We Don’t Amend the Constitution to Take Away Liberty

NewMexiKen: The discrimination amendment vote

The discrimination

amendment vote

Republicans who voted to block the amendment were Susan M. Collins (Maine), Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), John E. Sununu

(N.H.), Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.) and John McCain (Ariz.). Democrats who voted to bring up the amendment

were Zell Miller (Ga.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.).

Thanks to NewMexiKen. I guess McCain’s not going to

get the GOP VP offer.

This vote was nonsense at so many levels. An utter waste of time. mjh

Hold Duhbya’s Feet to the Fire

how to beat defeat George Bush

Brand Bush the extremist
Because that’s exactly what he is.
Extreme deficits. Extreme arrogance. Extreme secrecy.
Extreme conservative. Extreme ignorance.
John Kerry is the moderate one.

Bushlies.com by David Corn

There should be tremendous outrage–in the halls of Congress, in the public commons. After all, the Bush administration ended up waging an elective war, which has consumed thousands of American and Iraqi lives, on the basis of misinformation and disinformation. But who knows what riles people these days. In recent campaign appearances, John Kerry and John Edwards have challenged Bush’s honesty. The Senate report provides plenty of ammunition for such an assault upon Bush–particularly the section on Bush’s prewar claims that Saddam Hussein was in league with al Qaeda. The day after the report was released, Kerry and Edwards accused Bush of governing in a dishonest fashion. “The value of truth is one of the most central values in America, and this administration has violated” it, Kerry said. “Their values system is distorted and not based on truth.”

MSNBC – Altercation by Eric Alterman

Bush himself says he cannot think of a single mistake in his policies in which, according to at least one CIA officer, the president launched…

“an avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked war against a foe who posed no immediate threat but whose defeat did offer economic advantages.”

For Osama bin Laden, Anonymous argues, the American invasion and occupation of Iraq were like “a Christmas present you long for but never expected to receive” — a gift from Washington that “will haunt, hurt, and hound Americans for years to come.” Moreover, “U.S. forces and policies are completing the radicalization of the Islamic world, something Osama bin Laden has been trying to do with substantial but incomplete success since the early 1990’s. As a result, I think it fair to conclude that the United States of America remains bin Laden’s only indispensable ally.”

Duhbya, Please Stick With Dick!

Picking Edwards Gives Kerry a Boost-Poll Reuters.com

The Kerry-Edwards ticket is leading Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney by a margin of six percentage points, 51 percent to 45 percent, the poll said.

The survey of 1,001 adults, to be published in the July 19 issue of the magazine, was taken July 8-9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

It was the first Newsweek poll since Kerry chose the North Carolina lawmaker as his running mate on July 6. Kerry led Bush 46 percent to 45 percent in the magazine’s previous survey in mid-May.

But in a three-way race with independent candidates Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo, Kerry-Edwards edged Bush-Cheney by a slimmer margin, just 47 percent to 44 percent. Nader-Camejo drew support from 3 percent of those polled.

The poll comes amid speculation Cheney may be hurting Bush’s chances of winning re-election. Cheney has been a lighting rod for Democratic criticism because of his role in advocating for the invasion of Iraq and his previous ties with energy company Halliburton, which is being probed for overcharging for its services in Iraq.

Cheney has distanced himself from any claims that he has a financial stake in Halliburton, and Bush has strongly endorsed the vice president as his running mate.

However, the Newsweek poll said that if Bush replaced Cheney with Secretary of State Colin Powell, the ticket would defeat Kerry-Edwards by 53 percent to 44 percent.

Dump Fox

News Hounds: We watch FOX so you don’t have to.

Meet the News Hounds
We’re eight middle-aged citizens who believe a viable democracy depends upon viable media. Read more in our manifesto.

OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism

Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, have been running a “race to the bottom” in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public’s right to know.

Bush Slips in Rural Areas — Before Kerry Picked Edwards

NPR : Poll: Bush Rural Support Fades in Key States

Respondents in the Center for Rural Strategies poll give the president a nine-point lead over Democrat John Kerry in rural portions of the battleground states. Mr. Bush was favored by 51 percent of respondents, compared to 42 percent for Kerry. But the same people said they gave candidate Bush a margin twice as big against his Democratic rival four years ago — 55 percent said that they voted for Bush, 37 percent for Al Gore. (In the final election results from 2000, Bush won 55.5 percent of the vote in rural counties in the 17 states, while Gore captured 44.5 percent.)

Close to half of the respondents, 48 percent, say the nation is on the wrong track, while 43 percent say it’s heading in the right direction.

Patriotic Discourse

Moore-wellian fables skew

truth by Alex Hughes, Daily Lobo Opinion

Another thing that really irks me is the constant banter stating what Moore is doing is

simply ”patriotic discourse.” Michael Moore is not a patriot. He is a traitor.

[T]o be a patriot, one has to love

their country. Moore hates America and Americans with equal fervor. I think if it were up to him, he would have sent Osama a

basket of muffins with a nice little thank you card after the Sept. 11 attacks.

I applaud Alex Hughes for actually seeing

F/911. Most of the conservative commentary I have read indicates he’s rather unusual in that regard. That he would then calmly discuss

the movie’s flaws is also respectable. Still, he manages to earn his true credentials as a conservative by declaring Moore a traitor and

dictating what constitutes ‘acceptable’ patriotism (to him). Finally, he finishes trashing Moore by stating Moore is glad America was

attacked. Shameless, Alex. Were you afraid your cohort would reject you if you stayed rational? Or is it that calm conservatives don’t

make it into print — or office?

Hughes says of Moore, he ”doesn’t lie, per se, he just tells the version of the truth that

ignores things that are problematic to the advancement of his world view.” Sounds exactly like what Bush supporters say in defense of

Bush, who said, ”I’m a uniter, not a divider.”

I would call that a lie, per se, told to deceive in order to get something one

would not get if the truth were known. Of course, there is that other classic defense of Bush, ”it wasn’t a lie if he believed it at

the time” (all evidence to the contrary now). Maybe not, but then it is an indication of delusion. mjh

Republicans

get Moore than a challenge from filmmaker By Marisa Demarco

Republicans Review 9/11

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams