Aug 17 - Bush is not big in Japan. This is the new addition to the Microman toy line from Takara Corp. That's the company that gave us the Transformers, Beyblade and that device that translates what your dog or cat is saying. Yes, what you think you see written on the back of the figure is actually there. It's an unusual piece of political commentary by one of the largest toy corporations in Japan. It just proves once again how the rest of the world feels about Bush and (unfortunately) our country. By the way, the toy comes packaged in the same manner that hundreds of U.S. soldiers have come home: In a coffin.

Aug 16 - Aaahhh. Feels like the old South all over again. Thanks, Jeb. (COMIC, pg 5)

...State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November... (Bob Herbert, NYTimes)

 

Aug 14 - Lo and behold, with the "sensitive" scandal behind us, the real news about Bush goes under-reported in the Saturday edition of the Times. Bush has slashed more regulations than any other administration in history. Don't hear much about this in the stump speaches. Just hope Kerrry watches his p's and q's.

...Mr. Graham, the budget office official, eagerly acknowledged that the regulatory tilt had been toward business. "The Bush administration has cut the growth of costly business regulations by 75 percent, compared to the two previous administrations," he said.
Representative Obey said he believed most Americans remained unaware of many of the changes.
"Most people are busy just trying to make a living," he said. "And with all the focus on Iraq and bin Laden, it gives the administration an opportunity to take a lot of loot out the back door without anybody noticing."

Aug 13 - John Kerry proclaims America needs to fight "a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror." in a campaign speach. Our honoroble vice president makes mockery of the word "sensitive" in subsequent stump speaches, reminding us that Republican chicken-hawks have little else to their campaign strategy than pulling phrases out of context and taking up the news cycle with empty topics. Our media is happy to oblige. Those on the left are forced to troll past statements by Republicans to reveal that they too have employed the "s" word. And so another day of national news is preoccupied with trivial bitch-slapping, and the Republicans score points in the coverage.

Aug 12 - Ferrell does Bush - a must see!

Aug 11 - Gloomy thoughts about torture and election postponements, but wotrthwhile...

Aug 9 - Bush and the Neocons continue to mishandle and misstate. On National Security, the Elections, and the Economy, recent messes:

Leaks! Leals! Leaks! Putting our nation at risk playing scare politics.

Thanks to Bush & Co. we will have our elections monitored by Foreigners.

And on the economy, these pearls:

"Bush also said high taxes on the rich are a failed strategy because the really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway."
Asked about that comment, Jonathan Beeton, spokesman for Kerry's campaign in Virginia, said 'George Bush can speak with authority about really rich people. ... That's his base, so I'm sure he knows what he's talking about. But that doesn't make it right.' "

August 7 - One of the Swift Boat guys backs off the allegations against Kerry. Still, the book with similar accusations is a best-seller on amazon.com, and it's not even out yet. Check out the philosophy of one of the book's authors, Jerome Corsi... I guess even Vets can turn out to be lying bigots. Speaking of our veterans, honorable and otherwise, do we have to mention that Bush was AWOL during 'Nam?

August 6 - One thing we'd like to explore here is the character of the Administration, and the resulting National identity. An excerpt from a new book by John Powers, SORE WINNERS, takes a stab at this elusive topic.

August 5 - Let's talk about everybody's favorite topic: FLIP FLOPPING! Here's a running tab of those keeping a running tab.

Richard Cohen, Washington Post 8/5/04

Center For American Progress 7/7/04

FactCheck.org 5/24/04

As if more evidence is required, a new article chronicles the Administration's truth-stretching on the lead up to war with Iraq.

Have you heard about the Swiftboats For Truth guys, claiming to have "served with John Kerrry" and calling him unfit to lead? Well, they weren't on his boat, they were just in the same war. I'm sure these Patriots didn't mean to mislead. Senator John McCain calls for the ad to be pulled, saying "`It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me,'' The Administration is using the oportunity to criticize soft money in the campaign, an area where democrats have an advantage.

The mainstream press response to the Democratic Convention was crushingly irresponsible.

July 30 - Kerry delivers. NYTimes Op-Ed columnist Krugman calls the Media on their lame coverage:

"Somewhere along the line, TV news stopped reporting on candidates' policies, and turned instead to trivia that supposedly reveal their personalities. We hear about Mr. Kerry's haircuts, not his health care proposals. We hear about George Bush's brush-cutting, not his environmental policies..."

July 29 - More great speaches that aren't being seen on the Networks: Sharpton rocks!

July 28 - The Networks aren't carrying these speaches from the Convention... Find them online. Hear what Barack Obama, State Senatorial Candidate from Illinois has to say.

July 26 - See Clinton's entire speech from the Democratic Convention on C-SPAN. Don't watch the spin. It's appalling they don't carry the whole convention on the networks: It is the ultimate reality TV (Your reality!!!)

Launch 2004 - WAYVF writer speaks about origins of this project in High Times Activist Issue.