BOO!!!

If this Jack-o-liar doesn't scare you, I don't know what would. Happy Halloween, y'all!

Steve
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Bush's Last-Minute Environmental Deregulations

Bush never quits. Actually, one of my recurring nightmares is that he will, in fact, never quit. But that's another issue for another post. In this case, I'm referring to his last-minute changes to environmental regulations at the request of every damned lobby you could think of, to the detriment of just about every aspect of our environment and to human health.

Could Obama as president simply reverse these changes? Not easily:

A Last Push To Deregulate
White House to Ease Many Rules

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 31, 2008; Page A01

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.

Once such rules take effect, they typically can be undone only through a laborious new regulatory proceeding, including lengthy periods of public comment, drafting and mandated reanalysis.

     ...

Greater emissions of lead into the air. Fewer environmental impact statements. Higher emissions limits for power plants, oil refineries, chemical plants. You name it: if it spoils your air or your water, it's on the list for deregulation. Once removed, the existing regs would require an evaluation process more or less starting from scratch to restore them.

Have a nice day. All of you who voted for Bush: try not to choke on your air or water.

Steve
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Friday Kitty Birthday Cake Blogging

Having eaten her fill (mostly before I arrived), Tabitha steadfastly ignores the remains of her 20th birthday cake:

I think it was Fancy Feast, but I'd have to ask Stella to be certain. Tabitha also received several toys and a virtually endless supply of treats; it's no wonder she was stuffed. At least, after all that, she is unlikely to beg for Halloween candy. A few minutes after this picture was taken, she got up and displayed the energy of a much younger cat. Second kittenhood, perhaps? (Not to worry... Samantha got her share of treats and cake too.)

(Posted early.)

Steve
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McCain And Racism

I doubt McCain is in principle a racist himself, but he certainly seems to draw them to his campaign. (Added: News Writer gave us an example recently; scroll down to the image.) Now McCain is talking with Larry King about how many racists there are in the U.S.:

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- Presidential candidate John McCain denied Wednesday that race will determine the outcome of next week's election against Barack Obama, who hopes to become the country's first black president.

"Look, there's racism in America -- we all know that," the Republican hopeful told CNN's Larry King Wednesday.

"But I am totally convinced that 99 and forty-four-one-hundredths percent of Americans are going to make the decision based on who is best to lead this country," he continued.

     ...

When I looked a couple of moments ago, the Census Bureau's Population Clock showed the total U.S. population to be about 305,535,988. By McCain's assertion, that means that about 1,711,000 among us are racists willing to decide the presidency based on the race of the candidate. Depending on who you count as racist, that number seems low to me... perhaps McCain is more forgiving than I am.

But do you younger people remember where that number comes from? Right. They used to advertise Ivory Soap as "99 and forty-four-one-hundredths percent pure." Is that what brought it to McCain's mind? How many of his supporters have some sort of racial purity test lurking around in the backs of their tiny minds?

Steve
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Who We Can Kick Around In 2012

In the 2012 presidential race, "[y]ou won't have Nixon to kick around any more" ... that would be a surprising event indeed. But you may be almost as surprised to hear who you will have to kick around: Sarah Palin. Who says so? Sarah Palin. Dana Bash reports to Wolf Blitzer that the McCain adviser she spoke to was "speechless." Nicole Belle has the video, unfortunately not of Palin herself, but of Blitzer reading a confirmed quote.

You know, Palin has the potential to wreak havoc within the Republican Party for a long time to come. It couldn't happen to a more deserving organization.

Steve
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More Threats From A McCain Rally Crowd

... this time in Miami. FiveThirtyEight.com's Sean Quinn happened to be present to witness the threats of violence against two Cuban-American Obama supporters:

     ...

After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that's what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated from stable to fast-moving scrum, and the two men were surrounded on all sides as we raced to the circle.

     ...

The event maybe lasted a minute, two at the most, before police competently managed to hustle the two away from the scene and out of the danger zone. Only FiveThirtyEight tracked the two men down for comment, a quarter mile down the street.

"People were screaming 'Terrorist!' 'Communist!' 'Socialist!'" Sorando said when we caught up with him. "I had a guy tell me he was gonna kill me."

Asked what had precipitated the event, "We were just chanting 'Obama!' and holding our signs. That was it. And the crowd suddenly got crazy."

     ...

Please read the rest, and view Brett Marty's photos.

Do I need to say it? This kind of behavior is utterly unacceptable. And it is happening over and over again, always at McCain/Palin rallies. The provocation... if one can call it that... is minimal in every case. And still the McCain campaign says nothing explicit to their supporters.

