Tuesday, 02 November 2004

West Hartford Turnout

My town has had a few referendums over the past few months, and I've worked the polls at both of them. You know, cause that's what retired people do.

Anyway, over the past few weeks I've made friends with the other poll workers at my precinct. When I went to vote today at 1:00 I was talking to the people there and they were absolutely frazzled. One of the men actually followed me outside and asked me if I could possibly come by to help out at around 4 when they get hit by the after work crowd.

He said that voter turnout in our precinct was already over 50%. He predicted that the final tally would be around 93% turnout.

The fact that he can even make a prediction like that with a straight face is incredible. I'm looking forward to going over there this afternoon. It's going to be madness.

UPDATE: Got home a few minutes ago. I can't speak for the rest of West Hartford (much less the rest of Connecticut), but at our precinct we got just over 80% turnout. Pretty incredible. Let's hope the rest of the country is just as motivated.

We only had one problem. In Connecticut we use the big, old, honking voting machines from back in the 20's. At around 5:30 some guy came in and wanted to do a write-in vote and everybody was like "How the hell are you supposed to do that?" The Moderator, who had worked at the past 6 elections, had never had ANYONE ask to do a write-in.

The Moderator got on the phone to Town Hall and spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do it. Meanwhile this guy was sitting down being all like "I don't see what the problem is here. It's my constitutional right. I can vote for anyone I want." His girlfriend, naturally, was standing by the door saying, "Can't you just do something normally for once?"

Anyway, we finally figured out how to do it, and the guy went into the voting booth and pulled the lever, closing the curtain behind him. He stood there for a second and then called out, "Um, does anybody have a pen?"

The look on his girlfriend's face was priceless.

Posted by flow Frazao on November 2, 2004 at 02:28 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

That Was A Close One

God forbid the Republican party isn't allowed to exercise it's rights:

Giving a pre-dawn Election Day boost to the GOP, a federal appeals court early Tuesday cleared the way for political parties to send in people to challenge voters' eligibility at Ohio polling places. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to step in.

The right of a political party to exercise voter suppression tactics is one of the basic tenets of American democracy. The Republican party should be proud to uphold the high standards it fought so hard for in the last election.

Fuckers.

Posted by flow Frazao on November 2, 2004 at 08:19 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 20 October 2004

Have You Seen The Little Piggies?

Posted by flow Frazao on October 20, 2004 at 08:02 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Delusional

A rare glimpse into the mind of George W. Bush:

"Pat Robertson, an ardent Bush supporter, said he had that conversation with the president in Nashville, Tennessee, before the March 2003 invasion. He described Bush in the meeting as "the most self-assured man I've ever met in my life."

"You remember Mark Twain said, 'He looks like a contented Christian with four aces.' I mean he was just sitting there like, 'I'm on top of the world,' " Robertson said on the CNN show, "Paula Zahn Now."

"And I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties.' "

Robertson said the president then told him, "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties."

A war with no casualties? Is he even familiar with the concept of reality? I suppose this sort of idiocy should be expected from a man who would rather go to war than raise twins.

Andrew Sullivan sums the situation up pretty well:

Any president who believed that there would be no casualties in the Iraq liberation is unqualified to be commander-in-chief. The same goes for a president who believes there will be casualties and tells a loyal supporter that there won't be. The only way this isn't damning about Bush is if Robertson is lying. But why would he?

Posted by flow Frazao on October 20, 2004 at 11:03 AM in Iraq, ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 14 October 2004

Wise Words

Today is Dwight Eisenhower's birthday. In celebration, here are a few choice quotes (attention neocons):

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."

"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. War settles nothing."

Posted by flow Frazao on October 14, 2004 at 11:53 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

It's Not Gay Marriage, It's Gay RIGHTS

Just a quick word on the gay marriage issue. If you're under the impression that it's all about a bunch of queers getting excited about parading around in wedding dresses, here's something to think about.

