skippy the bush kangaroo

since entering the race, dean has insistently said, "we have to take our country back" from the special interests. the slogan on his bus reads, "you have the power." he has decried the hold that business interests have on the federal government. well, what does he think neel did when he ran the telecom lobby? did neel go up to capitol hill--or send his underlings--to beseech legislators to pass legislation with consumers foremost in mind? did he use his connections with the clinton-gore administration to help out consumer advocates trying to protect the rights of "ordinary americans" as congress and regulatory agencies handled telecom issues? is maple syrup good for your teeth?

neel was part of washington's insider network--which does not look out for the people dean claims he wants to empower. in 1999 and 2000, the usta spent $3.5 million to lobby congress, according to lobbying reports it filed. (the association probably spent more; not all lobbying activity is reported.) to help the telecoms, neel recruited other influence peddlers in town, including the lobbying firm of haley barbour, who then chaired the republican national committee. other barbour clients: british american tobacco, the edison electric institute, glaxo wellcome, lockheed martin, microsoft, philip morris. neel's outfit also retained wallman strategic consulting, which represented general motors and worldcom.

[the heckler] was screaming. he was out of control,” ramsey said.

ramsey said he went over to help calm the situation and also got elbowed and pushed.

“all of a sudden, i looked to my right, and al franken was grabbing onto this man’s back,” ramsey said.

“he (franken) gave him a hefty patriots block. he should be a patriot,” ramsey said.

“i never met al franken before. he is now my new hero,” ramsey said of the former “saturday night live” writer.

ramsey said a news photographer later told him franken reacted to being elbowed by the protester, who knocked his glasses off.

u.s. economic growth slowed to a 4 percent annual rate in the closing three months of 2003, less than half the third-quarter pace as consumers curbed their spending, the commerce department reported on friday…

the fourth-quarter expansion in gross domestic caught markets by surprise because it was well below wall street economists' forecasts for a 4.8 percent rate of increase and far below a sizzling 8.2 percent increase posted in the third quarter when tax-induced spending was strong.

consumer spending, which makes up more than two-thirds of total gdp, rose at a pace of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the commerce department said, compared with a rate of growth of 6.9 percent in the third quarter.

us combat deaths in iraq have risen sharply during january despite a drop in the number of attacks and the capture of former dictator saddam hussein over a month ago.

as of thursday, 33 american soldiers and one civilian had been killed by hostile fire during the month. that compares with 24 us combat deaths
in december, and a total of 32 coalition combat deaths.

the figures appear to show that the security situation in iraq is not improving, contrary to earlier claims from the us military and politicians.

so here's the bottom line: i supported the second gulf war because i thought we were waging it in self-defense. the lack of wmds leads me to believe we had nothing to defend ourselves from -- except fear. i see now that the arguments i made in favor of the war were as empty as the arguments made for and against it by our leaders.

republican party chief ed gillespie previewed the bush campaign's strategy in a speech thursday, calling into question kerry's national security credentials and charging that kerry would weaken the nation's defenses.

just got off the phone with symbolman - he was outside the merrimac restaurant in manchester, nh where cnn is broadcasting, and he said things got a bit testy when bob novak came out of the restaurant, heading for the cnn bus.

apparently, someone from the crowd got on novak's case, calling him a traitor a few times. novak went ballistic - sym decribed it as a 'lee harvey oswald moment' - and went over and shoved the guy, sending him sprawling.

why can bob novak be allowed to physcially push down a citizen (bob carr) in new hampshire because the man thinks novak's part in the plame affair was bad?

how is it that you can call howard dean angry, but you're ready to let something as bad as illegal physical assault pass on one of your reporters?

by the way, tell wolf blitzer (who argued with dennis kucinich) that the us went to war against japan and germany in wwii not because we wanted to change their regime, but because japan attacked us directly, and germany, japan's ally, was at the time invading and occupying other countries. in otherwords, they declared war on this country first.

don't you guys give your anchors some sort of mental health screening before you hire them?

i was just attempting my best impersonation of that announcer guy for the world wrestling federation, asking the cheering crowd if they would like to see a smackdown ("debate") which i called "the generaaal versus the deserterrrr!!"

when the press heard me use that word "deserter," though, the bells and whistles went off, for this was one of those stories they knew they had ignored -- and now it was rearing its ugly, truthful head on a very public stage. without a single other word from me other than the d-word, they immediately got so defensive that it looked to many viewers like they—the press—maybe had something to hide…

instead, they have created the brouhaha over bush's military record, often without telling their audience what the exact charges are. it seems all they want to do is to get clark or me -- or you -- to shut up. "we have never investigated this and so we want you to apologize for bringing it up!" ha ha ha.

what if any of them chose to do what bush did back in the early 70s -- just not show up? i've seen republican defenders of bush this week say, “yeah, but he made up the time later.” so, can today's national guardsmen do the same thing -- just say, when called up to go to iraq, "um, i'm not going to show up, i'll make up the time later!"? can you imagine what would happen? of course, none of them are the son of a congressman, like young lt. bush was back in 1972.

the pace of new home sales in the united states slowed for the second straight month in december, the government said wednesday, missing wall street expectations for a gain.

the commerce department said the pace of new single-family home sales fell 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.06 million units from a revised rate of 1.12 million units in november. economists, on average, expected a pace of 1.1 million units, according to briefing.com.

durable-goods demand remained flat in december, surprising analysts as declines in orders for computers and metals offset an increase in motor vehicles.

orders for longer-lasting manufactured goods were unchanged at $181.4 billion last month, the commerce department said wednesday. orders for november tumbled 2.3%, revised up from a previously estimated 2.5% decrease…

the estimate for december durables was much weaker than expected on wall street. a dow jones-cnbc survey of 22 economists had forecast orders to rise 2.4% for the month.

lieberman, whose campaign was buffeted by rumors that he would drop out, strongly refuted those suggestions tuesday night.