Can the McCain campaign seriously claim that they are not effectively encouraging their crowds to do this, by using words like "terrorist" and "socialist" in their actual campaign speeches? McCain and especially Palin are responsible for this. They should take responsibility for ending the threats of violence. All it would take is a word from each of them. They owe America... they owe Americans... at least that much.

Steve
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Three Voting Issues

Here are three articles of interest regarding problems or anomalies with voting:

• ACORN: Legal Latino Voter, Illegally Targeted by the GOP, Speaks Out -
  Pachacutec of FDL talks about an ACLU class action lawsuit on behalf of voters registered by ACORN whose private information was illegally released by officials of the Republican Party of New Mexico, information sensitive enough to risk identity theft.
  
  
• Vote Flipping -
  tristero of Hullabaloo discusses and offers a video of touchscreen voting machines that literally vote for a candidate other than the one the voter touches. I suppose we're lucky in Harris County that our machines are not touchscreen-operated; the interface is a finger dial (think of an old telephone dial, if you're old enough to remember those) and some buttons. But that doesn't protect us from the next anomaly...
  
  
• New middleman identified...
  The incomparable Bev Harris identifies locations where certain software and servers are used to host both voter registration data and election results data from Hart InterCivic voting equipment. It's six days out... where are your children your votes stored? I've often wondered about this. Harris County, TX is not on the list, but three other Texas counties are.
  
  

Steve
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More About US Army Domestic Deployment

Recently I noted an article by Naomi Wolf on the recent deployment of the First Brigade of the Third Infantry within the United States, for some sort of internal "homeland security" purposes including "crowd control." At the time, I had difficulty independently confirming the information. Glenn Greenwald has now done that, first noting an Army Times article about the deployment, then interviewing Jonathan Hafetz of the ACLU about the ACLU's FOIA request for more information on this project, about which the government has been rather secretive.

A couple of observations, hardly novel ones. First, these are not National Guard troops trained in domestic emergency work among a civilian population at home; they're regular Army, many of them returned from one or more tours of duty in Iraq, trained in combat against an enemy. Second, it's not at all clear that it is legal under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 to use military troops in this way. Third, WTF do they intend to do with these troops? i.e., what kind of "crowd[s]" will require what sort of "control" by 5000 troops of regular Army, within U.S. borders?

Please read and/or listen to Greenwald's interview of Hafetz. It is also instructive to read the Army Times article itself, to get an idea of the capabilities of the forces being deployed here at home. We need to know what is going on here, and at least as long as the GOPers are in office, they're not about to volunteer that information.

Steve
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Jodi, Jose, Joe The REAL Plumbers

Here they are. This is worth your time to read, especially if your name is John McCain. Three Toledo plumbers tell it like it is... and voice their support for Barack Obama.

Steve
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ABC Too Late

ABC waited just a little too long to get on board:

ABC Jumps Too Late On Obama's 'Buy'

By Lisa de Moraes
Tuesday, October 28, 2008; Page C01

ABC finally offered Barack Obama's camp the 8 p.m. half-hour in its Wednesday lineup for his campaign-related program -- which will air at that time on the other major broadcast networks.

But, in an ironic twist, the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign passed on ABC's offer, saying it has allocated the funds elsewhere.

"We were in discussion with the Obama campaign and had offered them the half-hour, but at this point that's not happening and 'Pushing Daisies' will air in its regular time slot," an ABC spokesman told The TV Column yesterday. ABC already has begun airing ads telling viewers, "Wednesday you have a choice -- get political with the other networks or" watch a new episode of "Pushing Daisies" at 8 p.m.

     ...

"Pushing Daisies" ... that's the theme of the McCain campaign, right?

Steve
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Tabitha Turns Twenty Today

(Photo and poem by Stella)

Steve
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You Knew It Would Come To This

Watch this interview of Joe Biden (YouTube video) by local ABC News affiliate WFTV anchor Barbara West and tell me with a straight face that you didn't expect crap like this near the end of the campaign.

While you're at it, tell me, again without bursting into laughter, that the so-called "liberal" media, or at least a good part of it, has not gone completely nuts.

Biden handles it beautifully. No surprise there.

(Video posted by TPM.)

Steve
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Ted Stevens Guilty On All Counts

It's going to be difficult for him to be re-elected next week, in the face of this outcome. Of course he has indicated he will appeal, but I think it is likely he will face prison time, probably discovering what it is like to live in a cell with a huge man intent on exploring Stevens's series of tubes.