According to the US Government's General Accounting Office, 1,049 federal rights depend on marital status. These rights include:

Hospital Visitation Rights

Married couples have the automatic right to visit each other in the hospital and make medical decisions. Same sex couples can be denied the right to visit a sick or injured partner in the hospital.

Spousal Privilege
Spousal privilege, granted to married couples, is the right of a person to refuse to testify against their spouse in the court of law.

Inheritance rights
When a married person's spouse dies, the survivor can automatically inherit a substantial share from the deceased spouse's estate regardless of whether a will exists. Without marriage, a same-sex partner has no automatic right to inherit.

Nursing homes
Married couples have a legal right to live together in nursing homes. An unmarried and elderly same-sex couple does not have the right to spend their final days together in a nursing home.

Social Security benefits
Married people receive Social Security payments upon the death of a spouse. Despite paying payroll taxes, surviving partners in same-sex relationships receive no Social Security survivor benefits resulting in an average annual income loss of $5,528 upon the death of a partner.

That's just the beginning. The full GAO report is here (pdf).

Posted by flow Frazao on October 14, 2004 at 10:28 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 13 October 2004

Debate Three

9:09 - Regarding Osama Bin Laden:

"I don't know where he is.You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about him."[President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02]


9:16 - OK, am I going crazy here? Why is George Bush so pink? What's the deal? Is this some kind of subliminal attempt to sway the communist vote? I thought it was just a C-Span thing, but I just flipped over to NBC and he's still redder than my Portuguese scrotum.


9:29 - Great answer by Kerry on the nature of homosexuality and gay marriage. I disagree with him on the whole "marriage is between a man and a woman" thing, but at least he doesn't want to change the goddamn constitution for it.


9:31 - Wow. Kerry just made a relevant Bible quote. I'd like to see Bush top that. And "an eye for an eye" doesn't count.

9:35 - What? The medical industry doesn't use "electronic medical records"? That's funny, because I seem to remember seeing a couple of computers last time I vistited the doctor's office.


9:50 - I'm sorry, did Mr. Pink just say that most of his tax cuts went to lower and middle income Americans? That's funny, because I seem to remember most of his tax cuts going to googlimoogliilionaires. Maybe it was just me.


9:59 - Mitch McConnell's minimum wage plan (you know, the one Bush said he supported) would have raised the minimum wage to $6.25. Big fucking deal. That's like handing a squirt gun to a guy who's clothes are on fire.


10:13 - Bush keeps going on about Pell Grants, but as Kos points out, he's not exactly a huge proponent of them:

"The Administration has frozen the maximum Pell Grant available to students at $4,050, despite the President's campaign pledge in 2000 to increase the award to $5,100. The program freeze comes at the same time "state colleges and universities in every region of the country are preparing to impose this fall their steepest tuition and fee increases in a decade." Because of the Administration's budget, "most students won't get any more help than they receive now" – at the same time the White House has proposed a rule change that would cut off 84,000 students from receiving college aid."

10:19 - "Love thy neighbor as thy love thyself, and we have a lot more loving of our neighbor to do." - JK


I would have to say that this was the best performance so far by George Bush. Obviously, I think Kerry was far more lucid and presidential, but it's been a very long time since I've been capable of forming an objective opinion.

My real feeling, however, is that none of it really matters at all. The election is still more than three weeks away, and in the 21st century that's more than 10,000 news cycles. By the time we cast our ballots these heady days of timber companies and hydrogen generated automobiles will seem like distant memories.

Four years ago I wasn't really attuned to the political scene. I wonder if the presidential debates were still centered around who "won" and who "lost". It seems so bizarre to try to distill 90 minutes worth of back and forth into such a one-dimensional result. Were things always so weird?



(from www.youforgotpoland.com)

Posted by flow Frazao on October 13, 2004 at 09:12 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Friday, 08 October 2004

Global Test

(image via Atrios)

Posted by flow Frazao on October 8, 2004 at 12:12 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Thursday, 07 October 2004

Off The Deep End

As Gale points out in a comment on another post, it's really starting to look like the Bush/Cheney supporters are starting to lose it:

A supporter of President Bush took on a group of chanting John Kerry boosters on Greensburg's busy Main Street this afternoon.

