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 Sunday, August 22, 2004
Iraqi footballers' fury at Bush. Iraq's Olympic footballers attack President Bush, accusing him of exploiting their success. [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]
one of the players said that if he was not in Greece, he would be fighting Americans in Iraq. Does not sound like they appreciate Bush'd eforts to use them in his own political advertisements. 3:55:45 PM 
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Turning Random Chance into Runaway Success. Susan RoAne writes about the eight traits of people who do "who see the opportunity, perceive a possibility and parlay it into something positive, which has a measure of success. They don[base ']t just see opportunity, they seize it. They are observers who pay attention: to issues, problems, perplexing situations, and to people. Whether their moment of serendipity turned into a job or business, or two tickets to the Olympics or even the opera, they are OPEN! Because of that, they create their own luck."
1. They talk to strangers.
2. They make small talk.
3. They [base "]drop[per thou] names.
4. They eavesdrop and listen.
5. They ask for/offer help.
6. They stray from their chosen paths.
7. They exit graciously without burning bridges
8. They say YES when they want to say NO.
[E M E R G I C . o r g]
Not many of them in this Administration. 3:54:42 PM
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Yet Another Clueless George Bush. First nephew Georeg P. Bush thinks the Boarder Patrol's use of plastic projectiles loaded with chile powder is "reprehensible" and "barbaric", but blames their use on "local INS guys":
President Bush's nephew, campaigning for overseas votes in Mexico on Saturday, called the federal policy of arming U.S. Border Patrol agents with plastic pellet guns "reprehensible."
Speaking in a mix of English and sometimes-halting Spanish, George P. Bush said his uncle was not to blame for the gun policy, which has angered Mexicans. He instead blamed it on "some local INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) guy who's trying to be tough, act macho."
"If there has been American approval for this policy, that is reprehensible," Bush said of the guns, essentially paintball projectiles filled with chile powder. "It's kind of barbarous."
Sorry George Pee, but the use of the projectiles in question is a Bush administration policy:
The pellet guns, which were approved at the federal level, have been used on a trial basis since 2001 in California and Arizona. The U.S. Border Patrol fired the pepper-balls in 81 instances in 2002-03 and reported no deaths or severe injuries.
P-George is a bit confused about where we are in his uncle's War on Iraq as well:
The younger Bush, whose father is Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and mother, Columba, is originally from Mexico, acknowledged at a news conference that the war in Iraq is not popular in Mexico but defended the military action, saying "we're almost done with it."
[First Draft]
Now, what was the name of Al Franken's Book? 3:37:32 PM
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Our friends at Citizens United
. It really shouldn't surprise anyone that the right-wing attacks on John Kerry -- notably including the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- have all so far proven to be brazen falsehoods and crudely nasty smears. One of the main players in perpetrating the sm [Orcinus]
A nice exposition of where the Swift Boat guys came from. Nixon dirty tricks continue to be exploited by amoral entities whose service to the nation is to lie, smear and cheat. Nice group of guys. The phrase "We will stop lying about Kerry when you stpo telling the trught about Bush" certainly seems applicable. Moore's documentary was extensively fact checked. Not so dirty tricks. Smearing is so much easier and more deniable
In many ways, I have a lot of admiration for Reagan's term in office. He could have been a wonderful figure for most of us. But, he enabled these sorts of people to abuse the US political process, enabled Iran-contra, allowed people who are now in this Administration to subvert Congress and get just a few steps away from privately funding their own military. That is why Reagan serves, to me, as a similar president to Grant. Wonderfully popular presidents who allowed their administration to be ruined by amoral animals. Many of the same people from Reagan's time are now in this Adminsitration, making it even more damaging to republican democracy. 3:27:39 PM
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Iraqi Olympic Athletes Blast Bush. Details here: "[Iraqi soccer player] Sadir had a message for U.S. president George W. Bush, who is using the Iraqi... [The Leiter Reports: Editorials, News, Updates]
Yep, they are free now. Well, at least they have elected representation, right? Well, at least we removed one dictator that we helped put into place and supported with a handpicked ex CIA puppet. That is freedom right? Worth the 20,000 Iraqi deaths, so that Bush can get a political ad over the Irag soccer team. Well, at least he his not smearing Kerry. 3:17:23 PM
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Waiting for Hersh. There are more official investigations into Abu Ghraib going on right now than I can keep track of, along with news reports leaking bits of information here and there. But the story began with Seymour Hersh's work and it's not... [Body and Soul]