Steve
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Accessories After The Fact

Do you ever wake up with the feeling that you're somehow not you, that you're in another (wo)man's clothes? Apparently, Sarah Palin does:

     ...

"Those clothes, they are not my property. Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me. I am back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska.

     ...

"I am glad, though, that she brought up accessories also. Let me tell you a little bit about a couple of accessories, didn't think that we would be talking about it, but my earrings — I see a Native Americans for Palin poster,      ..."

     ...

Etcetera, ad nauseam. Gov. Palin, here's a clue for free... nobody cares about your accessories. And nobody really believes you would not have kept the freebie clothes if the RNC had not gotten caught. No clothes in the world are big enough to cover their largess.

Every political figure is ambitious; that goes almost without saying. The question is what else informs their character in addition to ambition. Why are the clothes important? Because Gov. Palin's assertion that she effectively has a right to them, an assertion repeated long after it is not politically advantageous to talk about the matter, reveals an unsavory aspect of her character. That, more than the clothes themselves or even the $150,000, is what matters.

Steve
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Who WAS Barack Obama?

This segment by Olbermann (YouTube video) should answer that question beyond doubt. Found through Clay of NOLA-dishu, who also offers a truly excellent local Obama campaign event (again a YouTube video)... with campaign music sung in what I am told is Cajun French. Obama's appeal is, not surprisingly, broad indeed. (So is the appeal of Cajun music... zydeco... IMNSHO.)

(H/T the always informative and entertaining oyster of Your Right Hand Thief.)

Steve
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Saturday Signs - Joe Fixation Edition

In John McCain's recent campaign appearances, he seems utterly preoccupied with one person, to the point at which real plumbers have noticed...

I wonder why no one has claimed falsely that a stereotypical young white male in a bad inner-city neighborhood carved a 'J' in her face. Maybe there's no race-baiting political profit in that for McCain? I'll be soooo glad when this is all over.

Steve
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Friday 'Here Comes The Grooming' Blogging

Tabitha and Samantha spent a good half hour sitting in the sun on the love seat (appropriately enough), grooming each other. I did get a couple of shots with tongues visible, but they weren't very well in focus, so I chose this one. At their friendliest, these ladies get along very well indeed...

Steve
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McCain's Least Favorite Old-Timey Song

Now what would that be?

How about this one (original text, history, .mp3) ...

Oh, them polls been slippin',
Oh, them polls been slippin',
Polls been slippin' from bad to worse,
McCain may have to cheat;
Oh, them polls been slippin',
Oh, them polls been slippin',
Polls been slippin' from bad to worse,
Barack will find them sweet!

(Apologies to the late great James A. Bland for parodying his excellent song, Oh, Dem Golden Slippers, written in 1879 and still popular in my own childhood in the 1950s. Bland, an African American, survived slavery and lived to see its end. I cannot help feeling that if any part of his spirit is still around somewhere, he is glad to see an African American so very near to winning the presidency.)

Steve
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Third Terms, Or Something

Two consecutive articles on Think Progress refer to politicians serving third terms:

• One says that The New York City Council removed ("extended") term limits to allow Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run for a third four-year term... awfully hypocritical of them all, as it removes council members' own limitations against running for a third term as well, but no bad thing in itself, as term limits are anathema to democracy;
  
  
• The other has McCain's campaign attempting to depict Obama as effectively running for Bush's third term... I believe that's known as "projection."

But you know, I really must learn to read more carefully. In my first glance at the latter article, I thought it was about the McCain campaign's going down for the third time...

Steve
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GOP: Your Vote Should Be Discarded

... if you have already voted in Indiana's Lake County in heavily Democratic areas, in early voting sites contested by the GOP because of an alleged likelihood of voter fraud. Chesterton Tribune via TPM:

     ...

When [special judge] Kavadias-Schneider asked, “What of those who have already voted?” R. Lawrence Steele, a GOP lawyer, replied, “Maybe those votes should be discarded.”

     ...

It's really true: the GOP will do anything to retain power. As Obama's numbers continue to rise, you can expect worse than this... possibly much worse.

By the way, the judge rejected this GOP outrage.

Steve
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Veep Powers: What Palin Thinks

Keith Olbermann's special comment (shown here on Huffington Post) assembles in one place all the recent occasions on which Sarah Palin has offered explanations of what the Constitution says the Vice President must do and has the power to do... getting it wrong, every single time. I suppose she assumes she'll have Dick Cheney around to explain all that to her, or maybe John Yoo...

