Anonymous Sources

Tom Tomorrow hits a home run for the second week in a row. I defy you not to laugh while reading this.

If you watched the Daily Show last night, you know that a great many pundits, with plugs in their ears, were highly critical of Al Sharpton's convention speech. WHY?

Could it be . . . RACISM?

Here's what Sharpton said:

Thank you.

Tonight I want to address my remarks in two parts.

One, I'm honored to address the delegates here.

Last Friday, I had the experience in Detroit of hearing President George Bush make a speech. And in the speech, he asked certain questions. I hope he's watching tonight. I would like to answer your questions, Mr. President.

(APPLAUSE)

To the chairman, our delegates, and all that are assembled, we're honored and glad to be here tonight.

I'm glad to be joined by supporters and friends from around the country. I'm glad to be joined by my family, Kathy, Dominique, who will be 18, and Ashley.

We are here 228 years after right here in Boston we fought to establish the freedoms of America. The first person to die in the Revolutionary War is buried not far from here, a Black man from Barbados, named Crispus Attucks.

(APPLAUSE)

Forty years ago, in 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party stood at the Democratic convention in Atlantic City fighting to preserve voting rights for all America and all Democrats, regardless of race or gender.

Hamer's stand inspired Dr. King's march in Selma, which brought about the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Twenty years ago, Reverend Jesse Jackson stood at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, again, appealing to the preserve those freedoms.

Tonight, we stand with those freedoms at risk and our security as citizens in question.

I have come here tonight to say, that the only choice we have to preserve our freedoms at this point in history is to elect John Kerry the president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

I stood with both John Kerry and John Edwards on over 30 occasions during the primary season. I not only debated them, I watched them, I observed their deeds, I looked into their eyes. I am convinced that they are men who say what they mean and mean what they say.

(APPLAUSE)

I'm also convinced that at a time when a vicious spirit in the body politic of this country that attempts to undermine America's freedoms -- our civil rights, and civil liberties -- we must leave this city and go forth and organize this nation for victory for our party and John Kerry and John Edwards in November.

(APPLAUSE)

And let me quickly say, this is not just about winning an election. It's about preserving the principles on which this very nation was founded.

Look at the current view of our nation worldwide as a results of our unilateral foreign policy. We went from unprecedented international support and solidarity on September 12, 2001, to hostility and hatred as we stand here tonight. We can't survive in the world by ourselves.

(APPLAUSE)

How did we squander this opportunity to unite the world for democracy and to commit to a global fight against hunger and disease?

We did it with a go-it-alone foreign policy based on flawed intelligence. We were told that we were going to Iraq because there were weapons of mass destruction. We've lost hundreds of soldiers. We've spent $200 billion dollars at a time when we had record state deficits. And when it became clear that there were no weapons, they changed the premise for the war and said: No, we went because of other reasons.

If I told you tonight, "Let's leave the Fleet Center, we're in danger," and when you get outside, you ask me, Reverend Al, "What is the danger?" and I say, "It don't matter. We just needed some fresh air," I have misled you and we were misled.

(APPLAUSE)

We are also faced with the prospect of in the next four years that two or more of the Supreme Court Justice seats will become available. This year we celebrated the anniversary of Brown v. the Board of Education.

(APPLAUSE)

This court has voted five to four on critical issues of women's rights and civil rights. It is frightening to think that the gains of civil and women rights and those movements in the last century could be reversed if this administration is in the White House in these next four years.

(APPLAUSE)

I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in '54, Clarence Thomas would have never got to law school.

(APPLAUSE)

This is not about a party. This is about living up to the promise of America. The promise of America says we will guarantee quality education for all children and not spend more money on metal detectors than computers in our schools.

(APPLAUSE)

The promise of America guarantees health care for all of its citizens and doesn't force seniors to travel to Canada to buy prescription drugs they can't afford here at home.

(APPLAUSE)

The promise of America provides that those who work in our health care system can afford to be hospitalized in the very beds they clean up every day.

The promise of America is that government does not seek to regulate your behavior in the bedroom, but to guarantee your right to provide food in the kitchen.

(APPLAUSE)

The issue of government is not to determine who may sleep together in the bedroom, it's to help those that might not be eating in the kitchen.

(APPLAUSE)

The promise of America that we stand for human rights, whether it's fighting against slavery in the Sudan, where right now Joe Madison and others are fasting, around what is going on in the Sudan; AIDS in Lesotho; a police misconduct in this country.

The promise of America is one immigration policy for all who seek to enter our shores, whether they come from Mexico, Haiti or Canada, there must be one set of rules for everybody.

(APPLAUSE)

We cannot welcome those to come and then try and act as though any culture will not be respected or treated inferior. We cannot look at the Latino community and preach "one language." No one gave them an English test before they sent them to Iraq to fight for America.

(APPLAUSE)

The promise of America is that every citizen vote is counted and protected, and election schemes do not decide the election.

It, to me, is a glaring contradiction that we would fight, and rightfully so, to get the right to vote for the people in the capital of Iraq in Baghdad, but still don't give the federal right to vote for the people in the capital of the United States, in Washington, D.C.

(APPLAUSE)

Mr. President, as I close, Mr. President, I heard you say Friday that you had questions for voters, particularly African- American voters. And you asked the question: Did the Democratic Party take us for granted? Well, I have raised questions. But let me answer your question.

