Survived another Christmas

I love my kids and wanted Christmas to be magical for them, but there was little magic in my heart.

I can accept that 2,000 years ago a holy man named Jesus was executed by the Romans in Judea. Whether or not he was the Son of God, sent to redeem the world, is not an issue I can answer. The whole God thing is logically infantile, yet the big guy actually spoke to me once, maybe twice, and did a couple of miracles, but that's another story. Let's just say that I am really ticked off at someone up there about the election.

Back to Christmas. Listening to endless Christmas carols trying to get in the holiday mood, I found myself humming along to Silent Night and thinking about WWI.

The English and the Germans were hunkered down in their trenches on Christmas eve. Across the battlefield the Brits heard their enemies singing Silent Night. And they answered. Together they sang other carols and then, slowly the men emerged from their trenches and crossed the battlefield. They shared chocolate and other treats. Someone produced a soccer ball. After that night, these soldiers refused to fight and had to be replaced.

Such a thing could never happen today. Christmas has lost its magic power to bring peace on earth thanks to George Bush and his fundementalist supporters.

Theocracy?

It's already started.
School Unit Mandates 'Intelligent Design'

DOVER, Pa. - When talk at the high school here turns to the origins of life, biology teachers have to make time for both Charles Darwin as well as his detractors.

Last month, this rural south-central Pennsylvania community became first in the nation to mandate the teaching of "intelligent design," which holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by an unspecified higher power.

Last month, the Dover Area School District board voted to overhaul its ninth-grade biology curriculum. It now requires students to learn about alternate theories to evolution, which holds that Earth is billions of years old and that life forms developed over millions of years.

Critics say it's a veiled attempt to require public school children to learn creationism, a biblical-based view that credits the origin of species to God.

What's next, how about no birth control? Oh wait, they're doing that, too.
Some pharmacists refusing to dispense birth-control pills

Some pharmacists, however, disagree and refuse on moral grounds to fill prescriptions for contraceptives. And states from Rhode Island to Washington have proposed laws that would protect such decisions.

Mississippi enacted a sweeping statute that went into effect in July that allows health care providers, including pharmacists, to not participate in procedures that go against their conscience. South Dakota and Arkansas already had laws that protect a pharmacist’s right to refuse to dispense medicines. Ten other states considered similar bills this year.

At least we can keep the extremist off the Supreme Court. There are still enough rational reality-based Senators to fillibuster. Oh, wait. Maybe not.
Frist to Democrats: Stop Blocking Judges

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urged Democrats yesterday to stop blocking President Bush's federal court nominees and hinted that he might try to change Senate rules to thwart their tactics.

"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," Frist (R-Tenn.) said in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.

Resources to fight deadbeat red states

On generally taxes: George Lakoff on patriotism and taxes.

On red state v. blue state tax inequities BetterDeadThanRed.net, and StopWelfare.com.

And on punishing the greedy who lead the stupid reds BuyBlue.org.

Paradigm Shift

I am so sick about this election. I firmly believe that the GOP stole it. There are too many cases like this in Florida, Ohio and a lot of other places. Yes they stole it, but because of paperless voting, we’ll never know.

Three Options:

1. Leave. Canada or Europe. Maybe New Zealand.

2. Fight Back Economically. Punish the red states and those corporations that support Bush. Never set foot in a Walmart again. Ever. Shop local. Shop Blue. And turn off the damn idiot box. Cut off all contact with red America.

3. Revolution. Target GOP senators in states with Dem Governors.

There is a fourth alternative. Liberals, Progressives, Libertarians, and independents live in a reality based world. Red America doesn’t. We speak two different languages and live in two different cultures. Every significant paradigm shift in how anthropologists analyze cultures has started with linguistics. So it’s time to see what the linguists have to say. And the one who is saying it is George Lakoff. More on this soon.

Kerry Concedes in Stolen Election.

Best Ever Brownies:

4 oz. (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa, sifted after measuring
1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup walnuts, in small pieces

Use 8 inch square baking pan. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put rack in center of oven

In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter for half a minute or so, then add the sugar and beat until well mixed.

