Bayosphere

Come On Dan admit it.

Kerry shellacked Bush.

I still wich Wesley Clark was running. 🙁

I think Kerry came off well, but his own differing positions on Iraq are really troubling. A month or two ago he said he would have gone into Iraq knowing that they had no WMD. Then a few days ago Diane Sawyer interviewed him and he had another position (would not have gone.) In this same interview, he also said, “it depends on the outcome.” What a screwball!

It may seem funny to watch him switch positions on TV, but even if you disagree with Bush, you know where he stands.

In the debate, Kerry also used the term “global test” for when to use force. This is very dangerous. Why would we want someone as President who would give veto power to others for our security? (For those who say he doesn’t mean “veto power”, then what does he mean?) In any situation as serious as war-like actions, we should not defer one iota of our decision process to others. As soon as we give an inch, they’ll take a mile. Kerry may think this will make the world safer somehow, but of course it will have the opposite effect.

Heh, it was like the superbowl–one boob exposed.

Al, on your flip-flopper meme–it struck me just how weak an attack it is. It’s a McAttack, what you accuse a politician of when you’ve got nothing else. Can’t you find something substantive (and real) to go after Kerry with?

To: Proud Conservative
Fm: Delta 1 team command

Dear PC

Good news.
It was just a low battery condition in our leader’s implant.

The coin toss giving first closing statement to K gave us time to recharge the leader’s head implant.

Here’s some of the telemetry play back:

Leader: It’s eh Hard Work, hard work
oo( My head is hurting )ooo
Wrong time,
Wrong place,
oo( Wrong podium height) ooo
Wrong war,
What kinda leadership is that?
oo( I’m slouching, He’s standing tall) ooo
You can’t do that and be a leader !!
oo( Higher Father, why is thy voice so much like Uncle Dick’s?) ooo
oo( Gotta repeat mantra: Mixed Messages. Miixed Messages. I’m mixed up.) ooooo

[Note: See. Critical thinking was kicking in here as the batteries on the Manchurian implant ran low. But look what happened after we recharged during K’s long close:]

I BELIEVE ………. !!!
I BELIEVE ………. !!!
I BELIEVE ………. !!!

I have climbed that tall mountain
I see the valley below

[Next time we won’t strain the leader’s implant with long duration debates. New rule book will limit it to 60 minutes not 90]

Keep the faith

/s/ Delta 1 command

“In the debate, Kerry also used the term ‘global test’ for when to use force. This is very dangerous. Why would we want someone as President who would give veto power to others for our security? (For those who say he doesn’t mean ‘veto power’, then what does he mean?)”

You’re either being paid to spin or you didn’t listen. Kerry specifically said that NO country will have ANY type of veto power over our right to take pre-emptive action. And he clearly indicated what he meant by “global test”: We live in a global society, and you don’t just invade a country on a whim (say, like Iraq did to Kuwait) if you want the invasion — and especially the period after the invasion — to be successful. You need to be able to justify that decision to the rest of the world and get them on board. If the country is clearly a threat, that won’t be difficult.

Republican spinners know this but after last night’s performance, they’re feeling a bit desperate, so they’re trying to take Kerry’s comments out of context (there’s a surprise) and frame them as “giving UN veto power over the U.S.”

Foreign policy is not a black/white issue and, contrary to Bush/Cheney, it involves diplomacy. We need someone in office who understands this.

Seeing how I am from outside the US, I prefer someone understands diplomacy.

The subtlety of the process would help introduce reality in place of jingoism.

Besides, you’re the biggest debtor in the world. If others started using diplomacy against you, they could put real pressure on.

Not only was Kerry “diplomatic”,
he was “dignified.”
He refused to lower himself into the character assasination cesspool where the SwiftButt Vets swim.

When was the last time America had a dignified and diplomatic president who can interact on an intellectual basis with other leaders of the world?

The awe and shucks (awe & shock) approach to dealing with international disputes is the wrong way to go in this era of increased nuclear proliferation. Bush is a collosal flop on this issue and Kerry is our chance to flip
ourselves around and join the civilized, thinking part of the international community. Right now, we are no better than any other country where the rulers use a scapegoat or scare tactic to explain away their failed economy. The polar caps are melting. Oil is peaking. And jobs are draining into the slave camp enclaves. We desparately need someone with brains, rather than one with clueless brawn and the swagger of a Cowboy grin on his face.

Regretfully, Nader is right. Kerry is probably only slightly less horrible than Bush. But maybe if elected, he will surprise us and set our corrupt society back on the right course.

Kerry is a good closer and is clearly superior to the walking disaster area that is shrub. Also the handover will give us the precious time we need to finish off the pentagon.
Hang on enslaved peoples of turtle island – help is on the way.

Great Debate. The pouting, scowling buffoon finally got to hear what many Americans think of him.