"i'm not dropping out because there's a virtual split decision for third and no one thought that i would have ended up this close to wes clark and john edwards," he told cnn.

over the last four days, something incredible has happened. cbs has received over 340,000 emails and phone calls asking it to stop its censorship. clearly a huge number of us believe that cbs's refusal to run our voter fund ad, while allowing the bush white house to run an advocacy ad of its own, is just plain wrong.

columnists and editorial pages are writing about it. and on monday, fcc commissioner michael copps issued a statement on it. these folks understand that this issue isn't just about our voter fund's ad -- an ad by people for the ethical treatment of animals was censored as well. at heart, it's about free speech. huge companies like cbs that control access to the publicly owned airwaves have to air opposing points of view.

with 16 percent of precincts reporting, kerry was leading dean by 38 percent to 24 percent. sen. john edwards (n.c.) and retired army gen. wesley k. clark were tied at 13 percent, and sen. joseph i. lieberman (conn.) was fifth at 10 percent.

before jack paar, there were various variety shows doing the midnight watch," the critic john j. o'connor wrote in the new york times in 1997. "he simplified the format into a talk show, complete with the sofa-and-desk set that remains a fixture. his secret? interesting guests, far more so than the celebrity hordes working on product plugs today, and an uncanny ability to listen carefully and actually engage in clever and often witty conversation"...

"long before david letterman," [william] grimes continued, "mr. paar had an anarchic streak that inspired him to pair guests like liberace and cassius clay, or jayne mansfield and zsa zsa gabor, or to get in the ring with a professional wrestler, or to shuffle the cue cards in the middle of a robert goulet-judy garland duet"...

mr. paar's couch also became a launching pad for dozens of unknowns who would get national exposure on his show, among them bill cosby, mike nichols and elaine may, carol burnett, woody allen, the smothers brothers and godfrey cambridge. "everyone thinks ed sullivan discovered the beatles," mr. paar once complained. "that's not true. i had them on before he did. i did it because i thought they were funny, not because i liked the music. i'm a muzak kind of guy — my home's like living in an elevator."

combined with the town of hart's location, clark received 14 votes. sen. john kerry was second with eight votes. former vermont gov. howard dean and sen. john edwards each received four votes, and sen. joe lieberman got one vote.

none of the other candidates received any votes.

in the last decade, only in the 1996 republican race did the state follow dixville notch's lead by also voting for bob dole in the primary.

while state senate president david williams is trying to limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases, his wife is suing a lexington ophthalmologist for unspecified damages and claiming that he impaired her vision…

robyn williams, a russell county lawyer who married david williams last july, sued [dr. thomas] abell in taylor circuit court on oct. 25, 2002, claiming that eye surgery he performed on her in taylor county damaged her vision…

williams said yesterday that he has never talked to his wife's lawyer about the lawsuit or read its contents. he also said the suit does not contradict his legislation.

"all lawyers operate under the law that's in effect," he said. "i would think her lawyer would be guilty of malpractice himself if he didn't proceed under the laws that would avail her of any relief to which she is entitled."

david kay, the outgoing chief u.s. weapons inspector in iraq says it is not likely that any large stockpiles of banned weapons will be found in iraq. mr. kay has blamed intelligence failures for what he now says is the mistaken belief that saddam hussein had chemical or biological weapons.

the conclusions from david kay, who resigned last week as the chief u.s. weapons investigator in iraq, raised questions about the quality of u.s. intelligence before the war and whether the bush administration hyped it to justify its case for war against saddam hussein.

"this is another huge blow to the administration's trumped-up case for war in iraq," said massachusetts democratic sen. edward kennedy, who supports john kerry's campaign for the democratic presidential nomination...

democrats want an independent probe to look at what went wrong with u.s. intelligence and whether the bush administration manipulated it to justify an invasion.

george magazine reported in october of 2000:

it's time to set the record straight . . . . bush may have received favorable treatment to get into the guard, served irregularly after the spring of 1972 and got an expedited discharge, but he did accumulate the days of service required of him for his ultimate honorable discharge.

the new york times reported nov. 3, 2000:

but a review of records by the new york times indicated that some of those concerns (about bush?s absence) may be unfounded . . . . a review by the times showed that after a seven-month gap, he appeared for duty in late november 1972 at least through july 1973.

the washington post also reviewed records and concluded:

it is safe to say that bush did very light duty in his last two years in the guard and that his superiors made it easy for him.

...seriously, no false modesty here. as a political blog, his is far and away a better site than my little vanity page here, and this contest has the lefty vote splitting three ways against one righty. so i'm stepping out of the race--if elected, i will not serve--and endorsing kos.

overall, 52 percent of those polled by newsweek say they would not like to see bush serve a second term, compared to 44 percent who want to see him win again in november. as a result, kerry is enjoying a marginal advantage over bush, a first for the poll. forty-nine percent of registered voters chose kerry, compared to 46 percent who re-elected bush. in fact, all democrats are polling better against bush, perhaps due to increased media attention to their primary horserace: clark gets 47 percent of voters’ choice compared to 48 percent from bush; edwards has 46 percent compared to bush’s 49; leiberman wins 45 percent versus bush’s 49 percent; and dean fares the worst with 45 percent of their votes to bush’s 50 percent.

when vietnam veteran kerry, who tried to cut a macho image yesterday by playing in an ice hockey game with some former boston bruins players, was asked about moore's harsh attack, he said it was "over-the-top language."

but in 2000, kerry lashed out: "those of us who were in the military wonder how it is that someone [bush] who is supposedly serving on active duty having taken that oath can miss a whole year of service without even explaining where it went."

asked if kerry still believes that, spokeswoman stephanie cutter replied: "he stands by that statement."

two pilots of a crashed u.s. army helicopter were missing sunday, after they crashed into the tigris river near downtown mosul in northern iraq, a u.s. military source said.

the oh-58 kiowa warrior helicopter was on a search-and-rescue mission for a another u.s. soldier who was reported missing after his patrol boat capsized.

