I'm back from traveling around the country and the world...

Great news today:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign06/countdown.html

That's a Washington Post page tracking most of the competitive House and Senate races this year. Don't forget to vote, but even if you do, it looks like the Democratic party is going to make significant gains this season. I wonder why....

Maybe it has something to do with the war! A few nice points from that link:

• The poll showed that 29 percent of Americans approve of the way President Bush is managing the war, matching the lowest mark of his presidency.
• Nearly 70 percent said Mr. Bush did not have a plan to end the war
  
• 80 percent said Mr. Bush’s latest effort to rally public support for the conflict amounted to a change in language but not policy.

I especially like the second point. Finally. Calling Iraq the 'war on terror' does not actually make it part of any war on terror, nor does it bring a war on terror into existence where there was not one previously. George Bush's decision to defend Don Rumsfeld at this point seems particularly mysterious. I thought everyone knew he was incompetent...

And this is a weird bit of news:

"We're going to win," President Bush asserted confidently in his latest press conference, when asked about the midterm elections. Vice President Dick Cheney tells interviewers he is "optimistic" about the Republican Party's ability to hold on to control of both the House and the Senate.

Are they deluded? Do they not read the polls? I will be very, very surprised if their predictions turn out to be accurate.

How do you say this in German... schadenfreude?

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday. ... Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Of course five years in prison would give her lots and lots of time to write more trashy, trashy books so maybe it's not a good idea to lock her up... It's a tough call.

The Stupidest Thing EVER Said about Noam Chomsky

Congratulations, Alan Dershowitz...

<>“I don’t know anybody who’s ever read a Chomsky book,” said Mr. Dershowitz, who said he first met Mr. Chomsky in 1948 at a Hebrew-speaking Zionist camp in the Pocono Mountains where Mr. Dershowitz was a camper and Mr. Chomsky was a counselor. “You buy them, you put them in your pockets, you put them out on your coffee table,” said Mr. Dershowitz, a longtime critic of Mr. Chomsky. The people who are buying “Hegemony” now, he added, “I promise you they are not going to get to the end of the book.” He continued: “He does not write page turners, he writes page stoppers. There are a lot of bent pages in Noam Chomsky’s books, and they are usually at about Page 16.”

As a prominent (though not necessarily informed or intelligent) critic of Chomsky, should Dershowitz be admitting that he has never read a Chomsky book? Presumably he knows himself... If he doesn't know ANYONE who has read one, or if he himself has never read beyond page 16, perhaps he should take a break from slandering Chomsky and start actually reading his books instead.

Thanks, Colin Powell:

That rift [in the Republican party over the treatment of detainees] deepened Thursday when Powell waded into the debate with a letter in which he sided with Republicans who advocate stricter protections for terrorism detainees and warned against Bush's proposal, which allows for harsher treatment and more extreme methods of interrogation. "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," Powell said, adding that Bush's proposal "would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our troops at risk."

Too bad he couldn't have done this a few years ago... Of course I think the world has doubted the moral basis of our fight against terrorism for a long time now, especially outside of Tony Blair's office.

A Giant Leap Forward for Muslim-Christian Relations:

A statement from the Vatican has failed to quell criticism of Pope Benedict XVI from Muslim leaders, after he made a speech about the concept of holy war. Speaking in Germany, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things.

Wow. This is kind of a huge fuck-up:

Questioning a Kurdish witness Thursday, Saddam said, "I wonder why this man wanted to meet with me, if I am a dictator?" <>The judge interrupted: "You were not a dictator. People around you made you (look like) a dictator." "Thank you," Saddam responded, bowing his head in respect.

<>What if Saddam is found not guilty? What will we do then? While Saddam is entitled to a fair trial, I do hope the judge was at least questioned on his opinions about him before the trial started.

<>The warmongers want us to invade Iran. Don't believe their lies:

<>U.N. inspectors have protested to the U.S. government and a Congressional committee about a report on Iran's nuclear work, calling parts of it "outrageous and dishonest," according to a letter obtained by Reuters. ... The letter said the errors suggested Iran's nuclear fuel program was much more advanced than a series of IAEA reports and Washington's own intelligence assessments have determined. It said the report falsely described Iran to have enriched uranium at its pilot centrifuge plant to weapons-grade level in April, whereas IAEA inspectors had made clear Iran had enriched only to a low level usable for nuclear power reactor fuel.

Would we really be dumb enough to fall for the same trick (that is, distorting evidence to exaggerate the threat posed by a country we want to invade) TWICE? That would be really sad. The right wing really doesn't have very many ideas, does it? To have to resort to this same method again is not promising. Reported again here and here. (The second of those two is to the Washington Post, which has a more comprehensive story.)

Good News from a Swing District:

“Republicans believe their party is in trouble and they want to help their campaigns,” Ms. Dodich said. “It is almost like Bush is frantic.”

Of course we might not WANT to take control of the House and Senate again. That would not make anything easier for us with George as President... It might be better to wait. On the other hand, who knows how the situation might change in two years. It is probably best to capitalize on the chance to make gains while that is still possible.

Overblown and unconvincing language:

Bush said the fight against terrorists "has been called a clash of civilizations. In truth, it is a struggle for civilization. We are fighting to maintain the way of life enjoyed by free nations." ... "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America," the president said in his 2001 address. "These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."

