The Truth Will Out

Red State Blue State

2004-11-12T16:08:00.000-05:00

It's not where you're from, it's a state of mind.

2004-11-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

The election was not stolen.
Without a doubt, mistakes were made during this election, but the evidence for outright voter fraud has not risen above rumour. And despite the undercurrent of resentment and superiority in the mainstream press, blogs were valuable in the exchange and debunking of rumours. At the very least voting procedures and security should be reviewed and audited, and blogs will be a prime reason for those audits.

2004-11-11T15:28:00.000-05:00

FAR less frequent.

2003-12-30T14:01:00.000-05:00

To all 5 of my one-time readers out there, I must say that I have not kept this auspicious blog going of late. I had a good run there for a while, but then I got a job. How anyone posts to their blog more than twice a week while holding a full-time non-writing job, I will never know. However, this does not mark the end of TheTruth, merely a restructuring. Look to this space for less frequent, lengthier prose of mind-blowing insight, humor, absurdity, and truth of which the world will take little to no notice.

2003-09-14T17:26:00.000-04:00

Clooney, Begala, Carville, Soderbergh, Dean
This is the most wonderful thing I have ever read.

UPDATE: Nevermind it sucked. Mark it down as an utterly failed experiment.

2003-08-22T09:20:00.000-04:00

Redistricting Efforts...
I don't have much to add to the whole redistricting lunacy going on in several states around the country. TPM has been covering this well enough for all of us. Let me simply say that it is a pathetic, cheap waste of time and money and the lowest form of a political power grab. I don't care which party is doing it, I would be sickened by any party doing the same.

And the worst part of it is, most of the country has no idea it is happening, or if they have heard of it they do not understand the details. If one were to hear a 30 story on the news about it, they would probably think the Democrats are just running scared from standard operating procedure, not fighting hard against this unprecedented nonsense.

2003-08-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

CNN Wins out in the Blackout
CNN won out in the ratings for once:

CNN averaged 2.41 million viewers -- 1.01 million among the target demographic of adults 25-54 -- compared with 1.86 million for Fox News Channel (588,000 among adults).

What does this mean? I'm no media analyst, but I'd say that, just maybe, people turn to CNN when they want the facts and Fox News when they want a somewhat entertaining partisan, conservative bias to the the news. CNN is not down or out, as long as they stick to unbiased, even headed analysis and reporting.

2003-08-20T10:58:00.000-04:00

Bush = Empty Rhetoric
The Republicans are constantly yelling that the Democrats have nothing to say, that they have no message to present except for negativity about Bush. (Of course, all of the emails the Republican Party sends out are half mudslinging and half empty rhetoric.) But where is the Bush platform? What does he stand for? Honestly. He speaks in empty rhetoric that almost no one can disagree with. As far as I can tell he IS: national security and tax cuts. Here's Bush:

"In two-and-a-half years, we've come far, but our work is only beginning. I've set great goals, worthy of this great nation. First, America is committed to expanding the realm of freedom and peace for our own security, and for the benefit of the world."

"And, second, in our own country we must work for a society of prosperity and compassion so that every single citizen, regardless of their background, regardless of their religion, regardless of their status has a chance to work and to succeed and realize the great promise of our land."

Hold up. When has the Bush administration promoted freedom and peace except during one of Bush's empty speeches? When Ashcroft designed The Patriot Acts in an unprecedented rolling back of our personal freedom? When the Bush administration manufactured the Iraq war? And how are they showing compassion towards every citizen? By pushing an amendment to curtail the rights of gays? By mortgaging our future with an unfair, irresponsible tax cut?

One can make the argument that the tax cuts made the recession more shallow than it would have been, granted. But those working families out there are being shafted. The top 1% gets a 14% tax cut under Bush's plan and the other 99% gets a 5% tax cut. So the result is that the bottom 99% of the country gets saddled with this mounting debt and to add insult to injury their programs will be slowly cut to keep the government afloat. The richest in the country who do not have to rely on public schools, welfare, Medicaid, social security, student loans, AmeriCorps, etc. get a wonderful tax break with no ill effects.

So what does Bush stand for? Words are easy but backing up those words with action is difficult. Bush is all (sometimes unintelligible) words.

