Bush, via WashPost: the Democratic-controlled Senate is "not interested in the security of the American people."

Cheney, via WashPost: Vice President Cheney said security would be bolstered if Taff were to defeat Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.). "Cheney talks about Iraq at congressional fund-raiser/ Electing Taff would aid war effort," read the headline in the Topeka Capital-Journal.

Houston Chron: Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who once led his party's campaign arm in the Senate, said, "I do believe the issue of terrorism and Iraq will be very much on the mind of voters going into Election Day." He noted that Republicans traditionally have a strong lead over Democrats when it comes to such national security issues.

Houston Chron: In recent days, the White House has handed out to key Republicans in Congress a one-page summary of a published poll from its Office of Strategic Initiatives, which is run by Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, to underscore that Bush has wide and growing public support. "Americans say president acting to protect nation while Democrats playing politics," the document said.

New York Times foreign affairs ace Thomas L. Friedman is obviously well past his Bush White House source-greasing phase. Critiquing President Bush in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine, the best-selling author says in an interview: "I don't think he is a particularly complex human being, and a lot of the rap on him is true: There is a real, silly frat-boy side to him."

Waxing acidic, Friedman continues: "The Bush people are really good at smashing things. If you've got a wrecking job, they are your guys. They're cold. They're calculating, and they have the potential to be cruel." Cruel, Friedman adds, "in the best sense of the word."

The Timesman goes on: "I think these guys are bought and paid by Big Oil in America, and they are going to do nothing that will in any way go against the demands and interests of the big oil companies. I mean, let's face it. Exxon, Mobil -- I think this is a real group of bad guys, considering that they have funded all the anti-global-warming propoganda out there in the world. And Bush is just not gonna go against guys like that. They are bad, bad guys. I mean, Bush's ranch is going to look like a moonscape in ten years if these trends continue."

(No order given) Harry Potter Series, Of Mice and Men, The Chocolate War, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, Catcher in the Rye, Summer of My German Soldier, Alice series, Go Ask Alice, Blood and Chocolate, Fallen Angels.

State of the Nation George W. Bush Approval Rating
Most Recent Rating: 2002 Sep 20-22
66% Approve
30% Disapprove

"State of the Country" Satisfaction Rating
Most Recent: 2002 Sep 5-8
47% Satisfied
51% Dissatisfied

Economic Confidence Ratings
Most Recent: 2002 Sep 5-8
24% Excellent/Good
76% Only fair/Poor

Time for more wagging, Mr. Bush.

If Ashcroft and Justice are allowed to censor or delay reports they don't like, no one other than prosecutors and law enforcement is likely to agree to serve on future projects. The researchers, scholars and defense bar will abandon them if they are not independent. There is no financial payment for the work, and it involves a serious time commitment over a year or two period. Why bother if the results can be sat on, or worse, altered?

It is sad that being a good patriot often means being the enemy of the rest of mankind.

Liddy, we've got news for you. It's 2002. Clinton isn't running against you. Maybe you're just traumatized by the memory of 1996, when Clinton did run against your husband -- and beat his butt. (They've since healed the breach and are raising money together on behalf of the families of victims of 9/11. Pretty tacky to attack your husband's new partner in humanitarian works, isn't it Liddy. But we digress.) But whatever. Liddy Dole is tough. She wants power. Always has and always will. And she will do anything and say anything to get it. But will the news media of North Carolina catch her out on her lies and evasions, especially on her privatizing record?

The Bush administration has no intention of allowing Iraq to define the process from here. It continues to press for a a tough UN Security Council resolution to specify exactly what is required of Iraq, but the latest Iraqi offer — and Russia's enthusiastic embrace of Baghdad's move — suggest that while Washington is likely to get Security Council endorsement of a resolution spelling out what is required of Iraq, it may have a harder time including the authorization of force for non-compliance in the same resolution. The French have insisted that this would require a second resolution and that certification of Iraq's compliance or non-compliance is the prerogative of the Security Council, but Bush administration officials want the right to make their own determination of whether Iraq is in compliance. Also, as the Sydney Morning Herald points out, expect a tough debate in the coming days on the exact meaning of 'unconditional' — the Iraqis are assuming the inspection process will take at least eight months, and will do their best to ensure that it's a lot longer than. But the Bush administration has no intention of simply restoring the pre-1998 inspection regime, and will be agitating for a far shorter fuse than the one envisaged by Baghdad.

