The Gamut

DRUDGE REPORT 2004?

Then I am going to fake pictures like this:



Just to steal their thunder and demonstrate how stupid and childish the right is being.

Or maybe I'll just do this:




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boortz.com: Nealz Nuze Today's Nuze

This has to be a big bummer for The Poodle and his new running mate. Despite all of the talk about a bounce in the polls after naming the supposedly charismatic John Edwards to his ticket, it has had the exact opposite effect: President Bush's poll numbers have actually gone up. Think about that for a minute - after the media onslaught...the non-stop shilling by the media for the DNC...and still, nothing. Depression is sure to follow.

The latest poll by The Associated Press says President Bush has taken the lead in a national poll over The Poodle, 49 to 45 percent.

Boortz is a f&*%ing liar. Every other major poll this week has Kerry in the lead. Time, Zogby, CBS, NBC, and ARG all put Kerry in the lead. And the AP poll has Nader in it, but it is looking more and more like Nader's race is done. Also, statistically, Bush's lead in that poll is within the MoE.

One last point, the polling began before Kerry anounced Edwards. There has not been a true post announcement poll released yet.


Neal Boortz, Republican shill and liar.

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In a recent conversation discussion okay - argument that I was having Online with some winger friends acquaintances okay - idiots I know, I casually mentioned that the disparity between rich and poor has grown under Bush the lesser. To counter that point, I was directed to this stat from CNN/Money magazine:

The number of millionaire households in the United States by mid-year 2003 grew to the highest level in 20 years, a study said Tuesday.

The ranks of millionaire households jumped 14 percent to 3.8 million, up from 3.3 million in 2002 and 3.7 million in 2001, according to NFO WorldGroup, a market research and consulting firm, which conducts an annual survey of affluent households.

At first glance, it seems pretty impressive for the POTUS, but let's examine the other end.

When one makes the point that the disparity is growing, one is already conceding that the rich are getting richer. However, implicit in the argument is that the poor are getting poorer. And they are.

The nation's official poverty rate rose from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.1 percent in 2002 and median household money income declined 1.1 percent in real terms from 2001 to $42,409 in 2002

But this illustrates the point much more clearly:

In 2002, the number of Americans living in poverty increased to 34.6 million; an increase of 3.5 million under Bush

According to the CNN/Money stat, there were 3.3 million millionaires in America in 2002, and this year there are 3.8 million. An increase of 0.5 million (500,000) people.

While in practically that same time period, the number of people living in poverty increased by 3.5 million (3,500,000) people.

The minority rich are getting richer while millions are being pushed into the desperation of poverty.

Incidentally, even the CNN/Money stat (when read closely) is misleading as to how many people became millionaires under Bush. Here is the stat again:

The ranks of millionaire households jumped 14 percent to 3.8 million, up from 3.3 million in 2002 and 3.7 million in 2001

Let's put the years in reverse chronological order.

2003 = 3.8million
2002 = 3.3million
2001 = 3.7million

The millionaire club LOST members in 2002 and gained them back in 2003. So the real gain over 2 years is not 14%. It is 3%. Bush isn't even doing as well for the rich as they want to pretend.

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Athanae at Eschaton posts this AP photo of Ken Lay's perp walk and captions it "a good start."



I agree, and add this photo which I caption "an even better conclusion."



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I have heard three main criticisms of Kerry's choice of John Edwards for veep. They are as follows:

1- He is young and inexperienced.
2- He is Kerry's second choice after McCain.
3- He was a trial lawyer, and trial lawyers don't favor the common man.

Okay, let's look at these one at a time.

1- He is young and inexperienced.

This would be a good criticism if it were true. He is old enough under the Constitution, and that is all that matters. However, this doesn't mean that it might not dissuade some people from voting for the ticket. Okay, here is my answer to that. If you honestly feel that way, and if you also felt that way about Bush/Quayle and refused to vote for the Bush/Quayle ticket primarily for that reason, then don't vote for Kerry/Edwards. However, if you voted for Bush/Quayle or if you voted against Bush/Quayle for reasons that had nothing whatever to do with Quayle's presence on the ticket, then get over it.

Additionally, this is actually a good reason to vote for the ticket. As Orrin Hatch said of George W. Bush during the 2000 primaries, "My only problem with you, governor, is that you've only had four and going into your fifth year of governorship. . . . Frankly, I really believe that you need more experience before you become president of the United States. That's why I'm thinking of you as a vice presidential candidate."