At lunchtime, 13 Kerry supporters gathered in front of the Westmoreland County Court House to bang a drum, chant slogans and exchange banter, thumbs-ups, and other hand signals with passersby.

Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters is directly across Main Street. The people inside closed the windows and lowered the blinds.

A little after noon a fiftyish man ran out the front door of the building housing the GOP offices, crossed the four-lane Main Street, and grabbed Lainie Maloy's big blue Kerry banner.

"He was screaming like a lunatic, obscenities mostly," the Greensburg woman said, her peace-sign earrings swinging.

"He told us he hopes al Qaida kills us all," said Thor Strong [best name ever --J]. "He grabbed the banner and took off back across the road, dragging [Maloy] with him."

Maloy said she couldn't let the man make off with her banner.

"He pulled me right out into the traffic," she said. "Then he finally let go and ran away, back into the Republican building over there."

Hesiod calls it - "I guess that's why he's a Bush supporter. He wants Al Qaeda to kill even more Americans."

Posted by flow Frazao on October 7, 2004 at 06:12 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 05 October 2004

What Edwards Should Say At Tonight's Debate

This pretty much sums it up.

Posted by flow Frazao on October 5, 2004 at 05:51 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack

Debate Question

Hesiod comes up with a killer question for the third debate:

There was one big question that Jim Lehrer failed to ask the President in the first debate.

It's a question that must be asked, because it may be the most important one in this Presidential election.

And if Bob Schieffer doesn't ask it in the third debate, John Kerry should make sure it's addressed.

What's this all-important question?

Simple:

"Mr. President, around 40% of the American people believe that Saddam Hussein had either direct or indirect involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the United States perpetrated by Al Qaeda. Where do you think they got that impression, and do you agree with them?"

Simple. Direct, and devasatating.

It also begs a couple of follow up questions depending on his answer.

If he says he doesn't know where they got that impression, Kerry should pounce with the litany of statements by Bush and Cheney that IMPLIED Saddam was connected to 9/11.

If he says he disagrees with that statement, it will dramatically hurt him with many voters, because they will suddenly realize he's been conning them.

If he says he AGREES with them, Kerry should demand evidence and ask why it has never been presented to the American people or to Congress.

I firmly believe that one reason why Bush still has solid support (if waning) for the Iraq war is because of that very misimpression.

If Kerry can put a serious dent in that belief among a significant percentage of voters by forcing the question at the third debate, and then using Bush's answers in TV ads, he will win this election going away.

UPDATE: Cut and paste my question for Mr. Lehrer Schieffer, and send it to him via e-mail at:

ftn@cbsnews.com

Make sure you state, explicitly, that you read this question on a blog, and that you think it would be a very good one to ask the President.

Put my question into quotes, so that Lehrer Schieffer doesn't dismiss the e-mails as phony. If you use quotation marks, and say you thought the questions was a good one and you forwarded it to him for that purpose, he's more likely to take it seriously. As indeed he should.

Posted by flow Frazao on October 5, 2004 at 08:52 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Sunday, 03 October 2004

How Do You Run A Convention On A Record Of Failure?

Easy. Just scare the shit out of people.

(Seriously though, you need to watch this. It's funny as hell.)

Posted by flow Frazao on October 3, 2004 at 11:20 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 01 October 2004

Daughters On A Leash?

I think it was pretty obvious to anyone watching that Kerry was composed and in command of the facts whereas Bush was stuttering and obviously in over his head. Those four second, deer-in-the-headlights silences don't make W look very presidential to me.

The most surreal moment of the debate came after Lehrer asked the candidates about "character":

LEHRER: New question, President Bush. Clearly, as we have heard, major policy differences between the two of you. Are there also underlying character issues that you believe, that you believe are serious enough to deny Senator Kerry the job as commander in chief of the United States?