Coulter citing the Times? And without a footnote, no less? What gives? Is this the same Ann Coulter who wished a horrible death on everyone working at the paper? Maybe she's being sly, thinking something along the lines of, "That stupid Times, reporting about dogs finding explosives where there were none. Can't liberals get anything right?"

Matthews to Host New Weekly Talker
Reuter
HamsterChatter: "Dovish perhaps, but not retiring. Matthews, who begins hosting a new nationally syndicated weekly news show this weekend, accused the Bush administration of taking advantage of the national grief over last year's attacks on New York and Washington to lead America into war with Iraq. "I think a lot of people have the gut feeling that we go over and kill 3,000 Arabs and we've somehow gotten even. I disagree that it's going to enhance our security," he said ."

Bush: Build Up Military Might
Washington Post
HamsterChatter: "A report on national security priorities affirms the preemptive strike strategy ."

Iraq Rejects UN Resolutions
AP
HamsterChatter: "Iraq on Saturday rejected U.S. efforts to secure a U.N. resolution threatening war, with Iraqi state-run radio announcing Baghdad will not abide by unfavorable new resolutions adopted by the U.N. Security Council ."

Hollywood Seeks to Block Nude-Free Re-Edited Films
Reuters
HamsterChatter: "The directors told the court that offering the re-edited versions of the films violates a U.S. law that prohibits trademark infringement, false advertising and unfair competition. The directors noted that this law has been applied in the past to protect artists' rights not to be associated with unauthorized, edited versions of their work ."

G.O.P. Gains From War Talk but Does Not Talk About It
NY Times
HamsterChatter: "Senior Republican Party officials say the prospect of at least two more weeks of Congressional debate on Iraq is allowing their party to run out the clock on the fall election, blocking Democrats as they try to seize on the faltering economy and other domestic concerns as campaign issues. At the same time, Republicans said that as they entered the final six weeks of contests in which control of Congress is at stake, they did not want to be perceived as exploiting the talk of war for political gain. They said they were urging candidates not to do anything that might give Democrats ammunition to turn the war issue against them ."

Congress Promises Quick Iraq Vote
Reuters
HamsterChatter: "This politician is going to have to campaign for votes AND TV ratings. Inspired by the success of the Fox hit "American Idol," which turned an unknown talent into an overnight pop star, sister cable network FX is developing a reality show called "American Candidate" that will choose a "people's" nominee for president in 2004 ."

Israel Tightens Siege on Arafat
AP
HamsterChatter: "Israel tightened its siege on Yasser Arafat late Friday, using tanks to destroy a stairwell in his compound, digging a deep trench and running coils of barbed wire around his offices ."

No Sex Please, We're Soldiers
Reuters
HamsterChatter: "Germans mulling joining the army may think twice now thanks to a new regulation banning soldiers from having sex while in active service ."

Inspections could take months
USA Today
HamsterChatter: "Restarting weapons inspection in Iraq and gauging whether leader Saddam Hussein has chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs could take many months. That's much longer than the weeks the Bush administration wants before determining whether to use military force to destroy any weapons programs and depose Saddam ."

Voting and the States: Can Anyone Here Count?
Time
HamsterChatter: "The clock is ticking on election reform. Is anyone in Washington listening? ."

Deliver Us From Evil
Michael Kinsley
HamsterChatter: "Of all the explanations for Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent alleged war on terrorism, the least illuminating is that it's all about evil. We didn't know or didn't appreciate that there is evil in the world. Now we do know, or ought to. In President Bush's "axis of evil" speech last January, the first item on his list of truths "we have come to know" after 9/11 is that "evil is real, and it must be opposed". "

Cities colorblind to terror warnings
USA Today
HamsterChatter: "Many of the nation's cities have taken little or no action in response to the federal government's elevated terrorism alert, a survey by the National League of Cities shows. Only about 25% have prepared plans to conform to the national five-color alert system."

