Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

On Dec. 7, Provo City Council members are expected to vote on adding one word to existing city code which allows residents to own up to two dogs or two cats at the same time -- but not a dog and a cat together.

The problem came to [Provo Councilman Dave] Knecht's attention after Susan Sewell, her husband David and their six children, ages 4-19, went to the Utah County Animal Shelter in Spanish Fork to adopt a kitten in August. The family already has a cat and a dog.

They chose a kitten and began filling out the adoption paperwork. But when shelter staff learned of their existing pets, the family was told they could not have the animal because Provo only allowed residents to have cats or dogs, not cats and dogs.

Knecht said he feels the existing law is inconsistent.

"You can have two dogs and two rabbits but not two dogs and two cats," he said. "That is odd. Let's realize that it doesn't hurt anyone to have two dogs and two cats, and many people already do."

- Provo Daily Herald, 11/29/2004

Can I Get An Amen?

"When we get allied with any political party, it's like mixing ice cream with horse manure. It may not hurt the horse manure, but it will ruin the ice cream."

-Evangelical Assn. President Tony Campolo, on mixing the church and political parties, "This Week", ABC, 11/28/2004

Dennis the Menace better update his website

Last week, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) canceled a vote on the Intelligence Bill, which would create changes in the U.S. Intelligence agencies based on recommendations from the 9-11 Committee.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, opposes the bill because he fears the intelligence realignment could interfere with the military chain of command. But Secty. of State Colin Powell says the bill would improve intelligence to troops, and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney also supports the bill. By the way, the bill would also create a National Intelligence Director who would gain control over more of the Pentagon's intelligence budget, and lessen the clout of Rep. Hunter's committee. That's something I would probably consider if I were Rep. Hunter.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), opposes the bill because he wants to add a provision preventing illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. Uh-huh.

Last year, Hastert said in a speech that one of his principles as speaker is "to please the majority of the majority." Meaning that regardless of how many Democrats in the House favor the bill, he'll only bring to a vote bills that a majority of House Republicans support. The Los Angeles Times' Brownstein wrote, "Any legislative leader who routinely pushes bills opposed by many of his members probably won't be a legislative leader for long."

So despite bipartisan support from the Senate, and confidence in it's passage if brought to a vote in the House, and the bill's backing by the White House, Rep. Hastert has held fast to a policy of political preservation by delaying the bill's vote and passage.

And now, from the Biography of Representative J. Dennis Hastert on his official website:

"His reputation is one of reaching across the aisle to develop bipartisan legislation."

"When he succeeded Newt Gingrich on January 6, 1999, he broke with tradition by delivering his acceptance speech from the House floor and by allowing Minority Leader Dick Gephardt to briefly preside over the day's proceedings. These two actions served as fitting symbols for the content of the new Speaker's remarks, when he emphasized the need for both parties to come together in the House to get their work done..."

"Whenever he can find free time, Hastert enjoys attending wrestling meets, going fishing, restoring vintage automobiles, carving and painting duck decoys."

Oh yeah, and he's right behind VP Richard Cheney in the Presidential Line of Succession.

Is there video footage of the KKK March in 1925?

Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition has a beef with the video shown to visitors at the Lincoln Memorial: "It showed only those liberal, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual marches."

He has called on the National Park Service to include footage of conservative marches, and remove images he deems inappropriate, including a protester holding a sign that reads, "The Lord is my shepard and knows I'm gay."

As far as including footage of conservative marches, ABC News said in its report that "it is unclear whether any major conservative marches have taken place at the Lincoln Memorial..."

Complaints about the "liberal" video aren't new. In February 2003, U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), contacted administration officals back then about resolving the issue of the video's pro-liberal slant.

Back then, Rev. Sheldon told CBS News, "It stinks. I have never seen such a perversion and revision of American history." Revision? So gay rights activists never actually marched on the Mall?

So why is he bringing this all up again? "During the Clinton administration, it's like we felt like we lived in outer Siberia, and [during] this past administration, it's like we died and went to heaven and got a preview of what's to come."