You said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule.

That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres.

We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us.

(APPLAUSE)

Mr. President, you said we would have more leverage if both parties got our votes, but we didn't come this far playing political games. It was those that earned our vote that got our vote. We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats.

(APPLAUSE)

Mr. President, the reason we are fighting so hard, the reason we took Florida so seriously, is our right to vote wasn't gained because of our age. Our vote was soaked in the blood of martyrs, soaked in the blood of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner, soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham. This vote is sacred to us.

(APPLAUSE)

This vote can't be bargained away.

(APPLAUSE)

This vote can't be given away.

(APPLAUSE)

Mr. President, in all due respect, Mr. President, read my lips: Our vote is not for sale.

(APPLAUSE)

And there's a whole generation of young leaders that have come forward across this country that stand on integrity and stand on their traditions, those that have emerged with John Kerry and John Edwards as partners, like Greg Meeks, like Barack Obama, like our voter registration director, Marjorie Harris, like those that are in the trenches.

And we come with strong family values. Family values is not just those with two-car garages and a retirement plan. Retirement plans are good. But family values also are those who had to make nothing stretch into something happening, who had to make ends meet.

I was raised by a single mother who made a way for me. She used to scrub floors as a domestic worker, put a cleaning rag in her pocketbook and ride the subways in Brooklyn so I would have food on the table.

But she taught me as I walked her to the subway that life is about not where you start, but where you're going. That's family values.

(APPLAUSE)

And I wanted somebody in my community -- I wanted to show that example. As I ran for president, I hoped that one child would come out of the ghetto like I did, could look at me walk across the stage with governors and senators and know they didn't have to be a drug dealer, they didn't have to be a hoodlum, they didn't have to be a gangster, they could stand up from a broken home, on welfare, and they could run for president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

As you know, I live in New York. I was there September 11th when that despicable act of terrorism happened.

A few days after, I left home, my family had taken in a young man who lost his family. And as they gave comfort to him, I had to do a radio show that morning. When I got there, my friend James Entome (ph) said, "Reverend, we're going to stop at a certain hour and play a song, synchronized with 990 other stations."

I said, "That's fine."

He said, "We're dedicating it to the victims of 9/11."

I said, "What song are you playing?"

He said "America the Beautiful." The particular station I was at, the played that rendition song by Ray Charles.

As you know, we lost Ray a few weeks ago, but I sat there that morning and listened to Ray sing through those speakers, "Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains' majesty across the fruited plain."

And it occurred to me as I heard Ray singing, that Ray wasn't singing about what he knew, because Ray had been blind since he was a child. He hadn't seen many purple mountains. He hadn't seen many fruited plains. He was singing about what he believed to be.

Mr. President, we love America, not because all of us have seen the beauty all the time.

But we believed if we kept on working, if we kept on marching, if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make America beautiful for everybody.

Starting in November, let's make America beautiful again.

Thank you. And God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

What Would Jesus Do . . . in the Ballot Box?
According to Pat Robertson, Jesus would vote against:

Abortion
Gay Marriage
Not having the Ten Commandments in public schools

Those were the only three votes Robertson would attribute to Jesus

Apparently, Jesus would have no opinion about, say, welfare or foreign policy

(Source: Hannity and Colmes today)

News item, July 26, 2004: Dow opens at 9962.22

Suppose you invested $1000 in a Dow Jones Index on April 6, 1998 . . .

that is, 6.3 years ago . . .

Q: How much would you have today, corrected for inflation?

A: $1000

-- a zero percent return!!

Way to go, Republican Administration!

For some reason, MSNBC reports that Kerry has sort of given up on Missouri.*  Apparently, no one said to the reporter:  "Show me!"   (A July 20 poll puts Kerry ahead 46-44. Overall, the electoral college right now favors Kerry 310-217, with 11 -- a surprising Tennessee -- undecided. From the MSNBC story, you'd think Kerry was trailing -- must be that liberal media bias thing again.)

[*"Missouri, a traditional battleground, recently moved to the Bush-leaning category and is being written off by some Democrats. The Kerry campaign reduced its ad campaign in the state after polls showed him consistently 4 to 6 percentage points behind Bush, with little room for improvement.  Republican advantages in rural Missouri and the fast-growing exurbs make the state tough for Democrats, but Kerry will likely keep it on the table through November in case the political winds shift. Besides, abandoning a traditional battleground would be embarrassing."]

Tom Tomorrow gets it dead-on, once again.

PS I figured out the new blogger format, at least in part -- sure is nice they gave such great directions ... not.

1)  Anonymous has been way, way too busy to post lately;

2)  Blogger removed its "link" shortcut for some stupid reason, and now it's a pain in the ass to include a link unless it says "link" or the actual address (hellloooo?  blogger?)

Meanwhile, keep checking the electoral college survey update from last week's last post.  Kerry's ahead by well over 100 e.v.'s.

