Iraq Closes Al-Jazeera Office Indefinitely

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)--The Iraqi government shut down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad operations indefinitely on Saturday, extending a one-month closure order imposed after the pan-Arab channel was accused of inciting violence.

OR HERE

Osama could be arrested soon: US official

Islamabad: Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden and his other top associates could be arrested anytime now, as the recent spate of Al Qaeda arrests in Pakistan have provided significant clues, a senior US official has claimed.

This Ladies and Gentleman is the freedom we brought to the so-called liberated people of Iraq. And this is the cynicism the administration deals with 9/11, timing the capture of the worlds most notorious terrorist just in time for the October Surprise.

Cheney Says Kerry Suffers 'Fundamental Misunderstanding'

Mr. Cheney said. "Terrorist attacks are not created by the use of strength. They are a result of the perception of weakness."

Baloney! How weak do you think Israel is? Russia? Spain? Or even the pre-9/11 U.S.of A. Gimme a break already. Quit with the word games and just admit you're out to conquer the Middle East for the betterment of our Commercial Empire.

Flag! 15 yard Penalty for flagrant bullshit!

The White House not only disavowed any coordination with the Swift Boaters, they claimed no connection whatsoever.

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Two former Vietnam prisoners of war who appear in ads attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry were appointed by the Bush administration to a panel advising the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The former POWs in the ad, Kenneth Cordier and Paul Galanti, serve on the VA's 12-member Former POW Advisory Committee. VA Secretary Anthony Principi appointed Cordier in 2002 and Galanti in 2003.

Cordier said the VA panel has nothing to do with the Bush campaign or the anti-Kerry group. "It's totally apolitical, and we meet twice a year to bring to the secretary's attention problems from around the country in VA hospitals," he said.

Cordier and Galanti appear in an anti-Kerry ad saying their Vietnamese captors used news of anti-war protests, such as ones Kerry organized, to taunt the prisoners. Cordier also was a member of a Bush campaign veterans' committee but quit earlier this month after that role was revealed.

So how else do you define front group or pay off?

The rest of the article is a concise wrap-up of the whole Swiftboat flack, including the unrefutted evidence that their claims were completely discredited and biased due to their fervent hatred of what Kerry did after the came home. And yes, the Oh-So-Crucial unsubstantiated question of whether Kerry was ever in Cambodia is mentioned, as if that makes all the difference to the Bush Zealots.

The President says he wants all the 527's abolished, even going to court to stop them. Yet, the party's chief hatchet man, Tom DeLay, pent the entire Convention shaking down big doners to fund even more of them. Bush is the head of the party isn't he. Are you telling me that he couldn't make a simple phone call to the Republican whip and say, "knock it off." and not expect results.

Let me try to make things perfectly clear. There is absolutely no equivalence here, morally, ethically, legally, logically or tactically. There is a difference, a profound difference between the nature of the GOP and Democrats. There is an indisputable difference in the integrity, honesty, motives and fairness of the two candidates, their surrogates and supporters.

The GOP is run by men with no regard for decency or making America or the world better. Their motives are purely self-serving. It has been this way since Nixon.

• If you are satisfied with Zell Miller as a representative of your beliefs. vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with your candidate having to distance himself from his hand-picked keynote speaker instead of quoting him, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with bitterness and lies dating back 35 years as the best way to chart the future of America, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with broken promioses, intolerance, and failed policies, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with unapolegetic misuse of the power of the office of the Presidency, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with basing a war on a tissue of lies, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with the way that war and it's aftermath was prosecuted, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with our place in the world as viewed by the rest of the world, then vote for Bush. I find it inexcusable that this great Nation is looked upon by others as anything less than unambiguous admiration.
  
• If you are satisfied with and administration that has never stopped campaigning since the inaguration, continually minimized bad news and inflated the importance of good news, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with the prosepect of having to retrain yourself for a new career two or three times in the next 10 years, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with having to take any spare income you have (if you have any) and putting it in a savings account to pay for a possible catastrophic illness while insurance companies make record profits and nothing is done to curb the inflating costs of medical care, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with negative job growth, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with dismantling the wall between church and state, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with completely irresponsible managment of your tax dollars, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with your grandchildren inheriting crippling debt, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with a government that has absolutely no accountability, and with no need even to pretend it's accountable after the election, then vote for Bush.
  
