Bin Laden sharply criticized President Bush for his behavior on the morning of September 11, 2001, when the president was reading "My Pet Goat" to a group of schoolchildren in Florida at the time he was informed of the attacks.

"It never occurred that the highest leader of the military armed forces would leave 50,000 people to face the horror that they faced all by themselves when they needed him most," bin Laden said.

"He was more interested in listening to the child's story about the goat rather than worry about what was happening to the towers. So, that gave us double the time for us to execute our attacks."

Kerry told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida: "Let me make it clear -- crystal clear: as Americans, we are absolutely united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists."

He added: "They are barbarians. And I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes. Period."

Dear VoteNoWar Member,

In a medical study being published today, scientists have concluded that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has resulted in the deaths of at least 100,000 Iraqis, "and may be much higher." It further revealed that most of the 100,000 Iraqis who died were killed in violent deaths, primarily carried out by U.S. forces' airstrikes. "Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women and children," according to the study. The study was designed and conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad (The Lancet, October 29, 2004).

The population of Iraq is approximately 25 million people. Were this slaughter carried out on an equivalent scale in the United States, it would be comparable to a death toll of one million people. Even the youngest and most vulnerable have not been spared: as a consequence of the U.S. war against the people of Iraq, infant mortality rose from 29 deaths per 1,000 live births before the war to 57 deaths per 1,000 afterward.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 78 U.N.T.S. 277, executed in 1948, and ratified by the United States, and which carries the binding force of the law of nations, prohibits genocide or complicity in genocide. See, also, 18 U.S.C. 1091.
"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting upon the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part..."

This is a criminal war just as the Vietnam war was a criminal war. It isn't enough to advocate that replacing Bush with Kerry should be the goal of anti-war advocates. The Pentagon is preparing to rain down their favored "shock and awe" violence on the devastated people of Fallujah who have already been subject to terrorizing bombing raids and the killings of entire families night after night for months. By demanding the unconditional withdrawal from Iraq we are sending a message to the Iraq people that we respect their right to determine their own destiny and we send a message to the U.S. soldiers that their lives and dignity are too important to be used in the commission of war crimes or to serve as cannon fodder in a war that only benefits the corporate and banking elite.

Bush and Kerry have pledged to continue this violent occupation in order to "win" in Iraq. The people of Iraq are desperately trying to regain their sovereignty and right to determine their own futures without outside intervention. While some feel that the "final stretch" is in these next few days culminating at the polls, for the people of Iraq and all those around the world who stand in solidarity with them, the "final stretch" is from now until the U.S. troops and all occupation forces are removed from that sovereign land.

We must deepen the fight in the United States to bring this war to an end unconditionally. It is completely bogus to insist the intervention must continue based on some humanitarian argument that since U.S. intervention wrought so much devastation, the U.S. must now stay the course in order to prevent "civil war," "chaos," or "a blood bath." These were the same arguments that were used to justify the prolongation of the U.S. war in Vietnam. The only thing that happened when the U.S. finally left Vietnam was that the real blood bath ended.

This flyer is being distributed around Milwaukee's African American communities.

Found and scanned by this Sierra Club blogger.

Singer-songwriter Billy Bragg said Peel had "defined independent music". He said: "Although he became an institution at the BBC, he was, in effect, running his own pirate radio station from within the corporation."

Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt said yesterday: "Hopeful bands all over the world sent their demo tapes to John knowing that he really cared. His commitment and passion for new music only grew stronger over the years."

Her amateurish reaction was to jump up and down in a self-described "hoedown" dance step. She then slipped off camera in front of millions of TV viewers.

"If she were a more seasoned performer, then I think that she would have taken charge and said, 'No, let's start this over again.' " SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels tells the Associated Press.

[...]

On Monday night, she was trying to laugh everything off during a live appearance at the "Radio Music Awards." She went on to give a performance of "Autobiography" so awful that it was certainly not a case of lip synching.

The hoedown continued Tuesday on NBC's "Today. She blamed her drummer for pressing the wrong button, said her dad pretty much forced her to use a vocal track and swore it was the first time she'd done such a thing.

"I've never done it once," she told Katie Couric. "I'm always, always singing on every show I've ever done."

Putting $50,000 into your kitchen leads to a better kitchen. Putting $50,000 into your face does not necessarily lead to a better face. This is because your face is not a kitchen.

Person 1: Knock knock.
Person 2: Who's there?
Person 1: Control freak.
Person 1: Now you say "control freak who?"

Q: Why can't engineers tell jokes timing?

How many kids with ADD does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
LET'S RIDE BIKES!