Kerry has more experience than Bush had going into the presidency. And Edwards has about the same governing experience that Bush had in 2000. Besides Edwards is running for veep - not pres. Eight years from now, he'll be plenty ready for the big job. Besides, several former presidents had considerably less experience than Edwards, and many were younger. Believe it or not, Edwards is 50.

2- He is Kerry's second choice after McCain.

First, this is not true because Kerry never offered the position to McCain. Kerry floated the idea past McCain - same as he did with Vilsack, Gephardt, and several others, but he never offerred McCain the position.

Second, if discussing the position with him is the same as offering McCain the position, then the same can be said of Bush/Cheney. Cheney would also be Bush's second choice since Bush also asked McCain if he'd consider running as veep. So Cheney and Edwards tie on that score.

3- He was a trial lawyer, and trial lawyers don't favor the common man.

Edwards was a victim's lawyer. He was an advocate, not a defense attorney. Here is a description of his defining case:

The defining case in Edwards' legal career wrapped up that same year. In 1993, a five-year-old girl named Valerie Lakey had been playing in a Wake County, N.C., wading pool when she became caught in an uncovered drain so forcefully that the suction pulled out most of her intestines. She survived but for the rest of her life will need to be hooked up to feeding tubes for 12 hours each night. Edwards filed suit on the Lakeys' behalf against Sta-Rite Industries, the Wisconsin corporation that manufactured the drain. Attorneys describe his handling of the case as a virtuoso example of a trial layer bringing a negligent corporation to heel. Sta-Rite offered the Lakeys $100,000 to settle the case. Edwards passed. Before trial, he discovered that 12 other children had suffered similar injuries from Sta-Rite drains. The company raised its offer to $1.25 million. Two weeks into the trial, they upped the figure to $8.5 million. Edwards declined the offer and asked for their insurance policy limit of $22.5 million. The day before the trial resumed from Christmas break, Sta-Rite countered with $17.5 million. Again, Edwards said no. On January 10, 1997, lawyers from across the state packed the courtroom to hear Edwards' closing argument, "the most impressive legal performance I have ever seen," recalls Dayton. Three days later, the jury found Sta-Rite guilty and liable for $25 million in economic damages (by state law, punitive damages could have tripled that amount). The company immediately settled for $25 million, the largest verdict in state history. For their part, Edwards and Kirby earned the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service.

Take that Aticus Finch. Not bad, John. Not bad at all. More of Edwards history with the law can be gleaned from his book, Four Trials.

Also, historically speaking, over half of all congress persons since 1780 have listed lawyer as their profession. As have several Vice Presidents and many Presidents (at least 22 of them); including Clinton, Taft and Nixon.

So - so what he's educated in the law? So what he's young and eager to learn? So what there are those who would have preferred somebody else for the job? Compared to Cheney, and taking those three points in that order, the first two points make him better suited and the last one is a bump.

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Okay, I have my AG pick. Tom Vilsack. He was a contender for veep, so Kerry already has to be thinking of him. He's perfect.

So now I have to find a new position for Leon Fuerth. Hmm? Okay, let's try this:

President John Kerry
VP John Edwards
National Security Advisor Wes Clarke
Deputy to the National Security Advisor Rand Beers
Sec. of State Lt. General Claudia Kennedy
Chief of Staff Gary Hart
Sec. of Homeland Security Al Gore
Sec. of Defense Max Cleland
Deputy Secretary of Defense Joe Wilson
Co-Deputy Secretary of Defense Karen Kwiatkowski
Attorney General Tom Vilsack
Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin
Surgeon General Howard Dean
EPA Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Fed Chair Paul Krugman
CIA/NSA/FBI coordinator Leon Fuerth

That last position is my own creation. This is a position which is under Homeland Security. It is a unique office unto itself charged with managing all ongoing investigations in an overseer only capacity and then reporting to Homeland Security whenever a potential conflict arrises. This way, the integrity of the "wall" (which believe it or not, does serve a purpose) is maintained, but episodes where investigations trample on each other are minimized.

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I understand that one of the candidates for the office of president in the year 2004 is very wealthy. Well, financially wealthy maybe, but morally bankrupt.