Bush: That's a loaded question. Well, first of all, I admire Senator Kerry's service to our country. I admire the fact that he is a great dad. I appreciate the fact that his daughters have been so kind to my daughters in what has been a pretty hard experience for, I guess, young girls, seeing their dads out there campaigning.

[snip]

Lehrer: Ninety second response, Senator.

Kerry: Well, first of all, I appreciate enormously the personal comments the president just made. And I share them with him. I think only if you're doing this -- and he's done it more than I have in terms of the presidency -- can you begin to get a sense of what it means to your families. And it's tough. And so I acknowledge that his daughters -- I've watched them.

I've chuckled a few times at some of their comments.

(LAUGHTER)

And...

Bush: I'm trying to put a leash on them.

Andrew Sullivan, the conservative commentator, chimes in with the following point:

No president who has presided over Abu Ghraib should ever say he wants to put anyone on a leash.

Posted by flow Frazao on October 1, 2004 at 08:56 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 27 September 2004

Back and Forth

There's a spirited debate going on in the comments section of one of my recent posts. Check it out.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 27, 2004 at 11:12 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 21 September 2004

Why Does America Hate America?

One quick thing before I go...

First off, I have very little faith in pollsters. Three months ago these guys were telling us Kerry was going to destroy Bush. Six months ago they were saying that Howard Dean was THE undisputable candidate of the Democratic Party. A year ago all the polls agreed that King George was indestructible - there was no point in anyone even bothering to run against him.

That said, the Harris poll was the most accurate pollster in 2000, predicting a 47-47 outcome (the final outcome was Gore 48.38% and Bush 47.87%). According to the latest Harris poll, President Bush's ratings have slipped to the lowest level of his presidency:

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - September 17, 2004 - President Bush's ratings have slipped to 45 percent positive and 54 percent negative, the lowest ratings of his presidency, according to a new Harris Poll. These numbers compare to 50 percent positive, 49 percent negative in June and 48 percent positive, 51 percent negative in August. This downward trend no doubt helps to explain why the lead which the president enjoyed over Senator Kerry immediately after the Republican convention in New York - the so-called "convention bounce" - has now disappeared.

Now if all the Democrats could shut their fucking pie-holes about how Kerry is doomed, then we might have a chance at one of the biggest landslides in the history of American politics.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Posted by flow Frazao on September 21, 2004 at 07:23 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Thursday, 09 September 2004

Nice

A member of the audience pulls a demonstrator's hair as he forces her out of an auditorium where President Bush was addressing a crowd of supporters at Byers Choice in Colmar, Pa.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 9, 2004 at 09:48 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Thursday, 02 September 2004

The Future of America


---OR---



Andrew Sullivan puts the choice into words:

Zell Miller's address will, I think, go down as a critical moment in this campaign, and maybe in the history of the Republican party. I kept thinking of the contrast with the Democrats' keynote speaker, Barack Obama, a post-racial, smiling, expansive young American, speaking about national unity and uplift. Then you see Zell Miller, his face rigid with anger, his eyes blazing with years of frustration as his Dixiecrat vision became slowly eclipsed among the Democrats. Remember who this man is: once a proud supporter of racial segregation, a man who lambasted LBJ for selling his soul to the negroes. His speech tonight was in this vein, a classic Dixiecrat speech, jammed with bald lies, straw men, and hateful rhetoric. As an immigrant to this country and as someone who has been to many Southern states and enjoyed astonishing hospitality and warmth and sophistication, I long dismissed some of the Northern stereotypes about the South. But Miller did his best to revive them. The man's speech was not merely crude; it added whole universes to the word crude.


UPDATE: Click here to watch Zell Miller lose his shit on national TV during an interview with Chris Matthews.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on September 2, 2004 at 12:44 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fake NYC Subway Map

Here's a New York City subway map to hand out to tourists. But only certain tourists...

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on September 2, 2004 at 10:04 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 01 September 2004

Osama bin Who?

Remember this guy?


