Mike Williams

The NCAA is the worst Organization ever when it comes to stuff like this:

The University of Southern California wide receiver Mike Williams learned yesterday that the N.C.A.A. had denied his request for reinstatement because of questions concerning his academic eligibility and amateur status.

Williams declared for the National Football League draft last spring after a federal District Court judge, ruling in a suit brought by the former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett, found that the league had violated antitrust law by requiring that players be at least three years removed from high school to be eligible for the draft.

Here is a kid who is in good academic standing, is a genuinely nice person, who came from a tough background. All he did was follow what he thought were the legal rules, and the NCAA FUCKS him. It's so classless.

Free At Last

NYTIMES:

The proposal, which the interim Iraqi government quickly accepted, calls for the withdrawal of Mr. Sadr's fighters from Najaf and the neighboring city of Kufa, as well as a pullout of American forces and the introduction of Iraqi police officers into Najaf. The agreement would allow Mr. Sadr and his fighters to keep their guns and go free.

and of course there was this:

Al-Sadr must answer the charges against him and disband his illegal militia.

OR, he MUST walk away unscathed.

Flipper

Bush in 2000:

Gov. BUSH: Bob, there are people spending ads that say nice things about me. There are people spending money on ads that say ugly things about me.

BORGER: Should...

Gov. BUSH: That's part of the American--let me finish. That's part of the American process. There have been ads, independent expenditures, that are saying bad things about me. I don't particularly care when they do, but that's what freedom of speech is all about.

Bush slightly against the ad, and against freedom of speech. See, when speech is against him, he's against it. Very smart man, very.

3/4

Bob Herbert in the NYTIMES:

Mr. Cleland reminded reporters of the scurrilous attacks by Bush forces against Senator John McCain in the Republican presidential primary in 2000 and said: "Keep in mind, this president has gone after three Vietnam veterans in four years. That's got to stop."

Rove

Liar.

Douche Bag

Pfff:

"I understand how Senator Kerry feels - I've been attacked by 527's too,'' he said, adding that he had spoken earlier in the day to Senator John McCain and had agreed to join him in a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission to bar the groups.

Yes, you understand better than anyone.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Love em:

When the final whistle blew at last, the massive hug that ensued was part victory celebration, part retirement party. Five of the players who provided the foundation of U.S. women's soccer, five women who became role models for countless girls across the country, played their last match together. Foudy, Joy Fawcett, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Brandi Chastain all stood in a row, arms around each other, during the medal ceremony, exactly as they had planned.

:)

You'll Hear This A lot...

"I'm working with Senator McCain to get things done!", hence why Dumbya is tackling 527s. This way he can keep saying that over, and over, and over, and over, when he's not saying, "We're fighting a war on tear-err...":

President Bush on Thursday sought to smooth over differences with Sen. John McCain by promising to take legal action to stop political ads by outside groups, including those attacking the war record of Bush's Democratic presidential rival, John Kerry...

McCain has called on Bush to do more to end ads by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has accused Kerry, McCain's friend, of lying about his Vietnam War service.

Although McCain has also asked Bush to condemn the ads directly, which he has not done, the senator in a statement praised Bush's "commitment" and said he would work "with the president, both in the courts and through legislation, to force" the FEC to act.

McCain is about as excited to work with Bush as Simon Peres would Kurt Valdheim.

Suck My Dick Cheney

Cheney:

After leaving Yale, Cheney had one of his few experiences working in the private sector, on a telephone-company repair crew. He showed no interest, one way or another, in the Vietnam War -- until a Texas president, nearly forty years before George W. Bush, turned a remote foreign struggle into a catastrophic, unwinnable war. Thanks to Lyndon Johnson's escalation of Vietnam, lounging around was suddenly no longer an option. Cheney snapped into action. First he enrolled in Casper Community College; then he went to the University of Wyoming. That kept him out of the draft until August 7th, 1964, when Congress initiated massive conscription in the armed forces. Three weeks later, Cheney married Lynne Vincent, his high school girlfriend, earning him another deferment. Then, on October 26th, 1965, the Selective Service announced that childless married men no longer would be exempted from having to fight for their country. Nine months and two days later, the first of Cheney's two daughters, Elizabeth, was born. All told, between 1963 and 1966, Cheney received five deferments.

Read it all.

