Proving again, that for Bush love means never making a maturely critical statement, the President has decided to pick a fight with President Clinton over who gets to love the Pope most.  Bush fell all over himself trying to praise the pope and snipe at Clinton, who gave a respectful yet honest assessment of the Pope.

Can't say I'm not disappointed, saddened, disillusioned, upset, etc. But I'm licking my wounds and trying to hurry through all the stages of grief as quickly as possible. I think Bush is profoundly damaging our country's security and economic health, and I deeply worry what will happen with another 4 years of his leadership. No, I don't think he's stupid, but I don't think he is an incredibly poor and careless leader. Simply put, because he never bothers to lead. He just does.

If the last two elections tell us anything, its that this country is deeply divided on what direction to take. The results from last night are a mirror of 2000. That year, Gore edged out slightly. This year, Bush edged out slightly. But really, its enlightening how little has really changed.

So, I was reading Talking Points Memo and Josh Marshall is discussing the President's conspicuous non-denial of the 380 tons of stolen explosives story.  Indeed, their response was "John Kerry has no vision for fighting and winning the War on Terror, so he is basing his attacks on the headlines he wakes up to each day."

Well, I guess I'll grant them the second part, but does that really excuse them if all Kerry needs to do is point out the Bush team's daily horrific screw-ups?

William Saletan has a good article in Slate wrapping up Bush and Kerry's speeches to the National Guard convention.  He touches on his own deficient Guard service, but doesn't dwell on it.  Indeed, he uses it specifically the contrast with his performance as President.  As he puts it...

Saletan does a really good job summing up the issue of Bush's National Guard abandonment in way which emphasizes its importance and addresses the way he is weaking our homeland defense by his over-reliance on the Guard to man his Iraqi campaign.  The real story is not what Bush did in 1973 concerning the Guard.  Its what he is doing right now with the Guard.  The article is a good read and I highly recommend it.

The AP is reporting that former guardsmen Robert Strong is calling for a probe on Bush's Guard service.  In short, his arguement is that folks should stop focusing on a couple documents and focus on the rest of the story which is indisputed.  His exact words are...

Its a good story and the right response to all of the hang-ringing over the memos.  The memos weren't the story.  Bush's derilict performance is the story and Strong is making an uncompramising stand for everything in those memos irregardless of their origin.

I know there has been a lot of discussion lately that the Swift Boat nonsense is preventing discussion of the multitude of serious issues that need to be examined in this election.  Looks like Kerry agrees...

"America deserves a serious discussion about its future. It does not deserve a campaign of fear and smear,"

Kerry, who recently noted that Bush has "won" every debate he's been involved in, has made the bold (and theatrical) proposal to debate Bush every week from now to November, dealing with a different topic each week.  The White House is already brushing the suggestion aside (and using it as an excuse to mock Kerry), but the question remains would these debates be good for Kerry and is proposing them a good idea?

The AP is reporting that the White House has called in John McCain concerning the Swift Boat ads.  They want to enlist his help in, um, doing something of some sort to accomplish something.  I think.

Seems instead of actually condemning the Swift Vets and their lies, Bush wants to sue them.  I guess.  Or maybe bring them up on criminal charges?  I don't really know.  I just know the White House is trumpeting "court action" against "shadowy" groups.  So, its probably not about the Swift Vets at all.  Its probably just George calling McCain up because he apparently never read the Campaign Finance Law he opposed, then signed, and now doesn't remember but golly he'd like to extend it even further into areas that are unmistakably unconstitutional.  If "court action" doesn't work, of course.

Probably just wants to check with John about what was in that law, anyway.  Not like we should expect the President to know what he's signing, after all.  I suspect this is like when the goof-off calls the smart kid and asks for his notes from class.

Due to the massive troop committments in the Middle East, the US Army is now unable to protect American Army Bases.  Not only do we have mercs on the ground in Iraq, now we've got Rent-A-Cops protecting the US Army right here in the home land.  According to the LA Times, 50 bases across the United States are now under the watchful eye of Mall Cops.

But it gets better.

That's right.  More uncompetive bidding.  Its legal because the bids went to two small Alaska Native firms who can opperate under special laws (thanks to Senator Ted Stevens, a GOPer) to avoid competive bidding.  Neither firm has significant prior security work, but its all good.  Because they are really just fronting for two of our biggest security firms, Wackenhut and Vance Federal Security.

Now, Wackenhut might sound somewhat familiar.  Thought the LA Times doesn't mention it, they are major Republic donors to folks like Governor Arnold and George W. (both in 2004 and 2000)  I can't much of anything about Vance Federal Security Services, so maybe someone out there has more avenues to check than I do.

Amusing story in the Boston Globe today on how hackers are altering the Kerry smear book, "Unfit for Command" on Amazon.com and the Barnes and Noble website.  On Amazon, they altered the discription to include one of John McCain's attacks on the group behind the book.  For Barnes and Noble, an entirely new book cover was posted which read "Fit for Command" and replaced the vaugely demonic photo of the elder Kerry with an image of John Kerry on his Swift Boat with his men. (in truth, it sounds like this wasn't hacking but old-fashioned trickery)

I have to say, although hacking is wrong, this really amuses the heck out of me.  Especially since its so subtle as opposed to the normal massively unsubtle hacker alterations.  Hackers usually seem to be of a anarchist bent, but I guess even they are upset at the smears from the Swift Boat Vets for Lies.

