Thursday, July 22 Issue #35

TODAY'S ACTION ALERTS
Write the Sudanese ambassador about the horrors women face in his country.

Demand your right-to-know is preserved in disclosing transportation dangers.

FEATURED ARTICLES
Mike Morford looks at the rigging of the 2004 election.

Helen Thomas continues to tongue-lash the Bush Administration, this time over pre-emptive war.

Joseph Wilson responds to the smear attack launched by conservative ideologues.

Bloggers are beginning to establish an independent media in China.

GAO report finds that war costs drastically exceed current funding levels.

Barbara Ehrenreich takes on abortion in her NYTimes op-ed.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES
Military families are stumping the right-wing: they praise F9-11.

Bloggers get a credit for supporting the now surprisingly-well positioned campaign of Ginny Schrader.

National Guardsmen asked to voluntarily extend duties beyond the legal 24-month limitation.

Burgeoning Latino population strongly favors Kerry over Bush.

Richard Cohen questions the absence of the anthrax scare in coverage of intelligence failures.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!"
-John F. Kennedy

TODAY'S BUSHISM
"When I picked the Secretary of Education I wanted somebody who knew something about public education. "
-April 30, 2003

BLOG OF THE DAY
Some days, I've just got to have a solid dose of sarcastic news. When the Onion is not enough, and the General has taken a heterosexual break, Tom Burka's Opinions You Should Have offers unique humor in short bursts, perfect for inducing a moment of levity. OYSH is blogging the Democratic Convention, so the entries next week will be highly anticipated.

BLOGWORTHY
Hairy Fish Nuts breaks apart the "stronger pot" article of a couple of days ago in a masterful manner.

Over at the Vast Dairy State Conspiracy, shw explores the anti-pregnant women claims of the Bush campaign.

Pandagon's Jesse Taylor takes a quick look at the military housing appropriations vote.

How did I miss this? Shari at An Old Soul... gasps at Bush's proposed "character education." Sounds like brainwashing to me...Come on libertarians, forget Bardanik, vote Kerry this year!

Billmon at Whiskey Bar often offers incredibly well constructed arguments for the issues of the moment, but Tuesday's entry concerning economics is a classic.

In the art of the smear campaigning, the Bush-Cheney campaign is Van Gogh, Renoit, and Picasso all in one. Dave Johnson at Seeing the Forest explores the amazing, and sickening, ability of Republicans to distort views on any situation.

DRUG WAR UPDATE
Canada is consistently more liberal and progressive than the U.S. as the Canadian Prime Minister vows marijuana decriminalization.

As long as busting marijuana growers is considered legal plunder, the drug war will rage on.

Judge does the right thing, is rewarded by vacating his decisions.

Government is sued for blocking marijuana research.

LINK OF THE DAY
The book Dubya was reading in that Florida classroom on 9/11 was titled "My Pet Goat." Naturally, being that the company carries everything else, Amazon sells the book online. Reader reviews were posted sarcastically after the title got out, and some of them are hilarious. Unfortunately, Amazon removed the reviews, but Sadly No made a copy first.

SITE OF THE DAY
ProgressivePunch.com is a clearinghouse for Congressional and Senate voting records. You can search by name, or by most any subject area.

COOL SITE OF THE DAY
C-SPAN has long been the only reasonable effort made to keep our citizenry educated about the government and its actions. C-SPAN.org is even better, offering live streams of all 3 C-SPANs, as well as C-SPNradio. From Congressional debates and votes to public statements and press conferences, the C-SPAN networks cover it all. Anyone interested in hearing the presentation of the final 9-11 Commission report should tune into C-SPAN3 at 11:30A ET.

ONLINE VIDEO OF THE DAY
Watch Right-Wing Squares; help me win a T-Shirt! Please spread the link to your friends...I really need the T-shirt!

CLAPS, SLAPS, AND THE MIDDLE FINGER

Claps go out to Ben Cohen for being much more than an ice cream maven. Co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, Cohen has been active in progressive politics for years. He maintains the website True Majority, and is currently touring the nation with his "Burning Bush" tribute to the President, as in "liar, liar, pants are on fire". Cohen has been outspoken against Bush policies, and is ramping up his support for the ouster of the cabal ruling our nation illegally. This year, Cohen might want a new ice cream flavor to be called Burning Bush, and would be sure to include lots of right-wing nuts in the recipe!

Slaps of great strength are raining down on the cheeks of Annie Jacobsen, whose insensitive paranoid screed sparked fear in ignorant America after she spent a flight cohabitating with 14 Arab men. Jacobsen, apparently a bit too tight in the girdle , feared her life might end during the trip. The men, dangerous musicians, likely threatened to play something other than the "Worship4Life" album. Jacobsen's story launched follow-ups in the gullible major media, feeding unwarranted suspicion of dark-skinned men everywhere...not that this is exactly a new behavior in the U.S. Had it not been for the below story, Jacobsen would have been penetrated by my Middle Finger.

My Middle Finger seeks out the anonymous asshole who didn't have the guts to take a byline for spreading this asinine attempt at journalism during a time when important issues are at hand. Accusing Howard Dean of voting in favor of incest is simply moronic, and demonstrates not only an ignorance of anything remotely relevant to our nation or the 2004 election, Dean's vote in favor of the couple's marriage was one of compassion rather than hatred. No half-wit would consider this bill, and Dean's vote on it, a vote endorsing incest. Clearly, the author of this trash is less than a half-wit. Have some guts and identify yourself. If this piece is the work of a troll or sensationalist moron, posting an attempt at humor, go screw yourself, there are far better targets than this load of crap.

ANIMAL RIGHTS WATCH
One woman has dedicated her time to saving animals.

With wildfires looming, animal welfare group rescues animals in the path.

Microchips and GSP are being used to keep track of wayward pets.

CANDIDATE OF THE DAY
David van Os is the black sheep of the Texas judicial system. Running for the Texas Supreme Court, van Os looks to break onto a panel held tightly by Republicans. In the state which executes more people before breakfast than Cuba, Supreme Court decisions can often affect the execution of, well, executions. Van Os has a reasonable shot at a seat, a situation unfamiliar to Democrats in Texas. Van Os has a non-partisan but progressive track record that would do well to serve the people of the state than the heavily corporation-friendly current Republican members.

DAILY PHOTO
Jenna Bush: Class like Daddy (hat tip to Collective Sigh)


TODAY'S POLITICAL CARTOON



HISTORY LESSON
In the growing fight against Fox News, as well as the release of Outfoxed, the Center for American Progress offers a perfect look at the life and activities of Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox, the New York Post, and hundreds of other media outlets across the nation.

STRANGE HAPPENINGS
Senator John Warner was personally responsible for arranging Senate facilities for space cowboy reverend Moon. Yep, that reverend Moon.

Puppeteers Supporters of Bush pen book in his defense.

I know there are more out there like this; Bring 'em on!