Judge Dismisses Lawsuit by Fired FBI Translator - from TBO.com

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Tuesday by a whistle-blower who alleged security lapses in the FBI's translator program, ruling that her claims might expose government secrets that could damage national security.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said he was satisfied with claims by Attorney General John Ashcroft and a senior FBI official that the civil lawsuit by Sibel Edmonds could expose intelligence-gathering methods and disrupt diplomatic relations with foreign governments.
......
Edmonds, a former contract linguist for the FBI, said she will appeal the ruling. She alleged in her lawsuit that she was fired in March 2002 after she complained to FBI managers about shoddy wiretap translations and told them an interpreter with a relative at a foreign embassy might have compromised national security.

Edmonds said the judge dismissed her lawsuit without hearing evidence from her lawyers, although the government's lawyers met with Walton at least twice privately. She noted that Walton, the judge, was appointed by President Bush.

"This shows how the separation of power has basically disappeared," Edmonds said in a telephone interview. "The judge ruled on this case without actually this ever being a case."

So to summarize, the woman who knows that 9/11 could have been prevented has been silenced by the very administration that she threatens to expose, and the judge who owes his appointment to this administration goes along with them - making his ruling without ever even hearing the other side.

Only in Soviet Russia Communist China George Bush's America.

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Yahoo! News - Kerry Announces Edwards As Running Mate

I'm happy with this choice. While I would have preferred Max Cleland, Edwards has a lot to be said for him as well. He certainly has the benefit of being both recognizable and enigmatic. Few people really know very much about Edwards except that he is young, personable and charming. Another great thing about the ticket is that during the primaries, both candidates were regularly compared favorably to John Kennedy. That's gotta help.

I think Kerry was especially wise in choosing this day to make the announcement. We are just coming out of a long and patriotic holiday weekend. People will be watching and paying attention to the news today for the first time in four days. And the Bushies had no chance to stage a headline grab.

Of course, the announcement does force me to reevaluate my cabinet picks, so here is the updated list:

President John Kerry
VP John Edwards
National Security Advisor Wes Clarke
Deputy to the National Security Advisor Rand Beers
Sec. of State Lt. General Claudia Kennedy
Chief of Staff Gary Hart
Sec. of Homeland Security Al Gore
Sec. of Defense Max Cleland
Deputy Secretary of Defense Joe Wilson
Co-Deputy Secretary of Defense Karen Kwiatkowski
Attorney General Leon Fuerth
Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin
Surgeon General Howard Dean
EPA Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Fed Chair Paul Krugman

I moved Max Cleland from veep to Secretary of Defense, which forced me to move Leon Fuerth. I considered making him my pick for Homelnd Security, but that would force me to move Gore from that position, so I just plugged Fuerth into Attorney General for now. He's sort of a place holder though, because I don't really like that pick. Not that he's not as qualified for the job as - say - John Ashcroft, but I think the job should go to someone with a strong background in both criminal law and the bill of rights. I'll keep looking.

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1483: The tyrant, Richard III was crowned King of England.
1785: The dollar was unanimously chosen as the money unit for barter in the United States.
1854: The republican party holds their first ever convention.
1917: Lawrence of Arabia captures Aqaba from the Ottomans. It is now part of Jordan.
1939: Hitler closes the last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany in preparation for the Holocaust.

So What is all this leading to?

1946: Barbara Bush opens her legs and spews forth upon the world a little baby son whom she will name George Walker Bush.





Well, the party's over. You don't have to go home to Crawford if you don't want to, but you can't stay here.

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Yahoo! News - Kerry Said to Announce VP Mate on Tuesday

My pick has been Max Cleland from the moment Kerry won the nomination and I had to abandon poor Howard Dean. So, here - maybe for the last time ever in its present form - is my list of cabinet choices:

President John Kerry
VP Max Cleland
National Security Advisor Wes Clarke
Deputy to the National Security Advisor Rand Beers
Sec. of State Lt. General Claudia Kennedy
Chief of Staff Gary Hart
Sec. of Homeland Security Al Gore
Sec. of Defense Leon Fuerth
Deputy Secretary of Defense Joe Wilson
Co-Deputy Secretary of Defense Karen Kwiatkowski
Attorney General John Edwards
Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin
Surgeon General Howard Dean
EPA Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Fed Chair Paul Krugman

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Boston.com / News / Nation / Translator in eye of storm on retroactive classification

Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English.

Ummm, I'm glad this is being reported in a major mainstream paper, but why wait for the holiday weekend to print this old news as if it was brand new?

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