Money talks in politics, we get asthma.

Google campaign contributions in California

and this article shows up:

Fundraising in California hits record level
China People's Daily online Home >> World
UPDATED: 08:54, October 29, 2006

Excuse me, but why would a Chinese Daily (in English) care about fundraising in California? Hmmm, could it be that they are heavily invested in the Long Beach Port
Schwarzenegger Vetoes Fee on Cargo Containers

Yeah, I think the stunts he pulled with Blair and all that blather about caring about the environment is absolute bullshit. Why do I say that? Because there is a big difference between legislating shit that you won't have to actually deal with:

California also has passed legislation mandating that automakers reduce their vehicles' carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2016, and 10 other states have committed to adopt the same standards if the law survives a court challenge...
Cities, States Aren't Waiting For U.S. Action on Climate
By Juliet EilperinWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, August 11, 2006; Page A01
With Washington lawmakers deadlocked

And reality. Emissions markets used to be called Pollution Credits. You do the math.

Schwarzenegger Pushes Emission Markets
By KAREN MATTHEWS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 17, 2006; 1:41 AM

Big Oil donates big bucks to Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Wednesday, April 26, 2006

And here the Governator goes and pays back right here in San Diego:

Donors to governor get posts of prestige

Google handlers politicians

local update: Bilbray's Cash

The Kerry flap

It was a bad joke that fell flat. He was making fun of how Bush got us stuck in Iraq because Bush is an idiot, that somebody wasted education money on.



Spin, Spin, Spin. Watch the Mainstream Media go absolutely batshit. There's yer librul media. 'Nuff said.

Update:
Rising Hegemon And now a word on our fighting men from a close advisor to President Bush

Happy Halloween to Log Cabin Republicans

Happy Halloween.
Here's some reading material for those of you Log Cabin Republicans who aren't quite sure who you're in bed with:

A Sinner's guide to the Evangelical Right





And more Party Horrors!!!

Recipe for greater war
The Bush administration has been fully successful in what it wanted to achieve in Iraq. The country is occupied. Oil resources are under full control. The military threat that Iraq could pose has been fully neutralized. The country is divided. Iraqis are pitted against each other. The civil war is on and the co-opted media still limits its description to fear of a looming civil war.

DU Death Toll Tops 11,000
Nationwide Media Blackout Keeps U.S. Public Ignorant About This Important Story
By James P. Tucker Jr.


List of Members of 109th Congress Being Looked at by DoJ
10-26-2006
17 total, 14 repub

Scott Ritter: Weapons of Mass Delusion
...From 1991 to 1998, he led the U.N. weapons inspection team in Iraq. He was the world's foremost expert on Saddam Hussein's weapons program. Ritter's team was able to determine the true status of the weapons program in Iraq, which was essentially inoperative and posed no immediate threat either to America or Iraq's neighbors. In his speech before a Los Angeles audience, Ritter gives his analysis of the real reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq...

Mmmmmmm, then again, your vote counts, that should make you feel better

Thanks to skippy's dont dream it be it (Time Warp) and Scooter for the inspiration.

Bonus: The Thirteen Scariest people in America

No negative ads, damnit!

Final Push in the 50th
By DANIEL STRUMPF
Voice Staff Writer
Monday, Oct. 30, 2006

Please, please, please, please, please, please please, please, please, please please, please, please, please please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeaaaasssse, no more negative ads...we can't take it. BOTH OF YOU .

Paying attention

Big Money Pushes for Legal Protections

MIAMI HERALD: Touch-Screen Votes Hopping from Democrats to Republicans in South Florida!

Video the Vote
Stopping voter suppression, by observing the vote.
And sharing the results—on Election Day.

Hat tip---> Welcome to Pottersville

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Crap. I had some great comments. When you change from Blogger comments to Haloscan all the old comments disapear. Oh well, maybe I'll get some Freeper Trolls. Bitch bites.

Typical bullshit in the 50th

Brian Bilbray to 50th District - "Up Yours!"

