Cat Stevens Refused Entry to US

(UK Guardian) A passenger plane carrying singer Cat Stevens to Washington was diverted to another city 600 miles away yesterday so the musician could be escorted off the flight by FBI agents and sent back to Britain. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the singer, who converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam, was denied access to the US "on national security grounds".

Read on.

Flip Flop!

"Because I believe the advance of liberty is the path to both a safer and better world, today I propose establishing a democracy fund within the United Nations. This is a great calling for this great organization. The fund would help countries lay the foundations of democracy by instituting the rule of law and independent courts, a free press, political parties and trade unions." - G. W. Bush, Address to the General Assembly, Sept. 21

Great Organization? Trade unions? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Moore: Put Away Your Hankies

I'm feeling uncharacteristically dogmatic and faith-based today, perhaps because to be otherwise seems pointless. Besides, I didn't get much sleep last night, which has left me in a stupor, with a stiff neck and a case of bad vibes. I hate this country today. I hate this election. I hate this whole shitty pseudo-democratic process. I hate the lies, the make-up - even the failure of the candidates to show a sense of aesthetic; it wouldn't be so bad if the candidates were at least entertaining to watch. I don't know - maybe Moore is right. Probably not, but...what the hell. It's either this or an evergrowing insatiable need to engage in violence.

Put Away Your Hankies

Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"

Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded. They are never finished -- they just keeping moving forward like sharks that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.

They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them -- they just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all -- the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the governorships. How do you think they've been able to pull that off considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day wreaking havoc on the planet.

Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"

No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or I. People like Kerry run.

Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president -- Kerry is. So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just gave 300 women a... Pontiac! Did you see any of them frowning and moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not, they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.

My friends, it is time for a reality check.

1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.

2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.

3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya, there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real. Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything else is just a sugar-coated lie).

4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call Vietnam. There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it. Had Bush bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won." All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is going to cook his goose come this November.

So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."

Yes...Yes...Yesssss....He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...

WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL YOU DO THAT?

Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands. Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth, why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do we have any other choice?

Yours,

Michael Moore

Press Reports on U.S. Casualties: About 17,000 Short

UPI - Nearly 17,000 service members medically evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan are absent from public Pentagon casualty reports commonly cited by newspapers, according to military data reviewed by United Press International.

Most don't fit the definition of casualties, according to the Pentagon, but a veterans' advocate said they should all be counted.

The Pentagon has reported 1,019 dead and 7,245 wounded from Iraq.

The military has evacuated 16,765 individual service members from Iraq and Afghanistan for injuries and ailments not directly related to combat, according to the U.S. Transportation Command, which is responsible for the medical evacuations. Most are from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Pentagon's public casualty reports, available at www.defenselink.mil, list only service members who died or were wounded in action. The Pentagon's own definition of a war casualty provided to UPI in December describes a casualty as, "Any person who is lost to the organization by having been declared dead, duty status/whereabouts unknown, missing, ill, or injured."

The casualty reports do list soldiers who died in non-combat-related incidents or died from illness. But service members injured or ailing from the same non-combat causes (the majority that appear to be "lost to the organization")are not reflected in those Pentagon reports.

In a statement Wednesday, the Pentagon gave a different definition that included casualty descriptions by severity and type and said most medical evacuations did not count. "The great majority of service members medically evacuated from Operation Iraqi Freedom are not casualties, by either Department of Defense definitions or the common understanding of the average newspaper reader."

It cited such ailments as "muscle strain, back pain, kidney stones, diarrhea and persistent fever" as non-casualty evacuations. "Casualty reports released to the public are generally confined to fatalities and those wounded in action," the statement said.

A veterans' advocate said the Pentagon should make a full reporting of the casualties, including non-combat ailments and injuries. "They are still casualties of war," said Mike Schlee, director of the National Security and Foreign Relations Division at the American Legion. "I think we have to have an honest disclosure of what the short- and long-term casualties of any conflict are."