Here's some interesting points about the 9/11 commission, courtesy of a letter(e-mail)-writer to Altercation (no link, because -- thanks to blogger -- it's too much of a hassle):

Unsupported by the Bush administration, acceptance of the investigation was forced by grieving family members of individuals that lost their lives to the horror of 9/11.
Bush, in an attempt to sandbag the process, names Henry Kissinger to lead the commission. 
Family members counter the Bush administration's attempts to sandbag by pushing for disclosures from Kissinger on his clients that leads to his resignation.
The Bush administration plays politics with the commission's deadlines, before giving in to the committee's request for more time.
The Bush administration claims Executive Privilege in an attempt to keep Rice, Cheney and Bush from testifying.
The administration gives in to public pressure and allows Rice to testify under oath.  Rice's testimony leads to the most memorable soundbite of the hearings: Bush had been given a report on August 6, 2001, entitled, "Bin Laden Determined To Attack Inside The United Sates."
Rice's public statement that no one ever imagined terrorists using planes as weapons is contradicted by Louis Freeh's testimony that the use of planes as a potential weapon for a terrorist attack was known.
The administration gives in to public pressure and allows Bush and Cheney to meet with the commission privately.  Bush becomes the target of late night talk show barbs for needing to have Cheney with him when he testifies.
Bush and Cheney, in the face of evidence to the contrary, continue to spin that intelligence warnings indicated al-Qaeda attacks would be overseas and not here in the U.S.
Bush accepts George Tenant's resignation.
Despite an Interim Report from the commission that states no evidence was found linking Iraq to the 9/11 attacks, Cheney continues to publicly link al-Qaeda and Iraq. 
The commission rebukes Cheney's public comments that he probably had more facts than the commission on the al-Qaeda links to Iraq by offering Cheney an opportunity to provide them with that information Cheney provides no such information.
Early reports indicate that the commission will tie Iran to al-Qaeda.  Iran had much to gain from the removal of Saddam and his secular government.

Wow! Now it's 322-205! [link as of today -- will change soon]

And an update on Hubble.

Update (see last two posts): As of now, Nader is ON THE BALLOT in Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Colorado, Kansas and Montana, and maybe more. I don't know where he is definitely NOT GOING TO BE except Arizona, where he dropped out. His website refers to "get us on in 40 states," suggesting that either a) he's ON three more states than I've listed; or b) he will definitely NOT be on three more states than I've listed; or c) some combination.

Of the six listed, Florida (27 votes), Michigan (17), and Colorado (9) are the biggest danger zones; I did not list Florida and Michigan below, but that's only because the poll data is inconclusive.

If Kerry wins Florida, Michigan, and Colorado, he will need only 64 more electoral votes to win the election -- and reshape the Supreme Court for a generation or two to come.

Ralph: QUIT! QUIT! For God's sake, QUIT!

Ralph, Ralph, Ralph -- pleeeeze . . . we're begging you: QUIT. GET OUT. Your numbers no longer help the Green party (they have a different candidate). Kerry is the most liberal major party candidate since McGovern; Edwards is the most liberal VP candidate since -- who? Ferraro?

In any case, for God's sake -- four or five Supreme Court justices are freakin' DECREPIT. PLEEEEZE RALPH!! PLEEEEZE!

Based on the current polls and general error margins, these are the ten -- count 'em, TEN --states where Nader IS a factor, meaning he could LOSE the state for Kerry (note: I do not know where he is or isn't on the ballot):

Ark 6
Col 9
Iow 7
Maine 4
Minn 10
Missouri 11
Nev 5
NH 4
Penn 21
Wash 11

Total: 88 electoral votes

These are the five states where Nader MIGHT BE a factor:

NJ 15
NMex 5
Ore 7
WVirg 5
Wisc 10

Total: 42 electoral votes

That's 130 in all; given that Kerry has 153 wrapped up, were Nader to drop out Kerry would be a sure thing (i.e., even if he lost a couple of the Nader-factor states) unless Bush ran the board in the 7 remaining non-Nader states (out of 22 total, including those above) that are in play.

See the earlier post from today for more details.

The thirteen percent arbitrary line I've drawn.

There's just under four months till the election. Let's do a reality check.

It's 153-144 Kerry over Bush, for certain -- the rest of the votes are in 22 possible (if not probable) toss-up states.

That means the real election consists of 241 electoral votes; to tie, Kerry needs 116; to tie, Bush needs 125.

Giving Kerry 3/4 of Nader's percentage and Bush 1/4, 29 states show a candidate at least 13 percent ahead [in either a) the most recent poll, or b) if there have been no polls in the state, the last election, as shown with an asterisk]:

These states' electoral votes -- 144, out of 269 needed to tie -- DEFINITELY will go to Bush:

Alab 9
Alas 3
Geor 15
Idah 4
Indi 11
Kans 6
Kent 8
Mississippi 6
Mont 3
Nebr 5*
NDak 3*
Okla 7
SCar 8
SDak 3
Tenn 11
Texa 34
Utah 5
Wyom 3*

These states' electoral votes -- 153, out of 269 needed to tie -- DEFINITELY will go to Kerry:

Cali 55
Conn 7
Dela 3*
DC 3*
Hawa 4*
Illi 21
Mary 10
Mass 12
NY 31
RhIs 4
Verm 3

Accounting for the Nader factor, this means that (as of now) there are 8 true battleground states (9+ electoral votes, and Nader not constituting the margin of error of Bush over Kerry), with 14 more "near-battleground" (9+ votes but Nader not a factor as of now, or 8 or fewer votes and a wider spread):

The 8 are:

Colo 9
Mich 17
Minn 10
Missouri 11
Ohio 20
Penn 21
Virg 13
Wisc 10

= 111 votes

Note the consistency: ALMOST ALL NORTHERN (except Virg, maybe Missouri). ALMOST ALL NON-WESTERN (except Colo, maybe Missouri). MOSTLY RUST-BELT (Mich, Minn, Ohio, Penn, Wisc, maybe Missouri). [THE MYSTERY OF MISSOURI!!]

