October 06, 2004

Very bad news day for Bush/Cheney

First of all, Bush's own appointed weapon inspector, Duelfer, has concluded that Saddam had no stockpiles of WMD and that Saddam's nuclear programs were in a state of decay as a result of sanctions. This is the same conclusion reached by Duelfer's predessor, David McKay, who resigned last January after filing a similar report.

Secondly, the CIA issued a seperate report today telling us they have found no conclusive evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein harbored Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Thirdly, Cheney lied so many times last night that he now faces, along with his superior, a credibility gap with the American people. I will reflect on these lies in another post.

Posted by Ed Snookon October 6, 2004 at 12:44 PM in Presidential politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 30, 2004

Three Starky-McCain debates set for October

John McCain and Stu Starky wil debate three times in the month of October.

October 15 in Phoenix
October 18 in Phoenix
October 24 in Flagstaff

The exact time and location of these debates will be announced.

There was a good write up in the Arizona Republic today on this.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 30, 2004 at 02:55 PM in State politics | Permalink | Comments (1)

New Online Event Calendar

After months of struggling with keeping our events calendar up to date, I just set up a freeware web calendar that is really sharp and functional. Anyone can add an event that will appear on the calendar once I approve it. I wish I would have done this last May.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 30, 2004 at 02:46 PM in Website updates | Permalink | Comments (0)

1st Debate Viewing Party and Potluck Tonight

Come and watch the debate and enjoy Democratic hospitality tonight at the Democratic HQ (318 S Main). The debate begins at 6PM local time but we ask people to be there by 5:30 since we want everyone to be settled and glued to the tube by 6PM.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 30, 2004 at 10:42 AM in Events and meetings | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 27, 2004

3,500 register in county in three weeks

The Yuma County Recorder's Office has already received an estimated 19,000 requests for early ballots for the upcoming general election and since the primary have processed about 3,500 new or modified voter registrations, said Juanita Elms, voter registration coordinator. link

In less than 3 weeks, 3.500 new voter registrations. And 19.000 early ballot requests.

To put that in perspective, in 2000 there were only 28.000 ballots cast total and only 49.000 registered voters.

The deadline to register to vote is October 4th and October 22nd to apply for an early ballot.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 27, 2004 at 12:17 PM in Voting statistics, Yuma politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 24, 2004

Republicans use rhetoric to tie Kerry to terror

The Washington Post printed an article today pointing out Republicans' increasingly vile rhetoric in atempts to define Kerry and the Democrats' criticism of the Bush administration as aiding the terrorists.
This is shameless. The extent to which the Bush administration hate democracy and freedom knows no bounds, as they try and equate criticism of foreign policy and war policy as being supportive of the terrorists. Once again, they flip logic on its head. Do they honestly believe Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden would prefer a Kerry administration over a second term of Bush? Where once the tyrannical iron fist of secular Sadam kept Islamo-fascist terrorists out, Iraq has become a breeding ground for terrorists. Outside of Kabul, the Taliban and other like-minded outfits have reasserted control of the Afghani countryside and into Pakistan. Bush is the best recruiting tool Osama could ever dream of. Yes, I understand these accusations are hypocritical on my part but we have precious little time to have a Dukasis hug session, we have to fight back. We can not let them scam and smear their way in, playing to America's fears.

Here are some examples cited by the article,

Appearing in the Rose Garden yesterday with Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, Bush said Kerry's statements about Iraq "can embolden an enemy." After Kerry criticized Allawi's speech to Congress, Vice President Cheney tore into the Democratic nominee, calling him "destructive" to the effort in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism.

On Tuesday, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said terrorists "are going to throw everything they can between now and the election to try and elect Kerry." On Fox News, Hatch said Democrats are "consistently saying things that I think undermine our young men and women who are serving over there."