Steve
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Clothes Fake The Man - UPDATED (2x)

And the woman. John Aravosis tells us about it:

Sarah Palin spent on clothes in one month what the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years.
John Aravosis (DC) · 10/21/2008 08:11:00 PM ET
     ...

Sarah Palin spent on clothes in one month, $150,000, what the average American household spends on clothes in 50 years 80 years.

Good God.

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

     ...

     ...

Read the sorry details on AMERICAblog. It's not just Palin; McCain spent over $8600 on makeup in September alone. (Again, read the details on Aravosis's post.)

Look: I don't doubt Obama's clothing, hair, etc. cost a lot. When I went to vote, a local Democratic politician walked by and shook my hand (on his way to the back of that loooong line; that's how Dems do things). He was wearing a suit that must have cost what a whole year's clothing costs me. But... $150 grand? On two or three shopping sprees at ritzy stores? Even Gov. Palin's smallest spree (see Aravosis's post) would more than comfortably support me for a year... all my expenses. Even medical insurance! Indeed, I could take some of that much money into the next year. And her largest spree... don't get me started.

Forgive me if I don't think these obscenely wealthy people need a tax cut.

UPDATE: Jane Hamsher gets it right: "She's Vanna White who wants to be the boss of the Senate." To which I'd add, "... except that Vanna White typically keeps her mouth shut."

UPDATE: Not to flog a dead elephant, but I think Marc Ambinder has valid questions here:

     ...

This sort of spending is without precedent -- the closest approximation for any campaign I've ever covered is make-up expenses for television interviews and commercial shoots -- , and Schmitt's weakly defensive response tonight indicates that the campaign is deeply embarrassed by it and has nothing to say in their defense. Spokespeople have clammed up, a sure sign that they're trying to figure out who authorized the expenses and who knew about them. Did Palin wear all of the clothing? Where is it kept?

     ...

There are many things wrong with the notion of Sarah Palin as a possible President of the United States. Those Americans not interested in problems with her constitutional views (see next post downstream) will nonetheless be able to identify with this formulaic TV script: "small-town girl goes to big city, goes on a wild spending spree with money not her own." Hey, Republicans, want to talk about responsibility and judgment? Bring. It. On.

Steve
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An Hour Well Spent

See that American flag in the very middle of the picture, barely visible just left of center (hey, where else would I place the American flag)? That's the actual polling place. From this picture, which I took when I joined the line, to the polls was just under an hour's wait... not bad at all, considering the number of voters. (What? oh, of course: straight-D.)

Steve
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Hey Mark - Look Up 'Petard'

Oh, my. LA Times:

Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case
Mark Jacoby, who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state laws with his own registration, authorities say.
By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states.

     ...

And here we had been accusing Republicans of faking voter registration fraud cases for political purposes. Well, I suppose this is one way they can assure there's at least one real case of fraud...

Steve
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Early Voting Begins Monday

Early voting in Texas begins Monday, Oct. 20. Locations and hours in Harris County, TX are listed
here (.pdf - sorry, the Republican county clerk doesn't put up an .html version that I can find). Typically, your regular Election Day polling place will not be open for early voting, and poll hours are different from those on Election Day.

Arrive with your voter certificate and (just for good measure) some form of photo ID, whether or not it is required. You can check the status of your voter registration before you go to the polls by visiting this page on the Secretary of State site. Lines may be long and possibly slow; it depends on how many Republicans show up to "check" everyone for "vote fraud," i.e., to slow down the line so that fewer Democrats vote. (There is surely a corner in Hell especially for people who engage in deliberate voter suppression.)

One more thing: if you are duly registered, and you are challenged, complain at the top of your lungs, and whatever you do, do not accept a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots are often further disputed, if not discarded outright, after the election.

All that said, I have not had any problems in recent election years. But all the chatter is that there will be a lot of challenges this year, and Texas has a history of attempting to prevent some people (poor, elderly, of color) from voting. Hope for the best; prepare for the worst. And do not allow anyone, no matter what, to take your vote away from you.

For what it's worth, I recommend a straight Democratic ticket vote this year. Of course I'm biased, but I also know and think highly of more than a few of those down-ballot candidates. A quick note: a straight-D vote includes a vote for Obama and Biden; contrary to a trickster's email going around, you must not select them again separately after voting the straight ticket... indeed, on many machines, doing that may cancel your vote for Obama and Biden. If you're using an eSlate machine of the sort Harris County has, simply select the straight-D line, then inspect the list of results after you finish voting and before you hit the Cast Ballot button, to confirm that Obama/Biden appears in that list.