GENOCIDE

Samantha Power's book "A Problem From Hell" documents almost every modern day historical genocide. Upon reading it I was blown away by the U.S. Government's refusal to acknowledge even the word in so many situations.

What's going on in Sudan is FLAT OUT GENOCIDE, but this is how the Economist tells it:

Sudan’s authoritarian regime continues to deny arming and backing the janjaweed, though there is plenty of reliable evidence that it is doing so. Last month, America’s Congress passed a resolution describing the killings of black Darfuris as “genocide”, though the Bush administration has so far stopped short of using this description. On Sunday, a Sudanese newspaper reported that some Darfur militiamen and policemen had been imprisoned for crimes including rape—a sign that the authorities may perhaps be starting to crack down on human-rights abuses.

For once, I'm not blaming Bush alone. Presidents across the board avoid the word like the plague, and I don't understand why. I mean, there's a fear that the U.S. troops could be accussed of genocide had the U.S. ever committed an act that fell under certain guidelines under a "Genocide Convention." I mean, obviously, this administration acts on it's own, evident by the shunning of the Geneva Accords, etc.

But here we have blatant genocide currently taking place, and the U.S. government (and others, but they are not my concern) is allowing it to happen. They are giving the Sudanese more time to prove they are taking steps, while hundreds are killed.

It's a problem, and in the Congo the Tutsis are also pulling away from a ceasefire and that is sure to erupt in serious fucking disaster as well.

Is it our duty to stop these things? I think so. What can be done? I'm not sure. Will these countries ever govern themselves and survive? Not sure. But allowing them to spiral into hell, especially in Sudan, creates a nice breeding ground for people we like to call TERRORISTS!

In other words, when people have lost hope, there is no reason not to attack the system. I mean, we see it right here in the inner cities every day.

Not His "Base"

Compassionate Conservatism at work.:

The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.

:(

The Off-White Vote

WaPo:

The NAACP and other civil rights leaders yesterday charged that recent events suggest the Republican Party is mounting a campaign to keep African Americans and other minority voters away from the polls this November.

In a new report, the NAACP and People for the American Way cite incidents from Florida to Detroit. NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said efforts at intimidation and suppression, once a tool of Democrats in the Jim Crow South, "have increasingly become the province of the Republican Party" as it seeks to counter the overwhelming advantage Democrats enjoy among black voters...

Among the incidents cited: A Republican state representative in Michigan told the Detroit Free Press that the GOP will have "a tough time" if "we do not suppress the Detroit vote." Detroit is 83 percent black.

In Jefferson County, Ky., the local GOP plans to send poll watchers to Democratic, predominantly black precincts to challenge voters' eligibility. A similar, 2002 plan provoked cries of voter intimidation after a recruitment flier became public. The flier asked for volunteers to protect Ernie Fletcher's gubernatorial campaign against potential fraud by "the black militant division of the AFL-CIO" and the NAACP.

Frankly, I'm shocked! SHOCKED!!!

What Would You Say?

Sucks for you, dumbass:

Authorities were considering criminal charges Wednesday against the Dave Matthews Band and one of its tour bus drivers for allegedly dumping human waste from a bus into the Chicago River, dousing a tour boat filled with passengers.

The announcement came a day after the state sued the band and driver Stefan Wohl, accusing them of violating state water pollution and public nuisance laws. The lawsuit seeks $70,000 in civil penalties.

Band rumored to have lost half their Greenpeace audience.

Bush Gains

LA Times poll shows Bush gains on JFK:

For the first time this year in a Times survey, Bush led Kerry in the presidential race, drawing 49% among registered voters, compared with 46% for the Democrat. In a Times poll just before the Democratic convention last month, Kerry held a 2-percentage-point advantage over Bush.

That small shift from July was within the poll's margin of error. But it fit with other findings in the Times poll showing the electorate edging toward Bush over the past month on a broad range of measures, from support for his handling of Iraq to confidence in his leadership and honesty.

This is not the first poll showing Bush making some gains, but I maintain what I've said from day one: the debates will settle this. If Kerry cannot defeat Bush there he doesn't deserve the presidency. However, the gains do show a shift in the winds toward Bush.

Thank You!