Me and the wife have a new thing now. Whenever anyone of us forgets something the other one says “don’t forget poland” 🙂

Peter G: calling Kerry on his flip-flops on Iraq isn’t a weak argument at all. The fact is we really don’t know where he stands on it. Why bother have the debates if the words are meaningless?? He may have scored points with his base, but what does it say about his character? This isn’t a matter of changing his mind because of new information, it’s a matter of defining his principles. He runs around telling his stand and then saying his position has always been consistent. Sorry, it insults people’s intelligence.
——–

MD: On this “global test”, if you re-read his words, you’ll see that he said it both ways. He said “The president always has the right, and always has had the right, for preemptive strike.”
Then he adds: “BUT if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test …”

No it doesn’t have to pass a global test. The reality is the President should consider global issues (and they do), but he can’t have it both ways. Kerry sounds weak when he implies we need to ask for permission.
——–

“No name”: You said: “When was the last time America had a dignified and diplomatic president who can interact on an intellectual basis with other leaders of the world?”

I think you’re making a big assumption that the other leaders are are very intellectual. Sure, some are, but many are thugs and dictators who have no interest in freedom and democracy. Also, many of these countries are highly corrupt.

I think everyone somehow ignores most of the world and gravitates towards the parts of Europe that are against us, especially France and Germany. I don’t know why.

Al: You say: “I think [NN] you’re making a big assumption that the other leaders are are very intellectual. Sure, some are, but many are thugs and dictators who have no interest in freedom and democracy. Also, many of these countries are highly corrupt.”

So are you suggesting for America to join the thugs club or the other club?

Also, do we really really have a “democracy” and “freedom” in America? Try saying “liberal” things in a public arena, i.e. Vegas. What happened in Florida in 2000? What will happen this year when non-auditable voting machines are used and people find out on voting day that “the computer” says they are not eligible to vote? Look in the mirror. The bannana republic is us. We want Iraq to also be a bannana republic and ship all their produce here — in barrels, at $30 apiece.

“Then he adds: “BUT if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test …”
No it doesn’t have to pass a global test. The reality is the President should consider global issues (and they do), but he can’t have it both ways. Kerry sounds weak when he implies we need to ask for permission.”

Again, you’re clearly misreading Kerry’s positions (hopefully unintentionally). He never said nor implied that we need to “ask for permission.” When he referred to a “global test,” he was referring to (in fact, he explicity explained that he meant) diplomacy. We have the right to do whatever we want, but if we want to be respected in the world; if we want other nation’s help; if we don’t want to burn all the “ally” bridges we’ve built over the past 50 years, we need to make sure that we can back up our actions with diplomacy. We didn’t do that in Iraq — in fact, we never even tried.

“A month or two ago he said he would have gone into Iraq knowing that they had no WMD.”

No, Al, he didn’t: that’s what Bush _claimed_ he said. But Bush was lying about Kerry’s position. Again.

“For those who say he doesn’t mean ‘veto power’, then what does he mean?”

I would assume he means “the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you’re doing what you’re doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons”. But I have to confess that I only assume that because THAT’S WHAT HE SAID IN SIMPLE ENGLISH.

“In any situation as serious as war-like actions, we should not defer one iota of our decision process to others.”

Well, it’s unfortunate that you feel that way, because we did. Over 50 years ago. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it: not only was it in all the papers, but it’s part of the standard high school civics curriculum.

“But Bush made clear that he’s far, far more of a unilateralist than Kerry.”

I’d nitpick that and say that “Bush made clear that he’s far, far more willing to be a unilateralist if that’s what is required to protect America’s interests.”

Hello,

NN: No I’m not suggesting that we join the thugs club, but I am suggesting that we should be realistic in understanding that many countries are run by thugs, dictators, and are heavily corrupt.
I took your line “…interact on an intellectual basis with other leaders of the world” as some type of code word for more UN type thinking. My contention is the UN is flawed because everyone looks out for themselves…there is little “coming together” unless the goals and ideas involved are fairly simple or workable by civilized countries and the “thugs.” I just have a sense that many on the left (you may not be on the left) have this notion that everyone in the UN is out for the common good and, as we’ve seen, time and time again, everyone is out for themselves. There are only a few countries that go out of their way to help others. We’re one of them. (I haven’t seen to much aid come in to Florida from the UN or other count
ries, have you?) And for those that say we were bullies and embraced losers during the cold war, you are probably right. If we didn’t, the Soviets would have. Unfortunatley, there’s a lot of “destroying the village to save the village” mentality that drives world affairs.

Anyways, your line “interact on an intellectual basis with other leaders of the world” tickles my spider hairs and takes me down the UN-type thinking path. Michael Moore seems to have this hankering for Euro-think too. It sounds like Kerry with his “global test” condition, has this problem too. I don’t see the attraction.

MD: I understand that Kerry nuanced his “global test” by saying the President has the right to premptive actions, but you say he doesn’t mean “permission.” But if we always have to outwardly “check” with the allies, or however you want to phrase it, then it is in fact preety darn close to “permission.”

I don’t think any President wants to harm relations, but I think we have to make it clear that we have the right to unilaterally to act. It is only up to us to deal with the ramifications.

