You gotta watch it its hillarious.

"O'Neill: Bush planned Iraq invasion before 9/11
with article here
(CNN) -- The Bush administration began planning to use U.S. troops to invade Iraq within days after the former Texas governor entered the White House three years ago, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told CBS News' 60 Minutes.

Three cheers for O'neill     :)

How much proof do people need.

In the book, O'Neill is quoted as saying he was surprised that no one in a National Security Council meeting asked why Iraq should be invaded.

"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this,'" O'Neill said.

One more nail in the coffin I'm hoping.

You might want to rewrite this and put it on the front page kos.

General Wes Clark is on a roll. The campaign that began just over three months ago is narrowing the Democratic field to a two-man race. Clark has the money, message, and momentum to take the Democratic nomination and win the White House.

At the end of the fourth quarter, Clark raised more than $10 million, making him eligible for more federal matching money than any candidate in the system, some whom have been in the race for more than a year. These fundraising efforts, combined with federal matching funds, will make Clark highly competitive in the early primary states.

The polls reflect Clark's momentum: Clark is in a dead heat for second place in the Granite State. The latest New Hampshire polls by the American Research Group show Clark's support at 13 percent. Senator John Kerry is at 15 percent. The margin of error is 4 percent.

Clark's grassroots supporters are mobilizing to win key states. Volunteers have written more than 70,000 letters to New Hampshire voters encouraging them to vote for Clark. Supporters from Arkansas have traveled to New Hampshire and South Carolina on the "Clark Convoy" to meet voters in those states. Hundreds of members of the Clark movement have begun to make phone calls to New Hampshire voters. Volunteers will soon begin phone call and letter writing campaigns in February 3rd primary states as well.

Robertson: God Says It's Bush in a 'Blowout' in November
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Friday he believes God has told him President Bush will be re-elected in a "blowout" in November.

CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman is targeting the court system, the workplace and the home with a wide-ranging plan to protect and assist victims of domestic violence.

Accusing President Bush of remaining silent on the issue, the Connecticut senator will unveil a series of proposals Friday based on three goals.

• Strengthening protections for battered women.
• Helping victims lead safe and independent lives.
• Breaking the cycle of violence.

Leadership is about working with people
By Wesley Clark, 1/1/2004

Boston Globe Op ed piece

Clark was asked how his military career prepared him, if at all, for a more domestic, political position.

"WHEN YOU'RE in the military, a lot of people think that it's about giving orders, but mostly it isn't. You start as a company commander, and you go to your first unit, you realize, even though you're the guy that signed the property book and you're responsible for the company, 100 people, $10 million worth of equipment, you go to the first sergeant your first day and say, `Top, what do you think we ought to be doing today?' I mean, it starts at that level, because you recognize that leadership is not about giving orders, it's about working with others, bringing out the best in the people who are working with you, developing their confidence, relying on their expertise, developing your own proficiency, technically . . . "It's as much of a family as you can make it. You know, you don't get anybody to come into the armed forces unless they want to be there. And they won't stay unless you persuade them that they want to stay. Sixty percent of the armed forces are married. And so if the wife doesn't want to stay, the soldier won't stay. So you're in the business of selling your organization to your own people. There's a lot of internal marketing, to put it in a business term, that has to be done. Unlike American corporations, where I've been on the boards of numerous of these corporations, and there's not pricing power for labor in today's market. But there is a pricing power, the analog of that, in the armed forces. Because when a person's enlistment period is up, they can leave. And they will if they don't like it.

"So the things I worried about were things like schooling, healthcare, housing -- cost of housing, quality of housing -- a time off for the soldiers to be with their families. We did things that would be unheard of in the American business community. For example, when I was a Division Commander at Fort Hood, Texas, I had 17 elementary, junior high, and two high schools I was responsible for. And when a student had a teacher's appointment, I gave the order that my soldiers would miss their duty to be with their child to go to that teacher's appointment."

In an article in USA today DailyKos.com is one of several blogs mentioned and linked to.