These are the 8 states to watch -- and to spend money on. In any case, the rust-belt theme may prove interesting in terms of the Michael Moore factor . . . .

For the record, here are the 6 biggest of the other 14, and the leader DISREGARDING Nader:
Bush 9+ electoral: Ariz 10, Loui 9, NCar 15 = 34.
Kerry 9+ electoral: Fla 27, NewJ 15, Wash 11 = 53.

And . . . The remaining 8 = 43 electoral votes total.

From Jim Hightower:

July 09, 2004 BUSH'S PROSPERITY

What's wrong with you people? Don't you know that the economy is humming, that our very own president has declared "mission accomplished" on his promise of prosperity, that the stock market is up by 40 percent over last year, that jobs are cropping up like crabgrass, that the bluebird of happiness is officially singing everywhere across our land, and that you should be grateful, for godssake?

Republican politicians, corporate economists, and the media barons are totally befuddled these days, because their economic statistics tell them that the economy is in great shape––yet you, you wretches, are still grumpy, even giving Bush the lowest marks of his presidency for his economic stewardship. George himself has gone into one of his high-pitched whines, chastising those who "can't see the sunshine."

He's sounding a whole lot like his daddy did back in '92 – like he's just another rich son-of-a-Bush who is totally oblivious to the realities of Americas workaday majority. He's looking at rosy economic indicators handed to him by his political operatives, rather than looking at such real-life pocketbook indicators as jobs that only pay poverty wages, gasoline topping $2 a gallon, milk at $4.43 a gallon, health-care costs rising three times faster than wages, and 401(k)s being shrunk to 1(k)s.

Also with their heads in the clouds are such media powers as the New York Times, which recently bemoaned the public's economic gloom, referring to it as a "mood." A mood? Your job's being downsized or offshored, your kids can't afford to go to college, Bush is trying to cut your Social Security benefits and raise your retirement age to 70––and they think you're moody?

Meanwhile, a clueless Republican Senator, Jim Talent of Missouri, blithely says that prosperity is everywhere, but "It just takes awhile longer for that to filter through to folks."

Filter this, senator: We'll believe the economy is humming when we are.

Remember Saddam's statue "toppling"? (no other verb is allowed in our free press):

From the LA Times (courtesy of Common Dreams (see link)):

The Army's internal study of the war in Iraq criticizes some efforts by its own psychological operations units, but one spur-of-the-moment effort last year produced the most memorable image of the invasion.

As the Iraqi regime was collapsing on April 9, 2003, Marines converged on Firdos Square in central Baghdad, site of an enormous statue of Saddam Hussein. It was a Marine colonel — not joyous Iraqi civilians, as was widely assumed from the TV images — who decided to topple the statue, the Army report said. And it was a quick-thinking Army psychological operations team that made it appear to be a spontaneous Iraqi undertaking.

After the colonel — who was not named in the report — selected the statue as a "target of opportunity," the psychological team used loudspeakers to encourage Iraqi civilians to assist, according to an account by a unit member.

But Marines had draped an American flag over the statue's face.

"God bless them, but we were thinking … that this was just bad news," the member of the psychological unit said. "We didn't want to look like an occupation force, and some of the Iraqis were saying, 'No, we want an Iraqi flag!' "

Someone produced an Iraqi flag, and a sergeant in the psychological operations unit quickly replaced the American flag.

Last week, correspondent Unknown directed our attention to this underreported story (courtesy of, get this, Variety):

Sounds of Silence Jun 30 by Pamela McClintock

NEW YORK -- U.S. news networks agreed to let the American military censor out certain images of Saddam Hussein's court hearing Thursday in Baghdad, one in a bizarre series of events surrounding coverage of the session.

American and Iraqi officials did not want any footage shown of Iraqi guards or court personnel, and they asked broadcast and cable news nets to honor this request.

But the situation took an unexpected turn even before the hearing began, when U.S. officials ordered CNN and Al-Jazeera, the pool camera crews, to disconnect their audio equipment. Officials said it was the wish of the Iraqi judge.

Following the hearing, the CNN footage was taken to the convention center, where a CBS News employee transmitted the footage after it was viewed and okayed by two military censors.

As the silent footage of Hussein began to air on U.S. networks around 8:30 a.m. ET, CBS News anchor Dan Rather explained that the tapes had been "taken to another location, edited, and what you're seeing is in effect a censored version" of what happened in court earlier today. . . ."

Throughout the day, several news net[work]s said it wasn't always clear which footage was from what source, and that it could have been DOD footage, meaning the Pentagon was directly controlling what was being heard.

The two U.S. military officials watching over the CNN footage being transmission ordered that some of the ambient sound be muted. . . .

Some news editors spent hours scouring the portion of the tape with audio for harsh words leveled at President Bush (news - web sites) by Saddam, but could not find the quote reported by New York Times reporter John Burns, who was the pool print reporter in the courtroom and accompanied by a translator. Burns reported that Saddam said, "Everyone knows that this is a theatrical comedy by Bush, the criminal, in an attempt to win the election." . . .