This whole issue seems to be driven by France and Germany’s reluctance to support us. They did some arm-twisting and kept some of the smaller countries out too.
What I have a big problem with is the thinking that their decision is solely based on Bush being a “cowboy”. The reality is EU politics (infighting over the new entrants to the EU and money issues), the “Oil for Sadaam” program, and many other internal political issues drove the decision. I think the media has let us down by allowing the argument to be framed as Bush vs the World; it’s a dangerous and disingenuous way to look at it.
And for you people who are reading this, I know many of you are very smart. To espouse this Bush vs the World line makes you look silly. Come back to Earth and realize that sometimes friends don’t always agree.

My buddy Ran: Kerry said at the Grand Canyon: “I’ll answer it directly. Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I believe it is the right authority for a president to have but I would have used that authority effectively.” This was an answer to the question “would (he) have voted for the congressional resolution authorizing force against Iraq even if he had known then no weapons of mass destruction would be found?”

He said yes. So he nuanced it by saying he would have done things differently. So what. The fact is his position a month or so ago was the same as Bush’s. In an interview with Diane Sawyer the other night, he came up with another novel way to think about it. He said “it depends on the outcome.” This Kerry has a screw loose or he just makes things up.

And concerning WWI and ceding authority, that was obviously a little different than today. It’s obvious that what people mean by “ceding authority” is to cede it to seemingly powerless, inept and somewhat corrupt organizations like the UN. The fear of many people is that Kerry would actually do this.
If Kerry subscribes to this notion or this “global test” bs, then he is gravely mistaken and probably dangerous.

Oh, I meant WWII in the previous post to Ran.

To take the concept of international diplomacy a step farther, yes, assume other nations will work toward their own interests. It is that way in the Senate, each member serves his own constituency (except those that are in the service of particular lobbies). The art of passing legislation in the Senate is the art of working out an agreement whereby the best is achieved for everyone. This is concept of our legislative branch.

On the world scene, it would be ideal to have some one versed in the art of achieving consensus.

On the matter of Kerry’s changing positions. If America had not changed its collective mind when Kerry, (and many other courageous people), based on his experience, determined that what he had expected to be in his own country’s interest was actually against its interest, wouldn’t we have spent longer, lost more lives, sunk further in the world’s esteem, and gained nothing, in Vietnam?

What did we achieve in Vietnam? Only in getting out did we achieve anything.

And genocide is going on in the Sudan but we have no resources except rhetoric to invest there. North Korea is blatantly defying the world’s objections to its developing nuclear capacity, but we have no resources except rhetoric to invest there. China is violating human rights and threatening Formosa. It goes on and on.

What makes Iraq the focus of this country’s entire attention? I won’t answer what I think it is, but it is definitely at the decision of this present president. And does anyone seriously believe this shows wisdom? or strength?

Ruth,

I think your analogy of the “World” to the US Senate is fatally flawed. Why? The “World” doesn’t follow the rules very well and the members are (frankly) mostly dictatorships or highly corrupt. Yes, one can say that the Senate is corrupt, too (a joke), but the fact is the members of the US Senate all have a great deal in common with each other.

I think your point is that Kerry is up to it. From what I can see, Kerry never (or rarely) even mentions his Senate record. Did he ever sponsor any bills? All he has done is talk and vote. Talking may be nice, but it isn’t “doing” and being the President is about “doing.”

I’ll take a stab an answering why we’re in Iraq. It’s a combination of the Mideast, Militant Islam, terrorism, oil, Israel, the Palestinians. Bush saw an opening to positively affect the whole region at once. Most people compartmentalize these issues (especially the Palestinian-Israeli issue), but they are all related. When Bush says to imagine a democratic Iraq, he means a democratic Iraq that will affect the surrounding areas. In the debate, he said the reason so many insurgents are crossing the borders is because they desperately want to stop the successes there. I think we’re on our way to great success and to slow down is a big mistake.

I understand people’s uneasiness with Bush’s reasons for going, but to harp on it at this point is really hurting our efforts to succeed. How many lives are being lost because our troops have to adapt tactics to both the insurgents and the Democrats? Kerry finds himself on the side of the bad guys, where bad news for the effort is good for him. This is not good for us. Can you see that the Democrat’s rhetoric is actually hurting our efforts besides hurting Bush? I don’t know why this isn’t written up more.

“But if we always have to outwardly ‘check’ with the allies, or however you want to phrase it, then it is in fact preety darn close to ‘permission.'”

No, it’s not, Al. Any more than having shooting boards means that cops have to get “permission” to pull their guns, or sobriety checkpoints mean that you have to get “permission” to stop for a beer when driving home from work.

Perhaps things are different on your planet. But here on Earth, you can’t prove anything about what you “did” until _after_ yo
u’ve done it, and “permission” can only be obtained _before_ the act.

“The fact is his position a month or so ago was the same as Bush’s.”

So, according to you, if you give guns to two cops, and one goes around shooting suspects, while the other uses his gun to force them into jail cells, their actions are “the same”?

“In an interview with Diane Sawyer the other night, he came up with another novel way to think about it.”