Beat in eggs.
Add sifted cocoa and mix until smooth.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, then and to bowl and mixing bowl and beat at medium speed for 2 Minutes. This is the critical step.

Add water and vanilla and mix in.
Gently blend in Walnuts. Dough will be stiff and sticky. Spread the dough evenly in the baking pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until top is set and toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for at least 15 minutes before trying to frost or serve. They are delicious plain, too.

Exit Polls

It's election day. I am so nervous.

Early exit polls look promising.
FL: 50/49 - KERRY
OH: 52/47 - KERRY
MI: 51/48 - KERRY
PA: 58/42 - KERRY
IA: 50/48 - KERRY
WI: 53/47 - KERRY
MN: 57/42 - KERRY
NH: 58/41 - KERRY
ME: 55/44 - KERRY
NM: 49/49 - TIE

NV: 48/49 - BUSH
CO: 49/50 - BUSH
AR: 45/54 - BUSH
NC: 47/53 - BUSH

PA Senate Race: Hoeffel Closing. Donate Now

In 24 hours on Wednesday, dKos readers contributed over $7,000 from a pair of diaries about tight races in Pennsylvania. The first diary was up for a few minutes. The follow-up got recommended.

Thank you to all who donated as well as those who took a minute to read and recommend said diary. Together we raised $5,200 for Joe Hoeffel. Plus $1,000 for Ginny Schrader (House, PA-08), $800 for Lois Murphy (PA-06) and $600 for Joe Driscoll (PA-15).

I discovered late that night that Joe Hoeffel and his campaign were following our progress, and they were thrilled. And Thursday evening the next United State Senator from Pennsylvania called me up to personally express his gratitude. He told me that what we did really helped.

Please consider donating now.
Arlen Spector's number are plummeting, but Joe Hoeffel NEEDS CASH NOW. In the latest Keystone Poll, Specter was only polling at 44% and dropping. Hoeffel is still trails, but is within striking distance and closing fast. Pennsylvania does this. In 2000, Dem. Ron Klink finished with 46% of the vote against Rick Santorum, when he was polling at 35% with less than a week to go in the election. We may never get a better opportunity to dump Specter because he has a challenger on the right who is pulling 7% to 10% of the wingnut vote.

Can Hoeffel do it in time? Only if WE HELP.

A New Terrorist Threat?

Pakistanis are hunting Abdullah Mehsud, one of the most wanted and dangerous militants. Mehsud is Taliban commander with ties to al-Qaida. Where did he come from? See if you can guess. He was being held by the U.S. at Guantanamo for two years. Yes, that's right, a former Guantanamo detainee has turned to terrorism.

Experts say it's possible Mehsud was always a hardcore militant and deceived his captors.

"The other possibility is that the two years in captivity was itself a radicalizing experience," says terrorism expert Brian Jenkins.

A defiant Mehsud now claims he's avenging cruelty against Muslims. He vows to fight to the death against Americans and Pakistanis under American influence.

Oh great. Just what we need in this world, more terrorists. Howard Dean was right. We are no safer with Saddam out of power. John Kerry is right. Bush's disasterous handling of Afganistan and Iraq is creating more terrorist. The concentration camp at Guantanamo is actually creating terrorists.

Can we please fire this guy and elect someone with some brains who understands war.

Good People Supporting a Bad President

"How can anyone support Bush," we ask.

FOX News is the common denominator.

My neighbor is a wonderful person. She sends her teenage daughter over most afternoons to help out with my two young boys. While I've been laid up with a back injury, she's made dinners for us once a week. She is a college professor and cares about a lot of things I care about, but defines herself as a "conservative.". She is voting for Bush. Fox News is on all the time in their home. I mean all the time.

My father and step-mom are strong Kerry supporters. My dad just finished reading Richard Clarke's book and is starting Kevin Phillips'. My step-mom worked for Planned Parenthood in the 1980s. She is really close to her two sisters. One is a reseacher for NIH, the other is a doctor. Fox News is on in their homes All The Time.