two iraqi police officers and an iraqi translator were killed and three u.s. soldiers were rescued in the boat incident.

military officials said an investigation was under way into the cause of the helicopter crash.

cbs news correspondent allen pizzey says, despite recent claims by u.s. commanders that attacks on coalition forces in iraq are getting less frequent, "the attacks are becoming more frequent and more brutal."

i am soooo excited to see this starting to get some traction on the news and especially here in blogtopia! as i have pointed out last night, and before, the awol issue is good, but not getting a flight physical is better, because all the documentation exists that he disobeyed the orders.

everyone leaves the service with a dd-214. it proves and characterizes a service members time spent in the miilitary. back when prez awol would have gotten one, it might have shown an "honorable" discharge but the seperation program number told a different story. right after the five fools awarded chimpy the election the pentagon website with the spns went dark. how convenient.

their request, outlined in a letter on tuesday to speaker j. dennis hastert and others, reflects discontent and unrest within the intelligence services about the affair, along with concern that a four-month-old justice department investigation into the matter may never identify who was behind the disclosure. the syndicated columnist robert novak, who first identified ms. plame as a c.i.a. officer in a column last july, has identified his sources only as bush administration officials, and the justice department inquiry has not yet produced any public findings.

it is unusual for former intelligence officers to petition congress on a matter like this. the unmasking of ms. plame is viewed within spy circles as an unforgivable breach of secrecy that must be exhaustively investigated and prosecuted, current and former intelligence officials say.

earlier on saturday a bomb exploded in samarra, killing four iraqis and wounding 40 people, including seven u.s. soldiers who were slightly hurt.

lt. george w. bush's october 1, 1973 discharge papers from the texas air national guard reveal that, although under the guard rules he had originally signed up for six years of service obligation, this fighter jet pilot had only "completed 5 years, 4 months, and 5 days toward this obligation.…" signed by his commanding officer major rufus martin, bush's discharge papers also note that at the time of his discharge he was "not available for [his ] signature."

10. "switch to decaf"
8. "marry rachel on final episode of 'friends'"
4. "start working out and speaking with austrian accent"
2. "fire the staffer who suggested we do this lousy top ten list instead of actually campaigning"

prosecutors are believed to be starting with third-party witnesses, people who were not directly involved in the leak of plame's identity. plame's husband, former ambassador joseph wilson, claims that the leak was an act of retaliation against him for undercutting bush's weapons-of-mass-destruction rationale for going to war in iraq. soon enough, witnesses with more direct knowledge will be called to testify, and a decision to subpoena journalists for their testimony will also be made. in december, the fbi asked some administration staffers to sign a waiver releasing reporters from confidentiality agreements in connection with any conversations they had about the wilson affair. novak's attorney, jim hamilton, had no comment about the latest developments.

grand juries aren't always used in criminal probes, but they are the preferred way to go in cases with potential political fallout, if only to lend credibility to the result...

a huge unanswered question in this case is whether the leaker or leakers knew that plame was undercover when they gave her identity away. that is a necessary element for any indictment for leaking the name of a covert agent. however, charges could also be brought for making false statements to the fbi, if a guilty party has falsely claimed innocence in interviews with government agents.

keeshan's "captain kangaroo" premiered on cbs in 1955 and ran for 30 years before moving to public television for six more. it was wildly popular among children and won six emmy awards, three gabriels and three peabody awards.

the format was simple: each day, captain kangaroo, with his sugar-bowl haircut and uniform coat, would wander through his treasure house, chatting with his good friend mr. green jeans, played by hugh "lumpy" brannum.

metro-goldwyn-mayer made the greatest movie musicals of the period, and that is where, starting in the late 1940s, ms. miller had her most memorable roles. in flashy specialty numbers with choreography by stanley donen, busby berkeley and hermes pan, ms. miller paired with fred astaire, gene kelly and other dance legends.

when cyd charisse tore a tendon, ms. miller replaced her in "easter parade" (1948). she played a broadway hoofer who leaves astaire when she has a shot at stardom and then tries to win him back. she danced a memorable solo version of "shakin' the blues away," one of the many irving berlin songs in the film.

that was followed by "on the town" (1949), in which she portrayed an anthropology student who does a startling native dance in a museum.

in two other well-regarded musicals, she did knockout novelty numbers: in "kiss me kate" (1953), she sings "too darn hot" as she taps around a living room; in "small town girl" (1953), she dances the tap sequence "i gotta hear that beat" while whirling around musical instruments peaking out from the surface of the stage.

take note that the fingerprints of karen hughes -- originally banished to texas for good reason but now back like a bad penny -- were all over this speech, fingerprints that give the lie to the rumors that she is bright. hughes made an unusual appearance last night on the pbs news hour and, despite her high-cheekboned, a-little-too-healthy good looks, sounded more like a sixth grade teacher than the mood-maker she is touted to be.

yet it was clear that she had the last word, trumping even karl rove, the president's trusted propaganda minister.

as a direct result, the speech stunk like a texas cow pie.

hughes must have come up with the expression ""weapons-of-mass-destruction-related program activities."

what the hell is that supposed to mean? the inanity of a statement alone is the ultimate in wood-worminess, the acme of abuse, maltreatment of the american people's trust and patience -- not to mention wholesale rape of the english language.

and these people who run our nation truly believe they can get away with this?

it boggles the mind -- the entire body, for that matter.

if cbs is to be consistent, then they must also adhere to this policy when it comes to the [office of national drug control policy’s] ads. marijuana decriminalization currently enjoys 72% support among the american public, according to the latest cnn/time polling data. clearly this is a "controversial issue of public importance" that divides american public opinion, and any public service announcement on the subject that promotes only one side of this issue must be considered an issue ad.

clearly cbs only applies this standard to issue ads that they disagree with. for example, the network accepted a super bowl ad that discourages tobacco smoking and one from the american legacy foundation encouraging "lifestyle choices" for teenagers, in addition to the ondcp anti-marijuana ads.

cbs television network
51 w. 52nd st.
new york, ny 10019
(212) 975-4321

cbs news
555 w. 57th st.
new york, ny 10019
(212) 975-4114

and while it’s very difficult to determine exactly what iowa turned on, since so much was happening all at once, it seems that dean allowed a thin skin to show at exactly the wrong time.

in fact, that’s what dean’s team seems to think, according to today’s usa today:

…dean was thrown off balance by a barrage of criticism in debates and tv ads from other campaigns.

aides say the low point came nine days ago, when dean lost his temper with an elderly man who praised bush at length at a town-hall meeting.