Responsible Media!!! - Swift Boat Writer Lied on Cambodia Claim

Official News

The AP:

WASHINGTON -- A Navy report filed five days after a disputed incident in Vietnam supports John Kerry's version and contradicts critics who say the Democratic presidential nominee never came under enemy gunfire when he won two of his wartime medals.

The Navy task force overseeing Kerry's swift boat squadron reported his group of boats being fired on during the March 13, 1969, incident. Some of Kerry's critics, including several men who were on other boats that day, say there was no enemy gunfire during the incident that earned Kerry a Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart.

The March 18, 1969, weekly report from Task Force 115 was located by the Associated Press during a search of Navy archives. It is the latest document to surface that supports Kerry's description of the event. Crew members on Kerry's boat and a Special Forces soldier Kerry pulled from the water that day insist there was enemy fire, and they have appeared on behalf of the Kerry campaign.

Ho hum...

My Gay Point

Ever since the gay issue has exploded on the national scene, pretty much around the time of the Massachusettes Gay Marriage issue, I've maintained that people are probably more moderate than you think across the country. What concerned me were the plethora of T.V. shows and fashion statements celebrating gay life, whether it be Queer Eye or "metrosexuals."

A recent poll shows a small number of people actually being affected by Governor James McGreevey's announcement that he is a "gay American":

John Kerry leads President Bush by 10 points in a poll of New Jersey voters, with a small number of voters saying that Gov. James McGreevey's decision to resign has made them less likely to vote for the Massachusetts senator

This gets me back to my initial point that people would accept gays unless you ram it down their throats (sorry). I have felt the "Queer Eye" would have a tremendously negative affect on moderates who didn't mind other peoples' lifestyles until they encroached on their own, and I think that's happening now.

Even though only a small number of people have changed their mind with regard to Kerry, I'm guessing that happened because people may think, 'Well, I didn't really mind the gay thing, but now that I see a gay politician, I don't like it, and John Kerry supports gay people, so I don't support him now.' Sad, but I believe it. There's no other way to explain the change.

So this proliferation of gay culture, combined with the political stuff is making things worse for gays.

W.T. Special

Some nasty grub. Thanks to Agent Hynd for this.

Coincidence 416

I Quit:

One of President Bush's top lawyers resigned from his campaign Wednesday, a day after disclosing that he had given legal advice to a veterans group airing TV ads against Democrat John Kerry. The guidance included checking ad scripts, the group said.

Benjamin Ginsberg, who also represented Bush in the 2000 Florida recount that made the Republican president, told Bush in a letter that he felt his legal work for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had become a distraction for the re-election campaign.

There was no coordination. None, zero, nada, uno, dos...

Lie 9,128,421

Bush claims he was in the Air Force.

Media can't stop talking about this.

NW Airlines

From NYT:

Northwest Airlines said yesterday that starting on Friday, it would charge a $10 fee for issuing a ticket at its airport check-in desks. A fee of $5 will be charged on every ticket purchased over the phone from its reservation lines.

The only way to buy a ticket directly from Northwest without paying an extra fee will be through the airline's Web site. It sells about 16 percent of its tickets that way; 22 percent are bought over the phone, and only about 2 percent in person at airports.

Basically, help us cut our staff down so we can cut costs and eventually automate everything. If you don't, we charge you.

Ahh, I look forward to the day when everyone is a scientist, the only job left.

NCAA B.S.

USC's star WR Mike Williams is still being held out:

''Even today there are still some holdups in the processing -- not on our end,'' USC coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday. ''We have done all we can, and we still can't get the word as to what is going on. It has been very, very difficult to get Mike back on the playing field. It has been extraordinarily frustrating for Mike and his family.''

The NCAA is the worst. How long could it possibly take to make a damn decision? They are intentionally doing this to send a message to other kids, but this wasn't Williams's fault. At the same time they're hurting his future, with no regard for it.

The NCAA is the worst organization around.

Thoughts

I really am stunned over what goes on in this country, but I guess I should just learn to live with it.

Think about it, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (probably the only cabinet member I respect) totally fucks up Iraq. Then comes the prison scandal in Iraq and President Dumbass blamed the troops. Later we find out it was Rumsfeld who was basically setting up this policy, and who directed Geoffrey Miller to goto Guantanamo, tear shit up, and then goto Iraq to do the same. Of course there's the issue of there not being enough troops, blah blah blah. Basically, a lot of this is Rumsfeld's fault directly. But no, the President not only didn't blame Rumsfeld, he told Americans:

"You are a strong secretary of defense, and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude."