Well you're not alone. I remember him too. However, it seems as though the Republicans have forgotten all about him. What's an evil terrorist mastermind have to do to get some attention around here?

Imagine that - not a single mention of Osama bin Laden at the Republican National Convention.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on September 1, 2004 at 09:43 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 30 August 2004

Bikes Against Bush Creator Arrested Before He Even Gets To Use The Bike

Oy:

Bikesagainstbush creator Joshua Kinberg was arrested while taping an interview with MSNBC's Ron Reagan in Manhattan Saturday afternoon.

Kinberg was stopped by police while demonstrating the bicycle for the television interview. His bicycle is a high-tech graffiti writer, using chalk to print anti-Bush political messages sent by people via the internet. Apparently there was a question of whether or not the sprayed messages were a defacement of property.

When Kinberg showed the police sergeant how the bicycle used a non-permanent spray chalk, the sergeant seemed to agree that it wasn't defacement, at which point Kinberg asked, "am I free to go?" After conferring about it, officers decided to call superiors, then came back moments later to place Kinberg under arrest and confiscate the bicycle.

Kinberg cooperated fully with the officers as he was being handcuffed, only asking, "can I ask what I'm being arrested for?" to which no one provided an answer. As of 11:00 PM Saturday evening, he was still in custody without being charged with anything.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on August 30, 2004 at 10:46 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Thursday, 26 August 2004

10 Nobel Economists Endorse Kerry

Earlier this year, more than 4,000 scientists, among them 48 Nobel Prize winners, signed a statement opposing the Bush administration's use of scientific research.

Now, a consortium of Nobel prize-winning economists have come forward to publicly endorse John Kerry:

"The Democratic presidential nominee released a letter from the economists saying the Bush administration had “embarked on a reckless and extreme course that endangers the long-term economic health of our nation.”

They cited “poorly designed” tax cuts that instead of creating jobs have turned budget surpluses into enormous budget deficits, a “fiscal irresponsibility threatens the long-term economic security and prosperity of our nation.”

The endorsement, in the form of an open letter American voters, was signed by George Akerlof and Daniel McFadden of the University of California at Berkeley, Kenneth Arrow and William Sharpe of Stanford University, Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University, Lawrence Klein of the University of Pennsylvania, Douglass North of Washington University, Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow of MIT and Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University."

Posted by flow Frazao on August 26, 2004 at 08:33 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 20 August 2004

Declare Yourself

Here's a little something aimed at the kiddies.

Yahoo has comissioned David LaChapelle (NOT the guy from Comedy Central) to direct three PSAs for Declare Yourself.

Apparently, the Declare Yourself voter registration campaign--aimed at bringing young people into the political process with their counter-intuitive set of ads--has been quite successful. According to the group's Special Projects Director, Caty Borum, the organization has counted over 200,000 downloads of the voter registration form since November 2003.

Be forewarned - these ads are REALLY dark. They are not for wusses.


Posted by flow Frazao on August 20, 2004 at 10:58 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 18 August 2004

Insert 1000 Words

From the front page of the Portland Tribune:

An unidentified supporter of President Bush tries to silence protester Kendra Lloyd-Knox (right) outside Southridge High School in Beaverton. Elsewhere in Portland, supporters of Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., rallied on the waterfront.

Posted by flow Frazao on August 18, 2004 at 05:13 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

We Should Try This Here

Voting is compulsory in Australia. You can, however, avoid voting if you have a "valid and sufficient" reason:

In the 1926 Judd v McKeon case, Mr Judd provided the following reason for not voting at a Senate election:
All the political parties and their candidates participating in the election support and do all in their power to perpetuate capitalism with its exploitation of the working class, unemployment, prostitution, etc. The Socialist Labour Party, of which I am a member, stands for the ending of capitalism and the inauguration of socialism - and, consequently, its members are prohibited from voting for the aforementioned supporters of capitalism. The Socialist Labour Party has paid and lost hundreds of pounds in Federal election deposits for its candidates. The unjust penalty of 25 pounds on each candidate penalizes us if we participate in a Federal election, and your letter suggests that we will be penalized if we don't. Is this fair?
Mr Judd was convicted in the Central Police Court in Sydney and fined ten shillings.

