rod paidge

VOTE

* "First, it's worth noting that more than one Senator took action. Barbara Boxer announced her intention to challenge the election on Thursday morning. By midday Senators Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, and Barak Obama had let it be known that they would support Boxer. During the discussion in the Senate, Richard Durbin, Debbie Stabenow, Edward Kennedy, Ron Wyden, Frank Lautenberg, and Tom Harkin joined the others in speaking in support of Boxer's challenge... Several Senators and Congress Members spoke in support of the challenge but said they were not questioning Bush's victory. (The election system is broken, but the election system worked -- a notion that makes political sense to some if logical sense to few.)... Today ended any remaining credibility for another presidential nomination for Kerry -- and probably for any other senators who did not voice their support for Barbara Boxer's challenge. Those who did not speak today will have to campaign against that record, as Kerry campaigned against his vote for Bush's war." http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1074

* Knight Ridder joins in - a few weeks late. "Many Americans don't know this, but according to the best information available, George W. Bush lost the vote in Florida and therefore should not have become president the first time." and "Did it happen again last November, in Ohio? It is difficult to say without an investigation. The Democratic staff report of the House Judiciary Committee found "massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio."" and "it's not clear whether George W. Bush would have won a clean election in Ohio, and therefore the presidency in 2004." http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0108-26.htm

* "In an apparent attempt to argue against the Democratic challenges, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) continued: "People do have to have confidence that the process works in a proper way. They don't need to believe that it is absolutely perfect because after all it's the greatest democracy in the history of the world. And it's run by people who step forward and make a system work in ways that nobody would believe until they see it, to produce the result of what people want to have happen on election day."" indeed. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=90&ItemID=6979

* "Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) denied that any voter disenfranchisement took place anywhere in 2004 or 2000. He accused Democrats of crying wolf, and wondered "what will happen" when a future election is actually stolen."

* "Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican who co-chaired the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio, said the request for corporate checks was an oversight. His spokesman, Carlo LoParo, said on Saturday that any corporate donations would be returned." seriously, this man is really a piece of work... make sure u read his fundraising letter if u havent yet. http://www.wcpo.com/news/2005/local/01/08/blackwell.html

* is 'inauguration' a misnomer?

* btw - in case u missed it, yuschenko was apparently poisoned by dioxins - aka Agent Orange. is that someones idea of a joke? pretty clever, if hubristic.

* the invaluable MediaMatters: "Media gave short shrift to allegations of election irregularities -News outlets gave only cursory attention to the findings in a January 5 report on election irregularities in Ohio, released by Representative John Conyers... they made only vague and partial reference to the extensive findings set out in the report." http://mediamatters.org/items/200501080003

* "The Republican court challenge to Christine Gregoire's election as governor, expected to be filed today, will center on mishandled provisional ballots in King County and lingering questions about why the county shows more votes counted than people voting on Nov. 2... The Republican challenge also could include the allegation that King County election workers improperly "enhanced" ballots when the voter intent was not clear, said Republican Party Attorney Peter Schalestock.... He was particularly bothered that state law allowed the Democrats to order a hand recount if they came up with the $730,000 or so needed as a deposit to cover the costs if the recount didn't reverse the results.
He said he read the state Constitution, which says elections should be "free and equal."" (ummm, NM? umm OH?)... this is truly astounding. these are the same issues that weve seen elsewhere - but no dice. and the media gives this race coverage - if there was (sufficient) fraud, sure, give the repugs the fucking governship, or do a recount or a revote or whatever the fuck - but at least be fucking consistent. if my head explodes in the forestgump but nobody hears it... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002144016_gopsuit06m.html

"Gosh, if private parties can get a recount if they pay and if they can't if they don't, there's something wrong with that. It's not free anymore.""
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002144016_gopsuit06m.html


WART
* "Brzezinski said the United States should meet its goals of producing a reasonably stable Iraqi government "if we are willing to put in 500,000 troops, spend $200 billion a year, probably have the draft and have some kind of wartime taxation."" http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-scowcroft7jan07,0,6459714.story?coll=la-home-headlines

* "Bush insists Iraq poll will bring peace" phew. "Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, has also said that the results would be seen as legitimate if Iraqis could vote in a majority of provinces." a majority of provinces??? my, how our standards have slipped. http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d597a3f2-611a-11d9-af5a-00000e2511c8.html

AMDOM
* the armstorngwilliams nclb thing is hysterical - its getting so much attention - i wonder how many other nervous pundits there are around. in a delicious twist, williams was on xfire
"BEGALA: You're a stand-up guy. As I was saying off the air, you're in the soup today, but you're willing to come into the CROSSFIRE. That makes you a stand-up guy in my book.
Someone who's not a stand-up guy is our current education secretary, soon to be replaced, Rod Paige, who was asked about this today and ran from the podium, rather than answer tough questions about it. So, that puts you higher on my list than Secretary Paige." http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/07/cf.01.html

the funny thing is that williams was sposed to be on scarborough country the next day (?) and he was all wired up and ready to roll - but then ran outta the studio :-) that would make him a standup-and-running kinda guy. "Joe: Do we still not have Armstrong Williams? OK, I guess Armstrong didn't like our Real Deal tonight because we booked him earlier this morning,... he was with us all day.. I guess he just got up and walked."

* the other funny thing is when novak was introduced to the conversation "NOVAK: Armstrong, let me give -- just in the interests of full disclosure, I want to tell the audience that I'm a friend, personal friend, of yours. I greatly admire you. I think you're one of the foremost voices for conservatism in America. So I just want to start off on that point." awesome.

* the nyt dis a bush=hitler article thingy (of sorts) on thursday - curiously its in the top5 on their mostpopular list. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/nyregion/06profile.html

* ftr - the armstrongwilliams thing is #1 on the nyt list - this story is getting attention *everywhere* - are people surprised that this sorta thing happens? this is surely not an isolated case - how many more will we find? are they trying to pre-empt the others by media-flooding this particular case so peeps get sick of it? if they are willing to pay for non-disclosed punditorial for something as (largely)benign as nclb, what sort of contracts will be out there for selling some of the egadmins really ummm controversial programs that they have tried (usually successfully) to sell. like, ummm, the war. and socsec. and bc04. and probably at least 10 other major issues where they have brainwashed people into thinking silly ideas are good ideas. and how about all the other similar mechanisms that they use - like astroturfing and vnr and all the rest of it...
imagine if people really knew what actually happens... they sure look nervous tho. begala asked williams about the egadmin and williams quickly said "this is about me"
"BEGALA: Let me shift to where my real beef is, though. And that is with the administration.
The Bush administration has now on two occasions been cited by the Government Accountability Office for violating something called the Publicity and Propaganda Act, spending our taxpayers' money on propaganda, that is, putting out information, but not telling you that it's from the government. Now there's calls for this relationship to be investigated in the same way.
Don't you think that the administration has a problem when, on two prior occasions, they've been cited for violating the Publicity and Propaganda Act?

WILLIAMS: You know, I am -- can easily sit here and criticize the administration. And I'm sure you have your reasons for criticism.
But you know what? The issue today is about my integrity and my character. I came on this show not to get into -- I'm a strong supporter of the Bush administration. The fact that I used bad judgment, it's not about Bush. It's not about anybody. It's about Armstrong Williams today. And that's why I'm here today as someone who wants to be responsible and set the right example.
Yes, there may be issues. But those are not the issues I'm dealing with today. I've got my own problems today and that's what I'm trying to deal with.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)"
I wonder how much he got paid for that bit...? and for every appearance he is doing - the 240k might just be the start for him...

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war makes me mad, sad, bad. tsunamis makes me sad.
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