This is all unreal.

Blame the troops, take no responsibility, tell Americans to praise Rumsfeld, have Rumsfeld setup the commission to investigate himself, and have the commission rarely mention his name or lay light blame on himself.

As Yacov Smirnoff said, "What a country!"

Going Both Ways

Dick Cheney then:

DENVER — Vice President Dick Cheney, who has said states should handle the issue of gay marriage, now says he would support President Bush if he proposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian, told The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News in interviews published Saturday that he still believes states should handle the issue, but that he would support Bush's decision.

"At this stage, obviously, the president is going to have to make a decision in terms of what administration policy is on this particular provision, and I will support whatever decision he makes," Cheney told the Post.

Dick Cheney NOW:

Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, drew criticism from both proponents and foes of gay marriage Tuesday after he distanced himself from President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

At a campaign rally in this Mississippi River town, Cheney spoke supportively about gay relationships, saying "freedom means freedom for everyone," when asked about his stand on gay marriage.

"Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it's an issue our family is very familiar with," Cheney told an audience that included his daughter. "With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone. ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.

Addressing Bush's position on the amendment, Cheney said: "At this point, say, my own preference is as I've stated, but the president makes policy for the administration. He's made it clear that he does, in fact, support a constitutional amendment on this issue."

Coincidence 273

NYTIMES:

he Bush campaign's top outside lawyer said Tuesday that he had given legal advice to the group of veterans attacking Senator John Kerry's Vietnam War record and antiwar activism in a book, television commercials and countless appearances on cable news programs.

The lawyer, Benjamin L. Ginsberg, said that the group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, called him last month to ask for his help and that he agreed. Mr. Ginsberg said that he had yet to work out payment details with the group and that he might consider doing the work pro bono.

Mr. Ginsberg, the chief outside counsel to the Bush-Cheney re-election effort, agreed to an interview after several telephone calls to him and the campaign's asking that he explain his role. He said that he was helping the group comply with campaign finance rules and that his work was entirely separate from his work for the president. President Bush has called for an end to advertising by all groups like that of the Swift boat veterans, called 527's for the section of the tax code that created them.

The campaign of Senator John Kerry shares a lawyer, Robert Bauer, with America Coming Together, a liberal group that is organizing a huge multimillion-dollar get-out-the-vote drive that is far more ambitious than the Swift boat group's activities. Mr. Ginsberg said his role was no different from Mr. Bauer's.

Yeah, no connection, I'm sure. He's the same lawyer who was giving legal advice during the Florida recount.

As for the Robert Bauer and America Coming Together, I think it's a tough argument to make that a 'get our the vote' effort, which I imagine registers both democrats and republicans is the same as an effort to smear John Kerry through lies, the same way you did John McCain. Maybe it's me?

No Protest

Why you wonder? Well because the Judge views the world differently:

Silbermann did not suggest how she would rule, but she appeared skeptical about some of the peace group's arguments. She rejected the notion that an anti-nuclear rally in Central Park in 1982, which drew 750,000 to 1 million people, was a relevant precedent.

"1982 was a different time," she said. "The park was different and the world was different."

So there are no laws, or rules, or guidelines, just the opinion of a judge who thinks times have changed? What a nation. And to think that Americans actually say bad things about this country. How dare they?

Sidestepped

Responsibility 101:

For Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign over the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib would be a mistake, the four-member panel headed by James M. Schlesinger asserted Tuesday. But in tracing responsibility for what went wrong at Abu Ghraib, it drew a line that extended to the defense secretary's office.

The panel cited what it called major failures on the part of Mr. Rumsfeld and his aides in not anticipating and responding swiftly to the post-invasion insurgency in Iraq. On the eve of the Republican convention, that verdict could not have been welcome at the White House, where postwar problems in Iraq represent perhaps President Bush's greatest political liability.

The report rarely mentions Mr. Rumsfeld by name, referring most often instead to the "office of the secretary of defense.'' But as a sharp criticism of postwar planning for Iraq, it represents the most explicit official indictment to date of an operation that was very much the province of Mr. Rumsfeld and his top deputies.