Shoot First: Bush's whitewashed national security manifesto
Slate
HamsterChatter: "In other words, we now face an enemy that seeks advantage over us not through the ability to exceed us in material strength, but through its willingness to exceed us in ruthlessness. How do we adjust to this enemy? The intuitive, if unpleasant, answer is to pare our scruples to even the fight a bit. But Bush doesn't want to admit this. Instead of embracing the blunt Cold War realpolitik of Henry Kissinger, Bush redefines terms to conceal his moral compromises."

Oil Security Sham: New Energy Bill Changes Will Increase Oil Demand
Natural Resources Defense Council
HamsterChatter: "As Congress and the White House tout the need for increased energy security, members of the House-Senate conference committee consolidating the energy bill today further weakened the already minuscule effort to reduce oil imports. Instead of saving fuel, changes approved by negotiators today will actually increase gasoline consumption by millions of gallons. The move comes amid rising oil prices, falling inventories and growing concern over price and supply disruptions in the Middle East."


Friday, September 20

When the GOP designed their tax plan last year, they used two tricks to balloon its costs beyond its stated sticker price. As most folks know, they set it to expire in ten years, meaning that its longer term costs were hidden. But they planned to campaign to make the cuts permanent. The other trick was knowledge that the Alternative Minimum Tax would increasingly snare upper middle class taxpayers, creating a constituency for modifying or repealing the AMT to further increase tax relief

Congress Promises Quick Iraq Vote
AP
HamsterChatter: "Congress is promising a quick vote on President Bush's request for authority to use military force against Iraq, moving toward a show of unity to back up the president's effort to gain support on Iraq from Russia and other wary nations ."

Helping the Jobless
Hillary Clinton
HamsterChatter: "Congress must act quickly to extend unemployment insurance and disaster unemployment assistance in New York City ."

The Vision Thing
Paul Krugman
HamsterChatter: "The economic similarity between our current difficulties and the slump under the first George Bush is stronger than most people realize ."

Profiling charged on 'nightmare' flight: A doctor on Delta Flight 442 was detained by U.S. marshals
Philadelphia Inquirer
HamsterChatter: "The incident on Delta Flight 442 was scary enough last month: U.S. marshals seized an unruly passenger, then one aimed a pistol at other passengers for a half hour and shouted at them to stay seated. The event, however, didn't end there. Unknown to most passengers on the Atlanta-to-Philadelphia flight, the marshals upon landing also seized an Indian passenger from first class and silently whisked him away in handcuffs ."

Bush, the Polls & 2004
Consortium
HamsterChatter: "Many Republican strategists saw the American people's anger over Sept. 11 and George W. Bush's "united-we-stand" poll numbers as a way to lock down a second term in 2004. But recent poll numbers suggest a less certain future ."

No Thank You, Mr. President
Dr. Lev Grinberg
HamsterChatter: "Any reasonable Israeli must object to a war endangering him and his family, that can spell a disaster to the future of his country. But we are stuck in the same 35-year-old problem: our government is run by messianic-nationalists and a war-craving military elite, who get support and encouragement from the extremist conservatives of the Bush administration ."

Bush speeds up environment reviews
MSNBC
HamsterChatter: "A new environmental battleground emerged Thursday after President Bush signed an executive order to streamline the environmental reviews of high-priority transportation projects. Environmentalists called it an assault on a landmark 1969 law, while in Congress lawmakers heard from administration officials who argued that the reviews stall vital projects ."

Bush Seeks Sweeping Powers
AP
HamsterChatter: "The sweeping authority sought by President Bush to confront Iraq would allow him to ignore the United Nations and fight Saddam Hussein at the time, place and manner of his choosing. Some legal experts said the proposed resolution would even permit the president to use military force beyond Iraq's borders ."

A Parody of Partnership
Washington Post
HamsterChatter: "VLADIMIR PUTIN, the soul-baring friend of President Bush, is offering another demonstration of why the administration's flighty rhetoric about the "transformation" of U.S.-Russian relations has been premature. Mr. Putin's government is doing its best to hamstring Mr. Bush's campaign against Iraq ."