UPDATE: That's funny. Once again Kos and I have the same thing in mind.

2003-08-11T21:49:00.000-04:00

I love this
Ever since Bush stepped onto the stage he has used bland rhetoric to describe his policies, then his administration turns around and turns 180 degrees when actual policy is implemented. We need more of this, we need to point out how Bush constantly does this.

2003-08-04T15:18:00.000-04:00

Google Screenshot
A bit off topic, but I just thought it was amusing. An...interesting Google News hiccup, featuring Jason Blair.

2003-08-04T15:06:00.000-04:00

Powell Says Bye-bye in 2005
This is either a blessing or...not. This may be just one more piece of kindling in the growing fire of Bush opposition. To explain: with Powell, the more moderate of Bush's crew, stepping down, Bush's more moderate supporters might take this as one more reason to abandon this extreme administration. However, this is a BAD thing, should we be damned to hell with another Bush "win".

UPDATE:Looks Like Kos is backing me up

Problem is, Powell is the administration's lone symbol of moderation. Powell's presence in the 2000 elections helped reassure many that Bush would not rule from the Right.

Given Bush's track record, Powell's perception of moderation is more important than ever. Word that he's on the way out will not do Bush any favors.

2003-07-28T16:36:00.000-04:00

Where the hell is he going?
Just had to link to an article over at Salon which discusses the, perhaps, faltering neo-cons/Bush crowd.

UPDATE: And this one at Salon, painting a picture of a group of angry, hate-filled young Republicans. If they hate such a large chunck of America (Democrats, liberals, minorities, the unemployed, etc.), do they not hate America itself? One shudders to think of a world run by extremists such as these....

2003-07-28T16:32:00.000-04:00

The Gay Marriage Quandary
The Vatican -- shocker -- will not accept gay marriage, and they're on the offensive. Neither, I suppose, will the honorable Santorum, recent Savage Love efforts aside.

Just as Strom Thurmond's attacks on integration in the forties seem otherworldly today, this continued push to outlaw gay marriage will seem the same in time. That kooky cat Al Sharpton, believe it or not, will sound precient:

Al Sharpton was applauded with enthusiasm when he said that asking him if he supports gay marriage "is like asking me if I support black marriage or white marriage. The inference of the question is that gays are not human beings and cannot make a decision like other human beings."

While John Kerry takes the safe, "I-won't-go-against-the-polls" road:

"I do not support marriage itself." He argued, after being asked by Sam Donaldson to explain himself, that "marriage is viewed as a union between men and women."

Marriage is not defined as simply an institution by which two people must procreate, nor is it binding for life. So what is it exactly? What does it come down to? Two people who, presumably love each other, who want to be viewed in the eyes of everyone including the government as bound together. This unintelligent, reactionary refrain that marriage is solely between a man and a woman, makes no sense. Politically it is most obviously a tough call.

If anyone has a rational, logical argument against gay marriage, I'd like to hear it...

2003-07-28T14:12:00.000-04:00

Bush is "less integratively complex"
From Drudge: according to 4 researchers at UC Berkeley who analyzed 50 years of research literature about the psychology of conservatism, the common psychological factors linked to political conservatism include:

Fear and aggression
Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
Uncertainty avoidance
Need for cognitive closure
Terror management

While most people resist change, Glaser said, liberals appear to have a higher tolerance for change than conservatives do....
Although they concluded that conservatives are less "integratively complex" than others are, Glaser said, "it doesn't mean that they're simple-minded."

So it's from Berkeley, it's still interesting to think about....

UPDATE: In an apparent effort to verify the claims of the study, Berkeley Republicans are demanding an apology

2003-07-14T16:02:00.000-04:00

Ummm...WHAT?

This is horrendous.

Pentagon planners failed to develop detailed plans for postwar Iraq because they were convinced Iraqis would welcome US troops and that a hand-picked exile leader would replace Saddam Hussein and impose order....

"There was no real planning for postwar Iraq," said one former senior official....

Postwar planning documents from the State Department and the CIA were "disappearing down the black hole" at the Pentagon, a former US official was quoted as saying.