• If you are satisfied with theories rather than results, then vote for Bush.
  

If you are satisfied that the last four years are the best that America can do, then vote for Bush.

He can't pay for it, he won't deliver on the promises. He can't Nobody could. If you believe him you'll believe anything. Oh, but he will cut taxes for the wealthy. Frankly I started to debunk the speech, but I got exhausted by the sheer audacity. Besides, with Hurricane Frances, Kerry's midnight "minuteman" speech, Clinton's heart attack, by the time I got half-way through the news had moved on. Enjoy the weekend everybody. UPDATE: Rumor has it that Clinton watched Bush's speech -- and it made him sick. I feel your pain Bill, I feel your pain.

According to this graphic from The New York Times > Washington > Image > The Words Speakers Use, over the first 3 days of the Democratic and Republican Conventions, the Democrat speakers used the name of their oponent 19 times -- The Republicans mentioned John Kerry by name 86 times.


Proof of negativity, in case you weren't sure.

VIA: Kicking Ass

And his Little Woman too. Spooky. Paying homage to the late Fay Rae.

Ladies and gentlemen I'd like to introduce my husband, Sauron. He'd like to keep his Ring for another four years. (by "lectric" at Kos)

Read more of the comments/captions at KOS. Funniest thing I've read in days. I especially loved the group rendition of White Rabbit.

One Pill Makes You Larger...
And One Pill Give You Gall

And cutting the wealthy's taxes
...don't do anything at allllll...
Go ask Laura
when she was just small.

And if you go chasing terrists (4.00 / 3)
And you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em a hookah smoking Chalabi
Has given you the call.

When men called Turd Blossom
Get up and tell you where to go....
And you've just watched some so-called Hardball
and your mind is feeling low . . .

remember what Laura said...
that's the idiot I wed.

oh woAH!

FLASHBACK!

Groovy.

The very symbol of sober discourse and inclusion. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the only reason I ever had hope that the grown-ups were in charge of this administration, is conspicuously AWOL from NYC this week.

And the spin being pushed doesn't pass the laugh test.

A lot of tlak/spin about why the candidate should apologize for what he did in 1972. He himself is obviously more circumspect and mature than he was as a young man, and freely admits that.

One incident does not define a man, but extreme acts do set the bounderies of what he is capable of. Of course I'm not talking about John Kerry, this is the tale of a memorable time George Bush would like to forget.

Leaving the election-night "celebration," Allison remembers encountering George W. Bush in the parking lot, urinating on a car, and hearing later about how he'd yelled obscenities at police officers that night. Bush left a house he'd rented in Montgomery trashed -- the furniture broken, walls damaged and a chandelier destroyed, the Birmingham News reported in February. "He was just a rich kid who had no respect for other people's possessions," Mary Smith, a member of the family who rented the house, told the newspaper, adding that a bill sent to Bush for repairs was never paid. And a month later, in December, during a visit to his parents' home in Washington, Bush drunkenly challenged his father to go "mano a mano," as has often been reported.

Around the same time, for the 1972 Christmas holiday, the Allisons met up with the Bushes on vacation in Hobe Sound, Fla. Tension was still evident between Bush and his parents. Linda was a passenger in a car driven by Barbara Bush as they headed to lunch at the local beach club. Bush, who was 26 years old, got on a bicycle and rode in front of the car in a slow, serpentine manner, forcing his mother to crawl along. "He rode so slowly that he kept having to put his foot down to get his balance, and he kept in a weaving pattern so we couldn't get past," Allison recalled. "He was obviously furious with his mother about something, and she was furious at him, too."

What ever possessed this arrogant little bastard to think he could become President. He certainly proves that this IS the land of opportunity opportunists.

HAT TIP: Atrios

An interesting point of Presidential Trivia from the LA Times: Despite Claims, Bush Wavers on Decisiveness

Indeed, he has not yet vetoed any measure %uFFD1 even big spending bills loathed by his conservative supporters. If he keeps up that track record, Bush would be the first president never to wield a veto since James Garfield, who was shot to death after less than a year in office.

Does he know he's allowed to say, "no?"