I guess ass-kissing does work

"What is happening in Washington today is that those who were skeptical of the Iraq war and warned the White House against going in are being purged. And those who assured President Bush it would be a cakewalk, that we would be welcomed with flowers and not suicide bombers, that democracy would take root in Iraq and spread through the region, that he would be the Churchill of his generation are being promoted. Those who were wrong are being advanced, and those who were right are being dismissed."

- Pat Buchanan, www.TheAmerianCause.org, 11/22/2004

Desperate House Members, part II

In June 2004, Congressman Chris Bell of Texas filed a complaint with the U.S. House Ethics Committee against Majority Leader Tom Delay regarding DeLay's involvement in questionable campaign contributions allegedly solicited and accepted by his political action committee. Rep. Bell said "...he simply summarized published allegations and asked for an investigation. He wonders how anyone can know whether a complaint is speculative or exaggerated until it has been thoroughly explored."

And now, for some spin:

"He acted out of anger at losing his seat in Congress, blamed everyone but himself for his loss, and turned his obsessive rage on me. Mr. Bell has been exposed for the partisan stalker that he is."
- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) on Rep. Chris Bell (D-TX)

"Tom DeLay is clearly in denial. He is apparently willing to say anything in order to deflect attention away from his own unethical conduct."
- Rep. Chris Bell

"Tom DeLay proved this morning that he is not only unethical but delusional. No amount of mudslinging can hide the fact that Mr. DeLay has repeatedly abused his power... DeLay's display today and his repeated ethical lapses have brought dishonor on the House of Representatives."
- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

"Mrs. Pelosi is entitled to her opinion, of course... Then again, Mrs. Pelosi's past as a flagrant and hypocritical violator of federal election law obviously calls her judgement on this matter into question."
- House Majority Leader Tom Delay

---

When asked on Meet the Press if he thought the GOP vote to let Rep. DeLay remain Majority Leader was the right thing to do, Senator John McCain, co-author of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act, stated:

"No, I don't think so. I saw Newt Gingrich the other night on a program. He disagreed with that as well. There was a congressman, McDade, that was indicted some years ago. He stepped down. He was found innocent and he regained his position. I would think that would be the proper way to go."

It's Carlyle's world, we're just killing in it.

Congratulations to California-boy (Los Gatos) Francis Harvey, who has become the first of President Bush's appointments to receive U.S. Senate approval (85-12). As the newly-made Army secretary, he will report to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and oversee a budget of $98.5 BILLION. Although he has little direct experience with the U.S. Army, he does bring to the job an extensive defense industry background in the private sector:

- former Chief Operating Officer of a division of Westinghouse Electric, a leading defense contractor,
- serves on the boards of two Carlyle Group-affiliated companies (Duratek and Kuhlman)

DING-DING-DING-DING-DING!!!

The Carlyle Group was the ninth largest U.S. defense contractor between 1998 and 2003. In the very recent past, a dozen companies in which Carlyle owned a controlling interest earned more than $9.3 BILLION in U.S. military contracts (that's taxpayer money, yours and mine).

United Defense Industries is the leading maker of combat vehicles, artillery, and missile launchers. It is no longer owned by The Carlyle Group, BUT is currently chaired by Carlyle Managing Director William Conway, another Carlyle Managing Director Peter Clare, and Carlyle Group chairman emeritus Frank Carlucci. That's right, the same Frank Carlucci who served as Deputy CIA Director under President Carter and Secretary of Defense under President Reagan.

From July to September 2004, United Defense Industries made $300 million from U.S. Army Contracts. Last year, they posted record sales of $2 BILLION (half the company's revenue comes from U.S. Army contracts).

Duratek specializes in the disposal of radioactive materials, and enjoys contracts with the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy. The company reported $286 million in sales last year. Harvey has served on Duratek's board since 1999.