In another case, a Mr. Little refused to vote because he had no preference among the candidates. The courts ruled that "subjective incapacity on the part of the voter to determine that he prefers one candidate in an election to another" was not a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote.

Posted by flow Frazao on August 18, 2004 at 02:00 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Turning A Corner

Every single day I see something that convinces me how well George W Bush's economic policies are working:

Too bad they're only working for the top few percent of Americans.

Posted by flow Frazao on August 18, 2004 at 01:34 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 16 August 2004

Bush Declines to Sign Olympic Truce

Wouldn't it have been nice to have had some American representation at the Olympic Truce Signing? If only as a gesture of goodwill?

"British Prime Minister Tony Blair signed the Olympic Truce at the birthplace of the games Saturday, even as his troops in Iraq were breaking with the spirit of the document that calls for a halt in worldwide conflict during the competition.

Organizers of the truce -- inspired by the cease-fire between warring city-states during the ancient games at Olympia -- say more than 450 world leaders and international personalities have signed the initiative.

Saturday, 20 prime ministers, heads of state and members of royal families signed the document, including Blair, Spain's Queen Sofia and Prince Albert of Monaco.

Organizers said former President Bush, who is leading the official U.S. delegation to the games, was invited but declined to attend.

Too bad our President is such a provincial, small-minded man.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on August 16, 2004 at 12:49 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 29 July 2004

Billmon Nails It Again

Billmon is the uber-blogger. If you're not reading him daily, you should be.

I, Republican

The three laws:

1. A Republican may not injure a corporation, or, through inaction, allow a corporation to come to harm.

2. A Republican must obey the orders given it by corporations except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A Republican must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on July 29, 2004 at 12:47 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Short Lesson On Bushonomics

After three years, it can finally be said that George Bush's economic platform is working precisely according to plan. The IRS released a report yesterday which goes a long way to describing the effect of Bushonomics on the average person:

"The overall income Americans reported to the government shrank for two consecutive years after the Internet stock market bubble burst in 2000, the first time that has effectively happened since the modern tax system was introduced during World War II, newly disclosed information from the Internal Revenue Service shows.

The total adjusted gross income on tax returns fell 5.1 percent, to just over $6 trillion in 2002, the most recent year for which data is available, from $6.35 trillion in 2000. Because of population growth, average incomes declined even more, by 5.7 percent.

[...]

The unprecedented back-to-back declines in reported incomes was caused primarily by the combination of the big fall in the stock market and the erosion of jobs and wages in well-paying industries in the early years of the decade.

In the past, overall personal income rose from one year to the next with relentless monotony, the growth rate changing in response to fluctuations in economic activity but almost never falling.

[...]

Before the recent drop, the last time reported incomes fell for even one year was in 1953. The only other time since World War II that the I.R.S. reported an interruption in income gains was from 1947 to 1949, but that was because of changes in the tax law at the time that affected how income was reported rather than an actual fall."

So the average American's income has dropped almost 6 percent in the last few years. But at least those tax cuts are helping, right? Isn't the Bush administration getting things back on track for America?

If by "back on track" you mean record deficit then yeah, things are coming along swimmingly:

"The White House will project soon that this year's federal deficit will exceed $420 billion, congressional aides said, a record figure certain to ignite partisan warfare over President Bush's handling of the economy.

The annual summertime analysis is expected out this Friday, said several congressional aides speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday. That would be well after the frequently ignored legal deadline of July 15.

Friday will be a day after the Democratic National Convention ends — a release date that would prevent presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and others at the gathering from citing its figures to criticize Bush.

Some aides said they believed the projected shortfall would be close to $450 billion, though one said it would be about $420 billion.

Either way, the White House was ready to emphasize that the figure is well below the $521 billion it projected for this year last February, and tie it to improvements in the economy."