Ugh.  Can't Boston give me anything to write about?  I was all expecting to offer a local's perspectives on the horrific clashes between protesters and police, massive traffic back-ups, and the break-down of the mass transit system.  But, oh no!  None of that even happened.  Didn't they know some two-bit diarist wanted material?

Okay, kidding aside, I'm thrilled Boston went so smoothly.  Especially since it completely shows up the Boston Herald for all their fear mongering.  Not that they'll notice, but still.

So, in this final installment, read the story of secret trains that were found underneath the FleetCenter!  Read the story of the one sorta violent clash between protesters and police!  Marvel at how the Boston Herald again ignores the actual Convention in order to bash Democrats.  And, oh yeah, the Convention.

"We are experiencing delays due to the Democratic National Convention."

I heard that about 5 times this morning as my train kept getting held up while we waited for trains in front of us to get searched.  It really annoyed me, though, because its completely untrue.  We're experiencing delays because the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority couldn't figure out that spacing out the trains by 5 more minutes would accomodate for the security checks and keep everything running smoothly.  Don't pass the buck, MBTA.  This is all your fault.

In other Boston life news outside of the Fleet Center... um, well, see here is the thing.  Nothing is happening.  No mass arrests of protests, no terrorists attacks, no extreme break-downs in the transportation grid.  Everything has been positively ordinary.

(Read on for more; including the antics of the Boston Herald, my thoughts on John Edwards' speech, and the eerie calm in Boston)

Well, it looks the Convention has finally found a way to be an annoyance on Boston commuters. Actually, it is more a case of the Transit Authority finally finding a way to fufill the promise of Convention related annoyances.

After a day and a half of smooth commuting for the folks in Boston, the transit authority finally got the hang of turning it into a head-ache that frustrates riders. The bag searches, admitedly a bit "Theater of Security" but I'll allow it, continue to be no big deal. They take less time than it ordinarily takes to stop at the now closed North Station. So how is this getting screwed up?

This will begin my week-long saga of being in Boston and having nothing to do with the Convention.  Yes, some of us are here every day.  The closest I will get to the Fleet Center is riding underneath it twice a day.

Topics of the day: commuting fun, bag search fun, protest fun, and, oh yeah, that Convention thing that's going on.

When I was in college, I always got to stick around for the week after final exams leading up to the Graduation Ceremonies and their Alumni Reunion Weekend.  I always loved this because I got to see the changes the school underwent for the benefit of the parents and alumni.  All of a sudden the ordinary campus became bedazzled with flowers jammed into every possible nook.  One lawn even sprouted flowers in the form of our school's sports logo.  The grass became greener, either by rolling our new grass or using some seeding process that looked like they were spray painting the ground green.  It always reminded me of those RonCo "Hair in Can" bald spot cures.  Everything got a fresh coat of paint and an extra scrub to benefit the folks who didn't spend any time here and while all the people who do spend time there were gone.

And so it goes in Boston for the DNC.

Folks in Boston on Tuesday were greated to the startling news plastered on the front page of the Boston Herald: 20 years ago a man sperated from his wife dated a bit!  Why on Earth was this  news?  Well, because the man was John Kerry of course.

And not simply news, but front page news.  The entire cover of the tabloid was devoted to "All the Senator's Women."  At last, the Herald had found a way to combine its obsessive anti-Kerryism with its love of Celebrities gossip.  The cover was, naturally, adorned with splash photos of the blonde bombshell's Kerry was linked to.  All for a story which by an estimation is old news?

Media Matters is reporting on some comments Bill O'Reilly made about the Gay Marriage debare that were.  Specifically...

Media Matters does a good job exposing some of the silliness of his "facts" but I want to discuss the silliness that goes above and beyond his "facts".

Ralph Nader is in the news again.  He's calling Michael Moore a "giant beach ball"  Nader's bitchy because Moore is distancing himself from Nader because he doesn't support his Presidential campaign.  So Nader responded in the adult way by releasing an open letter mocking the director's weight and bragging about how he and his friends are "trim and take care of themselves".  One is tempted to respond "Sticks and Stones..." just to keep it on the grade school level Nader has established.  But remember, the progressive war hero is a horrible choice.  We need someone like Nader who hates fat people, mocks gays and women, ignores blacks, busts unions, abuses employees, and invests in corporations that engage in genocide, war profiteering, sexual discrimination, exploitation of the oil market, weapons production, and price gouging on medications.  Because nothing says progressive better then, well, all that.  Real class act that Nader.  Just remember his "giant beach ball" remark the next time some self-righteous Naderite whines about how put upon Ralph is.

And for those curious about why Nader's mean-spirited fat bashing is especially bad, check out the interview with Paul Campos in Salon, or better yet, buy his book, "The Obesity Myth".  A good book with a surprising bit of political discussion for a book on America's misplaced obsession with weight.  Well, not surprising once you read the book.  He touches on the way weight influenced the Clinton sex scandals and has a scathing rebuke of "Fox Democrat" Susan Estrich and her diet book.