There was nothing at all “novel” about it: when asked whether, HAVING ALREADY BEEN STARTED BY BUSH, the Iraq war was “worth it”, Kerry responded as any human being (or, indeed, any living organism, if it had the power of speech) would, by saying that he would weigh the results produced against the costs incurred.

“This Kerry has a screw loose or he just makes things up.”

I suspect that quite a few people, having read your bizarre interpretation of what “did” means, and your confusion about the difference between questions like “Would you have done X?” and “Was X worth the cost?”, are thinking along similar lines.

Just not about Kerry…

I agree with Mike: best to think of tonight’s debate “event” as concurrent press conferences that just happen to have been negotiated to take place on the same stage.

I agree with Mike: best to think of tonight’s debate “event” as concurrent press conferences that just happen to have been negotiated to take place on the same stage.

You’re right. What I wonder is why the news media don’t scream bloody murder about the CPD rules [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4052162]. It seems the public’s “right to know” about the intimate details of the Peterson trial is a higher priority than learning what our presidential candidates think.

The Associated Press has psychic powers, they have already covered the debate-

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040930_1184.html

Ah shucks, it ain’t no debate …

It’s shoot ’em out at the OK Cortextual speedway …

My Brain By-passers will whizz right by your Mighty MIT Mind power …

Watch this one: Terro-Iraqi Scare Sauce.

Took less than 3.0 seconds to mix up that there Iraq word in with the Terrorism scare one and has a nice flavor to it, don’t you think?

Now before you answer that last one (yer 30 secs are up), it wasn’t a question, that was an order soldier. Don’t ya think. period.

Yee hah … Mission accomplished.

What’s that Senator? Yer still drooling out yer 10 minute long flip flopping articulations? Yawn, my thinkin’ brain is going fast asleep. Now there you go again, trying to make the American people understand complex stuff, when its plain folk simple: my psych ops people make poo poo out of yours. Give it up for the professor folks. Yee hah.

Here is what is going to happen at the debate :

– Your flipflopper will flip and flop and break into sweat while the president grills him
– Around halfway through the debate one of the president’s men will come and whisper something in the president’s ear
– The president will then announce that he just heard that Osama Bin Laden has been killed
– The whole auditoriom will erupt in cheers and rush to the podium to shake hands with the president
– Your flip-flopper will slink out through the back door and catch a flight to france which will grant him exile
– America will never again have a Liberal/Democrat president
– World will respect and fear America

Want to know just how phony these debates are? Consider that the terms of the “debate” enjoin the candidates from having a debate anywhere else during the campaign. Really. Have a look:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4052162

Here what’s gonna happen after the Texas Crawfish wins again:

1. The USA will be labled a rogue nation for being the last hold-out on the Kyoto Global Warming pact (apparently Russia agreed to sign today)

2. Gorge-Nero Bush will fiddle on the deck of an aircraft carrier, singing “Mission Accomplished, Part Deux” while the planet burns

3. Other nations will bypass the USA in technology and economic power as we out-source everything but the kitchen sink to them

4. Your children will be “free” : They will work for less than 1 penny an hour in a garment sweatshop here in the USA, but owned by a foreigner who is collecting on the debt that America owes him to pay back for money borrowed to fund our war for “Freedom”. An FBI agent will shoot your son (compassionately) after hearing he might have been engaged in “liberal-demo” talk about forming a union and securing something called, “inalienable rights.” After all, if the Higher Father had wanted low lifes to have rights, He would have put those in the Bible. All books by George Orwell will be “Forgottenized” (a new word invented by the Son of the Higher Father). The End.

No….Here what’s gonna happen after the Texas Bulldog wins again:

– The Bible will not be banned
– We won’t have traitors running down our soldiers
– Marriage will be restricted to men and women as god intended it to be
– Terrorists will lose
– People will keep more of their money they earn
– The abomination that is Roe v/s Wade will be overturned
– All you liberals will have to live in spider holes like Saddam did

Reading the coverage tonight and tomorrow? Forget that, I’m reading it *now*. (http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004/09/oops-i-missed-it.html) ABC evidently not understanding that The Daily Show is a satire, not a guidebook.

Just remember, for Bush an “impressive” interview is one where “The president did not receive the questions in advance, nor were there any restrictions on what I could ask. Again, that’s impressive. Even if you don’t support Mr. Bush, you have to admire his willingness to discuss the issues in a venue like this.” ala Bill O’Reilly.

Have to have a pretty big trencher to dig the hole to set the bar so low.

< p>If you are a Bush supported, do you actually know what his positions are on major topics? Polls suggest you might not (http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_9_29_04.html)

And tonight, do keep an eye out for Bush’s tells- the wink, the pursed lips to the side… (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/30/92827/4437 and http://www.southknoxbubba.net/skblog/archive_2003_02.php#982)

Bush should be fired for the prison scandals alone. Wether it was ordered or not, you dont let an organization you are in charge of make that big of a mistake without being held responcible. We lost what litle credibility we had there. These people were RAPED with clubs and humilated. If your the manager of a department and you employees mess up, you are held respincible. not to mention its basically been proven that the pre war inteligence was tailored by the administration to drag the world into this conflict. There are no weapons, no deployment systems, no nothing… osama is still at large, so how has any of this made anything safer? It’s all about oil, and money for Halliburton. This is all documented! Rice had an oil tanker tha was named after her – until she had it changed (She’s from a big oil family.)