For example, the Pentagon ignored the "Future of Iraq" project, an eight-month effort by the State Department involving 17 agencies and dozens of exiled Iraqi professionals.

Seems to me now that we've actually killed em, let's now metaphorically kill 'em with kindness. If we do not get our act together and start providing the Iraqis with the bare necessities, things could get very bad, indeed.

2003-07-14T15:49:00.000-04:00

WMD Controversy Hurting Bush
Swing on over to PollingReport.com to see how Bush currently stacks up against the Dems. Bush vs. Kerry: 50 to 42, 8 Undecided. Swim around the site a bit and you'll notice the general downward trend in the short and long term of Bush's popularity, direction of the country, election polling...

Will his numbers stay this low? Who knows. But what this does evidence is that Bush is not unstoppable, as much as conservatives boast about their dominance. The Administration is taking a bit of a beating in the polling numbers as a result of mounting soldier casualties and the pesky WMD scandal. Guess the American people don't like the idea of being lied to when lives are at stake.

2003-07-11T17:47:00.000-04:00

The More Things Change...
Billionaires for Bush

I believe in the division of labor. You send us to Congress; we pass laws under which you make money...and out of your profits, you further contribute to our campaign funds to send us back again to pass more laws to enable you to make more money. --Senator Boies Penrose (R-Pa.), 1896

And while you're there read this fantastic piece by William Greider and learn how conservatives want to Roll Back the 20th Century.

UPDATE: I would love to see a stat on how MANY folks have contributed to all of the Democratic campaigns in comparison to how many have given to Bush so far. I would imagine the Dem number is larger since Bush gets $2000 a pop while Dems actually need to raise money from normal people.

2003-07-11T11:35:00.000-04:00

Hollywood Commies
In an effort to bring myself to take a drill to my head, I often check in to Fox News. This morning James Hirsen was on Fox and (conservative) Friends promoting his book Tales from the Left Coast: True Stories of Hollywood's Stars and Their Outrageous Politics. The thesis of which seems to be, if you are left leaning and a celebrity you should shut up, you are abusing your stage. If you lean right, (Charlton Heston, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, and oh, RONALD REAGAN, etc.) you are simply an honorable citizen fighting for your right to speak out against the dominating Left.

In case you are wondering, the interview was a friendly one.

2003-07-11T11:19:00.000-04:00

Why the Dems may just do it in '04
From the Post

The result: Activists who are normally prone to infighting -- "the Democratic Party is Yugoslavia," in the words of one party veteran, recalling years of internecine squabbles -- are instead trying to pool their energy to present a clear alternative to the man they despise.

Bush is the best thing that could have happened to the party. He embodies all that the left feels is wrong about the right: religious moralizing, secrecy, screwing the downtrodden masses, underhanded tactics, etc...

Now if Nader could just join the united front...

2003-07-07T14:20:00.000-04:00

Which pres candidate do you agree with?
Check out the 2004 Presidential Candidate Selector. Answer a few questions and find out which Presidential candidate is most aligned with your beliefs.

2003-07-03T15:32:00.000-04:00

A thought for a long weekend...
It struck me that Shel Silverstein summed up the Republican attitude nicely in "Friendship":

I've discovered a way to stay friends forever--
There's really nothing to it.
I simply tell you what to do
And you do it!!

2003-07-02T13:06:00.000-04:00

Pre-emptive Assassination
Heather Wokusch has a good piece up.

At heart is the debate over whether pre-emptive assassination in any form is justified. Does it support or sabotage the political process; does it promote peace or further bloodshed? What proof of guilt should be required before the White House carries out an assassination; what level of collateral damage is acceptable? Until there has been open and honest debate over the pre-emptive assassination issue, the US government must avoid this dangerous path.

Open an honest debate from the Bush camp? Not likely.

2003-07-02T10:37:00.000-04:00

Taxation Without Representation
Talk about absurdity... D.C. has no Congressional representation. This has to pass...

"But now a ranking House Republican, Tom Davis of Virginia, is taking up the city's cause. He proposes to enlarge the House membership to 437 from 435, with a voting seat for Washington, an overwhelmingly Democratic city, plus another one, presumably Republican for balance, for a state like Utah, which barely lost a seat in recent redistricting... "It's hard to make a straight-faced argument that the capital of the free world shouldn't have a vote in Congress," says Mr. Davis."

