those carrying out the violence. When asked about the attackers' goals, they assigned varied motives but often one that is consistent with their personal, social or political concerns.
_______

Behind all this lies an ever more complex Saudi-American relationship. Its foundation, of course, is the shared need to buy and sell oil. But the fact that 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudi has become an issue in the presidential campaign, as has the accusation that the Bushes are too close to the royal family.

No one here seems to care about any of that. Instead Saudis unceasingly complain about American support for Israel and the war in Iraq, which they call unjustified, though Saudi Arabia allowed American troops to operate here during the war. Government officials also say they deplore the Bush administration's call for more democracy here. "It's none of their business," one of them said with scorn.

Second Straight Record Deficit

The Bush spin will be: We predicted a $500 GAZILLION deficit! The economy is better than expected!

Okay. Not really. They really predicted $445 billion. Instead, it's $413 billion. Sound good? It won't when you see this:

$412,550,000,000

That's our deficit. Doesn't look so little now, does it?

Budget Gap Swells to Record $413 Billion

The U.S. budget gap expanded to $412.55 billion in fiscal 2004, marking the Bush administration's second-straight record deficit, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

Though the final 2004 figure was the largest budget deficit in U.S. history, it was smaller than the White House's most recent forecast of a $445 billion shortfall given in July and well below the $521 billion it foresaw early this year.

The bipartisan Congressional Budget Office had expected a $415 billion gap in fiscal 2004, which ended Sept. 30.

Thursday's budget announcement came the day after the third and final debate before the Nov. 2 election, where President Bush and Sen. John Kerry squared off on domestic issues, including the budget.

Your Daily Sinclair Stock Report

THUD.