"you sit down," dean barked, a moment that was aired on local tv. "you had your say, and now i'm going to have my say."

lo would add that soon after that, dean said, “i'm going after everybody because i'm tired of being the pin cushion here.”

"last month the goal of this administration was to create 250,000 jobs. they created 1,000 jobs -- 249,000 short," kerry said. "a lot of people have even left the market and aren't measured anymore as the unemployed because they're not trying to find jobs. i don't think the president laid the agenda that gets america moving again tonight."

"hardworking americans will see through this president's effort to wrap his radical agenda with a compassionate ribbon," former vermont gov. howard dean, the third-place finisher in the iowa caucuses, told the associated press.

it's all smoke and mirrors designed to hide the stark fact that he has no real plan for our future," retired gen. wesley clark, also in the democratic presidential race, told ap.

please tell ten friends to tell ten today! the animal rescue site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. it takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "feed an animal in need" for free. this doesn't cost you a thing. their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising. here's the web site! pass it along to people you know.

so we have agreed to airport searches, and, soon, to government-issued travel documents. we have agreed to let our federal law-enforcement agents scour the world for would-be terrorists and bring them to the guantánamo u.s. naval base, our foothold on cuba, for indefinite "investigation."

we have agreed to secret trials and even to no trials for people mr. bush decides are "enemy combatants."

we are now, like nazi germany before us, like the old soviet union, like iran in the days of our good buddy, the shah, content to have people "disappear," as long as they have arabic-sounding names.

torture has become an acceptable tool of interrogation for us. when we use it ourselves, it's usually "mere" mental torture, primarily sleep deprivation. if we feel more intensely physical methods are called for, we farm out our interrogations to governments less squeamish than ours.

so, while we're protecting american lives, we are destroying american values.

first you get down on your knees,
fiddle with your rosaries,
bow your head with great respect,
and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

do whatever steps you want if
you have cleared them with the pontiff.
everybody say his own
kyrie eleison,
doin' the vatican rag….

make a cross on your abdomen,
when in rome do like a roman;
ave maria,
gee, it's good to see ya.
gettin' ecstatic an' sorta dramatic an'
doin' the vatican rag!

mrs. mariani was the first victim family member to bring civil action regarding the events of 911 against united airlines. since then, the “truth” of 911 has not been forthcoming and mrs. mariani, for the good of her country, now seeks the truth via this courageous action under the rico act.

berg said: “the events surrounding "911" to date have yet to be uncovered.

while america was under attack, for approximately the next seven (7) to eighteen (18) minutes defendant gwb continues to listen to the goat story while plaintiff's husband was just murdered and does not immediately assume his duties as commander-in-chief of the united states armed forces.

plaintiff, with her amended complaint intends to expose the truth to remember the dead and to prevent continued deaths of american military personnel due to president bush's "failure to act and prevent" the worst attacks on our nation since pearl harbor.

plaintiff hereby asserts defendants, officially and individually are exclusively liable to answer the counts in this complaint under the united states constitution and provisions of the 18 u.s.c. § 1964(a) and (c), racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act (hereinafter "rico act") for "failing to act and prevent" the murder of plaintiff's husband, louis neil mariani, for financial and political reasons and have "obstructed justice" in the aftermath of said criminal acts and omissions.

this website serves as notice to christians across this nation that president george bush over the past few years has compromised his "christian faith" by promoting evil and openly supporting wickedness. it is our hope and prayer that he would repent and turn from such blatant sin. he is not our friend and cannot be trusted.

this website is dedicated to providing up-to-date factual news information tracking the president's anti-christian and ungodly behavior. we encourage you to pray for mr. bush."

a democratic rally at drake's olmstead center, urged young iowans to get out and vote. it was targeted toward high school and college students.
a group known for not voting. the rally featured comedian janene garafalo and classic rock star joan jett, but it got a surprise visit from some unwanted guests.

a group of college republicans at their midwest caucus leadership conference heard about the rally and stormed in?

what they didn't discuss is what to do if things get out of hand. one of the bush supporters shoved jett and she pushed back in anger. ole said that was the decision of one person, and not at all representative of what the conference was trying to do.

a massive suicide truck bomb blew up at the main gate to the united states-led occupying force headquarters here, killing at least 20 people and wounding 65 as iraqis lined up for work inside the compound, officials said.

at least two americans working for the us defence department were among the dead, a us military spokesperson said after the heaviest attack in baghdad in months caused devastation at the checkpoint known as assassin's gate.

about 15 iraqis have been killed and others wounded after a car bomb blew up outside the gates of the u.s. military and civilian headquarters in baghdad.