The Pentagon could not be reached for comment as to why it didn't want any audio, or why it allowed some of the sound.

The script for the first two parts of Moore's F911 are, as of today, available here (part one) and here (part two).

A happy 64th birthday to Ringo Starr.

Hmmmm... I wonder what song will be played -- all day -- everywhere -- today? (Hint: Paul wrote it; it's on Sgt. Pepper.)

Since first reading his blog, I've always suspected that Eugene Volokh was not to be taken seriously. Now I have proof.

[Eugene Volokh, June 28, 2004 at 8:14pm] Litigation as an enemy military tactic:
I've blogged below about one aspect of the Guantanamo detainees case; but here's the bigger picture: Say that we're fighting a World War II-like war, but against insurgent forces in various allied countries, and not against national governments. (You'll see in a moment why this proviso is important). We capture 50,000 alleged enemy soldiers, partly because some of the enemy forces have surrendered en masse; apparently we had captured millions that way towards the end of World War II. The allied countries don't have strong enough militaries to effectively detain these people themselves (think France in early 1945), so we detain them instead. This is actually quite normal for large-scale wars, consider again World War II, except that the war is a modern war against insurgents and not a traditional war against governments.

Now, the detainees file 50,000 petitions for habeas corpus, all claiming that they aren't actually enemy soldiers. This means civilian courts would have to process all those cases, and the military would have to respond to all the petitions, and get affidavits or even live testimony from various soldiers in the field whose testimony is relevant for this purpose.

According to the polls, as of now it's Kerry over Prez BU**SH** 280-247 -- with 11 electoral votes (Washington) too close to call.

But if Edwards swings his home state, that makes it: 295-232. Pretty good odds.

So ... guess what? Cheney's gone. Bush will pick a woman. That will secure Wisconsin and pick up Ohio, Michigan, Washington, and Maine -- and maybe Minnesota, Florida, and Nevada (BU**SH** 322-216).

Some Republican woman in America will be VP in six-plus months. Who?

Here's a stat you hear way too much about on TV: "one in four U.S. Marines surveyed reported killing Iraqi civilians." Oh, wait -- did I say "too MUCH"? My bad.

July 1, 2004

Soldier mental illness hits Vietnam levels: Many returning troops suffer combat-related afflictions

By RAJA MISHRA, THE BOSTON GLOBE

Nearly one in five U.S. combat troops returning from war-torn Iraq suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression or other serious mental afflictions, according to new data detailing the psychic costs of the bloodiest war in a generation.

A study conducted by the U.S. Army shows that combat-related mental problems have been higher among those who have served in Iraq than in any military action since Vietnam.

It also paints the first broad statistical picture of the battlefield horrors encountered by the American combatants on the front lines in Iraq. For instance, one in four U.S. Marines surveyed reported killing Iraqi civilians. About one in five Army members surveyed reported engaging in hand-to-hand combat. More than 85 percent of those in Marine or Army combat units said they knew someone who had been injured or killed. More than half said they had handled corpses or human remains. The figures were based on soldiers' responses; the military does not have statistics available to confirm them....

With more than 800 U.S. soldiers killed and more than 5,000 wounded, Operation Iraqi Freedom has become the deadliest American military conflict since the Vietnam War, in which some 58,000 Americans died.

.... [N]early half of Iraq veterans reporting mental symptoms said they had trouble scheduling a psychiatric appointment [with the "mental health services provided by the military"].

The mental trauma from the Iraq war appears to be approaching Vietnamlike levels for the 40,000-plus U.S. soldiers in the thick of daily violence, according to the new study.

... The study found that 12 percent to 13 percent of troops returning from Iraq reported PTSD symptoms, and another 3 percent to 4 percent reported other mental distress. By contrast, PTSD estimates for veterans of the first Gulf War range between 2 percent and 10 percent. The rate is about 4 percent in the U.S. adult population. The new Army study found about 11 percent of troops returning from Afghanistan reported symptoms of mental distress.

What the F##K??

Pentagon investigates whether kidnapping in Iraq is a hoax By Jim Miklaszewski July 07, 2004

The strange disappearance of Marine Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, reportedly kidnapped in Iraq nearly three weeks ago, grows even more mysterious.

Senior Pentagon officials tell NBC News, a man claiming to be Hassoun, called his family in Lebanon and the U.S. embassy in Beirut, saying he was — "released by his kidnappers somewhere in Lebanon" and that he was "waiting to be picked up."

But in Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said U.S. officials remain in the dark. "We have received reports that he may be in contact with various individuals and there are other reports that he might be in Lebanon. But we cannot confirm any of these at this time," said Powell.

Late Wednesday, FBI agents showed up at the Hassoun family home in West Jordan, Utah. And Pentagon officials tell NBC News that the Navy has now launched a criminal investigation into Hassoun's disappearance, and the possibility that his kidnapping may be part of an elaborate hoax.

Hassoun disappeared from his Marine unit on June 20. He showed up a week later in a hostage-style video, with a sword held over his head and his alleged captors threatening to kill him. Terrorist experts say, however, the group said to have held Hassoun is unknown.

"We don't know whether this group is simply an Internet address. ... We don't know if they were simply fabricated. We have no idea what's going on here," says terrorism expert Steve Emerson.