But probably won't. With so many Democrats, the Repubs won't allow it.

2003-07-02T10:14:00.000-04:00

Reason #355,985,398...
To Question Authority. A report from the DOD just came out which states that nearly 6,000 military personnel were "not informed of their participation" in tests involving deadly chemical and biological agents in the 60's. "If there were no illnesses caused, which I think is still an open question, then it is a matter of luck, and one of the reasons government accountability and transparency are so important is to prevent initiatives of this kind," said Steven Aftergood, an expert on government secrecy with the Federation of American Scientists.

The thing of it is, whenever a government agency is able to operate in the shadows, bad things start to happen. Example: Ashcroft makes people disappear for months at a time. And it is always, always in the interest of national security or to preserve freedom or to protect our citizens. Hitler as he rose to power used these very reasons for breaking the rules, cutting back on liberties. Don't start yelling that I'm comparing the Bush adminstration to Hitler. I'm making a point. We CANNOT let the government act in secret. Horrible things happen when we do. Whether you are a Dem or a Rep or a Green you should always push for open government. The frightening thing is, Republicans and the Bush Administration have time and again pushed for greater secrecy all in the interest of national security, since Bush doesn't "owe anybody an explanation."

2003-06-30T16:16:00.000-04:00

Am I insane?
Remember all of those rosy predictions pushed by the gov't about 4 years ago about the budget surpluses we would get over the next ten years? "We expect that [if the current rate of unprecedented growth continues and if nothing at all negative happens over the next decade anywhere in the world] the budget surplus will be 1.6 trillion dollars." WHAT? Any idiot with a history book can see that bad things happen. Roaring economies have a tendency to ALWAYS slow down after a few years. What kind of hallucinogenic drugs must have they been on? And of course, now, everyone's predicting trillions more in future DEBT. Have we swung back to being to negative about the future? Or are we fiscally screwed?

2003-06-30T14:03:00.000-04:00

The last minute drive is working
"As of 1:30 PM ET, Howard Dean has raised $253,604 online today, bringing our total for the quarter to $6,560,832."

2003-06-30T10:50:00.000-04:00

The Moveon.org online primary seems to have been a huge kick in the pants for the Dean campaign. According to campaign manager Joe Trippi: "In eight short days, beginning on Sunday, June 22nd, tens of thousands of Americans have contributed over $2.1 million online to Governor Dean's campaign for President, in an unprecedented and historic surge of support unmatched by any Presidential candidate of either party in history." (What he means by unprecedented is: "the largest Internet surge in contributions to any candidate ever this early in the nomination process of either party") Bringing the total, as of 10AM this morning to $6,375,490.

Without a doubt campaigning has changed forever now that the Internet has come fully into play. Dean's is the first wired presidential campaign, fully leveraging all the Internet has to offer: online fundraising, Meetup.com, Moveon.org, Howarddean.tv, and even a blog.

That said, he's still a long shot for the primary and an even longer shot for the win. All of this early support is well and good, but will it continue? And as the campaign expands outward past the core of wired hardcore democrats, will Dean still hold sway? Any Democrat who wants to win needs to weave together the diverse tapestry of democratic voters. The Internet only gets at a percentage of them.

2003-06-28T02:47:00.000-04:00

Own Stocks?
Then vote for a democrat. According to The Presidential Puzzle "the excess return in the stock market is higher under Democratic than Republican presidencies." Apparently the stock market rises by 9 percentage points more under Democratic presidents as opposed to Republican presidents since 1927...

2003-06-27T15:49:00.000-04:00

Reading Is Fundamental...
...during a terrorist attack. Okay, he does sit there for FIVE MINUTES after Card tells him, fine. But in all seriousness could he have done anything to affect what was going on? Whatever could be done, was being done.

That being said, why the hell is he just sitting there? What is going on in his head?

2003-06-27T11:02:00.000-04:00

More Lucky Duckies Found!
Hmm, wonder if conservatives will go after these guys. It seems 2,300 folks in 2000 who made over 200K paid a big fat 0 in taxes. Follow the Lucky Ducky meme here.