"initial reports say an estimated 15 iraqis were killed in the blast," a u.s. military spokeswoman told reuters. an official at the u.s.-led administration put the toll at 15 dead and 25 wounded.

he was known to condemn homosexuality -- and even used a bullhorn to preach to passers-by at colleges.

now, a philadelphia pastor has been convicted of trying to solicit sex from a 14-year-old boy. a jury in west chester convicted the rev. craig white wednesday…

the boy said white also asked about strip clubs and adult book or video stores -- and later came back and offered him $20 for sex. white denied making any sexual proposition, but said he did ask directions to a video store because he wanted to buy the movie "shrek" for his children.

a powerful bomb exploded under a u.s. armored vehicle in the cane fields north of baghdad on saturday, killing three american soldiers and pushing the u.s. death toll in the iraq conflict to 500...

the military also said a u.s. soldier died from a non-hostile gunshot wound south of baghdad. the incident occurred friday evening near diwaniyah, the command said in a statement. no further details were released

the deaths raised to 500 the number of american service members who have died since the u.s.-led invasion of iraq started march 20. of those, 346 died as a result of hostile action and 154 of non-hostile causes, according to defense department figures.

most of the deaths have occurred since president bush declared an end to major fighting on may 1. the death toll from the gulf war, when an american-led coalition drove saddam hussein's invaders from kuwait in 1991, was 315.

in afghanistan, 100 americans have been killed, less than a third of them from hostile fire.

a decidedly unhappy crowd of more than 1000 atlantans jeered, booed and chanted their disgust during george bush's photo-op stop at martin luther king's tomb. on his way to a $2000 a plate fundraiser, bush's ss tried in vain to thoroughly clear the angry crowd from within earshot of the hypocritical bush and his minions.

although orginally scheduled to be forced behind the buildings across the street from king's tomb, protesters defied efforts to move them from across the street and remained less than 200 yards from the open air tomb.

two protesters refused to clear the street, and were carried away and arrested by police.

in reponse to the crowd's refusal to move, and after police tape was cut and street barricades were looking fragile, police parked several buses along the street to cordon off the protesters

though caucus polls are notoriously unreliable, advisers to several campaigns said a new zogby tracking poll that indicated kerry was slightly ahead of dean in iowa matched other signs that the former vermont governor is losing his aura of invincibility. the poll data put kerry at 22 percent here, with dean and representative richard a. gephardt tied for second place at 21 percent. edwards is a close fourth, at 17 percent, and appears to be gaining ground as many undecided democrats begin to make up their minds. the poll's margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. a separate survey indicated kerry one point behind dean and three points ahead of gephardt and edwards, further proof the race is locked in a four-way tie. with four days left before iowans vote, political advertisements clogged the airways and candidates fought for any advantage, however small.

the nightmare is this: that the democratic nomination, the only one under contest this time around, is effectively over and done with by the end of january or the early part of february.

for the succeeding six months, until the democratic convention in boston in late july, there is no compelling political story, meaning no front-page bylines, no lead pieces on the evening news, no roundtable discussions on "larry king live," no daily adrenaline fix out on the campaign trail…

…it would be the equivalent of jimmy carter canceling the united states' participation in the 1980 moscow olympics — a giant downer.

so it was no surprise that the same week dean's democratic foes ganged up on him in an iowa debate, all three main newsmagazines featured highly critical cover stories on him — acknowledging his status as clear frontrunner but eagerly pointing out his flaws and weaknesses.

or that the country's leading newspapers and television networks have been running uncritical features plumping up the character, nobility and prospects of other candidates in the field.

or that reporters in the field, and their enablers in places like the abc news online outlet the note, promote the buzz that john kerry is on the move in iowa, wesley clark is gaining traction in south carolina, joe lieberman's focus on new hampshire is showing promising signs and so on.

truthfully, the stories that are being written today don't mean all that much in terms of votes.

blamestorming: sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who can we blame for the goof.

seagull manager: a manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

assmosis: the process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.

salmon day: the experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream, only to get screwed and die in the end.

cube farm: is an office filled with, one size fits all, cubicles.

prairie dogging: when someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.

mouse potato: the on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato

sitcoms: single income, two children, oppressive mortgage. it is what yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.

stress puppy: is a person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiney.

swipeout: is an atm or credit card that has been rendered useless because the magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.

xerox subsidy: euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.

irritainment: are entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. reality tv shows are a prime example.

percussive maintenance: the fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

adminisphere: the rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.

404: someone who's clueless. from the world wide web error message "404 not found," meaning the requested document could not be located.

generica: features of the american landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, subdivisions, etc.

ohnosecond: that minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a big mistake.

woofys: well off older folks.

crop dusting: surreptitiously farting while passing thru a cube farm, and enjoying the sounds of dismay and disgust.

polls in the state suggest all four are competing for the lead within the margins of error. a research 2000 poll released thursday showed dean at 22 percent, kerry at 21 percent, gephardt at 18 percent and edwards at 18 percent. the undecided vote was at 13 percent and other candidates were in single digits.

"any one of those four could win," said pollster del ali of research 2000, who conducted the poll for kcci-tv of des moines. "the biggest surge without question is edwards. both kerry and edwards have momentum."

10. dick cheney needs a new undisclosed location

9. it's part of his "No planet left behind" initiative

7. maybe we'll find some weapons of mass destruction there

4. we cannot back down until the people of mars hold free elections

2. why not? it's not like we have an enormous debt or failing economy

3. dude, free mars bars!

"the bush game plan is to have pictures of some u.s. troops leaving and the iraqis opening their own government, the u.s. having presided over the birth of this new embryonic democracy," observes former clinton white house adviser sidney blumenthal. the problem is, there will be no iraqi democracy. there might not even be a viable iraqi government. instead, baghdad will become beirut: iraq's three major religious and ethnic groups, the sunnis, the shiites, and the kurds, will consolidate their respective positions in the center, south, and north of the country, recruit their militias, and get down to fighting for control of the power vacuum that is the post-war "peace."

once again, as so often in these last few months, an analogy is vietnam. and, as so often in the last three years, the analogous president is nixon

beating drums and chanting, “in 2004, bush no more,” about 300 people marched in circles near the tomb, saying the president’s stop there was merely a “photo op.” some protesters held signs that displayed king’s image and read, “war is not the answer.”