A spokesman for the transportation command said that without orders from U.S. Central Command, his unit would not separate the medical evacuation data to show how many came from Iraq and Afghanistan. "We stay in our lane," said Lt. Col. Scott Ross. But most are clearly from Operation Iraqi Freedom where several times as many troops are deployed as in Afghanistan.

Among veterans from Iraq seeking help from the VA, 5,375 have been diagnosed with a mental problem, making it the third-leading diagnosis after bone problems and digestive problems. Among the mental problems were 800 soldiers who became psychotic.

A military study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July showed that 16 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq might suffer major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. Around 11 percent of soldiers returning from Afghanistan may have the same problems, according to that study.

Framing Bush: A Case Study

Now, I'm not one to dilute my anger by laughing at Bushisms - I think we've had just about enough of this act - but this article from the Baltimore Sun is extremely revealing about the way Bush (read: Rove) constructs his campaign appearances. Anyone familiar with the work of Erving Goffman will find much of this familiar. In fact, the Bush administration may provoke another wave of Frame Analysis and considerations about whether what we're seeing is real, or some an elaborate plan on the part of devious forces who have turned ignorance (read: folksiness) and ineloquence (read: trustworthiness) into a form of high art. (By the way: it's OK to laugh at the OB/GYN comment.)

September 8, 2004 - POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. - President Bush was rolling along just fine in his speech.

"We've got an issue in America: Too many good docs are getting out of business."

But when he referred to obstetrician-gynecologists and their troubles, things got, well, interesting.

"Too many OB/GYNs," Bush explained, "aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."

Bush was evidently speaking of "love" to underscore how much these specialists enjoy their vocation. But with his word choice, the president injected a provocative element into a standard stump speech here this week.

Welcome to the unpredictable road show known as Bush traveling the country. Many Americans see him in prime-time appearances, such as his Republican convention speech in New York - in a suit, polished, reading from a teleprompter that limits his verbal excursions.

But most, especially those outside the campaign battleground states that the president visits exclusively nowadays, miss the Bush who lands in town squares, basketball arenas and school gyms in search of votes.

He can be punchy, looking for a laugh and so relaxed that his antics can enter the realm of the inexplicable. He has champed on raw corn, described which parts of a broccoli leaf taste best, played peek-a-boo with photographers and told mayors to fill potholes.

On the road, Bush lets any malapropisms or gaffes just flow out. This is Dubya unplugged, Dubya unworried.

After all, many of his supporters adore Bush for his average-guy charm. So, in a way, his unpretentious oddities can be a strength. Critics and late-night talk-show hosts have spent four years ridiculing Bushisms, and yet there's no evidence that Bush has been harmed politically.

Last week, Bush was finishing a long bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania, when he attacked his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry, over Iraq in a speech in Erie, Pa.

He was launching into a well-worn line about how Kerry voted no when Bush asked Congress to provide the troops with "body armor and spare parts." But in Erie, Bush melded the two. He recalled asking lawmakers if they could buy "armor and body parts." And, he said, he was furious that Kerry had refused to fund those items.

Some events just lend themselves to entertainment. The campaign frequently organizes "Ask President Bush" sessions, in which the president informally holds court on a stage with a stool and microphone, surrounded by people. He singles out preselected audience members to raise issues the campaign wants to have raised and freely acknowledges that the participants are mostly human props.

"One of the interesting ways that I try to make points is to have others make them for me," Bush said at a recent freewheeling event in Nashua, N.H. "Alison Brackett is with us today. She runs a program called Bridges of Learning."

In these settings, the president could aptly be described as a cross between rambling talk-show host and traveling salesman. He speaks quickly and is ever eager.

"She's here because she is a social entrepreneur," Bush said. "Tell us what you did."

"We are a organization that collects and then distributes school materials, supplies and needs throughout the world," Brackett said.

Bush: "Right, OK, isn't that amazing? Think about this. And so when did you start? Who told you to start this?"

Brackett said the idea came from her kids.