On Sunday, GOP Senate candidate John Thune of South Dakota said of his opponent, Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle: "His words embolden the enemy." Thune, on NBC's "Meet the Press," declined to disavow a statement by the Republican Party chairman in his state saying Daschle had brought "comfort to America's enemies."

Posted by Ed Snookon September 24, 2004 at 11:17 AM in Presidential politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 23, 2004

Flip flops debunked: #2 The 87 Billion

This is the most prominent 'flip-flop' employed by the Bush-Cheney attack machine. So prominent, Rove could not resist placing it in Bush's acceptance speech at the convention.

Again, my opponent and I have different approaches. I proposed, and the Congress overwhelmingly passed, $87 billion in funding needed by our troops doing battle in Afghanistan and Iraq. My opponent and his running mate voted against this money for bullets and fuel and vehicles and body armor. When asked to explain his vote, the senator said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it." Then he said he was "proud" of his vote. Then, when pressed, he said it was a "complicated" matter. There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat.

Does Karl Rove expect this to work with the American people? Such a ludicrous dumbing-down of the issues. Let's look at this infamous vote.

When Bush came to Congress for an additional 87 billion in the late summer of 2003, Senate Democrats agreed wholeheartedly that US forces in Iraq needed additional funding. That was not the part of the bill that was under debate. What was under debate was whether 20 billion going to 'reconstruction' would be in the form of a grant or a loan, how much contracted firms would be held accountable, and also how the 87 billion would be paid for. Kerry co-sponsored an amendment that would call for the 87 billion to be paid for by repealing Bush's tax cuts for those making more than $400,000 a year. This is pretty sound logic, since never before in American history (and perhaps the history of civilization) has there been a tax cut during the time of war. Without repealing the tax cut, the costs of this war would be added to our already mushrooming national debt. Bush threatened to veto any bill that contained such an amendment so the Republican controlled Congress bowed to Bush's wishes and vetoed the amendment. It was then, that Kerry voted against the final bill out of protest. So Kerry did vote for it before he voted against it. That means that Republicans voted against it before they voted for it. And that means Bush threatened to veto money for bullets and fuel and vehicles and body armor.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 23, 2004 at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amy Goodman will stop in Yuma

Amy Goodman, host of the daily news show Democracy Now! which can be seen in Yuma on the following outlets:

Adelphia Cable City Channel 72: 5am/4pm/9pm

Dish Network Satellite TV Channel 9415: 5am/9am/4pm/9pm

Dish Network Satellite TV Channel 9410: 8am/3pm

Direct TV Satellite TV Channel 375: 11am/6pm

and the bestselling author of The Exception of the Rulers will be in Yuma on Monday, September 27th. She will be speaking at the Arizona Western College Amphitheater at 7PM. It is a free event.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 23, 2004 at 05:51 PM in Events and meetings | Permalink | Comments (0)

Air America launches in Phoenix

After at least a week of speculation and misinformation (Al Franken prematurely welcomed the Phoenix station on Tuesday), Air America went on the air in Phoenix this morning. 1010 on the dial. It was conservative talk until it switched over to liberal talk. It feels so good to say that. Liberal talk radio. I think I will say it one more time. Liberal talk radio.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 23, 2004 at 04:52 PM in Current events -Local, State politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

National Gaurd recruitment nearly 10% short of goal

The commanding general of the National Gaurd said that there will be a 5,000 shortfall this year. They had set a goal of 56,000 but only recruited 51,000.

One reason is that the active-duty Army is prohibiting soldiers in units that are in Iraq or Afghanistan, or are preparing to deploy there, from leaving the service, even if their enlistment term is up. Thus the number who might consider moving into the Guard has shrunk temporarily.

The other reason, Blum said, is that active-duty soldiers are aware that a growing number of Guard units are being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus they figure there is little to be gained, in terms of reduced personal risk, by switching from active duty to the Guard.

Posted by Ed Snookon September 23, 2004 at 04:46 PM in Current events - International | Permalink | Comments (0)