Wow. It's obvious that his better speechwriters have retired. "The terrorists can break the aluminum of our planes, but they will never bend the bronze of our balls!" Hire somebody new. While you're at it, get a new message. Are we really struggling to maintain our way of life? That's giving way too much credit to Al Qaeda. The Red Army might have been able to destroy our way of life, anyone who thinks that Osama and his few hundred operatives can do the same doesn't have much confidence in us...

This won't surprise anyone but the Republicans:

Global warming caused by humans is largely responsible for heating hurricane-forming regions of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, probably increasing the intensity of the storms, scientists reported yesterday. ... The scientists, reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said there was an 84 percent chance that human-induced climate change was responsible for most of the ocean warming . Oceans have warmed by about 1 degree in the past century, and natural influences alone could not account for that, they said.

And actually not even all Republicans would be surprised. Slowly but surely some of them are coming around and realizing that there is a scientific consensus on the matter. Even The Economist has made climate change the cover story this week! (Not that they agree with the Republicans very often anymore, but they have a more conservative reputation.)

Wow. You guys are real idiots:

Representative Katherine Harris easily defeated three challengers in the party’s Senate primary.

I wouldn't have wished that on my enemies. Good luck appealing to moderates with her running! Let's demand a recount! Just so people know what kind of candidate we're talking about, here's an interview she gave:

...but in government and we have to have elected officials in government and we have to have the faithful in government and over time, that lie we have been told, the separation of church and state, people have internalized, thinking that they needed to avoid politics and that is so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers. And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women and if people aren’t involved in helping godly men in getting elected than we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our founding fathers intended and that’s certainly isn’t what God intended.

Is that the kind of person any sane voter would want in Congress? (Note: SANE voter.)

Do the Republicans have much of a case?

With only a month of legislating before the fall elections, Congress and the White House are bearing down on the issue most likely to determine control of the House and Senate: who can best protect national security. Both sides of the aisle start off with an edge. For the White House and congressional Republicans, it's the fact that there has not been a terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11. Their focus: border security, defense spending, and domestic terrorist surveillance.

Of course my inclination is to say no. Iraq is the largest and best training ground for future terrorists since Afghanistan... If we had to choose one of our national parties to blame for its existence, I can tell you which one I would pick (though the Dems are culpable for supporting the war in the first place). And come on... George is still supporting Rumsfeld, of all people. I hope people have the good sense to realize that's a loser of a policy.

Evidence:

President Bush's unpopularity -- due largely to the war in Iraq -- seems likely to affect GOP candidates in congressional midterm elections in November, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday. Fifty-five percent of 1,004 Americans said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who has supported Bush administration policies, according to the poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of CNN. Forty percent said they would be more likely.

Oh great, now we are fucked:

A "virtually untreatable" form of TB has emerged, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Extreme drug resistant TB (XDR TB) has been seen worldwide, including in the US, Eastern Europe and Africa, although Western Europe has had no cases

Yet more evidence that Don Rumsfeld should have resigned 10 years ago:

In a cranky speech Tuesday to an American Legion audience, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld compared critics of U.S. policy in Iraq to those who sought to appease Hitler before World War II. For good measure, Rumsfeld suggested (echoing Jeane Kirkpatrick's liberal-bashing speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention) that those same critics "blame America first."

You know... it's nice to be 'certain' and it's nice to 'stick to your guns', but there are times when you must face evidence and revise your beliefs! You must accept the possibility that you can be wrong! If there is one thing we do not need, it is a 'faith-based' foreign policy where the only thing those in charge have faith in is their own infallibility! This is just unbelievable. It's like looking at someone who believes the earth is flat, or 5000 years old, or that there were no dinosaurs... The current administration contains one of the largest groups of people unwilling to admit their own incompetence to govern which has ever been assembled in a modern state! I envy the historian who will be able to look at all of this in 100 years and laugh, rather than cry or shout in frustration.

George is (unsurprisingly) not above this kind of stupid crap either:

President Bush said yesterday that the war against Islamic militants was like last century's fight against Nazis and communists and that a US withdrawal from Iraq would lead to its conquest by America's worst enemies. ... ``Many of these folks are sincere and they're patriotic, but they could be -- they could not be more wrong," Bush said.

Notice what he almost said. Those opposing the war COULD BE more wrong. Of course they could be more wrong. They could be supporting it! They could be like Don Rumsfeld or, even worse, like George himself! Fortunately the one speech he's been giving since September 11 (with the exception of a brief period last year, in the aftermath of the hurricane (which, as I'm sure he was unhappy to discover, he could not blame on the terrorists)) is starting to sound like one HUGE extended cliche. It's just getting boring.

After all of that wasted effort:

An Israeli delegation is visiting Egypt to discuss a proposed deal for the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israel Defense Forces soldier abducted by Hamas on June 25, a Saudi Arabian newspaper reported Friday. The deal involves Hamas' release of Shalit in exchange for Israel's release of about 1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, according to a senior Egyptian source quoted by the newspaper, Okaz. The paper said Egypt would help carry out the swap.

What can you say about that?