The Right's Judical Juggernaut
Jack Newfield
HamsterChatter: "In the confirmation process, ideology should matter in direct proportion to how much it mattered in the President's thinking when he made the nomination. Since Bush said during the campaign that Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are his favorite judges, this sent a vivid message about his judicial role models, and how his mind works ."

A Dangerous Game
The Nation
HamsterChatter: "The challenge before the American people is the most serious since the rise of fascism and the long encounter wth the Soviet Union ."

Bush to Outline Doctrine of Striking Foes First
NY Times
HamsterChatter: "Today, the Bush administration will publish a comprehensive explanation for shifting military strategy toward pre-emptive action against hostile states and terrorist groups ."

Asking But Not Telling
TomPaine.com
HamsterChatter: "The current president has broken Clinton's campaign cash-grabbing record, but hardly anybody seems to have noticed, commented or cared ."

Iraq: The phantom menace
Robert Scheer
HamsterChatter: "The phantom menace: George W. Bush's war plans in the Middle East have more to do with elections than global security ."

Saddam 2, Bush(es) 0
Benjamin J. Toff
HamsterChatter: "The American response to Iraq's announcement demonstrates just how backwards this administration's thought process has become. This administration decided a full year ago it wanted to invade Iraq; last October, Iraq was named a possible Phase Two of the war on terrorism, despite no evidence linking it to al Qaeda. Ever since, the White House has tried vigorously to find a reason to justify invasion. Bringing his case to the U.N. was a gamble, and Bush only took it believing Iraq would never agree to unconditional terms. But now it appears he lost that gamble—just don't expect him to give up any time soon ."

Untested administration hawks clamor for war
USA Today
HamsterChatter: "Beware of war hawks who never served in the military. That, in essence, was the message of retired four-star Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni, a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and the White House point man on the Middle East crisis. Zinni is one of a growing number of uniformed officers, in and out of the Pentagon, urging caution on the issue of a pre-emptive strike against Iraq ."

Bush-Hitler Remark Shows U.S. as Issue in German Election
NY Times
HamsterChatter: "A reported remark by a German minister comparing President Bush's tactics over Iraq to those of Hitler envenomed a close-fought German election today and demonstrated how anti-Americanism had moved to the center of political debate here ."


Thursday, September 19

I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central is the best place to get the complete story these days. A case in point is the Bush Light speech to the United Nations last Thursday.

Despite my hillbilly upbringing, I know that the word "nuclear" is not pronounced "nuk-u-lar." So when Bush Light seemed to get it right on CNN's Inside Politics, I though that maybe he had been taking speech lessons. But I drew that conclusion only because CNN allowed me to hear just the following brief quote from the speech, and his pronunciation was not that clear:

BUSH: Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year.

"The Daily Show" played a more extensive portion of the speech, in which Bush clearly goes on about "nuk-u-lar" threats and "nuk-u-lar" policy. And they went on to make the joke about the distinction between America's "nuk-u-lar" policy and our nuclear policy. Given the brevity of the quote and the importance of the issue, I have to wonder whether CNN considered it embarrassing to show Bush Light proving his intellectual limits on a world stage.

Should the media run stories that show that the leader of the free world is an idiot? That's part of what makes it a free world.

Tony Daughtrey
Knoxville, TN

I love your site and visit every day. But I have to disagree about leaving Noelle Bush alone.

Harping on Noelle could be just the kind of "catalyzing event" you said is necessary for the creation of hot political issues. Florida's drug laws, like its election process, are in serious need of reform. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Florida's drug laws discriminate against poor and minority people, by punishing families who live in public housing. The press ought to be demanding to know why Jeb continues to live in public housing (and I'd love to hear the argument saying he doesn't) in light of his daughter's repeat drug offenses. How else can reform happen, unless rulers are forced to abide by their own rules? -W. Michie.

I think if the inspectors were permitted back in by the Iraqi government, it would take them at least a year just to develop the inspection techniques and even the tradecraft to deal with the inevitable denial and concealment techniques that the Iraqis would use. What the inspectors are being asked to do is to confirm that there is no weapons of mass destruction activity going on. And so to prove that negative will require a great deal of time, no matter what Saddam Hussein does.