Enough chatter. Do it!

Steve
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Saturday Shadow

Outside my bedroom window is some sort of prickly pear or cactus. Those things don't grow as natives in Houston... the climate is far too wet... but a few of them survive if planted, and the groundskeepers planted one right outside my window. This morning, it cast a cool shadow on the blinds.

Either that, or Bullwinkle decided to catch some rays before the weather grows chilly later this month.

(I have almost run out of sign pics, and have had no opportunities to collect more. I'll substitute whatever I can find that may be of interest.)

Steve
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AP Publishes Another McCain Ad

If you ever thought for a moment that the AP was "fair and balanced," take a look at this so-called "fact check" of one of Obama's claims in an ad about McCain's Medicare policy:

Fact Check: Obama's claim of benefit cuts suspect
By KEVIN FREKING – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare has become a new focal point in the presidential campaign, with Democratic nominee Barack Obama accusing Republican John McCain of seeking "cuts in benefits, eligibility, or both."

Elderly voters are sure to take notice of such statements being made in a 30-second television ad that the Obama campaign will air in some crucial swing states. Obama hit the same theme in a campaign appearance Friday in Virginia.

But Obama's charge is built on a shaky foundation. The campaign's evidence that McCain would make such cuts relies on a Wall Street Journal article where no specific cuts were mentioned.

In what little detail McCain discusses Medicaid and Medicare on his campaign Web site, he makes no mention of cutting benefits. He says this about the two health programs, the first for the poor, the second for the elderly and disabled: "We must reform the payment systems in Medicaid and Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention and care coordination. Medicaid and Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement."

     ...

This "fact check" could have been written by a McCain staffer. Where to begin? First, what source other than the WSJ is Obama supposed to use? Is the WSJ not credible and conservative enough to suit the author? The fact that "no specific cuts were mentioned" means that there's a political campaign going on. As to the absence of any mention of cutting benefits on McCain's web site, as a once-powerful Republican cabinet member infamously said a few years ago, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

I suppose the kindest interpretation from AP's viewpoint is that author Kevin Freking committed this hit piece on his own initiative. If so, Kevin, you are a Freking idiot; you should quit your Freking job and hire on with the Freking McCain campaign directly.

But based on past observation, I think the AP commissions a certain number of purely partisan political articles to be distributed along with straight news. There is clearly no "fact checking" in this article that reflects badly in any way on Senator Obama's ad: the ad's basis is a statement from one of the country's (rightly or wrongly) most respected newspapers.

Maybe you can use this hit piece as an example for your children of what some of our "news" services have become.

Steve
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Bush VA 'Supports Troops': Shreds Benefits Claims

Military Times (via Think Progress):

VA claims found in piles to be shredded

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Oct 17, 2008 8:02:15 EDT

Department of Veterans Affairs regional offices have been ordered to immediately stop shredding documents after an investigation found some benefits claims and supporting documents among piles of papers waiting to be destroyed.

Claims often include personal records supplied by veterans that are not duplicated in government files and might be difficult to replace, such as certificates for births, deaths and marriage.

In a statement, VA Secretary James Peake said only a handful of documents were found among piles of documents set aside to be shredded. But he is not pleased.

     ...

Among the records found waiting to be shredded were applications for disability compensation, education benefits, home loans and pensions for low-income veterans, officials said.

     ...

I remember a passage in one of Ray Bradbury's works (I cannot locate it now; this is a paraphrase) about how some people use human beings like a Kleenex... blow, wipe, throw away. I hope and presume this is an isolated incident, a crime committed by one or a few people. But whoever did it seems to have a "blow, wipe, throw away" attitude toward members of our armed services... an all too common attitude in many military matters since Bush took office.

Steve
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Headline Of The Day

On Huffington Post, on a quick-read I can't figure out how to link directly...

Tainted Chinese Milk Spreads To Edible British Sex Toys

Screw it, if you must, but don't eat it!

Steve
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Palin Shielded From Depressing Press

HuffPo:

Palin's Staffers Keep Her Away From The News To Avoid Being "Depressed"
Huffington Post/Washington Post | Katharine Zaleski | October 17, 2008 08:43 AM

A day after The Washington Post's Dana Milbank wrote about how the Secret Service is blocking press at Sarah Palin's rallies, it appears Palin's staff is blocking her from listening to the press. Palin revealed at a fundraiser last night that she is in an ever-growing media bubble.

     ...

     ... "Usually they're like 'Oh my gosh, don't watch. You're going to, you know, you're going to get depressed.'"