"So, it wasn't a government program?" Bush said, sensing his point was being made and growing more excited. "The president didn't say, 'Start this.' The governor didn't say, 'We're going to pass a resolution in the New Hampshire House for you to do it.' She heard a call. And so what do you do? I know you distribute school supplies. Give us a little - some details."

Later in Nashua, Bush praised an audience member, Christine Burritt, for not disclosing any military secrets in speaking about her son's service in Iraq.

"He's stationed 40 miles north of Baghdad," Burritt said.

"Right," said her presidential host.

"And they do convoy missions," Burritt said. "Security and other missions as defined ... which ... he doesn't tell his mom about."

"That's good," the president said, "particularly with all these cameras looking at you."

At these events, Bush also fields random questions, which the White House insists are not screened. But the room is full of supporters. And the questions, if you can call them that, are not exactly unfriendly.

"I'm going to appear to be sophisticated, but I'm a wreck," one of Bush's questioners confessed in Nashua.

"That's what I try to do, too," the president replied. "I try to be sophisticated and - I have trouble pulling it off, though, you know?"

"It's an honor to be here today to meet you, Mr. President," the questioner added. "OK, and New Hampshire chicks love you. I got to say that."

"So far," Bush deadpanned, "you haven't acted very sophisticated."

One of the more memorable campaign moments came outside Davenport, Iowa, last month, when Bush and his entourage pulled over at Ken Thomsen's corn stand. The president disembarked from his car and bought a half-dozen ears.

Then Bush peeled back the husk and bit into one.

"Oh, yeah, you don't even need to cook it," he said. "It's really good."

Reporters tried to ask the president about a more sober matter - how he felt about campaigning in the same area as Kerry on the same day.

Bush just kept eating.

"We're here buying some corn," he said finally, to get reporters to stop interrupting.

The president then went over to another farm stand, where he spoke with Larry Gatlin, the country singer, who was traveling with him.

"Who'd ever have thought you could eat raw corn?" Gatlin said.

"I didn't," Bush said.

And with that, it was off to another campaign stop to try to get four more years in the White House.

Court: Nader May Be Off Florida Ballot

AP - In what could be a major defeat for Ralph Nader, a judge has issued a temporary order that keeps the independent presidential candidate off the Florida ballot.

Nader is trying to get on the ballot as the Reform Party's nominee, but Circuit Judge Kevin Davey agreed with Democrats who argued that the Reform Party is not a legitimate national party and did not follow state law in giving Nader its nomination.

The ruling, issued late Wednesday night, prevents Secretary of State Glenda Hood from certifying Nader's place on the ballot until a full hearing takes place. Circuit Judge Kevin Davey strongly indicated Thursday that the order would become permanent, saying he wouldn't have issued it if he thought Nader and running mate Peter Camejo (news - web sites) properly qualified for the ballot.
"I'm quite confident in the ruling. There's at least 15 reasons as to why they won't qualify, at least 15 that I counted up," Davey said during a status hearing. "If it was one or two, I'd be worried about it, but there's a whole lot of reasons Mr. Nader and Mr. Camejo aren't going to appear on the ballot in Florida."

Most Democrats and many Republicans agree that Nader's presence on the 2000 ballot may have cost Al Gore (news - web sites) the presidency. President Bush (news - web sites) won Florida by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes. Exit polls indicate a majority of those votes likely would have gone to Gore.

This year, Democratic state parties have funded dozens of legal challenges to Nader's efforts to win ballot access, frustrating his supporters and draining his resources. He has already been knocked off the ballot in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Virginia, but has won a spot in more than 20 other states.

Hood's office sent a certified ballot to election supervisors Thursday without Nader's name, but included a memo stating that the list of presidential candidates may change. Her office is pressuring Davey to act quickly on the lawsuit because absentee ballots to military personnel and other citizens overseas must be mailed by Sept. 18.

While Davey indicated the Reform Party shouldn't be able to place Nader on the ballot, he wanted to give the party and Nader a chance to make their arguments before issuing a final ruling that is likely to come next week. Nader did not hire a lawyer to represent him in the case until Thursday.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Nader said the judge's decision is flawed and vowed to appeal if it becomes final.