Red State Diaries

School officials in Texas agree to give up the annual cross-dressing day. The school says it was meant to be fun but a conservative group accused the school of promoting a "homosexual agenda." So from now on, cross-dressing day will be "Camo Day," when students dress up like soldiers.
- NPR.org, Morning Edition

Desperate House Members

Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader, may soon face indictment charges in an Austin, Texas investigation that has already resulted in the indictments of three of his friends and several companies accused of illegally using corporate campaign contributions to help Republicans win state legislative seats. Under current House rules (which the Republicans adopted in the 1990s when they were in the minority) leadership members facing a felony indictment must step aside immediately.

Today, after 2 1/2 hours of debate and a voice vote, the Republicans (now the majority) voted for and passed a new procedure that allows House party leaders 30 days to deliberate if one of their colleagues were indicted on a felony charge. At the end of the 30 days, the leaders would decide whether to ask the person under indictment to step aside at least temporarily.

With a straight face, a spokesperson for Rep. Henry Bonilla of Texas (who proposed the rule change) stated, "Congressman Bonilla's rule change is designed to prevent political manipulation of the legislative process."

What would Jesus do? part III

"The truth is the president of the United States used the same device that Slobodan Milosevic used in Serbia. When you appeal to homophobia, when you appeal to sexism, when you appeal to racism, that is extraordinarily damaging to the country... I know George Bush. I served with him for six years [as a fellow governor]. He's not a homophobe. He's not a racist. He's not a sexist. In some ways, what he did was worse... because he knew better."
-Howard Dean, Northwestern University, 11/12/2004

"They believe that the views of Christians are akin to those of Islamic terrorists and Nazis,... The purpose of government is to protect the rights of individuals. If Howard Dean had been president in the 1940s, he would have been responsible for the American people speaking German... The truth is they’re crybabies on the left. They’re just sore losers."
- The Reverend Jerry Fallwell, The Lynchburg News Advance, 11/16/2004

Freedom is on the March, part II

Election Day in Iraq is a little more than two months away. In the meantime, there are still "insurgent strongholds" which the U.S. military is hoping to "clear" by election day; 11 strongholds according to MSNBC.com.

(And this is the point where it stops being about WMDs and starts being about free and safe elections.)

After one week of fighting insurgents in Fallujah,
37 U.S. service members have been killed in action,
320 wounded in action, and
120 insurgents have been killed
(the first two numbers are from the DoD briefing yesterday, and the last number is an estimate from MSNBC.com).

Assuming that the next ten hotspots get cleared before election day (fighting in Mosul has already begun), let's estimate that over the holidays,
407 more U.S. service members will be killed
3,520 more will be injured, and
1,320 more insurgents will be killed.

These are pretty conservative numbers considering Fallujah isn't completely clear and the month ain't over yet (and with 91 fatalities, November is already the 2nd deadliest month in Iraq since the start of the war).

---

According to the Pentagon,
1,210 U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq, and
8,956 have been wounded
since fighting began 20 months ago.

According to the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore,
over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died
either directly or indirectly due to coalition operations.

There's no bidness like war bidness

from The New York Times.com

If leaders at the Army Corps of Engineers expected the agency's pesky contracting director, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, to be forced out quietly, they were wrong.

From 1997, when Ms. Greenhouse joined the Army's sprawling construction agency with orders to end what some called casual and clubby contracting practices, Corps veterans grumbled that she was a troublemaker.

Now the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to demote Ms. Greenhouse, 60, or push her into retirement. To the surprise of no one who knows her, she is unbowed, charging in a much publicized letter of Oct. 21 that the Corps has shown a pattern of favoritism toward Halliburton that imperils "the integrity of the federal contracting program."

Ms. Greenhouse, known as Bunny, sent her letter to the acting Army secretary, with copies to Congress and the news media. The Pentagon was forced to promise an inquiry and to protect her position in the meantime, and her allegations drew the interest of the F.B.I.

In March 2003, she saw no reason why the Corps should give the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, without competition, a five-year, $7 billion contract to repair oil fields. If an emergency required a quick deal, it should be for only one year at most, she argued. (The contract was given for five years over her objection, but later, after a public outcry, was cut short and put to competition.)