“when i heard bush was coming here i couldn’t believe it. i was outraged and disgusted, and i just think it’s a photo op. it’s so transparent,” said kathy nicholas, a flight attendant from atlanta.

bush’s visit to observe king’s birthday upset some civil rights activists who said the president’s policies on iraq, affirmative action and funding for social services conflict with king’s legacy. they also complained that the scheduling conflicted with their own plans to honor king.

there is an 18 year old african american honor student -- marcus dixon -- in rome, georgia who is spending ten years in prison for having consensual sex with a white classmate who was just three months shy of 16 yrs old at the time they had sex. although a jury acquitted marcus of rape and three other counts of violent acts, the prosecutor also charged him with "aggravated child molestation." consensual sex with a virgin fits into the technical reading of this georgia statute. the statute has never been applied to consensual sex between two teenagers with less than three years age difference, until now. i believe the result is a horrible injustice, especially because marcus overcame a troubled childhood to excel in academics and athletics.

former illinois senator carol moseley braun plans to drop out of the democratic presidential race today and endorse howard dean, sources close to the dean campaign said wednesday.

dean and braun are scheduled to appear together in carroll, iowa, where dean is campaigning for monday's iowa caucuses, which begin the nomination season. braun will campaign for dean three to four days a week, starting saturday in south carolina.

the high-profile endorsement comes as the race here is tightening and dean, a former vermont governor, appears to be losing some ground in tracking polls.

u.s. soldiers in iraq are killing themselves at an unusually high rate, despite the work of special teams sent to help troops deal with combat stress, the pentagon's top doctor said wednesday…

winkenwerder said the military has documented 21 suicides during 2003 among troops involved in the iraq war. eighteen of those were army soldiers, he said.

that's a suicide rate for soldiers in iraq of about 13.5 per 100,000, [assistant secretary of defense for health affairs dr. william] winkenwerder said. in 2002, the army reported an overall suicide rate of 11.1 per 100,000.

the overall suicide rate nationwide during 2001 was 10.7 per 100,000, according to the federal centers for disease control and prevention.
by contrast, only two u.s. military personnel killed themselves during the 1991 persian gulf war, although that conflict only lasted about a month. the army recorded 102 suicides during 1991 for a rate of about 13.5 per 100,000.

from the time he arrived to the time he left, vice president dick cheney was surrounded by security -- private and public.

just 75 people, who paid at least $1,000 each, heard the vice president's message…

fewer than 100 gathered to protest cheney's visit, some brought out by the news of the day…

but take a look at the number of police officers. swarms of men and women in uniform, some in full riot gear, were patrolling the grounds inside and out.

"we attempt to try to minimize as much a cost to the taxpayers by assigning and scheduling people to work the shifts that would be most conducive to this event," portland police bureau cmdr. bret smith explained...

still, to manage the people involved in this event, the city and taxpayers will have to pay. exactly how much? it will take longer to determine that than it did for dick cheney to leave it all behind.

since june, cheney has spoken at 59 campaign or fund-raising stops. that's 76 percent of all his appearances outside the white house.

"this is almost an invisible man. we almost never see dick cheney, and when we do see him, apparently it's at a fund-raiser. that's unusual," chuck lewis of center public integrity said.

"it was al gore in primary debates who was the first person to bring up the issue of willie horton, that released criminal..."

in one of 45 dem debates that year, candidate gore challenged candidate dukakis to defend a massachusetts furlough program under which convicts serving life sentences without hope of parole were released on weekend passes. in particular, gore noted that two furloughed prisoners had committed new murders while on weekend leave. (willie horton was not one of these convicts.) the program was almost impossible to defend. but gore only mentioned the program once, and he never mentioned any prisoner's name; never mentioned any prisoners race; never ran any tv ads on the topic; and never used any visuals. more specifically, he never named willie horton, or mentioned his specific crime (horton committed a brutal rape while on leave).

in a brief order released without published dissent, the court turned down a petition by the center for national security studies, the american civil liberties union and several media organizations that had argued that the bush administration's refusal to release the information violated the freedom of information act and the constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press.

although it sets no precedent, the court's decision is a significant victory for the bush administration, which has argued that fighting an

unconventional war against terrorists requires the executive branch to assert broad new authority to arrest and detain suspected members of al qaeda -- and to withhold much information about how it wields that authority so that terrorist organizations do not learn too much about the government's strategy and tactics.

the decision let stand a 2-1 ruling last year by a three-judge panel of the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia, which found ''reasonable'' the administration's claim that terrorist networks could reap advantage from any disclosure of information about the detainees, even their names.

a u.s. army apache attack helicopter was shot down tuesday morning near the western town of habbaniyah — the third helicopter downed in the region in less than two weeks.

the two crew members of the ah-64 gunship were safe, and the u.s. military has secured the area, said military spokesman col. william darley.

"it was apparently downed by enemy fire," darley said. "i understand they were not hurt."

the helicopter belongs to the u.s. army's 3rd armored cavalry regiment, which operates the air base north of the town of habbaniyah, near where the incident occurred. a u.s. military quick reaction force rescued the crew members.

“child’s pay,” by charlie fisher, 38, of denver features young children working in difficult service and manufacturing jobs – washing dishes, hauling trash, repairing tires, cleaning offices, assembly-line processing and grocery checking – followed by the line: “guess who’s going to pay off president bush’s $1 trillion deficit?”

the overall winner is an advertising executive who was a registered republican until the end of the first bush administration, in 1992. he is currently on assignment in denmark and flew in to attend the awards ceremony with his camera man, p. dreyer. the ad he produced will run nationwide january 17-21 sponsored by moveon.org voter fund, coinciding with the president’s state of the union address on january 20.

british soldiers and iraqi police clashed with armed, stone-throwing protesters in southeastern iraq, killing six people. us officials acknowledged american soldiers mistakenly killed two iraqi policemen after they failed to identify themselves to a patrol…

the trouble in amarah, 320 kilometres southeast of baghdad, started when hundreds of iraqis, angry over the lack of jobs in town, gathered in front of the office of the us-led coalition to demand work.

as the protesters grew agitated, shots rang out from the crowd, a british military spokeswoman said. at the same time, she said troops "received reports of small explosions in the crowd"…

six people were killed and at least 11 wounded, according to dr saad hamoud of the al-zahrawi surgical hospital. the british said they had reports of five deaths and one injury. there were no casualties among police or soldiers.

support the 9-11 truth movement itself, led by the victims' families' efforts to obtain full government accountability for the unprecedented intelligence and air defense failures that took place before and during the attacks. what you will find on this site are information and tools designed to help build this movement.