I’m so sad that anyone could see any reason to vote for Bush. he has lied to us all and should be put in jail. The man was a coke user and an alcoholic until he was in his 40’s! Do some research people.

The bible will never be banned. nor should it be. I think personally think its a cute book of fairy tales with a spiritual bent, but I respect that to others it is a guiding principle in their lives. What if I’m a muslim? Am I wrong? Should the Koran be banned?

Traitors running down our soldiers – yeah, Im sure anyone would support that. Kerry is all about our soldiers being killed by traitors – thats right…

SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. The radical muslims want their state to be of their god too.

Terrorists arent going away and Bush isnt going to magically make them all go away – wake up and get out of dream world.

There is no proof of sound fiscal policy on this administrations part. Our currency is at its lowest rate is decades, our deficit is exhorbant and it was pretty much elimated a few years ago by one of those ‘evil’ liberals – who Bush loves to blame for his economic woes.

A women has a right to choose. You do what you want with your body. Get out of other peoples lives. SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

Liberals arent going anywhere. And we won’t hide. Sorry, I live in America where I’m free to live my life as I see fit not goverened by the beliefs of others or religious dogma.

The Bush Doctrine of using our millitary might to maintain our dominant position (This is the academic definition – look it up.) is outdated and more suited to Soviet Russia or Rome. America is not going to be the dominant leading nation for long. Again, this academic. Its a question of when, and wether we step down gracefully. China will have a bigger GDP than us by 2010. And, if the EU continues as it is we may see the displacement of the dollar as the world reserve currency. Talk about problems. I dont see any of this addressed by Bush.

I coudl go on for hours. The environment, personal privacy, the economy, the war, the steps backwards in civil liberties for domestic religios fundamentalist who I see as dangerous as any religious fundamentalist, the growing anti-americanism. If nothing else, I would like another president just so the rest of the world might begin conversations with us again about the course of this war.

Yes Justin –you may go on for hours.

Alas — our Klever Kerry signed up for prior restraint of his free speech. He gets no more than 2 minutes (120 seconds) to respond to “any” question, no matter how complex the question is.

It’s not about intellect –it;s about testosterone.

Is Kerry man enough to rip the contract up on stage and say it violates the US Constitution? Doubt it.

Dean would have done it … and with an eee-hah screech attached to work up any patriot’s adrenaline.

Bush needs no more than 30 seconds for each of his pre-packaged Brain Busters:

1. Flip-flopper, flip-flopper, nanna na nanna !!!
2. Liberal, Liberal, lose your lips
3. THEY WHO are the ENEMIES of FREEDOM and HATE OUR way of life are waiting at the edge of the VILLAGE ready to snatch our soccer children. (Yes Hillary, it does take a moron on strings to run a village full of idiots.)

“Proud Conservative”=TROLL

And why, oh trusty troll, would John Kerry, a Catholic, ban the bible?

Why not save the website the trouble of banning your silly troll cave’s IP and go back into your dark underground bunker…

I’ve come to a sad conclusion – John Kerry does not want to become President.

Why would a champion debater, head of his debate team at Yale, possibily, POSSIBLY agree to this sham of a debate?? All year I’ve been eagerly waiting for this debate as the moment when John Kerry would FINALLY be able to beat George Bush. Bush does not have the intelligence to debate. That John Kerry ever agree to this rediculous and phony sham is beyond comprehension.

Well, it may not be a full out debate, but there definitely seems to be quite a bit of back and forth to me…

I take it back. Kerry kicked ass tonight. 🙂

I’m surprised and disappointed by the statement by Dan and others that “it’s not a debate.”

The debates have all of the elements of traditional policy debates except for cross examination. Each candidate has the chance to directly rebut his opponent’s answer to the question, and many times an extra minute is given for further rebuttals. (Usually Bush chose to spend the first 5 seconds giving an actual rebuttal and the rest of the time repeating himself, giving Kerry another 30 seconds to more forcefully make his case.)

I have noticed that die-hard Democrats tend to complain about the format of the debate because they think it favors Bush; however Kerry took many opportunities to refute and question Bush, and it was quite obvious when Bush was avoiding Kerry’s questions.

Michael, I don’t think the dems are complaining about the debate format any more. The result kind of answers the question, why the Kerry campaign would agree to a “debate” with such onerous restrictions. The answer being that any forum under any rules, that put
s the two candidates side by side in real time, with no earbug for Bush, is a huge advantage for Kerry. And ya know what? Being able to think on your feet and articulate is a rather relevant presidential capability.

Here’s predicting Terror Alerts cancel the next two presidential debates. Watch for a trial balloon.

Media’s treatment of presidential elections is the subject of a recent Lawrence Lessig blog here: http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002175.shtml. I’ve also written about it here: http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040928#media_as_theater_or_theatre .