The panel sidestepped the broader, even more contentious, question of whether Mr. Rumsfeld had sent enough troops to Iraq. It focused instead on what it described as short staffing among the military police, who were outnumbered by prisoners by a ratio of 75 to 1 at Abu Ghraib, and at the headquarters of Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, whose 495-member staff numbered only about one-third of the authorized total.

Glad they found Mr. Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense under Nixon (during Watergate) to do the digging and the blaming.

Long story short: It's Rumsfeld's fault, but we're not going to blame him directly being that the convention is right around the corner.

Or...

Najaf:

"Our forces are very close to the revered shrine, and the Najaf crisis will end within today or tomorrow," police chief Brigadier Amer Hamza told reporters in a news conference in Najaf.

Or the day after that, or the next day...

So Najaf ends tomorrow, next week, whenever. Can we stop pretending this is the final battle of Iraq? They still don't have elective government, a consititution, LAWS, you know, shit like that.

Besides, the civil war has yet to begin, so at least they have that to look forward to.

Russia

Two Russian planes blown up:

When Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrey Denisov, was told of the initial report of the crashes, he said, "Now we have to see if there's terrorism," The Associated Press reported.

Apparently he's a member of MENSA.

Bag It

Why this "threatens the industry" is beyond me:

A member of the California Assembly has warned the pornographic-film industry, already buffeted by an H.I.V. outbreak earlier this year, that unless actors wear condoms while they work he will write a law requiring it...

While most people in the sex industry appear to agree in principle with the idea of consistent condom use, it has long been believed here that condoms are not sexy...

Please.

Fatburger

So to great fanfare, Fatburger has opened a restaurant right here in Jersey City, and let me tell you: Man, that place sucks!

When I was in L.A. I used to eat it non-stop, and almost prefered it to In'N'Out Burger. Who was I kidding?

Just to let you know, it's not that good, and the fact that employees all have to shout out the order in unison is almost as annoying as a theme restaurant announcing a birthday celebration every 5 minutes on a saturday night.

Taliban?

I thought we took care of these people:

Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, promised Monday that his country would not allow Islamic militants to disrupt the Afghan election from Pakistani soil, but Western diplomats in Afghanistan charged that Pakistan was, in fact, a sanctuary for Afghan militants.

The diplomats in Kabul said Taliban operations in Pakistan, particularly in Baluchistan Province, appeared to be so extensive that Pakistan's military intelligence service, Inter-Services Intelligence, which has a sprawling network along the Afghan border and across Pakistan, must be aware of it. They added that the security situation in Afghanistan's south and east was not going to improve unless Pakistan dealt with the Taliban inside its borders.

Fareed Zakaria discusses this in a recent column; the war that was.

It's amazing how little people care about the Taliban, Afghanistan, etc. Are we that dumb?

Problem Solved

Florida Redux:

Palm Beach County has introduced an absentee ballot that requires voters to indicate their choices by connecting broken arrows, sparking criticism that it is even more confusing than the infamous "butterfly ballot" used in the 2000 election.

Theresa LePore, the elections supervisor who approved the 2000 butterfly ballot, opted for a ballot design for the Aug. 31 primary that asks voters to draw lines joining two ends of an arrow. LePore said she selected the ballot after tests showed it was easier for voters.

Critics say the new ballot is not an improvement.

In a related "Lets Make Sure Blacks Don't Vote in Florida" story, Bob Herbert has this.

Najaf Part 1136

This seems to be wrapping up:

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces have advanced to within 400 metres (yards) of Najaf's Imam Ali shrine on Tuesday, a Reuters witness says.

I think we're moving a meter a day. I call that progress.

Liberation, bitches!

Liberal Media

The Toronto Star calls out the WaPo:

Now most of the big media trumpet the line that the Bushies were misled by bad intelligence and gee, how could they know what the Pentagon itself did not know (as if there were no insiders questioning the WMD claims and Al Qaeda ties).

And there was evidence. And plenty of it. Not that you could find it on the Post's front page — or in many major media.

Which recalls that old bit we'd say about Nixon: Would you buy a used car from this man?

Now it should be, would you buy anything from the newspaper that brought him down but now props up an administration with even dirtier tricks than Dicky could have imagined?

It's a good read.

Must say, I like WaPo's columnists, but they've certainly been vacant when it comes to serious criticism of the White House. Their apology two weeks back about Iraq was hardly an admittance of doing anything wrong, for the most part. But still, the media is doing a terrible job these days.