Apparently few in today's military take any responsibility for Abu Ghraib, even though investigations demonstrate this, becase no one SPECIFICALLY said to stack prisoners naked in a pyramid. Sure makes me glad to hear that these men and women in command of our forces did not have clue what was being done there. The military is supposed to have a strong command and control structure because these people are trained to kill other human beings. That is an awesome power and must be kept in check, lest it be used inappropriately. These leaders allowed that power to be used inappropriately but will not apparently have anything done (except for some who may not make the next promotion list.) 2:59:23 PM
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Doctors at Abu Ghraib. I won't write about the Swift Boat Veterans controversy because other people can do it better, and because paying too much attention to slime could easily leave me unfit for civilized company (I'm already developing the bad habit of grumbling... [Body and Soul]
Look. No one is saying that ALL doctors in Iraq did this. Just as not all soldiers in Vietnam comitted war crimes. But, the point is that SOME did do both and it was countenaced by higher ups. A system that allows such corruption of its own members must be fixed. that is what Kerry said in 1971 and is what is being said now. While it may not be possible to prevent all atrocities, trying to learn from our mistakjes and reduce the number, to strive for zero atrocities, is what we should be doing. Not tryig to smear the messenger. Kerry was right. Atrocities were committed in Vietnam. And they were directly due to the system put in place. Let's not make the same mistake again. 2:52:03 PM
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Docs At The Hazing
It is a sick culture that w... . Docs At The Hazing
It is a sick culture that would think nothing of medical personnel who would design, implement and enable torture, especially in a country we were ostensibly liberating from exactly that kind of treatment. That not one came forward to report any of it says something very troubling about how we define morality and ethics in this country. Let's not forget that these people are from the same nation that spent more than a year and tens of millions of dollars in the pursuit of a leader who allegedly lied about an extramarital affair.
I don't want to hear another word from the religious zealots on the right, including their mascot, our God anointed president, about good and evil until they stand up and explain why they aren't screaming bloody murder about American doctors reviving prisoners who've been beaten unconscious so that they can be beaten again.
I have a good idea what Jesus would think of such a disguisting act, but I'm not so sure about our self-appointed morality police here in the US of A.
Doctors working for the U.S. military in Iraq collaborated with interrogators in the abuse of detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, profoundly breaching medical ethics and human rights, a bioethicist charges in The Lancet medical journal.
In a scathing analysis of the behavior of military doctors, nurses and medics, University of Minnesota professor Steven Miles calls for a reform of military medicine and an official investigation into the role played by physicians and other medical staff in the torture scandal.
He cites evidence that doctors or medics falsified death certificates to cover up homicides, hid evidence of beatings and revived a prisoner so he could be further tortured. No reports of abuses were initiated by medical personnel until the official investigation into Abu Ghraib began, he found.
"The medical system collaborated with designing and implementing psychologically and physically coercive interrogations," Miles said in this week's edition of Lancet. "Army officials stated that a physician and a psychiatrist helped design, approve and monitor interrogations at Abu Ghraib."
The analysis does not shed light on how many doctors were involved or how widespread the problem of medical complicity was, aspects that Miles said he is now investigating.
A U.S. military spokesman said the incidents recounted by Miles came primarily from the Pentagon's own investigation of the abuses.
It's clear that nobody but the grunts in the pictures will suffer any consequences, not even for the systematic depraved indifference to the suffering of those prisoners. We're giving a fine lesson in western justice to the Iraqis. No wonder they are so happy to have us there.
[Hullabaloo]
Great. American doctors enabling some sort of 'Manchurian Candidate'. I guess we will not see anything like MASH regarding doctors in this war? I don;t even think cable would be ready for a group of MDs who work to resucitate prisoners so they can continue being abused. Or falsifying death certificates. 2:42:28 PM
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Where Do They Come Up With This Stuff?
After Ma... .
Where Do They Come Up With This Stuff?
After Malkin's little meltdown on Hardball last night, we all ought to forward old Chris this exchange from August 13th.
Q On behalf of Vietnam veterans -- and I served six tours over there -- we do support the President. I only have one concern, and that's on the Purple Heart, and that is, is that there are over 200,000 Vietnam vets that died from Agent Orange and were never -- no Purple Heart has ever been awarded to a Vietnam veteran because of Agent Orange because it's never been changed in the regulations. Yet, we've got a candidate for President out here with two self-inflicted scratches, and I take that as an insult. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Six tours? Whew. That's a lot of tours. Let's see, who've we got here? You got a question?