However, as I noted earlier, I think weblogging is not a panacea for social and political maladies. It has the potential of actually aggravating the problem: http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040915#weblogging_is_not_a_panacea .

Going to New York eh!?

Oh behave indeed! You hound, Dan. I hope you don’t catch anything.

Now what just happened?

The new media broke through and I don’t mean the bleating sheep of the lunar right bogosphere.
I mean we the media in the sense of ‘ we the new super-power ‘truly liberated digi-media.
The corpse media’s circulations been dropping harder than Oscar De La Hoya; they’ve been caught lying about that and countless other matters large and small. They’ve been pirated into the ground and humbled before the world yet thats really no great surprise,after all, they’re old, we’re young and that’s life.

We the new media should take a minute to celebrate along with that dog, Dan G.
( yoda man D!)
I would suggest a fine Australian shiraz or white Bergundy, maybe even a cleansing ale. SALUD, VIVA free media and see you later alligators.

People might enjoy my blog post investigating a parallel, right-wing PR firm track, pushing the Rather/CBS memos story. This was an early publicizing of the story which did NOT involve blogs, and later seems to have merged with the blog track.

http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/000702.html

I was chatting with a friend who is a climatologist at NCAR. While this can’t be correleated with global warming, global warming is likely to make this sort of thing more common in the future – energy into the water is what drives hurricanes.

He said it wouldn’t be surprising to see a half dozen category 3+ storms hit a place like Florida in four or five decades as the yearly norm. At some point it becomes too expensive to live in a place like that.

The real question is” “when will people in the US start to get serious about global warming?” Perhaps the silver lining of events like this is that it might begin to sensitize voters.

Did you ever think that maybe Florida is being punished for what it did to us in the 2000 election?
This is a warning for this election!

Very amusing. Want to explain what the 1100 people dead in Haiti did to piss the weather gods off so badly?

They approved of Bush’s policies.

Dan:

Come on down, it is really blowing. Storm is supposed to hit here at dawn. This could be the worst one yet!

Buzz

This has nothing to do with global warming for Pete’s sake, it’s just a historical, albeit nasty, cycle that these weather patterns create.

Now, that doesn’t make it any easier for all those people on the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts.

A word to the wise, ocean front property will go cheap down there in the next couple of years, so if you buy in, don’t live there until ~2011+ when the current crazy weather patterns settle down. At that time you’ll be set for about 40 years.

AJ

What the people of Haiti did was to cut down most of the trees, thus creating an environmental disaster. The water isn’t soaked up by the roots, and it just runs off, washing out the soil, causing massive flooding and mudslides.

That’s what the people of Haiti did, they have destroyed their own land. Find an aerial or satellite photo of Hispaniola, you can see the dividing line between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Haiti has no trees left!

2000 election vs. hurricanes 2004

http://www.bartcop.com/message-from-God.gif

A message from god?

Personally I think some people have got too much time on their hands but what do I know

I have absolutely zero sympathy for Florida.

If you built your houses correctly, you would not have a problem.

How do I *KNOW*? I live on an island in the middle of typhoon alley. There’s no place to evacuate to. This season we’ve had just as many typhoons hit as hurricanes have hit Florida. Nobody’s roofs got blow off, nobody died, nobody homeless, minimal property damage (cars getting wacked by flying things, mostly).

Oh, BTW, building correctly means not putting your god-damned million dollar plus, shittly built house directly on the freaking beach… f-ing morons… you deserve exactly what you got, plus a little more for good measure.

What I find particularly delicious is that most of those folks could have defraid their building costs by a couple of hundred thousand dollars with a FEMA grant.

http://www.monolithicdome.com/plan_design/FEMA/

Meanwhile FEMA ships trailer homes to the Florida hurricane homeless (people who wouldn’t know a grant from a hole in the ground), resulting in them becomming homeless *TWICE* in a season despite the fact that disaster relief container homes

http://www.commetasa.com/ingles/products5.htm

provides safe, cheap, effective, quickly deployed emergency housing to folks who have lost their homes in a natural disasters.

Sometimes American government is increadly fscked in the head that it’s hard to imagine a more third world first world country.

A Message from God?

Interesting. THat map indicates that Orange County, Volusia County and others didn’t get hit by Frances or Charley. Sorry, those 2 counties got hit severely and voted for Gore.

Because of the hurricane, I had to cancel a trip to Orlando: http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/MortazaviBlog/20040926#should_i_go_or_should.

This would have been my first trip to Florida ever. My only hope is that my colleagues who did make it and those who live near the most devasted areas remain physically safe.

So, the next time the Merc runs an op-ed piece from Alexander Cockburn, it magically turns into “socialist fishwrap”?

The problem with Faux News isn’t that it has openly-partisan talk show hosts. It’s that management has blurred (some would say “erased”) the line between “news” and “commentary”.

Frankly, Faux isn’t even CNN’s real competition anymore: that role belongs to Google News, which provides the same up-to-the-minute information, with an even wider range of perspectives. anyplace you have access to a computer.