So Bonnie Dumanis District Attorney are you investigating Bilbray or endorsing him?

And bullshit across the nation.

Why the different titles for the same article?

See if you can find the difference in these two articles:

Media Lose Ohio Exit Polling Challenge
By JULIE CARR SMYTH,
Associated Press Writer
Friday, October 27, 2006

Media lose bid to force Ohio to clarify exit polling guidelines
Saturday, October 28, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -

We Arm The World

We Arm The World
William D. Hartung
October 27, 2006

While the U.S. hangs its foreign policy on preventing the spread of “weapons of mass destruction” (a worthy goal, however grossly the Bush administration goes about achieving it), it continues to ignore a more immediate threat—the proliferation of small arms and light weapons—that deserves serious attention as well. These low-tech arms have been described as “slow motion weapons of mass destruction,” because they are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past dozen years, from the genocide in Rwanda to the ongoing civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yet yesterday, the United States, the world's largest supplier of small arms, was the only country to vote against an historic United Nations proposal to curb traffic in arms....

Ummm, yeah, we may arm it but we sure as fuck don't control the hired guns. Who does? Good fucking question.

Electronic Voting Reliability in Question

Gilroy Dispatch
Friday, October 27, 2006
By Emily Alpert

Gilroy - Silicon Valley is ground zero for technological innovation, but some say they still don't trust the county's high-tech voting systems...

...To ensure the machines' accuracy, Moreles said poll workers perform a 1 percent manual recount of the printouts, checking them against the electronic results. County supervisor Don Gage said he's confident in that process....

...In San Diego County, Dill said, registrars used a Diebold machine to generate a random list of precincts to audit.

"They're auditing Diebold machines, so they shouldn't use a Diebold machine to decide how to audit it," he said. "A public drawing or dice-rolling would be better."...

In addition, Dill said poll workers sometimes have difficulty addressing technical problems that arise at the polls. That's not a problem here, said Moreles: in Santa Clara County, poll workers receive at least an hour and a half of hands-on training with the machines, in addition to online training. If the workers choose not to do online training, they go through a three and a half hour training.


but, but, but we get four hours of training here ... sans reboot instructions.

Crikey.

Cornered possum

Most Ridiculous Moment?

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, October 27, 2006; 1:02 PM

It may go down as one of the most ridiculous -- and ridiculed -- utterances of the Bush presidency.

In an interview with ABC News broadcast on Sunday, President Bush gamely suggested that "we've never been 'stay the course'" when it comes to Iraq.

With mid-term elections just around the bend -- and with public opinion starkly and unhappily focused on Iraq -- it's understandable that Bush might want to rewrite history. But his attempt failed miserably.

Less than a week later, there are 96 and counting entries on You Tube making a lie of his assertion, trumpeting videotaped examples of Bush using that particular phrase to describe his Iraq strategy -- over and over again...
WaPo

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006
Nice. We're tied with Botswana, Tonga and Croatia for number 53 on the list.

America Freedom to Fascism Authorized version

Recipe for a Cooked Election

By Greg Palast
10/25/06 "Yes" -- -- A nasty little secret of American democracy is that, in every national election, ballots cast are simply thrown in the garbage. Most are called "spoiled," supposedly unreadable, damaged, invalid. They just don’t get counted. This “spoilage” has occurred for decades, but it reached unprecedented heights in the last two presidential elections. In the 2004 election, for example, more than three million ballots were never counted...

The more people that vote, and pay attention, the less chance the slimy bastards have of stealing it, right?

Right. I'm not being facetious. I'm serious as a heart attack here. I'm also aware of what those of us who believe in democracy are up against.

Humans will need two Earths

Humans will need two Earths report claims
Wed, 25 Oct 2006 02:38:23 -0700

Summary:

Now remove yourself from the delusion that the “worker bee” class will be left to face a future of reduced resources and a return to living in some sort of “middle age” life style.

The current human population, let alone population growth, is not sustainable.

Who supports the troops?

Go see what Terry has to say (click on title link).