A second group later claimed Hassoun was beheaded — then retracted that claim. Pending the investigation, military officials refuse to say Hassoun's kidnapping was a hoax, but they point out he had reportedly talked openly about leaving his Marine unit to join his family in Lebanon. Whether he was kidnapped and then released along the way remains a mystery.

Happy Fourth of July from da man (go to link for his hyperlinks):

Sunday, July 4th, 2004
My First Wild Week with "Fahrenheit 9/11"... By Michael Moore

Friends,

Where do I begin? This past week has knocked me for a loop. "Fahrenheit 9/11," the #1 movie in the country, the largest grossing documentary ever. My head is spinning. Didn't we just lose our distributor 8 weeks ago? Did Karl Rove really fail to stop this? Is Bush packing?

Each day this week I was given a new piece of information from the press that covers Hollywood, and I barely had time to recover from the last tidbit before the next one smacked me upside the head:

** More people saw "Fahrenheit 9/11" in one weekend than all the people who saw "Bowling for Columbine" in 9 months.

** "Fahrenheit 9/11" broke "Rocky III’s" record for the biggest box office opening weekend ever for any film that opened in less than a thousand theaters.

** "Fahrenheit 9/11" beat the opening weekend of "Return of the Jedi."

** "Fahrenheit 9/11" instantly went to #2 on the all-time list for largest per-theater average ever for a film that opened in wide-release.

How can I ever thank all of you who went to see it? These records are mind-blowing. They have sent shock waves through Hollywood – and, more importantly, through the White House.

But it didn't just stop there. The response to the movie then went into the Twilight Zone. Surfing through the dial I landed on the Fox broadcasting network which was airing the NASCAR race live last Sunday to an audience of millions of Americans -- and suddenly the announcers were talking about how NASCAR champ Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took his crew to see “Fahrenheit 9/11” the night before. FOX sportscaster Chris Myers delivered Earnhardt’s review straight out of his mouth and into the heartland of America: “He said hey, it'll be a good bonding experience no matter what your political belief. It's a good thing as an American to go see.” Whoa! NASCAR fans – you can’t go deeper into George Bush territory than that! White House moving vans – START YOUR ENGINES!

Then there was Roger Friedman from the Fox News Channel giving our film an absolutely glowing review, calling it “a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.” Richard Goldstein of the Village Voice surmised that Bush is already considered a goner so Rupert Murdoch might be starting to curry favor with the new administration. I don't know about that, but I’ve never heard a decent word toward me from Fox. So, after I was revived, I wondered if a love note to me from Sean Hannity was next.

How about Letterman’s Top Ten List: “Top Ten George W. Bush Complaints About "Fahrenheit 9/11":

10. That actor who played the President was totally unconvincing

9. It oversimplified the way I stole the election

8. Too many of them fancy college-boy words

7. If Michael Moore had waited a few months, he could have included the part where I get him deported

6. Didn't have one of them hilarious monkeys who smoke cigarettes and gives people the finger

5. Of all Michael Moore's accusations, only 97% are true

4. Not sure - - I passed out after a piece of popcorn lodged in my windpipe

3. Where the hell was Spider-man?

2. Couldn't hear most of the movie over Cheney's foul mouth

1. I thought this was supposed to be about dodgeball

But it was the reactions and reports we received from theaters around the country that really sent me over the edge. One theatre manager after another phoned in to say that the movie was getting standing ovations as the credits rolled – in places like Greensboro, NC and Oklahoma City -- and that they were having a hard time clearing the theater afterwards because people were either too stunned or they wanted to sit and talk to their neighbors about what they had just seen. In Trumbull, CT, one woman got up on her seat after the movie and shouted "Let's go have a meeting!" A man in San Francisco took his shoe off and threw it at the screen when Bush appeared at the end. Ladies’ church groups in Tulsa were going to see it, and weeping afterwards.

It was this last group that gave lie to all the yakking pundits who, before the movie opened, declared that only the hard-core "choir" would go to see "Fahrenheit 9/11." They couldn't have been more wrong. Theaters in the Deep South and the Midwest set house records for any film they’d ever shown. Yes, it even sold out in Peoria. And Lubbock, Texas. And Anchorage, Alaska!

Newspaper after newspaper wrote stories in tones of breathless disbelief about people who called themselves “Independents” and “Republicans” walking out of the movie theater shaken and in tears, proclaiming that they could not, in good conscience, vote for George W. Bush. The New York Times wrote of a conservative Republican woman in her 20s in Pensacola, Florida who cried through the film, and told the reporter: “It really makes me question what I feel about the president... it makes me question his motives…”

Newsday reported on a self-described “ardent Bush/Cheney supporter” who went to see the film on Long Island, and his quiet reaction afterwards. He said, "It's really given me pause to think about what's really going on. There was just too much - too much to discount." The man then bought three more tickets for another showing of the film.

The Los Angeles Times found a mother who had “supported [Bush] fiercely” at a theater in Des Peres, Missouri: “Emerging from Michael Moore's ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,’ her eyes wet, Leslie Hanser said she at last understood…. ‘My emotions are just....’ She trailed off, waving her hands to show confusion. ‘I feel like we haven't seen the whole truth before.’"