"america is at war," the u.s. attorney reiterated. "if you aided a terrorist in escaping, you can be charged with aiding our enemies."

i suddenly felt very tired. i spread my hands on the table and studied my fingers while the silence grew.

"well," the u.s. attorney prodded.

"it's not well," i said. "none of it is well. we're not at war, for one thing. only congress can declare war, which they haven't done -- unless it happened while we've been sitting here."

"you know damn well what he means," derek said. "do you think it's a joke, what happened in new york, what our troops are doing in afghanistan or the persian gulf?"

i looked up at him. "i think this is the most serious thing that has happened in my lifetime. not just the trade center, but the fear we've unleashed on ourselves since, so we can say that the bill of rights doesn't matter any more. my lover is in afghanistan. i don't know if he's dead or alive, i haven't heard from him in almost a week. if he's dead, my heart will break, but if the bill of rights is dead my life, my faith in america, will break. if i had found a terrorist in the larchmont mansion, i would have done my best to deliver him to you, derek -- and hoped you'd pay more attention to me than your colleagues in minnesota or arizona did to similar warnings. but i didn't see any signs of a violent criminal. did you? ...

iowa sen. tom harkin endorsed howard dean for president on friday, calling him the "kind of plain-spoken democrat we need" and giving a key boost to the embattled front-runner 10 days before the state's kick-off caucuses.

harkin disclosed his decision in an interview with the associated press. a formal afternoon announcement was scheduled at dean's iowa headquarters.

harkin's support will give dean the backing of the state's most durable democratic politician, a four-term senator whose organization can prove a vital asset on caucus night jan 19.

the 0.2 percentage point drop in the jobless rate occurred because fewer people were looking for work, the labor department said friday. more than 300,000 people gave up their search for jobs and dropped out of the pool of available workers.

"the rate is going down, but it is going down for the wrong reasons," said bill cheney, chief economist at john hancock financial services, noting that it fell not because people were finding work. "that doesn't make you feel really good about the state of the jobs market."

employment in the nation's stores, malls and even gas stations dropped by 38,000, the report said, and manufacturing continued a 41-month slide by losing 26,000 jobs.

the nation's factories have been on life support, and the sector shed about a half million jobs in 2003

"we were expecting to celebrate new year's and instead got slapped with a pink slip," said bill cheney, chief economist at john hancock financial services.

though it seems inconsistent for the unemployment rate to fall despite virtually no job growth in december, the two numbers are generated by separate surveys. the payroll number comes from a much broader survey of businesses, while the unemployment rate comes from a survey of households.

in recent months, the household survey has been much stronger than the business survey -- a sign, some economists think, that small businesses and start-ups are hiring -- numbers not reflected in the payroll survey. but the household survey showed a loss of 54,000 jobs last month.

during december the moveon.org voter fund invited members of the public to submit ads that purported to tell the truth about the president and his policies. more than 1,500 submissions from ordinary americans came in and were posted on a web site, bushin30seconds.org, for the public to review.

none of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by moveon.org voter fund. they will not appear on tv. we do not support the sentiment expressed in the two hitler submissions. they were voted down by our members and the public, who reviewed the ads and submitted nearly 3 million critiques in the process of choosing the 15 finalist entries.

we agree that the two ads in question were in poor taste and deeply regret that they slipped through our screening process. in the future, if we publish or broadcast raw material, we will create a more effective filtering system.

contrast this with the behavior of the rnc and its allies when supporters of president bush used tv ads morphing the face of sen. max cleland (d-ga) into that of osama bin laden during the 2002 senate race.

why should people who show that they are willing to work, and who have a job, be sent back to a country where they don't? is this about who they are rather than what they do? tell me how the anti-immigration arguments differ from those of the know nothings, or the klan in the 1890's? immigrants speak a different language. they live in the same neighborhoods. they celebrate different holidays, eat different foods, smell different, act different. for 150 years it's been : no irish need apply. no chinks. no wops. no polacks. and every single time the ethnic group most hated and reviled and looked down upon has assimilated. it takes generations, and we have to have that view of history and of our nation.

the nativists raise the issue of terrorism. since 9/11, all the attacks on american soil that are termed terrorism were conducted by american citizens or legal immigrants (though johnny malvo was illegal, his mentor was not). the el al shooting guy was legal. the alf / elf folks are all citizens, so far as we know. the fbi believes the anthrax attacks were domestic. the texas folks just convicted of wmd type charges were citizens. i'm stating fact, and suggesting that a chain of facts may prove a theory. my theory is that we should first be looking for acts that have actually happened repeatedly before looking for acts that might or could happen.

pakistan, a u.s. “friend,” may be the most dangerous country on the planet. it is believed to have between 24 and 48 nuclear weapons -- as opposed to north korea’s estimated handful -- that could easily fall into the hands of radical islamists if the unstable government of pervez musharraf falls. the two recent assassination attempts against him -- perhaps with the support of elements of the pakistani military -- make this a real possibility. although kim jong il of north korea, is quirky and unpredictable, he is unlikely to pass such weapons on to terrorists that can’t be deterred--the biggest threat facing the united states. north korea has not been actively sponsoring terrorist attacks since the 1980s. the same cannot be said of pakistani radicals, who are more likely to pass nuclear weapons on to radical islamic terror groups, such as al qaeda.

a us air force c-5 cargo plane carrying 63 passengers and crew members apparently hit by a surface-to-air missile today as it took off from baghdad international airport managed to land safely, a senior us defence official said.