My husband recently wrote a story for our local paper about how people feel about the election in our county here in central PA. Among the Bush supporters were sweet little old ladies worried about prescription drug costs, hard working guys in construction who have a hard time paying for health insurance for their workers, veterns whose benefits are eroding, and moms who note that the schools are getting worse and worse. They're voting for Bush because "he's a strong leader," etc. But all of those reasons sounded word-for-word, like BC04 talking points, and everyone of them told him that their main source of news and information was FOX news. In fact, they told him that they usually had FOX on ALL THE TIME.

FOX is everywhere. If you make a pit stop at a travel center on an interstate highway, and run in for a cup of coffee and maybe a sandwich, FOX is on. If you work out at a health club, FOX is on. My husband told me that it is even on in the newsroom at the paper. It always bothered him, but after seeing "OutFOXed", he is starting to demand that they switch back to CNN or MSNBC,, which are much better.  

When (not if) Kerry wins in November, our job is not over. No Way. We don't get our country back until we put FOX News out of business.

Jon Stewart Endorses Kerry

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comedian Jon Stewart, whose nightly cable television show is popular with the young voters considered key in the upcoming presidential election, said on Thursday he prefers Democrat John Kerry over Republican President Bush.

"It looks like Kerry," said Stewart, host of "The Daily Show," a satirical late-night review of politics on Viacom Inc.-owned cable channel Comedy Central. "I would be stunned if something happened to change my mind."

He called the U.S.-led war in Iraq a "mistake" and said he failed to understand the "Bush doctrine" of preemptive strikes against perceived security threats.

"If one guy drove me into a ditch and said, 'Don't worry, I know how to get us out of this,' I'd give the keys to a 7-year-old," Stewart said during a media event sponsored by Syracuse University's Newhouse School.

Stewart's no-holds-barred lambasting of the U.S. political scene has won him a strong following, particularly among young male voters coveted by both parties in the tight presidential race.

The Emmy-award winning "Daily Show" is a regular stop for politicians on the campaign trail, including Kerry, and its "Indecision 2004" coverage of the presidential race has become a must-see for twenty- and thirty-something voters.

Stewart roasted both candidates for their repetitive stumping during their final public debate.

"I thought both men took rhetoric to another level," he said, adding that Bush appeared "well coached."

"He wasn't the angry Bush of the second debate or the retarded Bush from the first," Stewart said.

Stewart also took aim at the mainstream U.S. media -- which he mocks regularly -- and said it fails to take politicians or big business to task.

"The press has bravely and nobly eroded the public trust," he said. "What I'm advocating is the media come back and work for us again. ... The bias of the media is not liberal. It's lazy and sensationalist."

Reuters
Oct 14 2004 7:40PM

Bush Wired for Debate Three?

Judge for yourself. From NBC Footage:

Bush Refusal to Meet with Congressional Black Caucus

Letter to President Bush from the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Elijah E. Cummings, on his repeated refusual to meet with the CBC. Click here for entire Press Release from Rep. Cummings' office.

July 16, 2003

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500


Dear Mr. President:
(snip)
I do wish to again invite you to meet with the entire Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) prior to the U.S. House of Representatives' August District work period that begins on July 25, 2003.

Mr. President, I need not remind you that the CBC's requests for meetings with you have gone unanswered for more than two-and-one-half years. As a result, you and your Administration have had less opportunity to receive the expertise, wisdom and insights of our 39 Members on a wide variety of significant national and international issues including: the current crisis in Iraq, the double-digit unemployment in the African American community and the overall state of the American economy, homeland security and our defense against terrorism, our bilateral relationships with African nations, and the many other domestic and international challenges facing our country.
(snip)
Thank you for your consideration of our request, Mr. President. We look forward to meeting with you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Elijah E. Cummings
Chair, Congressional Black Caucus

Video Clip Bush "I'm Not That Concerned About Osama."