All of this had to be the absolute worst news for the White House to wake up to on Monday morning. I guess they were in such a stupor, they "gave" Iraq back to, um, Iraq two days early!

News editors told us that they were being "bombarded" with e-mails and calls from the White House (read: Karl Rove), trying to spin their way out of this mess by attacking it and attacking me. Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett had told the White House press corps that the movie was "outrageously false" -- even though he said he hadn't seen the movie. He later told CNN that "This is a film that doesn't require us to actually view it to know that it's filled with factual inaccuracies." At least they're consistent. They never needed to see a single weapon of mass destruction before sending our kids off to die.

Many news shows were more than eager to buy the White House spin. After all, that is a big part of what "Fahrenheit" is about -- how the lazy, compliant media bought all the lies from the Bush administration about the need to invade Iraq. They took the Kool-Aid offered by the White House and rarely, if ever, did our media ask the hard questions that needed to be asked before the war started.

Because the movie "outs" the mainstream media for their failures and their complicity with the Bush administration -- who can ever forget their incessant, embarrassing cheerleading as the troops went off to war, as though it was all just a game -- the media was not about to let me get away with anything now resembling a cultural phenomenon. On show after show, they went after me with the kind of viciousness you would have hoped they had had for those who were lying about the necessity for invading a sovereign nation that was no threat to us. I don't blame our well-paid celebrity journalists -- they look like a bunch of ass-kissing dopes in my movie, and I guess I'd be pretty mad at me, too. After all, once the NASCAR fans see "Fahrenheit 9/11," will they ever believe a single thing they see on ABC/NBC/CBS news again?

In the next week or so, I will recount my adventures through the media this past month (I will also be posting a full FAQ on my website soon so that you can have all the necessary backup and evidence from the film when you find yourself in heated debate with your conservative brother-in-law!). For now, please know the following: Every single fact I state in "Fahrenheit 9/11" is the absolute and irrefutable truth. This movie is perhaps the most thoroughly researched and vetted documentary of our time. No fewer than a dozen people, including three teams of lawyers and the venerable one-time fact-checkers from The New Yorker went through this movie with a fine-tooth comb so that we can make this guarantee to you. Do not let anyone say this or that isn't true. If they say that, they are lying. Let them know that the OPINIONS in the film are mine, and anyone certainly has a right to disagree with them. And the questions I pose in the movie, based on these irrefutable facts, are also mine. And I have a right to ask them. And I will continue to ask them until they are answered.

In closing, let me say that the most heartening response to the film has come from our soldiers and their families. Theaters in military towns across the country reported packed houses. Our troops know the truth. They have seen it first-hand. And many of them could not believe that here was a movie that was TRULY on their side -- the side of bringing them home alive and never sending them into harms way again unless it's the absolute last resort. Please take a moment to read this wonderful story from the daily paper in Fayetteville, NC, where Fort Bragg is located. It broke my heart to read this, the reactions of military families and the comments of an infantryman’s wife publicly backing my movie -- and it gave me the resolve to make sure as many Americans as possible see this film in the coming weeks.

Thank you again, all of you, for your support. Together we did something for the history books. My apologies to "Return of the Jedi." We'll make it up by producing "Return of the Texan to Crawford" in November.

May the farce be with you, but not for long,

Michael Moore www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

P.S. You can read letters from people around the country recounting their own experiences at the theater, and their reactions to the film by going here.

P.P.S. Also, I’m going to start blogging! Tonight! Come on over and check it out.

A story the mainstream media will bring to critical mass in five or ten years . . .:

News machine outfoxed by bloggers July 2, 2004 by Paul Carr.

Last month, the Boston affiliate of America's Fox TV network ran a news item about a new craze sweeping cyber space. It turns out that all over America young people are creating websites full of information about their daily lives.

Or, as Fox's breathless reporter put it, "to catalogue the details of their lives on web pages created for them, by them ... just blah-blah-blogging".

Incredible. I wonder what burgeoning technological trend Rupert Murdoch's news machine will uncover next? Mobile tar-tar-telephony? The rah-rah-radio? Far-far-fire? The devil may have the best tunes but it'll be a long time before he works out how to upload them to his aye-aye-iPod.

Fortunately in most other sections of the media, attitudes towards blogging - and online journalism in general - couldn't be more different. Not only are news organisations rolling out blogs of their own, but in the past year the influence of bloggers over their print, television and radio counterparts has grown massively.

Consider a decision made by organisers of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Boston next month. So keen are they to get their message through to the people of Blogistan that for the first time they have issued press accreditation to political bloggers.

Just try to imagine any major political organisation recognising blogs in the same way this time last year and you'll realise how far bloggers have gone up in the estimation of those in power. Or, in the case of the DNC, those who will probably be in power next year, voter fraud notwithstanding.

An even more impressive example of how web journalism has started to influence the mainstream media comes from the US's newest radio network, Air America Radio. The New York-based station was set up as a liberal challenge to the dominance of right-wing talk radio in the US.

Through affiliates in cities from New York to Honolulu, angry liberal voices such as Al Franken, author of the anti-Bush bible Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, and Hollywood's Janeane Garofalo are taking on right-wing blowhards such as Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.

But unlike Limbaugh and O'Reilly, who frequently replace research and reason with rage and rhetoric, Air America's hosts are armed to the teeth with hard, up-to-the second facts to support their relentless Bush bashing. Their sources? Blogs. And the blogging bloggers who blog them. . . .