Twenty-six percent of adult internet users in the U.S. have rated a product, service, or person using an online rating system. That amounts to more than 33 million people. These systems, also referred to as “reputation systems,” are interactive word-of-mouth networks that assist people in making decisions about which users to trust, or to compare their opinions with the opinions expressed by others. Many Web sites utilize some form of this application, including eBay, Amazon, Moviefone and Amihot.

UPDATE
From f.u.b.a.r....
"I'm totally against [lip-synching] and offended by it. I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me."

The chip is called BrachySil.

The spokeswoman says clinical trials on eight patients at the government-run Singapore General Hospital have shown its is capable of killing malignant cells within a 1.5 centimetre radius.

She says five of eight patients involved in the trials have seen their tumours shrink by between 11 and 60 per cent.

[...]

Dr Anthony Goh, a nuclear medicine consultant and the trial's principal investigator, told the newspaper the chips proved extremely safe.

He says they are able to "lock" in place, sparing non-malignant cells from radiation.

There are now plans for a six-month trial involving 30-40 patients from Asia and New Zealand next year.

If successful, BrachySil could be on the market by 2007 and developed to treat other inoperable solid cancers.

Among Bush supporters:

– 75% believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.

– 74% believe Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in agreements on trade.

– 72% believe Iraq had WMD or a program to develop them.

– 72% believe Bush supports the treaty banning landmines.

– 69% believe Bush supports the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

– 61% believe if Bush knew there were no WMD he would not have gone to war.

– 60% believe most experts believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.

– 58% believe the Duelfer report concluded that Iraq had either WMD or a major program to develop them.

– 57% believe that the majority of people in the world would prefer to see Bush reelected.

– 56% believe most experts think Iraq had WMD.

– 55% believe the 9/11 report concluded Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.

– 51% believe Bush supports the Kyoto treaty.

– 20% believe Iraq was directly involved in 9/11.

(Polling from The Program on International Policy Attitudes, summary from The Winning Argument, found at DailyKos).

It is apparently widely believed within the US government that those looted explosives are what in many, perhaps most, cases is being used in car bombs and suicide attacks against US troops. That is, according to TPM sources and sources quoted in this evening's Nelson Report, where the story first broke.

One administration official told Nelson, "This is the stuff the bad guys have been using to kill our troops, so you can’t ignore the political implications of this, and you would be correct to suspect that politics, or the fear of politics, played a major role in delaying the release of this information."

As I've noted, the White House and the Pentagon have known for more than a year that this stuff had gone missing. But the White House, according to TPM sources, has known that this story was coming for at least ten days. Again, not just the underlying facts -- that the stuff had been stolen and was being used against American troops (they've known that for more than a year) -- but the fact that this story was going to break in the not too distant future. And they've been hoping it could be pushed back until after the election.

As another administration source told Nelson, "What the hell were WE doing in the year and a half from the time we knew the stuff was gone, is obviously a huge question, and you can imagine why no one [in the Administration] wants to face up to it, certainly not before the election."

UPDATE:
TPM Assignment Desk: a list of questions reporters might do well to get to the bottom of in this looted explosives story.

Ronnie Earle has clearly set his gunsights on DeLay, but apparently determined early on that a pre-election indictment could be easily dismissed as partisanship. Earle doesn't give a shit if DeLay wins on November 2nd, he wants an indictment that will stick. Corruption must be punished.

So the first round of indictments hit two of DeLay's closest aides and a host of corporations. The aids are being threatened with 99-year prison terms. The corporations are being threatened with criminal sanctions.

The strategy is as old as the criminal system -- go after the underlings, and offer a more lenient sentence if they turn on the kingpins. No bond of loyalty can survive the threat of 99 years in prison. And the corporations likely have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to minimize the damage of their criminal trespass. They'll do whatever it takes to get Earle off their backs.

The current grand jury has its sights set on Texas House speaker Tom Craddick (R) and an allied organization. Word is, the Earle's third grand jury on the case will take on DeLay. Earle is slowly working his way up the chain.

DeLay has been reprimanded by the House ethics committee three times in just a few short weeks. A fourth ethics charge was set aside pending Earle's investigation. On top of that, DeLay looks electorally vulnerable in his reelection race. And even if he survives November 2nd, he still faces a criminal indictment.

Scott Dadich's welcome analysis of the typography of the two presidential campaign logos jumps to a conclusion that has a black and white simplicity ("What You See Is What You Get," Op-Ed, Oct. 9). The sans-serif, all-caps typography of George W. Bush may well be "brash" and "aggressive" and thereby an accurate depiction of the Bush administration, but it does not follow that the serif type of John Kerry projects the candidate as a "wimp."

Serif types are the original typographic forms of the Roman alphabet. Sans-serif types are derivative letter forms that have been stripped of their serifs (as the name implies, if you know a little French!), a simplification that lends itself to short, simple messages.