In December, she said, she was outraged when Corps leaders went behind her back to issue a legal document approving the unusually high prices KBR had charged for fuel imports to Iraq - prices that the Pentagon's own auditors called inflated by at least $61 million and that are now the subject of criminal inquiries.

To the Halliburton defense that critics like Ms. Greenhouse did not understand the urgency of wartime, she replies, "Of course I care about the soldiers who are dying."

"That $61 million could have gone for body armor for the soldiers," she said in the interview.

- read the full story

What would Jesus do? part II

"If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ."

- Letter to President Bush from Bob Jones of (that's right) Bob Jones University.

Veterans Day 2004

Fearing government fines for airing coarse language and graphic material, several ABC affiliates have decided not to show the network's movie "Saving Private Ryan" - the world War II story of heroism and valor - scheduled for Veterans Day.

Instead they'll air an edited-for-TV version of the R-rated Eddie Murphy comedy "Coming to America."
- "Deserting Private Ryan", CBSNews.com

---

Twenty-two-year-old Joey Specht is a sophomore at North Dakota State University who served with the 142nd Combat Engineer Battalion in Iraq. He's returned to his classes, but says he still jumps at loud noises and still finds himself looking for threats in a crowd.
- "Saluting Veterans, Past and Future", CBSNews.com

---

Marine Cpl. David Antonio Garcia stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier Thursday and was sworn in as an American citizen — after already serving under the U.S. flag in Iraq.

The native of Mexico was among 80 sailors and Marines from 25 countries — from Canada to Syria — who became citizens in a Veterans Day ceremony aboard the USS Midway, a reward for putting their lives on the line for their adopted country.

Legal permanent residents of the United States had been allowed to join the military and seek citizenship after three years of active service. But in July 2002 President Bush signed an executive order allowing anyone on active duty after Sept. 11, 2001, to immediately apply for citizenship. There are about 31,000 non-citizens in the U.S. military.
- Troops become U.S. citizens on Veterans Day, USAToday.com

---

And this year, issues faced by veterans have been mixed with the political tensions of months past.

There was controversy over the benefits afforded to servicemen and women, with an October report by the Physicians for a National Health Program contending that nearly 1.7 million vets have no health insurance or access to government hospitals and clinics.
- Veterans Day events follow contentious election , CNN

---

WASHINGTON - A federal panel that has spent two years reviewing studies of Gulf War illnesses recommends focusing future research on the effects of the toxic substances that veterans encountered during the 1991 conflict.

The review committee that [Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony] Principi formed concluded that "the goal of understanding and treating Gulf War veterans' illnesses is within reach" because of recent research breakthroughs.

But federal research is falling short in large part because studies have not asked important questions and continue to focus on stress to explain the veterans' problems.

Hundreds of thousands of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War have experienced undiagnosed illnesses they believe are linked to the war, according to Congress' auditing arm.
- "Fed Panel Presses Gulf War Illness Aid", U.S. News

What would Jesus do?

[Christian Coalition founder Pat] Robertson said his first priority is for Congress to disable the ability of “obnoxious filibustering” Democrats who stand in the way of conservative judicial appointments.

“What I want to see is the filibuster rule changed at the beginning of this new Congress,” Robertson insisted.

- CBSNews.com, 11/08/2004

Maybe there's a reason some states look down on you

From Oct. 12 - 18, 2004, the University of Maryland's Center on Policy Attitudes (COPA) and the Center for International and Security Studies conducted a survey that found, among other things:

"It may seem contradictory that three quarters of Americans say that the US should not have gone to war if Iraq did not have WMD or was not providing support to al Qaeda, while nearly half still say the war was the right decision. However, support for the decision is sustained by persisting beliefs among half of Americans that Iraq provided substantial support to al Qaeda, and had WMD, or at least a major WMD program."

Despite the widely-publicized conclusions of the Duelfer report, 49% of Americans continue to believe Iraq had actual WMD (27%) or a major WMD program (22%), and 52% believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.

And to give you a few hints on which voters were part of the 49%:

Q14. Is it your impression that the US has or has not found clear evidence in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was working closely with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization? (No evidence was or has been found.)