She added that while she doesn't always appreciate the way reporters portray the GOP ticket, she's been bolstered by the prayers of many of the campaign's backers.

     ...

Palin also attributed polling numbers to God. "We even saw today, thank the Lord," she said, looking upwards and raising her fist, "We saw some movement."

Jeebus (if you'll forgive the expression). If Gov. Palin becomes veep, will she have a special staff just to prevent depressing news from reaching her? Another, more curmudgeonly question: is it an attempt to appeal to the youth vote, when a candidate for vice president uses "they're like..." to mean "they say..." in a public statement?

This woman's triviality would be hilarious... if she weren't so dangerous.

Steve
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Reporter Assaulted At Palin Rally

It happened yesterday. Read about it here. The reporter is OK, though I'll bet his leg is sore:

     ...

And then he kicked the back of leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

     ...

Read the entire account at the News & Record, as linked above. To use that word so popular at the last debate, will Palin repudiate her supporter's action?

(H/T TPMElectionCentral.)

Steve
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McCain's Words Have Consequences

... for ACORN:

WASHINGTON — An ACORN community organizer received a death threat and the liberal activist group's Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote next month.

Attorneys for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now were notifying the FBI and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division of the incidents, said Brian Kettenring, a Florida-based spokesman for the group.

Republicans, including presidential candidate John McCain, have verbally attacked the group repeatedly in recent days, alleging a widespread vote-fraud scheme, although they've provided little proof. It was disclosed Thursday that the FBI is examining whether thousands of fraudulent voter-registration applications submitted by some ACORN workers were part of a systematic effort or isolated incidents.

Kettenring said that a senior ACORN staffer in Cleveland, after appearing on television this week, got an e-mail that said she "is going to have her life ended."

A female staffer in Providence, R.I., got a threatening call from someone who said words to the effect of "We know you get off work at 9," then uttered racial epithets, he said.

McClatchy is withholding the women's names because of the threats.

Separately, vandals broke into the group's Boston and Seattle offices and stole computers, Kettenring said.

The incidents came the day after McCain charged in the final presidential debate that ACORN's voter-registration drive "may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and may be "destroying the fabric of democracy."

     ...

Death threats. Harassment. Theft of equipment. Exactly who is "destroying the fabric of democracy" here? But that's not John's fault; oh, no, no, no... just ask him, and he'll tell you these people brought it on themselves.

As I write this, there are two guys standing two stories up on the peak of the roof across from my apartment, walking back and forth, presumably looking for roof damage inflicted by Hurricane Ike. I know they do this professionally, but it scares me nonetheless to watch them. I feel as if that's where we all are at the moment: precariously balanced, with nothing to prevent our fatal plunge if some untoward breeze or tremor pushes us off our narrow path. And McCain is just the guy to be that breeze or tremor. McCain is right about one thing: when enough of his Republican supporters gather, and he tosses them red meat, there are bound to be some nuts who, at the very least, threaten violence. Now the threats have spread beyond the rallies... and in one case have gone over the line into actual crime.

Senator McCain: stop it.

Stop pushing.

Stop risking the stability of our entire society for your own political gain!

Steve
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Good News: SCOTUS Reverses Ohio Voter Ruling - UPDATED

AP via TPM:

High court rejects GOP bid in Ohio voting dispute
Supreme Court sides with Ohio elections chief, against state GOP in voter registration suit
Staff
AP News
Oct 17, 2008 10:50 EST

The Supreme Court is siding with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.

The justices on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.

     ...

This should make the GOP voter suppression effort more difficult in Ohio. The ruling is reportedly based on the GOP's lack of standing to sue, so it should effectively prevent similar suits in other states. No doubt the GOP will make further efforts along other avenues, but it seems unlikely they will succeed in the 18 days before the election. Let me offer my congratulations to the thousands of Ohioans whose right to vote was just restored.

UPDATE: This TPM post has an excellent explanation of the background, the court case and the ruling.

Steve
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Friday Feline Fun Blogging

Not troubled in the least by the loss of electric power, Samantha amuses herself in the window on the first clear day after Hurricane Ike:

Hmm. I wonder if Badtux's cats have a penguin doll like that...

(Posted early.)

Steve
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It's A Secret (Service)

Think Progress:

‘In cooperation with the Palin campaign,’ Secret Service now blocking reporters.»