I've tried twice to post this morning, but I was just too angry. I watched a video of the Busby Bilbray debate from a local newz channel.

Bilbray is my congresswhore . I really hate the guy. I think he's damn liar.


The Military Whistleblower Protection Act of 1995 allows servicemen and women to communicate grievances directly to Congress without the threat of penalty or reprisal.

DIME weapon

hat tip on Dime weapon to Loopy

Italian probe: Israel used new weapon prototype in Gaza Strip
Last update - 09:18 11/10/2006
By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent

Air Force pdf on dime weapon
less collateral damage! (f!&@#*g barf)


Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME)

and then I decided to read Richard Dawkins:
Why There Almost Certainly Is No God


Uh....Doc?

I don't think the anti-depressants are working.

Reading Now (Hostile Takeover by David Sirota)

Starting it today.

I got so sick of waiting for the library system to actually process the books and let me read a copy, that I bought a copy. Even that required a snide and rude remark at the closest Barnes and Noble. I think the phrase "right-wing bullshit" escaped my lips as I was treated to a clear shot of Annthrax Coulter's latest smear guide for the intellectually impaired behind the cash register. I mentioned Hostile Takeover by David Sirota and the next week I went in and the book was there, so I bought it. I don't think it was the rudeness that prompted the manager to order a copy, I think it might have been the comment that the public was probably leaning more towards the left. The manager said he wanted to be balanced in his offerings. The cynical part of me thinks "Whatever" and the hopeful part of me thinks "Well... maybe things are going to change."

Crabby

Maryland gets crabby over voting tech
10/23/06 issue
Governor, others denounce state’s electronic systems
By Wilson P. Dizard III, GCN Staff

Gee, where have I heard that before?

Diebold makes me crabby
Friday, May 05, 2006

(Oh yeah, I wrote it, and oh yeah, here's more than you want to know about Diebold, and the other voting machines)

This is too funny, I made crab for dinner.

These guys make me effing sick

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Lawmaker Outraged by Sniper Footage on CNN
By Tony Perry, Times Staff Writer
October 21, 2006


SAN DIEGO — CNN has become "the publicist for an enemy propaganda film" by broadcasting a video showing an insurgent sniper in Iraq apparently killing an American soldier, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said here Friday.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) called for the Pentagon to oust any CNN reporter embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq.

"I think Americans like to think we're all in this together," Hunter said. "The average American Marine or soldier has concluded after seeing that film that CNN is not on their side."

CNN said it broadcast the brief video to show the threat that insurgent snipers posed to U.S. troops.

"Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can," CNN producer David Doss wrote in a blog on the network's website.

Tony Snow, President Bush's press secretary, said the insurgents were hoping to "break the will of the American people" by giving the video to CNN.

The footage was shown first on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" program, of which Doss is executive producer, and then on several news shows. It remained on CNN's website Friday.

Doss said CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware received the video after communicating — through intermediaries — with Ibrahim Shammari, a spokesman for the Islamic Army.

Doss said the decision to broadcast the video came after hours of "intense editorial debate."

He said one compromise was made: The moment when the bullet hits the soldier's head is blacked out. The soldier's face and unit patches were not clear, so identifying him was impossible, CNN said.

Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad), who with Hunter and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, called the film "nothing short of a terrorist snuff film."
Snow, at his regular news briefing in Washington, said the video was misleading because it made it appear that Americans were "sitting ducks" and that insurgents were winning the war. In truth, he said, insurgents "are dying in much greater numbers and suffering much greater damage."

The Pentagon had no comment on the video.

Embedded reporters sign pledges not to show the faces of dead American troops until their families are notified, but nothing prohibits the use of pictures in which identities are not discernible.

tony.perry@latimes.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our Hunter (voice of SanDiego.org)
By James O. Goldsborough
Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006

Duncan Hunter has represented parts of San Diego County in Congress since defeating the redoubtable Lionel Van Deerlin in 1980, thanks mainly to Ronald Reagan's coattails....
..Like George Bush, Hunter believes that the U.S. military should have the right to torture prisoners... Our Hunter


Torture? Oh, yeah, sure, that's ok because his son has been discharged from the army.