 US has : 38%
  Bush supporters: 63%
  Kerry supporters: 12%

 US has not: 57%
  Bush supporters: 32%
  Kerry supporters: 85%

 (No answer) : 5%

Q17. Is it your impression the Bush administration is currently saying that the US has found clear evidence Saddam Hussein was working closely with the al Qaeda terrorist organization? (No clear evidence was or has been found.)

 Is : 53%
  Bush supporters: 55%
  Kerry supporters: 52%

 Is not : 40%
  Bush supporters: 37%
  Kerry supporters: 43%

 (No answer) : 8%

Blue states, grab a bottle of something and read the rest of the report here.

Keeping track is hard,...it's hard work

6,500 American G.I.'s and 2,000 Iraqis on Attack - New York Times.com headline

Some 5,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers were massed in the desert on Fallujah's northern edge. They were joined by 2,000 to 4,000 Iraqi troops. - CBSNews.com

As many as 15,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers were moving slowly into Fallujah to retake the city from insurgents. - MSNBC.com

---

Car bombs at two Baghdad churches and outside a hospital treating the victims of those attacks killed at least six people and wounded dozens of others Monday night. - MSNBC.com

A doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people were killed. Seventeen others, including a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded, he said. - CBSNews.com

"Later in the evening, an explosion hit near Yarmouk Hospital in western Baghdad, when two mortar rounds were fired at police cars parked outside, killing at least three policemen," said policeman Adnan Jassim Mohammed. He said there was an unspecified number of wounded. - FoxNews.com

---

"All the hospital staff and doctors have been arrested," said a doctor at the hospital, Ahmad Ghanim... The doctor added that US forces had grounded all ambulances and fired on and disabled the hospital's only car. Doctors were also running short of medicines. - Al Jazeera

Earlier Monday, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized two bridges over the Euphrates River and a hospital on Fallujah's western edge that they said was under insurgents' control. - CBSNews.com

---

The violence occurred as U.S. and Iraqi troops launched their long expected assault on Fallujah, 40 miles to the west, to regain control of the city from insurgents and Islamic extremists. - Fox News.com

The US military says 1000 to 6000 fighters - Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign fighters led by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - are holed up in Falluja's alleyways and on rooftops... But residents of Falluja say neither al-Zarqawi nor members of al-Qaida are in the city. - Al-Jazeera

Let the Healing Begin

Wyoming state Representative-elect Gerald Gay (R) "said he was attacked after introducing himself" to Walter Schnorenberg, a 78-year-old Democrat. Gay knocked on Schnorenberg's door and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Gerald Gay. I'm the Republican-" Schnorenberg allegedly grabbed Gay by the arm and shoulders, turned him around, grabbed the back of Gay's neck and tried to push him down the steps of his front porch.

Schnorenberg, a retired pipefitter stated, "That is an absolute falsehood... Man, what a phony bastard that is... The only thing I might have said is 'You wrap the flag around your ass to proclaim your patriotism.' And I think maybe that was a little bit rude, I don't know."

Gay also said, "Apparently, the guy is really angry at Republicans... He called me a 'Bush-head'."

- from the Associated Press, November 8, 2004

---

"On Tuesday, this nation rejected liberalism, primarily because liberalism has been taken captive by the left. Since 1968, the left has taken millions captive, and we must help those Democrats who truly want to be free to actually break free of this evil ideology."

"...The left must be defeated in the realm of ideas, just as it was on Tuesday at the ballot box. The left hates the ballot box and loves its courtrooms, which is why it hopes to continue to advance its agenda through the courts. This must end."


- Frank Pastore, L.A. Times Op-Ed, November 5, 2004

Let us Pray

Dear God:

Please help the extremist right of the Republican party realize their mistaken belief that trying to limit access to safe and legal abortions is not the same as preventing them.

Help them realize that jobs that pay a decent wage and access to quality health care plays a bigger role than Roe v. Wade.