If Chris wonders where the smear about self inflicted wounds is coming from he should probably ask the people who pre-screen the questions at the GOP only "Ask Bush" events. Obviously, they will have the names.
Funny, the president doesn't seem too concerned about this toxic swill being bandied about in his presence. In fact, he says "he appreciates it."
[Hullabaloo]
This is why the Bush campaign will not disavow any smear tactics. It is their bread and butter. From WMDs in Iraq to self-inflicetd wounds, they make sure that the idiots of the world, those non-thinkers who KNOW what they know, get the right idea. The Adminstration keeps its parsing right so it can claim deniability but their intended message gets across. People can just not believe that these guys have as little scruples as they do. And when you call them on it, they simply say that both sides do it, in a bid to simply get people to not vote. Well, both sides do not do it. in fact, Bush's own side does not do it. Many conservatives have not drunk the koolaid, particularly those who can speak freely. (Although Dole current comments continue to demonstrate that some never are more than partisan politicos.) Only his Administration twists facts to meet their reality, ignoring or firing anyone who admits otherwise. 2:38:50 PM
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Who Us?
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - A Vietnam v... .
Who Us?
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - A Vietnam veteran who worked with President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign has left over his appearance in a commercial by a group challenging Democratic candidate John Kerry (news - web sites)'s war record, a campaign spokesman said on Saturday.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Ken Cordier was a Bush supporter during the 2000 election and served as a member of his a steering committee to help reach out to veterans during this election.
"Col. Cordier did not inform the campaign of his involvement in the advertisement being run by (Swift Boat Veterans for Truth)," Schmidt said. "Because of his involvement with this 527 (group), Col. Cordier will no longer participate" in the steering committee.
The disclosure of Cordier's involvement came one day after White House spokesman Scott McClellan and Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot denied the campaign coordinated with the group on the ads, which claim that Kerry lied about his Vietnam War service.
Kerry has called the ads inaccurate and accused the group of being a front for the Bush campaign. On Friday the Kerry campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) seeking to force the ads' withdrawal.
New advertisements by the group are set to debut next week in states where Kerry has touted his military service. Kerry won several medals and his record is often contrasted with Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard during the war.
McClellan has refused to specifically condemn the ads and instead has urged Kerry to join Bush in calling for an end to all commercials funded by unrestricted donations.
U.S. advocacy groups can collect vast sums of money to run their own political advertisements but are barred from coordinating their activities with campaigns or political parties.
"There seems to be an increasing amount of evidence that the Bush campaign is behind this," Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer said. "So it's no surprise that the president refuses to condemn these scurrilous ads."
No kidding.
Update:
I like CNN's headline better:
Bush adviser quits after appearing in swift boat ad
Kerry has accused group of illegally working with campaign
Saturday, August 21, 2004 Posted: 11:43 PM EDT (0343 GMT)
ROANOKE, Virginia (CNN) -- A volunteer adviser has quit President Bush's re-election campaign after appearing in a veterans group's television commercial blasting Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's involvement in the Vietnam-era antiwar movement.
A Bush campaign statement said it did not know that retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier had appeared in an ad by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The Kerry campaign has accused the group of illegally working with the Bush campaign.
[Hullabaloo]
/sarcasm on/ No, there is nothing political in the SVFT hacks. They are simply doing this out of their own concern for the country. /sarcasm off/
They are being used in a cynical ploy for power. This is how they were used 35 years ago and they have apparently learned nothing since then. What do we call people who keep doing the same thing again and again, thinking that there will be a different result this time? 2:27:37 PM
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Bush/McCain history resurfaces in 2004 Campaign [BOPnews]
Why does Bush hate American veterans, especially those who served, fought and returned home, engaging in the political process to make a better America? McCain and Kerry are far apart politically but they share a bond that Bush can only smear. Kerry came to McCain's aid on this issue in 2000. How will McCain respond now? So far, he has asked Bush to disavow the ad. Bush has not done so. What next? What sort of leader allows his friend to be smeared by the same group in the same fashion, then continues to try and help this group get elected? 2:21:38 PM
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"My brain just exploded." [Daypop Top 40]
I love it. the organization that got its informationwrong about iraq is now going to speculate about what WMDs Iraq would have had in 2008 if the US did not invade! Just in time for the election. I sure am glad that this is an independent part of the Executive Branch. Since when did science fiction become the provence of the CIA? 1:43:45 PM
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