As a former Edwards potential voter (My primary is in May) I want to tell why I'm voting Democratic this November whoever the candidate may be.

I'm voting for the Democratic candidate in November Because I'm a Democrat and I believe the Democratic message. This will be the 10th presidential election Ive voted in  and the 10th vote for a Democrat.

I can't believe this hasn't been diaried yet: "Substandard care at a southern Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital may have contributed to 19 deaths over the past two years, a VA official said Monday as he apologized to affected families and pledged reform...."

And the President, leader of our country and boss of the head of the VA  is:.......?

In the interests of supporting non  candidate diaries, at least Democratic candidate diaries, I thought I'd do a candidate diary about republicons.

I hope Rudy wins it because I think he'd be the easiest for any of our candidates to beat.

from today's New York Times

"William Kristol, one of the nation’s leading conservative writers and a vigorous supporter of the Iraq war, will become an Op-Ed page columnist for The New York Times, the newspaper announced Saturday....."

An open letter to John Kerry Because I know he posts here.

Its not often a President of the UNited States praises a victory by the tobacco companies but it is to be expected from George W Bush.

According to the Eugene Register-Guard George W Bush hailed the victory of the tobacco companies as:
"..."We had some interesting results at the ballot box last week. In the state of Oregon, voters rejected the plan to raise tobacco taxes to further enlarge a government health program," Bush said at a speech in Louisville, Ky. "In other words, when the voters were given a chance, they voted such a plan down in the state of Oregon...."

Yes, only Bush could take pride in the fact that 100,0000 more children have been left out of healthcare

What a long strange trip its been--and how it seems to be happeneing all over again. On this Veteran's day, I'm going to talk about the most important part of my life, or better said, the part of my life when I was the most important.

When I was young, age 17, I got it in my head that I wanted to be a paratrooper. I grew up like most young men of my era, watching Bonanza and John Wayne movies. It was a culture that revered and mythologized violence. It was truly said, I believe by H.Rap Brown, that violence is as American as Apple Pie. And I love Apple Pie.

I really knew nothing at all about the politics of what was going on, knew nothing at all about Vietnam, or even which side we were supporting

The Republicans have added yet another word to our political lexicon: Swiftboating.

Basically, this tactic seems to be: Whenever anyone disagrees with Republican talking points, or in any way threatens the republican meme, that person's name shall become a byword and a hissing. without offering anything like proof, or due process. That person's background shall be dissected negatively untll the original issue is buried. This is an extreme version of Muddying the Waters

But Swiftboating is a tactic that can be defeated---by truth, but only if that truth is presented.

here's some thoughts on Swiftboating and how to end it

A commenter on my last diary asked me to compare Bush's record to Kerry's,and it occurs to me that, though Ive done it myself, Ive never seen it done publically.

This  head to head comparison should have been done by the American media but never was. Why not? Because it would have interfered with the Republican instigated Swiftboating orgy the media was having so much fun with. Remember how they pilloried Al Gore's utility bill but never compared it to anyone else's, like Cheney's? Same thing.

To compare all records would take a book itself, I can only do a little here, but you can do it pretty well at  this site this shows almost all of Kerry's papers and some of Bush's. You can get most--but not all--of Bush's paperwork here. You can get the rest here but you have to search and scroll a lot

This is dedicated to John Kerry, a real American hero. Hope you read this, John, I should have done it long ago. But you should have done it anyway--if you had, you'd be president now.

I get comments all the time on my diaries about how dead this story is and asking me why I keep blogging on it and I have to agree with them in part--this story has gone away, may be completely dead.
But if it is dead, it died of neglect, unfinished, unresolved--this is not accidental. And a big part of this story is how and why the republicans killed it.
this story is about corruption of our government--how a son of a wealthy, powerful Congressman was let go out of his military service commitment illegally and how that was covered up so well, that son of a....Congressman was later elected president
This diary is about the actual story and why I blog about it.

I was a line dog in the Nam the first time around. I enlisted for airborne infantry (paratroopers)  shortly after I turned 17. I was still 17 when I got out of jump school (Aug,'66)  so they sent me to Panama. (Couldn't go to Vietnam untill you were 18)
I could have stayed there my whole tour but I enlisted to fight--I wanted to see combat. My Dad was a combat vet, my uncles were combat vets and I saw it as the ultimate test. ( and it is, but of what I'm not sure) I volunteered for Vietnam the day after I turned 18. (Dec '66)

Interesting find on Huffpo today: http://www.examiner.com/...

So Rather may (??) subpoena GWB and his father?
This story gets crazier every day---who ELSE would he subpoena to explain Bush's records? Yet he and the other MSM have missed the main actor completely, and not by accident either.
The CBS memos story was always about Bush's military record---wasn't it? I mean, wasn't it supposed to be?
It started out that way but due to the deftest (most deft?) media handling ever, the story was turned back to be about Rather and CBS and Bush's military record was given a complete bye.
Here's how they did it--and What Rather should do.

One of the many interesting parts of this story was the CBS "independent investigation."  I put quotation marks around that because CBS set up the commission, PAID them and told them what to look at. It was CBS's investigation from the start and all the way through--"independence" hardly applies. Independent of any legal power or authority maybe but thats it.

CBS's "investigation was a Dog and Pony show without any legal authority or powers at all like Subpoena or compulsion under oath.....or any penalties.

Although their investigation could not come to any conclusions, Bushco leaped on it and portrayed it as complete vindication of Bush's record. And all conversation stopped on that topic. Other than what you read here.
Boy that worked out good for Bush. Almost as if they planned it that  way.

see below

In my diary yesterday on this topic http://www.dailykos.com/... an important question was raised.. Why investiggate the CBS memos? Whats there to look at?
Its all about accountability, the acccountability of the federal government--and George W Bush.
The accountability president doesn't want to be held acccountable for his military  service and the way he got out of it. He doesn't want to talk about his military service at all.

I'll  explain more below

I can't believe it--after 3 years Dan Rather wakes up one morning and figures out he got screwed royally by CBS. What took you so long, Dan?
I have been writing about this case, and Bush's military History for 3 years here on Kos and other places, pointing out the many falsification and inconsistencies in Bush's records and the incredible non-ending of the CBS papers isssue.
As someone who has tried to keep this issue alive, I'm ecstatic about this, just because its back in the headlines.
Now I'd like to talk about how Rather still doesn't get it

See below.

I have appreciated the interest shown to my previous diaries concerning Bush's fraudulent military record, including:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...

My previous diaries have tried to show how ridiculously easy spotting major crimes is in the Bush military record once theyre unscrambled. The AWOL talk is just a smoke screen to cover the more serious crimes including (but are not limited to): dereliction of duty, statutory and monetary fraud, embezzlement, desertion, obtaining/effecting a fraudulent discharge, alteration/falsification of official documents and conspiracy.

Todays diary will cover the major missing document for Bush's record: his suspension orders from Col Killian. This document is missing from Bush's records though required to be there by regulation.

This is a continuation of a theme I have been diarying for ages--the obvious falsifications in Bush's military record. In this diary I analyze another huge falsification: like the others, hidden in plain sight.

In a previous diary I discussed  Bush's embezzlement of federal funds when he took pilots pay, with flight pay, for 52 days after he had been suspended from flying because his superiors illegally kept him on flight status: http://www.dailykos.com/...

I discussed the falsifications around Bush's discharge in this diary: http://www.dailykos.com/...

More below

I haven't seen this diaried yet but i think its important on the 2d anniversary of Katrina

from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

more below