If it remains in its current form, CNN is probably doomed to becoming a sort of “Newzak” for use in airport waiting rooms and similar PC-less venues.

First, I do not watch O’Reilly because his views are too extreme, even for me. But he is like the WWF in that he is positioned as entertainment, rather than serious news. I don’t watch Hardball with Chris Matthews for the same reason. Or Larry King or Joe Scarbrough or any of the myriad other “news” journalists, with “fair & balanced reporting,” be they Fox, MSNBC, CNN, etc. These are one and all political commentary rather than news organizations. Don’t just talk about Fox; the others are tarred with the same brush, only their bias is toward the left, rather than the right.

But when a major news organization, such as CBS or the New York Times, or for that matter, the Merc goes from reporting factual news to news with a pronounced bias, then we have a credibility problem. A NEWS organization is by definition, a reporter of fact, not opinion. An editorial is an appropriate forum for opinion, not the front page or the lead story. Once that corner is turned, the news organization has as much credibility as the National Enquirer. ABC turned that corner several years ago and has now been joined by CBS.

I, for one, do not need a talking head to tell me how to think, or what the speaker said. I do require complete access to the news in order to reach my own conclusions.

Mr. Rich got it wrong (an even rarer occurance than Mr. O’Reilly’s getting it right). Crossfire is clearly a shouting match (would it were a debate, but, alas, not in our era) between partisan sides. The show is more valuable for having voices that are authentically connected with the Kerry campaign. Better to focus attention on the so-called neutral reporters who debase their journalistic calling by failing o challenge or investigate claims made by the spin-meisters of both parties.

Mr. Rich got it wrong (an even rarer occurance than Mr. O’Reilly’s getting it right). Crossfire is clearly a shouting match (would it were a debate, but, alas, not in our era) between partisan sides. The show is more valuable for having voices that are authentically connected with the Kerry campaign. Better to focus attention on the so-called neutral reporters who abandon their journalistic reponsibility by simply parotting and failing to challenge or investigate claims made by the spin-meisters of both parties.

Phil Wade: you seem to be oblivious of the distinction between news reporting and news analysis.

Just wanted to say that I read your book and absolutely loved it. I truly believe that the Internet and blogs are the future of journalism.

Thanks for writing something that all bloggers should read.

S.M. Mullis
http://fnn.blogspot.com
http://3aday.blogspot.com

As someone who has been blogging for five years, I just pray that grassroots journalism grows even more quickly than it already is. Between Fox, CBS, and the failures of even the New York Times to report the news accurately, it is critical for thoughtful people to have alternatives.

“O’Reilly because his views are too extreme”

Anyone who thinks O’Reilly is a knee-jerk far right winger is dead wrong. Sure, he can be testy with guests. But his positions are mostly well-reasoned and he is left of center on many of them.

“Faux isn’t even CNN’s real competition anymore”

No, because Faux is trouncing CNN!!

Also, can anyone explain why Frank Rich gets a weekly front-page article on NYT Sunday A&E section about politics.

I’ve always thought the distinctions among news personnel might be classified as:
//Reporting – gathering and sorting facts to present as objectively as possible a picture of events and effects
//Analysis – putting the facts into a context of history, causes, impacts and relationships, but objectively, without “spin”
//Opinions – making judgments based on ideology, experience or economic incentive

Certainly the first (at least for the broadcast component) is distorted by a combination of reportorial ineptitude, marketing pressure for time and visually enticing topics, and the inability of bite-size news management to deal with complex topics. But they suffer also in the analytical category because good analysis takes time and costs money. Thus, the preponderance of superficial analysis and recycling of predigested packages of interest information.

The rest of the pack…liberals and conservatives alike, are opinionists, more akin to talk show callers than to true journalists. But as long as the public is more concerned about Paris Hilton’s underwear than Bush’s foreign or economic policy (or Kerry’s alternatives) what more can we expect?

Give it a rest Dan.

Calling out Fox News every other week while you promote Michael Moore, and fail to even acknowledge what is coming from move0n.org just demonstrates your bias.

Oh, and is it a coincidence that three out of the four journalistic embarassments I mentioned above painted the Bush and Blair administration in a bad light?

Must have been a coincidence, or could it have been a toxic Foxification of the news? LMFAO!

Everyone download FireFox 1.0PR and take a look at the integrated RSS technology….Lets drop IE and Safari and have a true open cross platfrom independent browser. Way to go…

http://www.mozilla.org/

Shhhhhhh! Dan’s not here, let’s talk about him.

Seriously, there is a local (here in Silicon Valley) State Legislature candidate named Steve Poizner. He is a Republican who is spending millions on his campaign. Interestingly Richard Clarke, who has been slammed for his book about the Bush administration’s ignorance about terrorism before 9/11 is campaigning for him. Guess that rules out Clarke’s political motives when he wrote the book!

Ted, You’re right on both counts.

Also, Poizner has spent a considerable amount of his own money for his campaign, promising to start campaign finance reform. That’s easy enough when one is a multi-millionaire after having sold one’s company to Qualcomm (as Poizner did).