Do You Like Apples?

First Affleck, now:

Bourne Supremacy star Matt Damon, Lost in Translation actress Scarlett Johansson and other celebrity artists are donating their talents -- not just their cash -- to an online effort to unseat President George W Bush.

The internet political group MoveOn.org tomorrow will premiere 10 new anti-Bush ads created by award-winning directors and starring popular Hollywood actors.

How do you like them apples?

Promotion Time

From the NYTIMES:

Washington - A high-level outside panel reviewing American military detention operations has concluded that leadership failures at the highest levels of the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff and military command in Iraq contributed to an environment in which detainees were abused at Abu Ghraib prison and other facilities, Defense officials said Monday.

The report, set to be released Tuesday, does not explicitly blame Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for the misconduct or for ordering policies that condoned or encouraged it. But the panel implicitly faults Mr. Rumsfeld, as well as his top civilian and military aides, for not exercising sufficient oversight over a confusing array of policies and interrogation practices at detention centers in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq, officials said.

Forget fired, he just received a promotion! He's now responsible for shifting US Forces worldwide and remaking our armed forces.

For Christ's Sake, Are You Kidding Me?

Slap on the wrist over at the Dept of Defense:

Gen. Boykin's words do not fall in a gray area. He said in one speech of a Somali warlord that "I knew that my god was bigger than his. I knew that my god was a real god and his was an idol"; he described the war on terrorism as a "spiritual battle," noting that "Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army"; and he famously described a dark section of a photograph of the Somali capital as the "evil" that is the real enemy. "It is not Osama bin Laden, it is the principalities of darkness. It is a spiritual enemy that will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus and pray for this nation and for our leaders." Such beliefs are the general's right, but when a senior defense official utters them in public, they undermine just about every value the administration is trying to project in this war.

The report, however, finds only that Gen. Boykin failed "to clear his speeches with the proper [Pentagon] authorities," that he failed "to preface his remarks with a disclaimer" that the views were his own and that he "failed to report travel reimbursement exceeding $260" on his 2002 financial disclosure form. All of this may be true, but the findings completely miss the point. Then again, that point should have been clear to Mr. Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld from the start.

Like Dumbya would ever take on someone who supports Jesus. Please, Bush probably teared up after reading the remarks and considered a promotion.

Science

It's comical to square away Bush's beliefs on missile defense on the one hand, and stem cell research on the other. I mean, what's a panderer to do? And a dumb panderer taboot?

Ok, so you read Kaplans takes here and here, then you read this WaPo Op/Ed here about stem cell research, and you realize that these are two scientific hurdles and Bush cares not about the science in either case.

Once again, DON'T BLAME ME, I VOTED WITH THE MAJORITY.

East Brunswick Pride

EB's own Heather O'Reilly, making it happen for Team USA:

The only teenager on the U.S. women's soccer team gave the old vets a chance to leave with one last gold.

Minutes after missing a wide open net, Heather O'Reilly scored in the ninth minute of overtime Monday to give the United States a 2-1 victory over World Cup champion Germany and a place in Thursday's gold-medal game.

First OT

Aside from all the bullshit, here's the gist:

The administration asserts that the new regulations are needed to replace vague, outmoded rules that have spurred many lawsuits as employers and employees tussle over which workers are exempt and which are not. The administration argues that the overtime rules are clearer, will be easier to enforce and will reduce expensive litigation that hurts business and the economy.

Yes, clearer. Aka, we will pay people to do more work and not get paid, and then they won't be able to sue because we changed the rules.

it gets back to my question: Why should I care about people who will vote for Bush when he continually tacks hard right and hurts average Americans on a daily basis?

Hmmm...

This CIA story is an odd one since apparently the White House wasn't consulted:

The proposal came as a shock to Senate Democrats and the White House, which had not been told about the plan's details by Roberts and seven other GOP committee members. Congress is holding hearings on how to remodel the nation's intelligence agencies in the wake of shortcomings outlined by the Sept. 11 commission.

I'm not sure why Senator Roberts is doing this beyond the fact that had the White House/Pentagon heard about this before it was publicly announced they would've shelved it immediately since the NSA, Pentagon, and others lose cash and authority.