Video clip from debate, followed by clip from press conference when President Bush said,"Again, I don't know where he is. Um..Ah...I repeat what I said, I trully am not that concerned about him."

John Kerry: Save the Coral Reefs

Click here or scroll down to read about how massive voter registration is driving local GOP to dirty tricks.

Save the Fiji Reef (and the rest of them) Vote for Kerry *George Bush gets sno-cones *as a consolation prize I guess. Have to ask my four-year-old about that. It's his sign.

Local GOP Desperate

Local Republicans picked the wrong sign to steal.

Last night our Kerry/Edwards/Hoeffel sign was stolen as were signs up and down our block. When we filed a police report, the officer said that in his ten years on the force, he has never seen anything like this. They are getting reports of stolen signs almost daily. While the police say both sides claim to be losing signs, the Centre Daily Times, our local Knight Ridder paper, aka the CDT, has received mostly letters about Kerry signs being stolen.

The published police reports also refer mostly to Kerry signs. Meanwhile, there is a huge five foot Bush sign right near the mall outside town, surely an inviting target. No one has touched it.

Who is stealing our yard signs? Well, on Sept 28, the CDT reported

Political yard signs reported stolen

STATE COLLEGE -- State College police received three complaints of yard signs supporting Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry being stolen from a neighborhood over the weekend, and in two cases, "College Republican" stickers were reportedly left behind.

According to police, two signs for Kerry and vice-presidential nominee John Edwards were reported stolen from 849 Saxton Drive at 5:48 p.m. Sunday. A "College Republican" sticker had been placed on the home's front door, police said. A Kerry-Edwards sign was also reported stolen from 938 S. Sparks St. at 12:22 p.m. Sunday, according to police. A "College Republican" sticker was placed on another Democratic sign in this case, police said. A Kerry sign was also discovered missing Monday morning from 705 Storch Road, police said.

Likewise the Daily Collegian, the Penn State student newspaper, reported on Oct. 4 that

(Penn State College Democrats President Megan) Green also said many people come into the office looking for more bumper stickers because they have gone out to their car to find campaign stickers for President George W. Bush placed over their Kerry stickers. State College resident Selden Smith discovered last week that Penn State College Republican stickers had covered the Kerry bumper stickers on his car.

The local GOP is acting desperate if they are promoting a yard sign stealing campaign. Things are not going well for George Bush nationally, and things are not going well for him here. According to the CDT, since January, 5,000 new people have registered and as of October 5th, 2,000 were still waiting to be processes. However, in the last days before the deadline, between Oct 5th and 8th, 8,000 new registrations came in, half of which appear to come from students. While both parties are working hard to register new people, new Democratic registrations have outpaced Republican. Of the 5,000 new voters processed by Oct 5th, only 32% are Republican. 45% are Democrats and 23% are Independents, and we all know that Bush is polling poorly with that group.

What about those still to be processed? On October 5th, a volunteer for the local Democratic Party had about 500 more to deliver, while the local GOP had a “thick stack.” Hmmmm.

How about those who are registering? Check these quotes

At local Republican campaign headquarters on South Allen Street, Georgia-born Libby Lusht, a State College resident for 30 years, picked up a registration form to get it to someone she knows who was not yet registered Lusht sees Kerry and Bush as a choice between a diplomat and a yard dog when Americans face an imminent threat of violence. "Which do you want between you and the threat?" Lusht said. "I just don't see talking our way to safety."

I had to read that twice. Kerry is the diplomat and Bush is a “yard dog.” I guess that transplanted Georgia voter prefers “Furious George.” Personally, I’d prefer the diplomat. Meanwhile, at the local Democratic Headquarters,

Voters seeking last-minute registration Monday included Penn State graduate student Allison Morgan, 25, who voted in Maryland in the presidential election four years ago. Morgan hand-delivered her registration form to the Willowbank Building to make sure she got signed up here.

"I don't have a good feeling about the war -- why we went," she said. "That alone is enough to make me want to vote for Kerry."

Our New Sign