Poizner’s opponent, Ira Raskin (sp?), has been around for a while and proven himself as an advocate for reform that’s “people-based” and not unduly influenced by wealthy special interests.

Poizner’s campaign has run like clockwork; it’s very slick and professionally run. He has good people advising him; the best money can buy. :))

Raskin campaigned on my doorstep some weks ago; one thing that really impressed me about him was that he had a young lad with him – a high-school student – who had volunteered to help in is campaign. I thought he was doing a great civil work by introducing that kid to the “underbelly” of working in a political campaign. Impressive.

Stock Options

If stock options are traded publically for short periods of time, why not trade them for longer periods of time like the ones given to employees. Then the companies could expense the value of the options on market prices.

Firefox

Firefox 1.0PR busted almost all my extensions. The built in pop up blocker notice is nice. The find tool bar and highlighter at the bottom is nice as well. But it should predictively realize that if I type a term in a websites search box that I’ll probably want it in the find bar as well. I am also missing the Bugmenot extension and gmail compose.

But the latest critical vulnerability is reason enough to upgrade. Dan could you read your logs and publish what % of people visiting your site are using Firefox?

RE Joe’s comment about us all using Firefox.

I’m a recent adopter and upgraded to the new version. I have to say I prefer it to IE. Problem will be when it gains sufficient market share to attract all the mayhem makers. Already this application has had “holes” patched in the new version and this is just the beginning.

I’ve tried firefox twice in the last 8 months. Both times I went back to mozilla for one key feature: turning off dynamic gifs. Browsing without all those flashing, blinking, epilepsy-inducing banner ads is just too important.

> Both times I went back to mozilla for one key feature: turning off dynamic gifs.

You can disable that in firefox too, no problem.

Un-scientific poll here. We’re all relatively intelligent here and I’d like to know what other people are thinking.

Please provide me with your brief prediction for the Presidential Election.

I predict that Nader stays on the FL ballot, Bush Wins FL and goes on to win the election by a small margin.

You?

Un-scientific poll here. We’re all relatively intelligent here and I’d like to know what other people are thinking.

Please provide me with your brief prediction for the Presidential Election.

I predict that Nader stays on the FL ballot, Bush Wins FL and goes on to win the election by a small margin.

You?

We seem to get so distracted by potential electronic voter fraud. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that there’s still a ton of problems with the current system. Read “How to Steal an Election”

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/09/16/how_to_steal_an_election/

The election is still a long way off, so a lot could happen between now and then. But if things stay on an even keel, I predict Bush by a fairly respectable margin. Florida won’t be close. If the overall race is tight, Ohio could be the place to watch this year.

And for the record, I was in the ABB camp 6-8 months ago. The Dems had this election handed to them on a plate. But I have never seen such gross incompetence and bumbling in a campaign effort. Its sad, really.

Did someone else just get outted?

The Washington Post reported that Donald W. Keyser, an ex-State Dept. official, had passed documents to Taiwanese intelligence agents and was charged with concealing a trip to Taiwan. See Powell Aide Gave Papers to Taiwan, FBI Says.

The article also mentions that Keyser’s wife is a CIA officer, but did not mention her name. However, some simple sleuthing shows that Donald Keyser is from Virginia. Running a search for him in Google reveals a phone number. A reverse search of the phone number shows Margaret Lyons.

Powell Aid Gave Papers to Taiwan, FBI Says:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24703-2004Sep15.html?nav%3Drss_politics

Phonebook results for donald keyser va:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=donald+keyser+va&btnG=Search

Phonebook results for (703) 690-7086:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=%28703%29+690-7086&btnG=Search

Margaret Lyon is a cia agent?

Is that what your telling us?

MARGARET LYONS is a CIA agent?

Some of these laws are just risible these days aren’t they. When I publish this all over Indymedia and Cryptome gets hold of it – if they haven’t already that will make a mockery of USSA law.

As it should too, thank f*ck for the free NET and free speech and death to the CIA.

Now as a follow up I suggest a mass civil disobedience campaign to make fools of the secret service. That is we all threaten to kill the pretzel a week from now. Get a few thousand involved and the SS are DoSed and stuffed – much like the Brits in India finally were.

Mass civil disobedience gets the goodie’s.
( seasoned with a little direct action to taste of course )

FYI: Check out the first International Weblog Awards, The BOBs at http://www.thebobs.com.

I am a freelancer for Deutsche Welle, the host of the award and blogger, an international broadcaster in 30 languages. The awards will be held in DW’s seven focus languages.

Nominations kick off today! So nominate your favorite blog in design, innovation, topic, journalism or best weblog. You can nominate your own of course.

I’ve colleced some good forgery memo evidence links at

http://sethf.com/cbs-memos/

Thanks for your insightful and informative articles.

I look forward to the article you plan … “build a hard-disk recording system that won’t be bound by those restrictions…”.

Please include details and costs of integrating it with the content provider (e.g., monthly fee to connect with their broadcast schedule), hardware selection, software required, other URLs/resources, etc.

Stephen Mehl

Ahhhh… the fun resumes