"it looks like its number four engine was hit by a surface-to-air missile, but it was able to turn around, come back and land," the official said.

my presentation ... made it clear that we had seen some links and connections to terrorists organizations over time," powell said. "i have not seen smoking gun, concrete evidence about the connection, but i do believe the connections existed."

three experts at the carnegie endowment for international peace said in a report thursday that the bush administration systematically misrepresented a weapons threat from iraq, and u.s. strategy should be revised to eliminate the policy of unilateral preventive war.

"it is unlikely that iraq could have destroyed, hidden or sent out of the country the hundreds of tons of chemical and biological weapons, dozens of scud missiles and facilities engaged in the ongoing production of chemical and biological weapons that officials claimed were present without the united states detecting some sign of this activity," said the report by jessica t. mathews, joseph cirincione and george perkovich.

under clark's plan, which he called the most sweeping tax reform proposal offered in years, families of four earning less than $50,000 wouldn't file a federal income tax return, nor would single parents making $30,000 or less a year. other families would pay less in taxes, and child tax benefits would be expanded, clark said.

howard dean's advisers said wednesday they are discussing a plan to reduce the tax burden on the middle class, a shift in the democratic presidential candidate's economic vision that has focused on repealing all of president bush's tax cuts...

dean wants to repeal bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to help balance the budget, pay for spending programs such as health care and education, and make the tax system fairer. dean spokesman doug thornell said the campaign is discussing a new proposal to do that.

"as i have consistently said since november 2002, i will propose additional tax reforms that will make the tax code fairer for working families and that will ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share," [dean] said.

six mortar rounds impacted about 6:45 p.m. at logistical base seitz, the military said in a statement. the wounded soldiers were from the 3rd corps support command.

"the wounded soldiers were given first-aid and have been evacuated from the site for further medical treatment," the statement said.

in washington, pentagon spokesman lt. col. james cassella said some of the wounded soldiers returned to duty shortly after the attack, while others were hospitalized. he said he did not have figures on how many troops were lightly injured and how many were seriously wounded.

u.s. magistrate bristow marchant acknowledged bursey was not a threat to bush during the president’s oct. 24, 2002, visit to columbia. but the judge dismissed bursey’s free speech defense and ruled the protester had no right to be as close to bush as bursey wanted in his efforts to show that some south carolinians opposed his plan to attack iraq.

mr. bradley joins his opponent in the 2000 presidential race, former vice president al gore, bringing together two prominent democrats who had once been bitter rivals. dr. dean upended his iowa campaign schedule for an overnight visit to new hampshire, where he will appear with mr. bradley in manchester before the two men fly together to des moines for a repeat of the announcement at noontime.

two iraqis were killed and a jordanian was wounded saturday when their car exploded in the northern city of mosul, police said sunday.

an iraqi bystander was shot dead during a firefight saturday between us forces and insurgents in the small town of hantush, 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of kirkuk, police colonel mohammed abdullah said.

iraqi police claimed a us convoy opened fire on a car in northern iraq, killing four people, including a woman and a nine-year-old child, while one us soldier died in a mortar strike and two more in a roadside bombing.

companies are expected to step up hiring in 2004 after a year in which household spending boosted the economy more than business investment, according to a group of economists surveyed by the wall street journal.

the 54 economists surveyed for the journal's 2004 economic-forecast report said they thought the unemployment rate could fall to 5.5 percent by november.

hiring fueled by increasing corporate profits and economic growth could lead to as many as 1.5 million new jobs, the journal said.

most of the signs of a solid u.s. economic revival seem to be falling into place entering 2004, but federal reserve governor mark olson warns it is too soon yet to pop any champagne corks.

in an interview with reuters this week, olson noted that corporate america appears reluctant to join the party by boosting investment, something the fed considers vital to maintaining spending momentum, carried almost wholly by consumers since the 2001 recession…

the economy has crawled back to a relatively healthy state after a weak recovery from the mild 2001 recession, though it is not vigorous enough to make a dent in the two million jobs lost since the start of 2001.

recruiters caution that hiring efforts are in their infancy, with most new jobs being temporary positions. and they concede that the fear of technology jobs continuing to be outsourced to countries overseas is real.

the new england division: made up of two teams -- the vermont deaniacs led by howard dean, and the boston brahmins, starring sen. john kerry of massachusetts -- this division has produced the biggest surprise.

when the season began, the experts made the brahmins the favorites, not just for the division but for the whole conference, and dismissed the deaniacs as a bunch of bush leaguers who couldn't make the playoffs. but the brahmins have fumbled and stumbled while the hard-charging, trash-talking, fast-breaking, in-your-face deaniacs have the best record and head into the playoffs as the favorites.

the attack on the two-person oh-58 kiowa from the army's 82nd airborne division was the third time in two months that enemy fire downed a u.s. helicopter in the area. military officials said they aren't certain what weapons were used in the latest attack.

kassim abbas, who runs a propane station just outside of fallujah, 35 miles west of baghdad, said he saw a missile launch from a grove of palm trees. it slammed into the helicopter, he said, splitting it into three pieces. a piece of debris landed in a field he owns.

the helicopter was hovering low at about noon as troops on the ground cleared a mine from the road, abbas said. the kiowa, joined by a second helicopter, was circling the area, apparently to provide security for the soldiers below.

iraqi insurgents said to be posing as journalists have fired assault weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at american paratroopers.

u.s. military officials say the american troops were guarding a burning u.s. helicopter that had been shot down near fallujah.

there are no casualties reported in the ground attack, but one soldier died in the copter crash.

american soldiers on friday detained three iraqis working for reuters as they covered the aftermath of a u.s. helicopter crash near the volatile town of falluja.

a reuters driver who was working with the three said they had earlier been fired on by u.s. troops as they filmed a checkpoint close to the site where a kiowa observation helicopter was shot down by guerrillas…

"we were fired on and we drove away at high speed," driver alaa noury said. he said reuters cameraman salem uraiby had been filming the checkpoint using a camera on a tripod, and had been wearing a flak jacket clearly marked with the word "press".