On one hand it's nice to see some independence in the Senate, but on the other hand it's actually independent of any Senate bipartisanship. I expect no less from Senator Roberts who has been nothing but a garbage politician since the 9/11 Commission was inititated.

Now I'll refute my own commentary by saying, I'd bet the White House DID know and this is a way to create a new intelligence issue in order to allow the president to buy more time before having to make any decisions before the election. he can say, "I'm reviewing all the options. We're currently looking at what Senator Roberts and the Commission has to say..."

Bob Doh!-le

From Josh Marshall:

Today Bob Dole suggested that one or more of John Kerry's Purple Hearts may have been fraudulent in some way because they were for "superficial wounds."

Dole knows better.

In a 1988 campaign-trail autobiography, here's how Dole described the incident that earned him his first Purple Heart: "As we approached the enemy, there was a brief exchange of gunfire. I took a grenade in hand, pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction of the farmhouse. It wasn't a very good pitch (remember, I was used to catching passes, not throwing them). In the darkness, the grenade must have struck a tree and bounced off. It exploded nearby, sending a sliver of metal into my leg--the sort of injury the Army patched up with Mercurochrome and a Purple Heart."

I guess he lost his hand, AND his memory.

WWCD?

What Would Cowards Do?:

George W. Bush spent those same years in a state of dissolution at Yale, and would go on, as we know, to plot how to get out of going to Southeast Asia. On that subject, here's a choice quote. "I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment," Bush told the Dallas Morning News in 1990. "Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes."

Let's parse that quotation phrase for phrase. We do not, of course, know the full context of the conversation he was having with the reporter, and we don't know exactly what question Bush was asked. But his words begin from the presumption that actually going to Vietnam was absolutely not an option. The quote is entirely about how to avoid going. He wasn't prepared to damage his hearing intentionally for the sake of securing a deferment (he probably meant a 4-F classification and confused the two). And he wasn't willing to go to Canada. So he took the third option, the Air National Guard. And note how the choice was about bettering himself, not about thinking of a way to best render service that this child of privilege might -- had he been possessed of the moral fiber and sense of duty of, say, John Kerry -- have considered his obligation, especially considering that, on paper at least, he supported the war.

Dick Cheney is another who, on paper at least, supported the war. But we know Cheney's story: A series of deferments going back to 1963, when he was a student at Casper College in Wyoming. As Tim Noah reported in Slate, Cheney went on to marry -- as fate would have it, right after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, when it was clear that young single men would be called up in larger numbers than before. And then he went on to have a child, Elizabeth, born precisely nine months and two days after the Selective Service ended the proscription on the drafting of married but childless men. What a happily timed burst of passion he and Lynn were consumed by! So, while Kerry was plying the Mekong Delta, Cheney was safe and dry stateside, dropping out of Yale because his grades weren't sufficient to maintain the scholarship the school had offered him.

Uh huh.

Why Vegas

So I was in Vegas this weekend for the Ultimate Fighting Championship #49, and let me say this: That shit is sick!

I don't know much about PRIDE, the competition, or any of these other events, but having covered two of these I am really into it.

It's better than boxing (in its current state), and as the athletes get better the sports improves. Plus, the concept is just insane. In boxing guys are basically the same: good punchers. In this sport there are so many dynamics ranging from boxing, wrestling, jiu jitsu, and much more.

Finally, the Light Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture is one of the classiest athletes you'll ever meet on top of his incredible ability at age 41.

If you like boxing, wrestling, competition, and some controlled mayhem then I suggest attending UFC 50 in Atlantic City on October 22nd.

Ritter

Tim Noah asks why is it Scott Ritter is ostracized for being right?

Answer: White House turns honest people into dishonest ones. That's what they do.

Dole-ing it Out

Bob Dole is backing the Swift Boat Vets:

"I mean, one day he's saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off their ears, cutting off their heads, throwing away his medals or his ribbons,'' Mr. Dole said. "The next day he's standing there, 'I want to be president because I'm a Vietnam veteran.' ''

Uhh, yes Bob, he can say all these things because the point is Vietnam was conducted poorly, and was wrong. Kerry, as a vet, knows what war is like, and therefore won't send people off to die in a war that isn't the right war.

So his being in Vietnam, using it as an issue, makes sense.

Globe: Bush Lies

Ahh, what if it was CLINTON!