WASHINGTON -- They used to be known as the boys on the bus: the big-name columnists, network TV producers and reporters for large-circulation newspapers who had the power to make or break a presidential candidate's reputation. Now they've got competition.
In the 2004 election, the boys (and girls) on the bus have been joined by a new class of political arbiters: the geeks on their laptops. They call themselves bloggers. Their mission: to remake political journalism and, quite possibly, democracy itself. The plan: to run an end around big media by becoming publishers on the Internet.

And you thought you had trolls before     :)

All in all a fairly balanced upbeat look at the world of blogs

Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark's new television commercial includes a clip of him and Bill Clinton.

It's the first ad of the 2004 campaign to include an image of the former president, arguably America's most popular Democrat.

Isnt politics a beautiful thing. So subtle and nuanced, a picture is worth a thousand words indeed.

Political analysis and debate right? Thats why I love this site despite some peoples view of me.

But there are serious issues to be discussed, and when they come up they need to be looked at . We are electing a nominee here, a leader we can place our faith in and trust.

After my last diary tonite I figured I was done, but lo and behold I surf through CNN and what stands up and whispers to me, taunting my overtaxed brain is this.

Dean had own secret energy group
Candidate criticizes Cheney task force for secrecy
Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean has demanded release of secret deliberations of Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

But as Vermont governor, Dean had an energy task force that met in secret and angered state lawmakers.

Dean's Vermont re-election campaign received only small contributions from energy executives.

But a political action committee created as he prepared to run for president collected $19,000, or nearly a fifth of its first $110,000, from donors tied to Vermont's electric utilities.

 I mean how could my synapses not peerk up :)

Actually the article is not totally damning, and seems to have resulted in some real benefits for the state of VT.

In 1998, Dean's Vermont similar task force met in secret to write a plan for revamping state electricity markets that would slow rising consumer costs and relieve utilities of a money-losing deal with a Canadian company.

The task force's work resulted in Vermont having the first utility in the country to meet energy efficiency standards.

It also freed the state's utilities from their deal with a giant Canadian power company, Hydro Quebec, that had left them near bankruptcy but passed as much as 90 percent of those costs to consumers. Utility shareholders also suffered some losses.

 But the question for me  here remains, how important is the issue of openess and secrecy in things concerning the people and the govt

To me its obvious that Cheneys task force was  crooked as hell stacked only with special interest.

Whereas in Deans case Dean said his group developed better policy, was bipartisan and sought advice not just from energy executives but also from environmentalists and advocates of low-income residents.

So perhaps secrecy can be a beneficial thing at times, and that is pretty much the main issue of this diary. I almost tend to believe some things may need to be done in secrecy, otherwise some shit may never get done.

and I am not comparing Deans task force to Cheneys, that would be a stretch even I couldnt make.

Anyways ,just remember I love you guys, your insights and wisdom and humour

(well most of you anyways)   :)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: December 28, 2003

Filed at 4:18 p.m. ET

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Howard Dean said Sunday that the hundreds of thousands of people drawn to politics by his campaign may stay home if he doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination, dooming the Democratic Party in the fall campaign against President Bush.

I keep hoping this is wrong and its from the past, but it doesnt seem that way.

If it is true and from today sounds like Howie is getting desperate, but what a fucking weasel thing to harp on.

Yeah thats uniting the party.

My first reaction was   WTF are we gonna give aid to an industry that is largely big companies who have pretty much been able to dictate to  regualtory agencies that are supposed to oversee them.

Of courseI also realize there are lots of small ranchers who will be driven out of business from something like this shopuld it explode, and from what Ive been able to figure it is still the small ranchers who are the most policed, whiule the large ranchers are pretty much left alone to police themselves.

As the NYT article today makes abundantly clear, this is an industry that has brought this on themselves.

ugh some scientists had long warned that mad cow disease would eventually appear in the United States, cattle owners and meatpackers repeatedly resisted calls for a more substantial program to test for the disease, and the Agriculture Department went along with them. Congress came close three times to banning the sale of meat from downer cows -- ones that are too sick or hurt to amble into slaughterhouses -- only to see the industry's allies block each of the bills at the last moment. And proposals for systems to track which farms produced sickened cattle -- now required in Europe, Canada and Japan -- also languished for years here.