Today in a Washington Post chat, Dana Milbank revealed that — in “a serious violation of their duty” — the Secret Service is now preventing the press from interviewing attendees at McCain-Palin rallies:

I have to say the Secret Service is in dangerous territory here. In cooperation with the Palin campaign, they’ve started preventing reporters from leaving the press section to interview people in the crowd. This is a serious violation of their duty — protecting the protectee — and gets into assisting with the political aspirations of the candidate. It also often makes it impossible for reporters to get into the crowd to question the people who say vulgar things. So they prevent reporters from getting near the people doing the shouting, then claim it’s unfounded because the reporters can’t get close enough to identify the person.

Campaign staffers have also been locking journalists into a restricted press area in order to prevent them from writing “negative things.” (HT: Romenesko)

So... little things like the identity of the person shouting "kill him" when Obama's name is mentioned are to be maintained secret? How about the individual reactions of a member of the crowd to something McCain or Palin says... are those not to be reported for some mysterious reason of, uh, what, state security?

What is the purpose of the Secret Service? My understanding until the past year or so was that they were to protect the life and health of our highest officials, and candidates for those offices, against physical violence. Now it seems they are taking it upon themselves to protect those officials and candidates against inquiring reporters on the job... but only if those officials and candidates are Republicans; this has not been reported at Democratic events. Why? Has the agency been co-opted by the Republican Party? Or do individual agents need to report back for a refresher course in how they are to perform their duties? Either way, this is a disturbing turn of events.

Steve
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Palin's Fiscal 'Conservatism'

I've often been accused in lunch table conversations of being a "tax-and-spend liberal." My response varies depending on the seriousness of the conversation in which the accusation takes place, but in the less serious chats, I often in turn accuse my opponent of being a "don't-tax-but-spend-anyway conservative." That notion does not fit in very well with the typical notion of conservatism, but it does fit well with the spending habits of the last three Republican administrations' brand of self-proclaimed "conservatism." Hey, conservatism in America is a relatively new phenomenon (you say you don't believe me? Read John Dean's Conservatives Without Conscience), and they're still getting the bugs out. Or not.

A post by David Neiwert confirms that Sarah Palin is a don't-tax-but-spend-anyway conservative. Based on the train wreck she wrought in the town of Wasilla while she was mayor... before she took office, the town's debt was less than $1 million; when she left, that debt exceeded $20 million... one could even say Neiwert's damning evaluation of Palin's fiscal policies was, um, conservative in its condemnation. Read Neiwert's post, and if you have time, watch the short video by the Wasilla Project. Then tell me whether you want this woman to wield her pen anywhere near the federal budget.

Can economic matters be worse than they are right now? Personally, I'd rather not find out by direct experiment.

Steve
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Plumb And Plumber - UPDATED (4x), CORRECTED

McCain's campaign appears to be plumb out of gas. And Ohio independents appeared to hate Joe the Plumber... well, not Joe himself, but McCain's use of him in the debate.* Despite McCain's impressive performance in the first few minutes, despite his extremely aggressive assaults, from the standpoint of the numbers, Obama won overwhelmingly. For a good summary of poll results last night, see FiveThirtyEight.com's post-debate wrap-up.

Give Obama great credit: apart from any policy differences you may have with him (I have a few, but now is not the time), he is utterly unflappable. Absent some sort of catastrophe, he will win the presidency. Once he does, I'll sleep better at night, knowing the Old Scold is scolding from one of his dozen or so homes instead of the White House, and knowing that Sarah Palin has gone back to field-dressing moose and local political opponents, rather than being a heartbeat away... an elderly heartbeat at that... from our most powerful office.

I am not overconfident. There are things McCain could do, even now, to obtain the office... see sElection 2000 for examples. McCain represents the distressingly large segment of the Republican Party who just don't believe in democracy, not even representative democracy; if they cannot elect him, they will try their best to lift him to office by illegal means. As we saw in the recent Sixth Circuit ruling, they may well have the assistance of the Republican-packed courts in doing so. Our only hope is prevention: mobilize such an overwhelming number of Obama voters to the polls, all over the country, that by no conceivable interpretation could McCain "win." Let's do it.

*UPDATE: well, OK, maybe they hate Joe himself... he does seem a bit, um, ideologically driven. For example, he "hates" Social Security.

UPDATE: via Firedoglake, via Raising Kane, Ben Smith of The Politico notes the following:

Two readers with access to the Ohio voter file say that Joe Wurzelbacher's inluence on this cycle will be limited in one way: He doesn't appear to be registered to vote.

(Emphasis mine.)

Oopsie, Sen. McCain... it looks as if you vetted Joe about as well as you vetted Sarah Palin.