I know people who voted for him only because he has an (R) next to his name.

Wonder if they own stock in Defense contractors or they work for one?

Monday October 23 last day to register to vote in San Diego

more information from San Diego's Registrar of Voters here

I already have my ballot.

Question.

If we don't put the damn judges there to begin with and most of us don't run in the same social circles (to put it mildly) and Googling them is a waste of time because you have to pay for a Westlaw subscription to find out anthing about them online, why do we have to vote on whether to let them stay there?


Yeesh.

No wonder people don't want to vote, it's kind of a pain, and feels sort of thankless. I don't know why, but voting on judges who fly through and rubber stamp plea bargained (or perhaps pre-ordained) cases makes me think of this reverse Robin Hood shit that we have been subjected to and sucks syphlitic dick.

I'll bet if they gave people a day off to vote a lot of things would change, real quick-like, and people would do their homework (on their civic duty of voting responsibly) without complaint. I would.

I sure as hell don't use the sheeple voter guide brought to you by the bend-over-and-spread-'em fishwrap.

Boo!

Yeah, I know, cheesy website, but one heck of a fun night out.
My kid has to hold my hand every time.
I'm such a wuss-bucket.

Tired, frustrated and depressed, but voting anyway.

I was listening to my favorite morning talk show and a caller said everything that I think and feel. He said (and I'm paraphrasing) he was frustrated, and depressed about the voting machines, tired of getting motivated to go to the polls and have the elections stolen. Then he said he was too old and fat to go throw coktails in the street, and I could relate to that also, I don't want to know what jail is like. There is one on right now who is talking about what they saw on TV last night, and I think he was watching some of the same shows I was. I don't remember which show because I was goofing around on the phone with a friend, but I about threw up when I looked up and saw all the Republican Congressmen from the San Diego area smiling and yukking it up for the cameras. Don't tell me these mofos don't know that Diebold, the mega-churches (about thirty-five thousand idiot sheeple here in San Diego) and Corporate money put them there, because I'll call you a damn liar. These assholes don't give a FUCK about the "people" they are supposed to represent.

Sixteen percent of the country approves of Congress right now, and they look like they're going to throw another party on our dime?

WTF?

Ok, enough bitching. I need to slog through the rest of the stuff on my ballot and send it in and hope that it dosen't hit the circular file.

SF Chronicle article re: CA Prop 90

This was in my mailbox this morning. It came from someone I have a lot of respect for.

Dear (XXXX) member:

"We had no idea."

You're going to hear that a lot if Proposition 90 passes next month. Millions of people are going to wake up the morning after Election Day and wish they'd read the fine print. Please don't be one of them. Prop 90 is the single most dangerous threat that has ever been leveled at our state's environment. As a native and long-time resident of California, I don't say that lightly. Prop 90 will make it virtually impossible for our state and local governments to do their job of protecting the wildlife, wild lands and other natural resources that make California the special place that it is. The way Prop 90 works is simple. Anytime our government wants to protect some vestige of open space or save an old growth forest or restrict offshore oil drilling, Prop 90 would empower hordes of people to sue the government and collect compensation if they feel their properties or businesses have been compromised. If Prop 90 is enacted, environmental protection will grind to a halt, because we the taxpayers will be unable to afford the billions and billions in payouts. And guess what? Paralyzing government is exactly what Prop 90 aims to do. This cynical ploy is so insidious -- and yet potentially popular -- because it's masquerading as a law that will protect our homes and businesses from government seizure under the power of eminent domain. Well, I'll be first in line to defend private property and protest government seizure. But not if the "cure" is a hundred times worse than the disease! Prop 90 is nothing but a stalking horse for a group of out-of-state, anti-government extremists who would impoverish Californians both environmentally and financially. Don't wake up the morning after Election Day and wish you'd read the fine print. Read it now at http://www.noProp90.com/And make sure your friends, family and colleagues in California read it, too.
Please forward them this email right now.