[more at link]

From the Onion (40:25):

Coalition: Vast Majority Of Iraqis Still Alive
BAGHDAD—As the Coalition Provisional Authority prepares to hand power over to an Iraqi-led interim government on June 30, CPA administrator L. Paul Bremer publicly touted the success of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"As the Coalition's rule draws to a close, the numbers show that we have an awful lot to be proud of," Bremer said Tuesday. "As anyone who's taken a minute and actually looked at the figures can tell you, the vast majority of Iraqis are still alive—as many as 99 percent. While 10,000 or so Iraqi civilians have been killed, pretty much everyone is not dead."

According to U.S. Department of Defense statistics, of the approximately 24 million Iraqis who were not killed, nearly all are not in a military prison. Bremer said "a good number" of those Iraqis who are in jail have been charged with a crime, and most of them have enjoyed a prison stay free of guard-dog attacks, low-watt electrocutions, and sexual humiliation.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt explained the coalition's accomplishments in geographical terms.

"There are vast sections of the country where one can go outside unarmed during the daylight hours," Kimmitt said, speaking from a heavily guarded base outside of Baghdad. "Even in cities where fighting has occurred, many neighborhoods have not been torn apart by gunfire. And, throughout the country, more towns than I could name off the top of my head have never been touched by a bomb at all."

Kimmitt said the bulk of the nation's public buildings are still standing.

Remember "trope"?

It was a lit-crit term in the 80s . . . just as "PC" was (yes, it's true) a left-wing term, used by US disparagingly.

Tonight on the O'Reilly Fuck-up, Tony "Brit Hume" Snow referred to "The Bush-is-a-liar trope."

Wow.

Snow also said that Michael Moore 451 will not win over the red states. Or doesn't represent them. Or something. It had something to do with how irrelevant the movie is and, um, the red states, or how irrelevant the movie is, um, in regard to the red states, or something.

But now, with the help of the Tony-Snow-is-an-80s-structuralist-trope, let's reflect upon the red-states-are-anti-Moore trope . . .

After all, it only takes one Scalia or Thomas voting in Florida to swing the election . . .

Obviously, the talking points are being circulated, as evidenced by this "all the banality that's fit to print" piece:

Calling Bush a Liar By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF June 30, 2004

So is President Bush a liar?

Plenty of Americans think so. Bookshops are filled with titles about Mr. Bush like "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," "Big Lies," "Thieves in High Places" and "The Lies of George W. Bush."

A consensus is emerging on the left that Mr. Bush is fundamentally dishonest, perhaps even evil — a nut, yes, but mostly a liar and a schemer. That view is at the heart of Michael Moore's scathing new documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11."

In the 1990's, nothing made conservatives look more petty and simple-minded than their demonization of Bill and Hillary Clinton, who were even accused of spending their spare time killing Vince Foster and others. Mr. Clinton, in other words, left the right wing addled. Now Mr. Bush is doing the same to the left. For example, Mr. Moore hints that the real reason Mr. Bush invaded Afghanistan was to give his cronies a chance to profit by building an oil pipeline there. . . .

[warning from Anonymous: in the next paragraph, you'll encounter "polarizes" and "polarization" -- those ominous dead-heat-call-in-the-Supremes-trope words, which we dislike so much when we know what's right for people to be thinking and talking about, like Herr Kristof]

I'm against the "liar" label for two reasons. First, it further polarizes the political cesspool, and this polarization is making America increasingly difficult to govern. Second, insults and rage impede understanding.

First, I want to say that I've been worried about this terrible polarization, and all its incivility, since 1800's dead heat between mud-throwing Tom Jefferson and shit-slinging Aaron Burr (with muck-raking Alex Hamilton in the shadowy background).

Second, note the implication: IT IS SIMPLY NOT POSSIBLE THAT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S FOREIGN POLICY HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH PIPELINES.

That's the Bush-is-not-an-easily-predictable-and-very-typical-and-common-imperialist trope, which, come to think of it, is a trope-on-the-trope of a similar trope applied, in its time, to Jefferson, Polk, McKinley, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon . . . oh, what the hell -- let's mention Eisenhower, too (NO! IT CAN'T BE! We (they?) LIBERATED Iran! The Shah said so!).

It makes you really regret being alive, having a brain, and living here and now. So much better to go back to sleep. But that would be the Tony-Snow-is-a-sleeping-imperialist trope. We don't want that.

Some time ago, Anonymous Sources www.anonymoussources.blogpost.com linked to a story about Sun Myung Moon's faux coronation among various federally elected representatives. Now I can't find that entry, and I think it may have disappeared in a mid-March blogosphere catastrophe. In any case, now, three-plus months later, Salon [requires clicking through an ad] brings us up to date:

By John Gorenfeld June 21, 2004
You probably imagine your congressman hard at work in the Capitol debating legislation, making laws -- you know, governing. But your newspaper probably didn't tell you that one night in March, members of Congress hosted a crowning ritual for an ex-convict and multibillionaire who dressed up in maroon robes and declared himself the Second Coming.

On March 23, the Dirksen Senate Office Building was the scene of a coronation ceremony for Rev. Sun Myung Moon, owner of the conservative Washington Times newspaper and UPI wire service . . . .