I'll Be Back

Soon.

Arnold

Robert Scheer found this quote in an article interviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger, at Salon.com | Family values, down the toilet:

''As we were rehearsing, I saw this toilet bowl,' says Schwarzenegger, an impish smile crossing his face. 'How many times do you get away with this -- to take a woman, grab her upside down, and bury her face in a toilet bowl? I wanted to have something floating in there,' he adds. Apparently, he was vetoed. 'They thought it was my typical Schwarzenegger overboard,' he says. 'The thing is, you can do it, because in the end, I didn't do it to a woman -- she's a machine! We could get away with it without being crucified by who-knows-what group.' (Note to California's Democratic strategists: The soccer-mom set is now yours for the taking!)' "

So Arnold relishes the opportunity to "get away with this."

Republicans!

The Special Interest Brothel

The Special Interest Brothel. Click "Play."

VOTING MACHINES ALERT!

If you try to go to Black Box Voting's web page you see this, apparently put up by their ISP:

NOTICE
Due to a dispute with Diebold, Incorporated, and its wholly owned subsidiary Diebold Election Systems, Inc. (collectively 'Diebold'), which is claiming links to certain materials that do not reside on the blackboxvoting.org website constitute copyright infringement, blackboxvoting.org has been temporarily disabled.
We regret any inconvenience this may cause visitors and journalists to the blackboxvoting.org site and hope to have this matter resolved shortly.
In the interim, send questions or information requests to webmaster@gatorgraphics.net."

This is BIG NEWS and should be circulated widely!

Apparently Diebold has gotten Bev Harris's website provider to shut down her page!

Update - Bev is up at Blackboxvoting.com!

Another Voting Machines Story

Global Eye -- Vanishing Act:

"Who's behind these private companies? It's hard to tell: The corporate lines -- even the bloodlines -- of these 'competitors' are so intricately mixed. For example, at Diebold -- whose corporate chief, Wally O'Dell, a top Bush fundraiser, has publicly committed himself to 'delivering' his home state's votes to Bush next year -- the election division is run by Bob Urosevich. Bob's brother, Todd, is a top executive at 'rival' ES&S. The brothers were originally staked in the vote-count business by Howard Ahmanson, a member of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing 'steering group' stacked with Bushist faithful.

Ahmanson is also one of the bagmen behind the extremist 'Christian Reconstructionist' movement, which openly advocates a theocratic takeover of American democracy, placing the entire society under the 'dominion' of 'Christ the King.' This 'dominion' includes the death penalty for homosexuals, exclusion of citizenship for non-Christians, stoning of sinners and -- we kid you not -- slavery, 'one of the most beneficent of Biblical laws.'

Ahmanson also has major holdings in ES&S, whose former CEO is Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. When Hagel ran for office, his own company counted the votes; needless to say, his initial victory was reported as 'an amazing upset.' Hagel still has a million-dollar stake in the parent company of ES&S. In Florida, Jeb Bush's first choice for a running mate in his 1998 gubernatorial race was ES&S lobbyist Sandra Mortham, who made a mint installing the machines that counted Jeb's votes."

Voting Machines

At Salon today, An open invitation to election fraud:

"Not only is the country's leading touch-screen voting system so badly designed that votes can be easily changed, but its manufacturer is run by a die-hard GOP donor who vowed to deliver his state for Bush next year."

Clark

Despite his early lead, Clark is still untested Poll reveals a few strengths:

"Democrats haven't been drawn to retired general Wesley Clark because of his detailed policy positions. He doesn't have any."

Afghan Massacre

There is a documentary available describing what may have happened to 3,000 Afghan prisoners. There is a five-minute trailer for the documentary online at Afghan Massacre - acftv.

This film exposes the deaths of thousands of Afghans who had surrendered to Americas Allies after the siege of Kunduz. Eye witnesses tell of the disposal of the bodies in an operation controlled by American Special Forces.

BuzzFlash interviews the producer-director of this documentary.

Kerry Comes Out Against Unions

Kerry Attacks Rival Dean Over Protectionism:

"Speaking in Detroit, Mr. Kerry said that Dr. Dean and Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who have staked out traditional pro-labor positions on trade, were pandering to unions and advocating a 'retreat from the global economy.'"

Yep, that's the way to win the Democratic nomination. Come out against unions and workers.

Next I suppose he'll make a bold statement by hiring telemarketers from India, as Bush did, to make calls on behalf of his campaign.

In the past year I have moved from being a big Kerry supporter, to being disillusioned with Kerry, to discovering Dean but saying I think Kerry would be a great president, to thinking Kerry's way out of touch and should retire. With this statement by Kerry I'm wondering what kind of morons he is surrounding himself with, and why he listens to them and what positions he is willing to hold on to out of principle. I don't want to use the 'M' word to describe the man himself - the man who once headed up VietNam Veterans Against the War and who brought to light the CIA's possible trade in cocaine - but he's pushing me there.

Campaign School

Check out Campaign School. This is Dean-oriented, but it's useful regardless of who you support. Do you know about GOTV?

Compassiongate

Compassiongate: Moral Clarity.

The Pledge

Take The Pledge and pass it on.

New Search

I've added a Google search. It's on the left -- scroll down.

Info On The Right

TBOGG has a post about the Bradley Foundation today. Go take a read. This is important stuff. I have some stuff coming soon along these lines.

Here's a previous piece, Some History of the Conservative Movement.

Click The Bat

Click the bat over there on the left of this page. Scroll down. Under the picture I have a message for you.

It's That Time Again

It's the last ten days of the quarter. The Dean campaign has set a goal of raising $5 million over the Internet before September 30. This will make history, and will make news. Over on the left of Seeing the Forest you'll see the Dean "Bat" indicator, showing their progress, until the end of the month. Click on the Bat picture and you'll be taken to my Dean fundraising page. I'm trying to raise $2000. Please contribute, even if it is only $5.

Getting Rid Of Public Schools

This Washington Post commentary, No Illusion Left Behind explains how Bush's much-touted education bill is actually a Trojan Horse designed to destroy public schools by 2014. This People For the American Way study, Voucher Veneer: The Deeper Agenda to Privatize Public Education, shows that privatization has been the agenda behind "vouchers" all along, so don't be surprised that Bush has slipped a time bomb into a bill they said would strengthen public schools.

How many Democrats voted for Bush's "No Child Left Behind" act? Did they even read it?

Here It Comes

Iraq to Open Most of Economy to Investors:

The wide-ranging reforms, undoing years of rigid control of the economy imposed by Saddam's one-party rule, will permit the sell-off of Iraq's numerous state-owned companies to foreigners and introduce new taxes.
[. . .]
Al-Gailani said the reforms would be implemented in the near future. He pledged Iraq would "allow up to 100 percent foreign ownership in all sectors except natural resources."

Get it? Who will decide the price to sell off Iraq's assets - factories, banks, etc.? And who get's to bid? And why is this happening BEFORE Iraq elects a government of its own? As if I need to answer those questions.