"What's the irreparable damage?" Nader asked. "That Democrats might be subjected to competition by another candidacy? And (the judge) bought it."

The lawsuit, filed by the Florida Democratic Party and four voters, argues that the Reform Party is not a legitimate national party and that Nader failed to follow Florida election laws requiring minor candidates to qualify by petition or through a nominating convention.

Democrats argue that the Reform Party doesn't actively raise money or promote candidates and has only $18.18 in the bank.

Also Thursday, an Oregon judge ruled that Nader's name should appear on Oregon's ballot this fall, overturning a decision by the state's Democratic secretary of state. State Elections Director John Lindback said an appeal was planned.

Puppy Shoots Dog Batterer

After years of repression, the dogs have begun to rise!

Bush in SoHo

In a Times story on Republican-friendly gallery art, local artist Scott Lobaido is quoted as saying, "If you don't believe in that politically, you're going to hate it." Ambiguity aside (I think what he means is that if you don’t agree with the message, you’ll hate the paintings), he’s dead wrong.

Check out a gallery of Lobaido’s completely unironic Staten Island kitch political pieces. Just because the guy’s a kook doesn’t mean some of these images don't say some very interesting stuff (however different it may be from what the artist intends). Among my favorites are the one of a smoking Sinatra walking away after having kicked the bejesus out of Mayor Bloomberg and that of muscle-bound gladiator Rudy G. spearing a beast with Old Glory. Not included on his page is this great one of a giant stars-and-stripes spider torturing Sadaam. Wow.

Convention Coverage

I'm in the process of writing up a little something about some of the weblogs I've come across recently, but in the meantime I wanted to point out one in particular: Michael Bérubé. He's been writing some of the best convention coverage I've seen yet, hands down. With a healthy dose of irony and humor, Michael Bérubé manages to skewer the entire Republican agenda without coming off as just another shrill liberal.

And speaking of shrill, apparently the moment of note last night was Zell Miller's complete breakdown while being interviewed by Chris Matthews after his speech. The full transcript of their fairly heated discussion is here, but here's a few choice quotes:

MILLER: ...Right here is what John Kerry put out as far as his U.S. Senate platform, was, he was talking about he wanted to cancel the M.X. missile, the B-1 bomber, the anti-satellite system. This is not voting for something that was in a big bill.

MATTHEWS: Which of those systems was effective in either Afghanistan of Iraq?

...

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about this, because I think you have a view on the role of reporters in the world. You have said and it has often been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.... But it‘s a statement that nobody would have challenged. Why did you make it? It seems like no one would deny what you said. So what‘s your point?

MILLER: Well, it evidently got a rise out of you... [b]ecause you are a reporter.

MATTHEWS: That‘s right.

MILLER: You didn‘t have anything to do with freedom of the press.

MATTHEWS: Well, you could argue it was not nurses who defended the freedom of nursing. Why did you single out freedom of the press to say it was the soldiers that defended it and not the reporters? We all know that. Why did you say it?

MILLER: Well, because I thought it needed to be said at this particular time, because I wanted to come on...

MATTHEWS: Because you could get an applause line against the media at a conservative convention.

MILLER: No, I said it because it was—you‘re hopeless. I wish I was over there.

And last, but certainly not least:

MILLER: I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel.

Read the whole thing, it's absolutely worth it.

Pantera Frontman to Middle East: I will fucking destroy you!

Former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo went on Cleveland radio this week and recorded a message for the troops overseas. Here is some of his thoughtful political philosophy: "Look, the Middle East has been a pile of shit for over seven decades... if you don't catch on to the way, we'll kick your ass some more... and WE - WILL - KICK - YOUR - ASS. Deep into the Middle East. I suggest you take heed - any of you - and if you are out there, and you're a plotter, and you're with the al Qaeda, you are my enemy, and I dare you to face me one on one - EVER! 'Cause I will fucking destroy you."