Great news!! The deficit isn't quite the half trillion dollars they thought it would be! As a matter of fact, this news is so amazingly good they're going to release it on a Friday afternoon.

So, you ask, where is all this money going? Like I said, everything's going according to plan. For example, if you're a CEO then odds are you're loving life right about now:

The median pay for a chief executive officer in the United States rose 15 percent in 2003 and was up 22 percent among top executives at larger companies, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Bushonomics - Leave No Billionaire Behind.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on July 29, 2004 at 10:10 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 18 July 2004

That's What I Call A Billboard


This is the design of one of two an anti-war billboards that will be displayed over Times Square, in New York, during the Republican Convention. The sign is being put up by Project Billboard.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on July 18, 2004 at 09:42 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 16 July 2004

Just Keeping You On Your Toes

On July 12 George Bush declared that America is safer thanks to his Presidency:

"Today because America has acted, and because America has led, the forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat, and America and the world are safer," Bush told employees at Oak Ridge National Laboratory."

"But wait!!" You cry, "Didn't the CIA just announce that the threat is the highest it's been since 9/11?"

Wellllll, it depends what you mean by "just". If you mean July 13, then that would be a Yes:

The terrorist threat against the United States in the run-up to the November election is as serious as at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said on Tuesday.

"This is about as serious a threat environment as I have seen since 9/11," said McLaughlin, the deputy director who took over on Sunday.

"OH MY GOD!! THEY'RE COMING!! EVERYBODY RUN!!"

"Be calm. Stand down. There's no specific threat. Nothing to worry about"

"FOR THE LOVE OF JEEBUS SOMEBODY HELP US!! GO BUY SOME DUCT TAPE!! THEY'RE ALL AROUND US!! AIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!"



Gotcha!

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on July 16, 2004 at 11:07 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 14 July 2004

Why Do Republicans Hate Jobs?

Here's a handy chart illustrating job growth by President since the Great Depression. It's interesting to note that the worst performing Democrat still created more jobs than the best performing Republican.


Posted by flow Frazao on July 14, 2004 at 08:08 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 08 July 2004

The GOP Smear Machine

Get a load of the RNC's made-to-order smear of John Edwards over at

www.kerrypicksedwards.com

But that's not all, folks!! Those crazy Republicans are one step ahead of everybody! Take a gander at:
www.kerrypicksgephardt.com
www.kerrypicksclark.com
www.kerrypicksvilsack.com
and
www.kerrypicksbayh.com

They're totally inept at planning wars, but man are they thorough when they wage character attacks. The GOP was ready to screech about anybody the second Kerry made the announcement.

Seriously though, you'd think with all that money they'd be able to hire a decent web designer. That's some ugly-ass html right there...

Posted by flow Frazao on July 8, 2004 at 12:20 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 07 July 2004

Free Kerry/Edwards Bumper Sticker

Free stuff rules!!

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on July 7, 2004 at 05:49 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Since When Do You Need Experience

To be President of the United States?

"President Bush criticized Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards in his own home state on Wednesday by questioning whether Edwards has sufficient experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency."

This is pretty funny coming from George W. Bush. When he was elected appointed in 2000 the only political experience he had was a single 6 year term as Governor of Texas. His glaring inexperience even led fellow republicans to question his credentials (thanks to E.J. Dionne):
"When you hear Republicans disparage Sen. John Edwards's lack of experience, remember the words of Sen. Orrin Hatch, spoken to George W. Bush at a debate on Dec. 6, 1999.

"You've been a great governor," Hatch declared of his rival for the Republican presidential nomination. "My only problem with you, governor, is that you've only had four and going into your fifth year of governorship ... Frankly, I really believe that you need more experience before you become president of the United States. That's why I'm thinking of you as a vice presidential candidate."


George W. Bush shows us the number of elected
offices he held prior to becoming President.


If elected Vice-President, John Edwards will have served a full six-year term as a United States Senator. He will be 51.

Now can everyone please shut the fuck up and start talking about some issues?

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on July 7, 2004 at 03:26 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack