Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Last Debate:
Kerry avoided winner lines, opted not to bury Bush re lies and similar. Instead, he merely repeated his tried and trues. Yet, he was clearly, again, the better debater, and won by any objective standard; but he lost his last chance to make the case. Since so many criticisms were not made in previous months, it’s unclear who is telling the “truth”. So, when Kerry rightfully jabs Bush for VA cuts, Bush says he’s increased funding. How is the watcher/listener to know? That said, the debate was a wash, or, best case, COULD add a tad more momentum to Kerry. Schieffer, Bush, Sr’s golfing partner, didn’t help.
Put differently, I wonder how it affected folks like these in a swing state, West Virginia:
A lifelong Democrat who voted Republican for the first time in 2000, Mr. Fink said, he plans to vote for Mr. Bush again in large part because the president opposes gun control.
"I think the Democrats are out of touch," he said as he strolled in a gun store near Beckley recently. "There's no doubt in my mind that Kerry would ban every gun he could."
Church groups have also become active for Mr. Bush. In recent weeks, ministers have begun urging parishioners to vote for the "moral candidate," which Democrats consider veiled references to Mr. Bush.
Republican mailings have accused liberals of wanting to ban the Bible. And fliers distributed in church parking lots say Mr. Kerry favors "anti-Christian, anti-God, antifamily" judges, same-sex marriage and abortion.
Mr. Kerry says that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but that states should be allowed to decide their rules.
The attacks have clearly affected people like Bill Poston, 47, a printer here. Mr. Poston is upset about the Iraq war and says many of Mr. Bush's domestic policies have been failures. He even likes what Mr. Kerry says about health care. But he is upset about the possibility of same-sex marriage and is convinced that Mr. Bush will be a "more moral leader." "My minister thinks Bush is a very moral person," Mr. Poston said. "He believes he is being led by God." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/13/politics/campaign/13state.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Initial call: Major media: Kerry win; CBS/ABC other polls on internet: Kerry by wide margin
Corporate Thievery: Take the Money and…
Big companies long lobbied for a tax cut on their overseas profit as a way to spur U.S. job growth. But now that it has been granted, much of the windfall won't go toward hiring but for such uses as strengthening balance sheets, buying back shares and making acquisitions.
The one-year break, included in a sweeping tax bill that cleared the Senate and went to the president this week, will allow hundreds of billions of dollars in overseas profit to be brought home by dozens of U.S. companies at a steeply reduced tax rate. By some estimates, U.S. companies have parked as much as $500 billion in profit abroad to avoid taxes back home. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109763358839943873,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
Exxon Lobbies for Bush: Hardly surprising…
According to a story reported by the Dow Jones Newswire, Exxon is mailing its 34,000 employees with election materials and helpful voter guides which -- surprise! --give the Republican Party gold star ratings for spurning global warming regulation, supporting drilling for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge, and letting oil refineries release more pollution by weakening the Clean Air Act.
Exxon is informing not only its employees but also retirees and contractors how they should vote in upcoming presidential and congressional races across the US. http://www.greenpeace.org/features/details?item_id=608937
Election Fraud: Cruising the local papers one finds reports or comments as to ongoing fraud. But, the suspicion is that it’s happening wherever the Republicans can execute. And, that’s not counting the multiple (legal) efforts to suppress the Democratic vote. A typical letter:
"A week ago Friday, the State of Fla. knocked-off 12,000 new registered voters. Then on Monday last, another 2000 new registrants at Fla. Memorial College in Miami were knocked out, because the lists were photocopied and not the originals. FMC is a Black college.
"Then last week was the scandal on new registrations being discarded, regarding checking the box if one is a citizen, though each swears to it, when registering. In Miami-Dade and possibly Broward and some others, they will accept these new voters, but in others, "NO".
From today’s Washington Post:
Nearly a dozen African American ministers and civil rights leaders walked into the Duval County election office here, television cameras in tow, with a list of questions: How come there were not more early voting sites closer to black neighborhoods? How come so many blacks were not being allowed to redo incomplete voter registrations? Who was deciding all this?
Standing across the office counter under a banner that read "Partners in Democracy" was the man who made those decisions, election chief Dick Carlberg. Visibly angry, the Republican explained why he decided the way he had: "We call it the law."
Black leaders said the scene at the supervisor's office last week was reminiscent of a blocked schoolhouse door at the height of desegregation. They charge that GOP officials are deliberately using the law to keep black people off the rolls and hinder them from voting. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28107-2004Oct12?language=printer
Florida-ish Fraud…in Nevada: At least NPR has now covered it. DA’s office “taking a look at it,” Those Democrats who had registered or re-registered now have to assume their registrations have been ripped up and must check it out. Really!
Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.
Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected.
The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.
The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.
Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats. http://www.klas-tv.com/global/story.asp?s=2421595&ClientType=Printable
…And, in South Dakota…
Bill Janklow's commenting on the resignation of six people connected with the state Republican Party over absentee ballot applications.The former governor and congressman says the national GOP is encouraging campaign workers to cheat. He says his ire is directed at the Republican Party's Victory operation, which helps register people and get them to the polls.Janklow says his problem with the organization goes back to 2002 when he was a candidate for the US House.Jason Glodt with the Republican Party says the absentee ballot problem was an honest mistake and has been handled, and that cheating won't be allowed. http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail2817.cfm?Id=22,35248
And, more aggressive measures in Ohio:
Thieves shattered a side window overnight at Lucas County Democratic headquarters in Toledo, stealing computers with sensitive campaign information and triggering concern of the local party's ability to deliver crucial votes on Nov. 2.
Among the data on the stolen computer of the party's office manager were: e-mails discussing campaign strategy, candidates' schedules, financial information, and phone numbers of party members, candidates, donors, and volunteers.
Also taken were computers belonging to Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak and to a Texas attorney working with the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign to ensure election security.
The thefts have prompted the Kerry/Edwards campaign and Democrats in Washington to offer help and have left local officials fretting about the crime's impact on the upcoming election, in which Ohio plays a high-profile role.
"This puts us behind the eight ball," party spokesman Jerry Chabler said. "This can affect our entire get-out-the-vote operation." http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004410130378
I’ll skip the horror stories out of Oregon and just note the company doing voter registration in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that treats potential Republicans and Democrats rather contrastingly.
Bragg feels her employers were misleading the public, even if it's not illegal. Employees were to approach One Stop customers and ask if they favor George Bush or John Kerry for president. If Bush was their answer, they were then to inquire if the person was registered to vote and offer them a voter registration card. If the person supported Democrat Kerry, they were only to say thank you and give them a registration card only if asked.
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl-womenlit/2004/0201.html
And, Republicans are pretending to be part of a liberal voter registration group and then secretly destroying voter registration cards for anyone who registers as a Democrat. And, a key person in this Fraud: Nathan Sproul. From the Net:
Searching for information on the voter registration fraud stories breaking tonight in Nevada and Oregon, I kept coming across the same name: Nathan Sproul of Sproul & Associates in Phoenix, Arizona.
Nathan Sproul is the former head of the Arizona Republican Party and of the Arizona Christian Coalition (ah, the irony... a Christian).
Sproul is connected with the Republican National Committee-funded voter registration organization, Voter Outreach, Inc., a group that used paid registrars to register voters in a number of states including Nevada, Oregon, Arizona and perhaps more, including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maine and Missouri. (Others states pending, particularly swing states.) Sproul's organization also recruited registrars by fraudulently telling recruits that they would be working for America Votes, a legitimate nonpartisan GOTV operation! http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/13/32821/029
October Surprise?:
Rove confessed to some on the way- perhaps the Sinclair ad is one of them. But the Chinese, hopefully, don’t have one of their own, that they’re just being “ready”.
Chinese Communist Party chief and President Hu Jintao has urged the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to prepare for a military struggle, but stopped short of singling out rival Taiwan as the target.
Many security analysts see the Taiwan Strait as the most dangerous flashpoint in Asia. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to attack if the democratic island of 23 million people declares independence.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6373566
Global warming:
An unexplained and unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere two years running has raised fears that the world may be on the brink of runaway global warming.
Scientists are baffled why the quantity of the main greenhouse gas has leapt in a two-year period and are concerned that the Earth's natural systems are no longer able to absorb as much as in the past. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1324276,00.html
That Anti-Kerry “movie”: Action re Sinclair
Call Sinclair's affiliates. Click here for a list of phone numbers for Sinclair stations. Call them to let them know what you think about their decision to air untrue smears about John Kerry just before Election Day.
Some examples of affiliates, randomly selected:
WLFLRaleigh-Durham(919) 872-9535
WRDCRaleigh-Durham(919) 878-6198
WGGBSpringfield(413) 733-4040 http://www.democrats.org/sinclair/index.html#states
Josh Marshall of talkingpointsmemo.org is urging people to contact Sinclair advertisers, a significantly more effective approach than going through the FCC or FEC. And, he notes "I'm already getting reports from the field that many Sinclair advertisers are starting to communicate their concern to Sinclair."
Sylvan Learning Center has pulled their advertising from Sinclair Broadcasting stations.
What’s Happening, Iraq: missing nuclear material. Still another reminder of the security failures in the failed Occupation
Sites in Iraq that contain equipment and material helpful for making nuclear weapons have apparently disappeared without a trace.
Satellite imagery shows that entire buildings in Iraq have been dismantled. They once housed high-precision equipment that could help a government or terror group make nuclear bombs, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report to the U.N. Security Council.
Equipment and materials helpful in making bombs also have been removed from open storage areas in Iraq and disappeared without a trace, according to the satellite pictures, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20041011/wl_nm/iraq_un_nuclear_dc
And, 6 Americans died today
Polls: Still Even. Highlight: Ohio looking better, but it’s only October...
Iowa: Kerry 47, Bush 47 (ARG)
Iowa: Bush 47, Kerry 45 (Chicago Tribune)
Iowa: Kerry 50, Bush 46 (Rasmussen)
Wisconsin: Kerry 47, Bush 43 (Chicago Tribune)
Ohio: Kerry 49, Bush 45 (Chicago Tribune)
Minnesota: Kerry 48, Bush 43 (Star Tribune)
Minnesota: Kerry 45, Bush 43 (Chicago Tribune)
-R
Kerry avoided winner lines, opted not to bury Bush re lies and similar. Instead, he merely repeated his tried and trues. Yet, he was clearly, again, the better debater, and won by any objective standard; but he lost his last chance to make the case. Since so many criticisms were not made in previous months, it’s unclear who is telling the “truth”. So, when Kerry rightfully jabs Bush for VA cuts, Bush says he’s increased funding. How is the watcher/listener to know? That said, the debate was a wash, or, best case, COULD add a tad more momentum to Kerry. Schieffer, Bush, Sr’s golfing partner, didn’t help.
Put differently, I wonder how it affected folks like these in a swing state, West Virginia:
A lifelong Democrat who voted Republican for the first time in 2000, Mr. Fink said, he plans to vote for Mr. Bush again in large part because the president opposes gun control.
"I think the Democrats are out of touch," he said as he strolled in a gun store near Beckley recently. "There's no doubt in my mind that Kerry would ban every gun he could."
Church groups have also become active for Mr. Bush. In recent weeks, ministers have begun urging parishioners to vote for the "moral candidate," which Democrats consider veiled references to Mr. Bush.
Republican mailings have accused liberals of wanting to ban the Bible. And fliers distributed in church parking lots say Mr. Kerry favors "anti-Christian, anti-God, antifamily" judges, same-sex marriage and abortion.
Mr. Kerry says that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but that states should be allowed to decide their rules.
The attacks have clearly affected people like Bill Poston, 47, a printer here. Mr. Poston is upset about the Iraq war and says many of Mr. Bush's domestic policies have been failures. He even likes what Mr. Kerry says about health care. But he is upset about the possibility of same-sex marriage and is convinced that Mr. Bush will be a "more moral leader." "My minister thinks Bush is a very moral person," Mr. Poston said. "He believes he is being led by God." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/13/politics/campaign/13state.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=
Initial call: Major media: Kerry win; CBS/ABC other polls on internet: Kerry by wide margin
Corporate Thievery: Take the Money and…
Big companies long lobbied for a tax cut on their overseas profit as a way to spur U.S. job growth. But now that it has been granted, much of the windfall won't go toward hiring but for such uses as strengthening balance sheets, buying back shares and making acquisitions.
The one-year break, included in a sweeping tax bill that cleared the Senate and went to the president this week, will allow hundreds of billions of dollars in overseas profit to be brought home by dozens of U.S. companies at a steeply reduced tax rate. By some estimates, U.S. companies have parked as much as $500 billion in profit abroad to avoid taxes back home. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109763358839943873,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
Exxon Lobbies for Bush: Hardly surprising…
According to a story reported by the Dow Jones Newswire, Exxon is mailing its 34,000 employees with election materials and helpful voter guides which -- surprise! --give the Republican Party gold star ratings for spurning global warming regulation, supporting drilling for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge, and letting oil refineries release more pollution by weakening the Clean Air Act.
Exxon is informing not only its employees but also retirees and contractors how they should vote in upcoming presidential and congressional races across the US. http://www.greenpeace.org/features/details?item_id=608937
Election Fraud: Cruising the local papers one finds reports or comments as to ongoing fraud. But, the suspicion is that it’s happening wherever the Republicans can execute. And, that’s not counting the multiple (legal) efforts to suppress the Democratic vote. A typical letter:
"A week ago Friday, the State of Fla. knocked-off 12,000 new registered voters. Then on Monday last, another 2000 new registrants at Fla. Memorial College in Miami were knocked out, because the lists were photocopied and not the originals. FMC is a Black college.
"Then last week was the scandal on new registrations being discarded, regarding checking the box if one is a citizen, though each swears to it, when registering. In Miami-Dade and possibly Broward and some others, they will accept these new voters, but in others, "NO".
From today’s Washington Post:
Nearly a dozen African American ministers and civil rights leaders walked into the Duval County election office here, television cameras in tow, with a list of questions: How come there were not more early voting sites closer to black neighborhoods? How come so many blacks were not being allowed to redo incomplete voter registrations? Who was deciding all this?
Standing across the office counter under a banner that read "Partners in Democracy" was the man who made those decisions, election chief Dick Carlberg. Visibly angry, the Republican explained why he decided the way he had: "We call it the law."
Black leaders said the scene at the supervisor's office last week was reminiscent of a blocked schoolhouse door at the height of desegregation. They charge that GOP officials are deliberately using the law to keep black people off the rolls and hinder them from voting. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28107-2004Oct12?language=printer
Florida-ish Fraud…in Nevada: At least NPR has now covered it. DA’s office “taking a look at it,” Those Democrats who had registered or re-registered now have to assume their registrations have been ripped up and must check it out. Really!
Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.
Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected.
The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.
The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.
Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats. http://www.klas-tv.com/global/story.asp?s=2421595&ClientType=Printable
…And, in South Dakota…
Bill Janklow's commenting on the resignation of six people connected with the state Republican Party over absentee ballot applications.The former governor and congressman says the national GOP is encouraging campaign workers to cheat. He says his ire is directed at the Republican Party's Victory operation, which helps register people and get them to the polls.Janklow says his problem with the organization goes back to 2002 when he was a candidate for the US House.Jason Glodt with the Republican Party says the absentee ballot problem was an honest mistake and has been handled, and that cheating won't be allowed. http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail2817.cfm?Id=22,35248
And, more aggressive measures in Ohio:
Thieves shattered a side window overnight at Lucas County Democratic headquarters in Toledo, stealing computers with sensitive campaign information and triggering concern of the local party's ability to deliver crucial votes on Nov. 2.
Among the data on the stolen computer of the party's office manager were: e-mails discussing campaign strategy, candidates' schedules, financial information, and phone numbers of party members, candidates, donors, and volunteers.
Also taken were computers belonging to Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak and to a Texas attorney working with the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign to ensure election security.
The thefts have prompted the Kerry/Edwards campaign and Democrats in Washington to offer help and have left local officials fretting about the crime's impact on the upcoming election, in which Ohio plays a high-profile role.
"This puts us behind the eight ball," party spokesman Jerry Chabler said. "This can affect our entire get-out-the-vote operation." http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004410130378
I’ll skip the horror stories out of Oregon and just note the company doing voter registration in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that treats potential Republicans and Democrats rather contrastingly.