Sans-serif type is the medium of corporate graphics and sound bites; it is associated with selling and spin. Serif type is the medium of books, editorial and content; it is associated with learning and knowledge.

Today, the Bush-Cheney campaign unveils a major new ad it calls, simply, "Wolves." It may become the most talked about spot of the 2004 race -- especially if Bush wins. Moody and ominous, the 30-second ad mines the shadowy light-and-dark world of a mysterious forest, with an occasional nano-second flash of danger, before showing the large pack (sleeper cell?) of wolves ready to attack at the first sign of weakness. At the end, the pack is rousing, ready to pounce on....the election of President Kerry?

Special Late-Breaking Bush Slime Update: After having watched this ad, as opposed to the still shots, I have to say that I didn't find it all that effective. I can't point to any one thing; it's just not that scary, not even that effective by the special standards used to evaluate lying right-wing slime and scare-mongering, a whole artform worthy of careful critical study.

In some ways actually, the piece typifies the administration. The entire ad is built around an entirely intentional and fairly transparent attempt to deceive viewers.

In March 2003, days before the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, American war planners and intelligence officials met at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina to review the Bush administration's plans to oust Saddam Hussein and implant democracy in Iraq.

Near the end of his presentation, an Army lieutenant colonel who was giving a briefing showed a slide describing the Pentagon's plans for rebuilding Iraq after the war, known in the planners' parlance as Phase 4-C. He was uncomfortable with his material - and for good reason.

The slide said: "To Be Provided."

A Knight Ridder review of the administration's Iraq policy and decisions has found that it invaded Iraq without a comprehensive plan in place to secure and rebuild the country. The administration also failed to provide some 100,000 additional U.S. troops that American military commanders originally wanted to help restore order and reconstruct a country shattered by war, a brutal dictatorship and economic sanctions.

"anyway, I am new tonight... as you may not have seen me before in here.. just a FYI that I am deaf here and can read lips okay..

at the end of debate where Kerry and Bush shook hands.. Bush was asking Kerry, Can I talk to you later tonight? Kerry said sure then Bush said where would you be? I missed what Kerry said.

I wondered what Bush wanted to talk to Kerry about??

... not good. Not. Good. At all.
I watched them talk after, and it seemed like Kerry was surprised... something was off. I was wondering what was said...

When the president asks to talk to you, you don't not meet with him...

Whatever Bush says, whatever it sounds like, I wouldn't trust it worth a damn.

But Kerry's a senator... he knows the game."

October 10, 2004

David D. Smith
President and Chief Executive Officer
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
10706 Beaver Dam Road
Hunt Valley, Maryland 21030

Dear Mr. Smith:

I'm writing to ask you to cancel plans, reported in the October 9 edition of the Los Angeles Times, to force Sinclair Broadcasting Group stations to preempt regular programming and broadcast a film attacking Senator John Kerry between now and the November 2 presidential election.

According to the Times, the film, Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, "features former POWs accusing Kerry -- a decorated Navy veteran turned war protester -- of worsening their ordeal by prolonging the war." The Times reported that the maker of the film, former Washington Times reporter (and former Bush administration official) Carlton Sherwood, tells viewers on the film's website: "Intended or not, Lt. Kerry painted a depraved portrait of Vietnam veterans, literally creating the images of those who served in combat as deranged, drug-addicted psychopaths, baby killers" that has endured for 30 years.

I don't have to remind you, as the Times pointed out, that "Sinclair stations are spread throughout the country, in major markets that include Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Las Vegas. ... Fourteen of the 62 stations the company either owns or programs are in the key political swing stations of Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where the presidential election is being closely fought."

As described by the Times, Sinclair's plan to air the film raises questions about whether Sinclair would be running afoul of federal regulations "requiring broadcasters to provide equal time to major candidates in an election campaign ..." Provisions of the McCain-Feingold law would also appear to be at issue in your decision. The reported effort by Sinclair executives to instruct station managers to classify the film as "news," thus skirting these political broadcasting regulations, would be a charade given its blatant anti-Kerry slant.

I trust that in light of these concerns, you will reconsider your company's apparent decision to air "Stolen Honor."

Sincerely,

David Brock
President and CEO
Media Matters for America

David D. Smith
President and Chief Executive Officer
E-mail: dsmith@sbgi.net

The big story - "a striking decline in his sentence-by-sentence speaking skills." The reason? One doctor says "presenile dementia" a catch-all term for earlier-than-normal cognitive declines (probably "dry-drunk syndrome"). This video intercuts footage from 10 years ago with recent footage - the difference is dramatic and disturbing. And obvious.

Mine Bush and Kerry speeches for the message behind the spin. One examp