So I'll say it: I hate this war that's coming in Iraq. I don't think we'll be proud of it. Oppose this war because it will create a millennium of hatred and the suicidal terrorism that comes with it. You talk about Bush trying to avenge his father. What about the tens of millions of Arab sons who will want to finish a fight we start next spring in Baghdad?

Like most foreign-policy insiders, Rumsfeld was aware that Saddam was a murderous thug who supported terrorists and was trying to build a nuclear weapon. (The Israelis had already bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak.) But at the time, America's big worry was Iran, not Iraq.

You see, Bill -- this is what the right wing that you've been consorting with is really about. Wing-nut correctness. Enforcing the party line. Such as hating gays on the basis of weird, extremist, bigoted readings of Scripture. Let this be a lesson to you, Bill. Cross your buddies even slightly, on any issue, and they will try and defame you. And you'll even get Freeped! Until now, they've loved you Bill. Because, let's face it, most of the time you have toed their line. But, just once, call a spade a spade -- or a religious fanatic a religious fanatic -- and they all try and get medieval on you. It's the latest sign that the conservative movement is really in desperate shape, far worse than it (or Karl Rove, or the Wall Street Journal) imagine. Giving credit where credit is due, we appreciate that, at least once, Bill O'Reilly has made a decent call. We only hope that he reconsiders his choice of "friends," and stops hanging around with the wrong crowd.

The liberals' solution was always to make nice with terrorists while whittling away at our liberties and freedoms with symbolic rent-a-cop checkpoints, laughable metal detectors and meaningless photo ID checks. Thank God adults have returned to our White House. Now, if only they can find a way to keep the liberals at bay while a man's work finally gets done. Too late for the victims in New York and Virginia, I'm sorry to say.

Excuse me if I absent myself from the national political group-hug that's going on. You see, I believe the liberals are largely responsible for much of what happened Tuesday, and may God forgive them.

My job, and the job of all conservatives now, is to keep liberals out of power as long as humanly possible. Our country is not safe when liberals are in power. How much more evidence do we need?

"Back in the '60s, the left was the home of humor, iconoclasm, pleasure. But over the last two decades, the joy has gone out of the left -- it now feels hedged in by shibboleths and defeatism -- while the right has been having a gas, be it Lee Atwater grooving to the blues, Rush Limbaugh chortling about Feminazis or grimly gleeful Ann Coulter serving up bile as if it were chocolate mousse, even dubbing Katie Couric "the affable Eva Braun of morning television." (Get your political allegiances straight, babe. Katie's the Madame Mao of morning television. You're Eva Braun.)"

Love former President Clinton or not, you've got to admit that his sex life and personal behavior are an easy target. Sadly for Bubba, maybe too easy. Political allies and friends say he's being dogged by women trying to put him in compromising situations, and normally in front of flashing cameras. A typical example is of a woman in a low-cut top at a Clinton event trying to catch a gander from the ex-prez. The women often stand out as they try to re-create that classic rope-line scene with Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Clinton's allies claim the supermarket tabloids are behind the gotcha effort, though they deny the accusation. Paranoia, you say? Maybe not. Consider: During a Little Rock Democratic meet-and-greet last month, our tipsters saw a woman step from the receiving line and grab Clinton's private parts. They say Clinton was shocked but went through with the picture-taking. The woman later claimed booze made her do it. Tacky groupie or setup job? Clintonites wonder.

If he does, he has good cause. After declaring a moratorium on the death penalty in 2000, he commissioned a study as to what went wrong with the death penalty in Illinois and how it could corrected. The report was issued in April, 2002 and contained 85 specific recommendations to remedy the problems. Yet none have been implemented.

Governor Ryan is quoted in the article as saying, "I don't know how I could pick and choose. That's why I have to determine whether it's going to be for everybody or for nobody."

Reading between the lines, we think Governor Ryan is saying he will commute all the death sentences in Illinois unless the legislature first enacts a meaningful number of the recommended reforms. That's not unfair. What's the point of having a fact-finding commission if its conclusions and recommendations are just going to be ignored?