Help them see and accept that the abortion rate was declining in America by 1.7% during President Clinton's administration, and has increased since President Bush's:

"I found three states that have posted multi-year statistics through 2003, and abortion rates have risen in all three: Kentucky's increased by 3.2% from 2000 to 2003. Michigan's increased by 11.3% from 2000 to 2003. Pennsylvania's increased by 1.9% from 1999 to 2002. I found 13 additional states that reported statistics for 2001 and 2002. Eight states saw an increase in abortion rates (14.6% average increase), and five saw a decrease (4.3% average decrease).

Under President Bush, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates appears to have reversed. Given the trends of the 1990s, 52,000 more abortions occurred in the United States in 2002 than would have been expected before this change of direction.
"
- from The Sojourners website (Christians for Justice and Peace)

And please remind Richard Land (President of the Southern Baptist Convention) that bearing false witness against your neighbor is a sin, because he knows full well that it was not Senator Arlen Specter's intent to threaten the President by stating a political reality.

Amen

Freedom is on the March, part I

"To cut through the barriers of hateful propaganda, the Voice of America and other broadcast services are expanding their programming in Arabic and Persian -- and soon, a new television service will begin providing reliable news and information across the region. I will send you a proposal to double the budget of the National Endowment for Democracy, and to focus its new work on the development of free elections, and free markets, free press, and free labor unions in the Middle East." - President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address, January 2004

---

According to CNN, a senior State Department official stated that "the U.S. ambassador to Qatar asked the Qatari government to use its influence with the management of Al-Jazeera to convince the network not to air the [Osama Bin Laden] tape... The United States regularly complains to the Qatari government about Al-Jazeera's coverage and has often asked the government to use its influence to rein in the network."

Here's a full transcript of the Bin Laden tape:
Al-Jazeera

Compare to excerpts from other news outlets (if you find a full transcript from any of the major news outlets, let me know):
BBC News.com
CBSNews.com
CNN.com
Washington Post.com

Moral Values

"I suspect that with 40 percent of the people in this country being evangelical, when you say moral values, you're not talking about culture generally... They're talking about religious values... What they're talking about are basically negative religious values -- you can't do this, you can't do that, this is wrong, this is a sin. The largest part of most religions is the positive agenda. The agenda, for example, for Christians... is an agenda that says take care of the poor, take care of the sick, provide for the working man. That whole area is a very strong one for Democrats to seize."

- Ex-NY Governor Mario Cuomo (D)

Caught in the Spin Cycle

"President Bush ran forthrightly on a clear agenda for this nation's future and the nation responded by giving him a mandate."
-Vice President Dick Cheney

---

"If you have a race that is won by a percent or two, you have a narrowly divided country, and that's not a traditional mandate..."
- Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)

"Will 51% of the vote actually define the term mandate?"
- Keith Olbermann, MSNBC

"There isn't a mandate for President Bush. If it had been one or two points difference, Kerry would have won... What we heard today was a man who has divided the country."
- Vanden Heuval, The Nation

"We are in a divided country. There is no clear mandate."
- Ron Reagan, MSNBC

Some Good News from Texas

"5 Executives Convicted of Fraud in First Enron Trial"
from the New York Times


In case you forgot:
According to the Center for Public Integrity, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft received nearly $61,000 from Enron executives and the company's political action committee during his 2000 Senate campaign. On January 10, 2002, Ashcroft and his chief of staff, David Ayres, recused themselves "in all matters arising out of allegations of misconduct by Enron Corporation due to the totality of the circumstances of the relationship between Enron and the attorney general."

The White House had also announced that in October 2001, Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay called two Cabinet secretaries in the Bush administration (then-Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Commerce Secretary Don Evans) to express concerns about his company's financial straits.

Then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said there was nothing unusual about Lay's calls, which did not result in any government action on the company's behalf.

Enron executives were big contributors to President Bush's 2000 presidential campaign as well as to other candidates, both Democrats and Republicans.

Don't start packing just yet

Kerry just conceded.

The Republicans have control of both chambers of Congress and there are 28 GOP governors to 21 Democrat. We basically got our asses handed to us on a silver platter.