So my gut feeling is , they made their bed let em sleep in it.

Yet I also sympathize with the small ranchers who may have been policing themselves or were in favor of stricter controls, who would truly suffer.

It is definitely a touchy political issue, but I think if ever there was to be a debate about something, it would be about this, before we start throwing money at an industry that got everything it wanted practically.

Let them accept the responsibility and initiate the long overdue changes that other countries long ago institued, before we start pandering for votes and letting them off the hook to where it just goes back to business as usual.

I mean I acknowledge that they probably all do it to some degree or another, but the governor and his campaign and followers are  the ones who  want to make this an issue.

As governor of Vermont, Howard Dean presided over the creation of a program that authorized $80.1 million in corporate tax credits without verifying that many of the companies had made good on promises to bring new jobs and investments to Vermont, according to a report by the state auditor's office.

The goal of the program, begun in 1998 and similar to ones put in place by other states, was to lure new firms to Vermont or to ensure that existing ones expanded in Vermont and not in other states. The 2003 state auditor's report found it was likely that some of the 113 expansion or building projects that received credits would have taken place without the enticement.

As such, the report concluded, the credits had probably cost the state more money than they had brought in and had contributed to a 44 percent decline in corporate tax receipts, from $57 million to $32 million, between fiscal years 1999 and 2002.

The report also noted that applications for the credits were kept secret

Congratulations to you and the proud parents Wesley.

It sure is nice to see good news coming out of the campaigns

A not so pleasant reminder' at this time of mad cow disease cropping up, of just how fucked up these people are.

Of course you might want to pass if you're having prime rib tomorrow      :)

Got your mojo rising........

It sure is refreshing to see someone with the authority and experience to speak the truth that is on most Americans minds.

And to word it in a way that places the blame right where it belongs, in the lap of Bush, without going out of ones way to piss off possible future voters.

"But that doesn't change the reality," General Clark said. "We knew who attacked this country on 9/11 and it was not Saddam Hussein. It was Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network

Clear, concise, and to the point,
cutting through the bullshit, this man speaks whats on his mind, what is on the American peoples mind.

True Grits Tour

General Wes Clark announced Friday he will lead a "True Grits Tour" through the South, starting Monday, December 29th. To demonstrate his strength in the region, Clark will travel to states across the South, discussing our nation's safety and security.

"Wes Clark has the true grit to take on George W. Bush in the South," said National Press Secretary Bill Buck.

Departing after a morning grits send-off from Little Rock, General Clark will begin his eight-state, barnstorming blitz in Jackson, Mississippi. He will continue on to Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Birmingham, Pensacola, and end the day in Memphis.

In Birmingham, he will emphasize the importance of voting rights.

Tuesday, December 30th, General Clark will hit three states, traveling from Memphis, to Nashville and Savannah, and ending the day in Charleston.

Grits will be served throughout the trip.

Former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges said, "Wes Clark fits like a nice little shoe with Southern voters."

Clark will also discuss his "Turn Around Plan for America" - to increase family income, lift children out of poverty, increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance, send more kids to college, and reduce the number of premature deaths caused by environmental pollution.

"Clark's domestic agenda is strong," Hodges said. "His education plan is the best I've seen from any candidate."

"Democrats cannot turn America around until they turn around the results of recent election cycles," said Buck. "Democrats need victories to bring change to people's lives. Democrats need a candidate at the top of the ticket who can campaign across the country, in all 50 states and especially the South. It's now more clear than ever -- Democrats need Wes Clark at the top of the ticket in November."

Looks like Clark is taking it to em.

By David McGuire
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

The recording industry's effort to curtail online piracy was dealt a significant blow today when a federal appeals court ruled that Internet service providers cannot be compelled to disclose the identities of customers suspected of illegally sharing copyrighted songs.

I should probably do a poll on how people feel about this, and the copying of files, but I still think polls are meant to be broken    :)

So how do you feel about copying song files?

Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark said yesterday that he supports amending federal law to allow individuals and groups to buy prescription drugs from Canada.

   Good point to drive home Wesley, I think this is going to be a big issue, and with the amount of older people who actually vote will definitely make them sit up and take notice.