Bragg feels her employers were misleading the public, even if it's not illegal. Employees were to approach One Stop customers and ask if they favor George Bush or John Kerry for president. If Bush was their answer, they were then to inquire if the person was registered to vote and offer them a voter registration card. If the person supported Democrat Kerry, they were only to say thank you and give them a registration card only if asked.
http://www.nifl.gov/nifl-womenlit/2004/0201.html
And, Republicans are pretending to be part of a liberal voter registration group and then secretly destroying voter registration cards for anyone who registers as a Democrat. And, a key person in this Fraud: Nathan Sproul. From the Net:
Searching for information on the voter registration fraud stories breaking tonight in Nevada and Oregon, I kept coming across the same name: Nathan Sproul of Sproul & Associates in Phoenix, Arizona.
Nathan Sproul is the former head of the Arizona Republican Party and of the Arizona Christian Coalition (ah, the irony... a Christian).
Sproul is connected with the Republican National Committee-funded voter registration organization, Voter Outreach, Inc., a group that used paid registrars to register voters in a number of states including Nevada, Oregon, Arizona and perhaps more, including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maine and Missouri. (Others states pending, particularly swing states.) Sproul's organization also recruited registrars by fraudulently telling recruits that they would be working for America Votes, a legitimate nonpartisan GOTV operation! http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/13/32821/029
October Surprise?:
Rove confessed to some on the way- perhaps the Sinclair ad is one of them. But the Chinese, hopefully, don’t have one of their own, that they’re just being “ready”.
Chinese Communist Party chief and President Hu Jintao has urged the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to prepare for a military struggle, but stopped short of singling out rival Taiwan as the target.
Many security analysts see the Taiwan Strait as the most dangerous flashpoint in Asia. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to attack if the democratic island of 23 million people declares independence.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6373566
Global warming:
An unexplained and unprecedented rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere two years running has raised fears that the world may be on the brink of runaway global warming.
Scientists are baffled why the quantity of the main greenhouse gas has leapt in a two-year period and are concerned that the Earth's natural systems are no longer able to absorb as much as in the past. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1324276,00.html
That Anti-Kerry “movie”: Action re Sinclair
Call Sinclair's affiliates. Click here for a list of phone numbers for Sinclair stations. Call them to let them know what you think about their decision to air untrue smears about John Kerry just before Election Day.
Some examples of affiliates, randomly selected:
WLFLRaleigh-Durham(919) 872-9535
WRDCRaleigh-Durham(919) 878-6198
WGGBSpringfield(413) 733-4040 http://www.democrats.org/sinclair/index.html#states
Josh Marshall of talkingpointsmemo.org is urging people to contact Sinclair advertisers, a significantly more effective approach than going through the FCC or FEC. And, he notes "I'm already getting reports from the field that many Sinclair advertisers are starting to communicate their concern to Sinclair."
Sylvan Learning Center has pulled their advertising from Sinclair Broadcasting stations.
What’s Happening, Iraq: missing nuclear material. Still another reminder of the security failures in the failed Occupation
Sites in Iraq that contain equipment and material helpful for making nuclear weapons have apparently disappeared without a trace.
Satellite imagery shows that entire buildings in Iraq have been dismantled. They once housed high-precision equipment that could help a government or terror group make nuclear bombs, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report to the U.N. Security Council.
Equipment and materials helpful in making bombs also have been removed from open storage areas in Iraq and disappeared without a trace, according to the satellite pictures, IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20041011/wl_nm/iraq_un_nuclear_dc
And, 6 Americans died today
Polls: Still Even. Highlight: Ohio looking better, but it’s only October...
Iowa: Kerry 47, Bush 47 (ARG)
Iowa: Bush 47, Kerry 45 (Chicago Tribune)
Iowa: Kerry 50, Bush 46 (Rasmussen)
Wisconsin: Kerry 47, Bush 43 (Chicago Tribune)
Ohio: Kerry 49, Bush 45 (Chicago Tribune)
Minnesota: Kerry 48, Bush 43 (Star Tribune)
Minnesota: Kerry 45, Bush 43 (Chicago Tribune)
-R