I've been hearing a lot of crestfallen, incredulous, angry people talk about moving out of the country. I want to remind them of a few things:

- Over 55,464,500 citizens voted against this President and his policies on the economy, the environment, healthcare, stem cell research, a woman's right to choose, the right to privacy, the "War on Terrorism", and on and on...

- In 2008, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Hillary Rodham-Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, just to name a few may be running against Gov. Jeb Bush for the Presidency.

- Political fundraising on the Internet will only get bigger, making it very possible for people who are not tied to special interests to run for public office. PEOPLE LIKE YOU.

Now is not the time to cut and run. Now is the time to dig in and fight. In two years another election will determine the make-up of Congress. Let's give the Democratic President in 2008 a Congress she/he can work with.

The clock starts now.

Ohio, Ohio, Ohio

Under Ohio state election law, provisional ballots will not be counted for at least 11 days after the election. The way the votes are tallying up in New Mexico (Bush), Iowa (Bush), Wisconsin (Kerry), and Michigan (Kerry) and this point in the evening, neither party can win without Ohio. I suppose the Bush/Cheney campaign were able to scare enough Ohio folks on terrorism and gay marriage enough to make them forget how many jobs this administration cost them. But Florida has no excuse, and New Mexico is on my shit list

In Ohio, there are still about 400,000 regular votes to count, and maybe as many as 175,000 provisional ballots if it gets that far.

I haven't been drinking tonight, but I know that I'm gonna feel hungover in the morning.

So, it begins...

Buy your ticket, take the ride

Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States of Vespucci. If I had to describe my mood today it would be "flinching optimism". For weeks I've been seeing a lot of pro Kerry bumper stickers on the 405 Fwy. A lot more Kerry/Edwards lawn signs in posh neighborhoods as well... in Orange County! I also spotted on my daily commutes downtown a "Republicans for Kerry" and "Republicans Against Bush" bumper sticker.

Growing up in a conservative Republican household, I know that a lot of the Bush supporters and Republican party loyalists are standing by their man because they are pro-choice, anti-illegal immigration, and yearn for the golden age of Reagan. There's no reasoning with them on issues like the Deficit, Social Security, Health Care, or anything else that their children and grandchildren are going to care a whole lot about real soon. Nevermind civil rights, privacy, or the "war on drugs" (whether it's the cocaine republics in South America, poppy fields in Afghanistan, or less expensive pharmaceuticals in Canada). It makes me very, very sad.

Even if Bush hijacks another four years, I personally will get through it. I don't have a parent, sibling, or offspring in the military or manufacturing industries, nearly everyone I love has somewhat affordable health care, and the Patriot Act can't touch me (knock on wood).

But if we have to go through another 2000 where the Courts or lawyers decide who the next President is minutes before Inauguration Day, I will personally run for Congress, and my only issue will be getting rid of the Electoral College. It's a broken, outdated system, and should've been put out of it's misery in the 1960s when television became a proven part of the political process. Mostly, I never want to hear the phrase "swing state" ever again.

Maybe Bush will be re-elected again. And maybe it IS time for the American Empire to implode for the sake of global equilibrium. Morale will suck until another Reagan comes along. For all I know it may be Schwarzenegger, the first immigrant American President. And soon children all over the world, not just in America, will dream of someday becoming President. Arnold will be so popular that Americans will get over their xenophobia, and illegal-immigration will no longer be a Republican scare tactic.

Then again, if Bush does get elected, do we have it in us to fight his administration every step of the way if they try to legislate who we can't marry, limit where we can breathe safely, and determine how much we can speak out against our government before being arrested as a suspected terrorist?

There's no lack of rebellious outcry from musicians and performing artists. But it's presence in the mainstream consciousness isn't at the level of "Blowin' in the Wind", "What's Going On", or even "Ohio". And the most outspoken are lampooned on SNL skits or South Park episodes.

I do believe that we get the government we deserve. And if it is a bullying, cronyist, evangelical, nightmare of a government, it's gotta mean that enough of us want it that way.

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?