(XXXX) has joined with a broad coalition of citizen groups who are fighting hard to turn back this unprecedented attack on our environment. (You can see the full list of opponents at http://www.noprop90.com/coalition/index.php)

Please do your part by spreading the word to everyone you know. Tell them to vote "No on 90" on Election Day.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford

P.S. Newspapers across the state are urging a No vote on 90. You can read theireditorials at http://www.noprop90.com/media/articles/?set=article_j6dcq2bwmxw4ax





Freakin Howie Rich wants this thing to pass. Who?

look for video link on this page:

PBS NOW on ballot initiatives, Who is Howie Rich?


When I think of Howie Rich and his ballot initiatives, this song gets stuck in my head: Locals Only

Ok, like yeah, I'm totally dating myself, but like, Oh well.

Energy Security -- Yes on Prop 87

Yes On 89 TV Ad:

California voting information paper ballots

CALIFORNIA SEC. OF STATE DECLARES ALL STATE VOTERS MAY OPT TO VOTE ON A PAPER BALLOT IN MID-TERM ELECTION!
BLOGGED BY Brad ON 10/16/2006 6:35AM

Or if you don't want to mess with the pdf file, here's the text of the memo from Secretary of State Bruce McPherson's office.

"October 3, 2006

To: All County Clerks/Registrars Of Voters/Vendors (06353)

From: Susan Lapsley, Assistant Secretary of State, Elections

As the Secretary of State directed in the November 2005 Special Election and the June 2006 Primary Election any county using a direct recording electronic (DRE) voting system that is certified for use in California with an electronic provisional ballot module may use this module for the casting of provisional ballots in accordance with the adopted procedures of the voting system or, alternatively, may use paper provisional ballots. However, all county elections official shall have an adequate supply of paper ballots, as determined by the elections official, available at the voting locations for use in the event of a temporary loss of the ability to use electronic equipment, or if a voter chooses not to vote on electronic equipment.
This back-up supply can be absentee ballots or other option as determined to be reasonable by the elections official. If absentee ballots are used at the polls, the voter need NOT apply for an absentee ballot in order to be able to use it to vote at the polls. You may also use paper provisional ballots to satisfy voters wishing to vote on paper in the event that DRE counties do not have a sufficient supply of absentee ballots to satisfy the needs of the precinct voters. In such instances, the ballots of verified eligible voters who wish to vote on paper and are provided a provisional ballot to do so should not be treated as a provisional ballot cast but, rather, as a regular ballot. If your supply of back-up paper ballots becomes exhausted, the elections official, pursuant to Elections Code Section 14299, shall deliver that necessary additional supplies to the polling place. Since voters can vote absentee ballots at the polls (as we noted above), by extension it is possible that officials might provide a supply of "reasonable facsimilies" of sample ballots to polling places since such facsimilies are allowed to function as absentee ballots, pursuant to Elections Code Sections 13316, 13317, until additional supplies can be delivered to the polling place.
Thanks for your cooperation. If you have questions or concerns about this, please feel free to contact me as slapsley@ss.ca.gov or (916) 653-724 "

Three hots and a cot

Didn't like that cute little cartoon with the nifty soundtrack?

Here's some evidence that the socialistic programs are broken in the US, but capitalism here also blows.

Communist manifestoon

Communist manifestoon

hat tip Danny
Moyers Weighs In On Net Neutrality
Breaking News
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/13/2006 4:40:00 PM

Talon?

Documents Shed New Light on Pentagon Surveillance of Peace Activists
(10/12/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Defense Department Tracked Quakers, Student Groups

The name of the database is Talon.


Yep, HotMilitaryStud.com was all over that shit. Remember Talon News ?

Yeah, I know, I'm gross sometimes, and I dont'think there is any real connection, but it is kind of a strange coincidence, don't you think?

Sibel Edmonds

Test your knowledge of the Sibel Edmonds case.

I got 18 right.

Heh.