UPDATE: Oh, please tell me you're kidding me. David Neiwert, on Crooks and Liars, tells us that Joe the Plumber is a member of the Keating family. Could McCain have possibly been more dishonest than he was when he omitted that fact? It's just more confirmation that today's GOP leadership is a bunch of, um, crooks and liars. [CORRECTION: Keith Olbermann says that Joe's last name, Wurzelbacher, is very common in Ohio, and that initial reports of his relationship to Keating are in error. The YDD regrets the mistake.]

AND ONE LAST UPDATE: Joe may not be a "real" plumber:

An official at Local 50 of the plumber’s union, based in Toledo, said Mr. Wurzelbacher does not hold a license. He also has never served an apprenticeship and does not belong to the union. (The national plumber’s union, the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Service Mechanics, endorsed Mr. Obama, it should be noted.)

“He’s basically playing games with the world,” Thomas Joseph, the local’s business manager, said in a telephone interview Thursday morning.

Oh, yeah. I can put a wrench to a pipe; does that mean I'm a plumber? On the other hand, not only did I make my living as a musician and music teacher for a while, but my membership in AFM Local 65-699 assures those who hire me that I can and will actually do what I say in the contract. Plumber, MFA!

Steve
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Selected Links To Recent Posts

 
Click any permalink below to go to the original article on a previous page. Click a comment link below to add a comment to the original article. Your comment will be noticed, by the YDD at least: HaloScan has a page allowing me to view recent comments, no matter which post they refer to. Some very recent posts may be included in their entirety.

Want To See McCain In A Cell?

Well, OK, so do I... but not the way John Aravosis says it is happening:

Verizon and AT&T provided free cell towers to the McCain ranch, and admit it's because he's running for president

John Aravosis (DC) · 10/15/2008 04:56:00 PM ET
     ...

For free? Move over Ted Stevens, John McCain is up to bat!

This isn't funny. That would be an illegal corporate contribution to the McCain campaign. And it's bribery of a sitting US Senator. Especially after AT&T admits that this is why they gave McCain the free goods - BECAUSE he's running for president. Are they mad? John McCain wasn't the Republican candidate yet - and even if he were, corporations can't donate free favors to his campaign - McCain was one of the many men running for the GOP nomination. (And did AT&T and Verizon offer these donations to other presidential candidates - I'll bet lots of candidates don't get good cell coverage at one of their 12 homes.) McCain was a nobody, campaign-wise - how does his being simply a candidate justify AT&T and Verizon giving him a huge illegal bribe? Are AT&T and Verizon stupid?

No, they're very smart in fact. John McCain chaired the committee of jurisdiction, and now is one of the top Republicans, on their issues. So a bribe made a lot of sense, albeit completely criminal sense.

     ...

There's more. Go read John Aravosis's exciting conclusion, about how McCain's senior staffers are former telecom lobbyists. Actually, don't read it while you're eating.

How soon before McCain says, "I am not a crook"?

Steve
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McCain Tonight: Putting On Ayers?

Steve
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Obama's Organization - UPDATED

Steve
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McCain Has Lost It... Again

Steve
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Obama? McCain? BUSH? - UPDATED

Steve
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John Lewis's Statement

Steve
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Now This Should Help McCain's Numbers

Steve
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Panel: Palin Abused Power

Steve
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Possible Dirty Trick - Don't Fall For It!

Steve
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The Sidewalk To Nowhere - UPDATED

Steve
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Friday Serious Business Blogging

Steve
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'A Guy Of The Street'

Steve
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Uncontrollable Rage

Steve
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Palling Around With Secessionists

Steve
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Maverick Limerick -- DOGGEREL!

Steve
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Unbelievable - 'My Fellow Prisoners'

Steve
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The Debate And Other Matters

Steve
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Palin's Domestic Terrorism Connection

Steve
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The Ultimate GOP Weapon

Steve
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Texans: Last Day To Register To Vote

Steve
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Senator McCain, You Must Be Keating

Steve
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The News Writer, Renamed

Steve
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Mispronunciation Renunciation -- DOGGEREL!

Steve
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Palin Around With Terrorists

Steve
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Saturday Signs

Steve
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How Bad Was It?

Steve
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Call Me Irresponsible

Steve
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Friday Remember-When Blogging

Steve
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Snap Polls Favor Biden

Steve
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Pete Olson (R) Could Face Voter Fraud Charges

Steve
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Don't Feed Your Head

Steve
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Sarah Palin, Mighty Hunter

Steve
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October The First Is Too Late

Steve
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