Bush numbers continue to drop
Less people think Bush cares about them. So much for the compassion.

With numbers like these, we know that we can only point the finger at ourselves if we lose to the Bush squad this November.

Powell admits to BSing America, world
Uh-oh.

Parker gets fluffy
Have you ever read a column as devoid of meaning as this? Aside from some fantasies of nuking the Sunni Triangle (the people she admits that we're "trying to help"), she doesn't really reach any conclusion whatsoever. Here I was looking for some conclusion to make fun of, and I didn't find one at all. However, the column is still full of bullshit rhetoric, and if you enjoy reading that as much as I do, just read the whole thing.

Pelosi attacks Bush/Cheney
Once again she hits it on the head, noting that having Bush appear with Cheney in front of the 9/11 commission is clearly trying to cover up a weakness or two with Bush (namely that while he's become a good politician to some degree in the past 3 years, he hasn't become competent enough for a rough interview of any kind).

Military outsourcing
While much attention has been given to the shipping of American jobs overseas, not so much has been paid to the "outsourcing" of military jobs to private companies across the globe. Mother Jones wrote about this last year, and it definitely deserves more attention. Read up.

Gore TV on hold
Ugh.

Dontcha miss 'im?
Clinton speaks on a gay marriage amendment.

A little on jobs
Via Corrente.

Gas Tax craziness
I missed this earlier this week: Clonecone (of the Coalition) has a great post on some Bush team contradictions.

"The cusp of a recovery"
Sadly, unemployment is up, and despite the war going on, the biggest private military supplier in the country is cutting jobs.

Big Brother is watching
Fingerprinting extended.

Nader: a BIG factor
We all heard the lines when he entered the race. "Nader's presence won't have an effect." "Nader won't make a difference in this race." "Liberals have learned their lesson from 2000."

Oops. Apparently not. While you still don't hear anything about his candidacy being significant, perhaps that is because liberals think mentioning it will just get it more publicity. That may be true, but let's look at the facts. Look at this poll. And this one. In fact, many states, especially swing states like Pennsylvania, have Nader severly hurting Kerry. Well nice work, Ralph. I'll be voting for the far lesser of two evils.

Bush's strong points weakening
WaPo:

WASHINGTON - President Bush's high marks for waging war on terrorism have been the bedrock of his popularity and his re-election campaign. Traditionally, commander in chief is the cornerstone for any incumbent, and this president is no exception.

But recently, Bush's image as the wartime steward has taken a hit, from former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke's compelling testimony that the Bush administration ignored the terrorist threat for months to the president's insistence - then reversal - that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice won't testify before the Sept. 11 commission.

In that time, polls show Bush's strength on handling terrorism has eroded, although a majority of voters still believe he is better equipped to deal with the issue than his Democratic rival, John Kerry.

When asked in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll March 19-21 whom they would trust to do a better job of protecting the country, 58 percent said Bush and 35 percent said Kerry. Other polls since then have shown a similar Bush advantage.

Those in the AP-Ipsos poll most likely to prefer Bush on terrorism were men, Republicans, married people and those who most wanted a candidate who stands up for what he believes. Even one-fourth of Democrats preferred Bush to handle terrorism.

Clearly, work needs to be done. The Dems haven't focused nearly enough on Bush's refusal to secure the ports and old Soviet technology drifting around the Middle East. With some ads and some harsh words, the war on terror can be our game.

Progress
Not too long after one of the bloodiest days in months, 2 more soldiers are dead.

Bored
He's not the only one.

U.S. knew al Qaeda was going to use planes
The Independent:

A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened. She said the claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that there was no such information was "an outrageous lie".

Sibel Edmonds said she spent more than three hours in a closed session with the commission's investigators providing information that was circulating within the FBI in the spring and summer of 2001 suggesting that an attack using aircraft was just months away and the terrorists were in place. The Bush administration, meanwhile, has sought to silence her and has obtained a gagging order from a court by citing the rarely used "state secrets privilege".

Clarke's impact
LA Times:

WASHINGTON — Most Americans accept Richard Clarke's key criticisms of President Bush's anti-terrorism record, but a majority also thinks that politics influenced the timing of the charges by the former White House aide, a Los Angeles Times poll has found.

Nearly three-fifths of those surveyed echoed the contention by Clarke that Bush placed a higher priority on invading Iraq than combating terrorism. And a smaller majority agreed with the charge by the onetime White House counterterrorism chief that Bush did not focus enough on the terrorist threat before the Sept. 11 attacks.

-snip-

The survey found presumed Democratic nominee John F. Kerry holding a 49% to 46% advantage over Bush among registered voters, a difference within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Adding independent candidate Ralph Nader to the mix resulted in little change. In the three-man race, Kerry drew 47%, Bush 44% and Nader 4%.

More on Woodward's newest book
Apparently it will contain some important documents.

GM: kind to their employees
One GM plant plans on only emitting GM cars into its company parking lot. Wow, what nice guys. I'm sure they'll give a pay raise to account for the new car purchases, too.

Energy documents ordered released
Splendid news.

Cuba denies bioweapons charge
This all sounds so familiar.

Tit/tat
This headline looks a little too much like it refers to Israel and Palestine. Why is a bureaucrat vowing revenge?

Strong on terror?
Americans apparently don't think so.

Media avoiding gruesome images
While this may avoid some controversy, I don't think that it's a good thing. Shielding the public from the realities of war was never a good thing. Before the Civil War people would watch battles from hilltops. That stopped when they were shot at. People thought war was glamorous before WWI. That stopped when our boys came home with missing limbs. Everyone thought war was gentler before Vietnam. That stopped when television kicked in. And now we're still sheltering the public from reality?

New Woodward book to attack Bush
It looks as if Bobby's next book will do some shredding of the Chimp in Chief.

Over 600 killed in Iraq
Perhaps he can take back his "Mission Accomplished" speech now. Or not.

Cuba a bioweapons threat
Or so they say. But even if they don't have these weapons, they might "intend" on having them, which I've recently learned is just as bad.

The Pentagon Papers
The Center for American Progress has the documents for download.

Kerry to raise $ in Hollywood
Perhaps in the face of big business we do have an ace in the hole - Hollywood. Kerry's California swing is looking to be very successful.

WH won't criticize OPEC
A president who is very willing to piss off powerful nations, but wouldn't dare critique Big Oil.

He's back
Arnold may be poised to raise taxes. Didn't he say that he wouldn't do that? What a good politician.

Liberal radio on today
I hope you are listening, because my stream isn't working.

"Gruesome day" in Iraq
9 Americans are dead. Four civilians' bodies were hung off of a bridge. Remember the day after Mogadishu? The headlines screamed at Clinton. The silence from the right speaks volumes.

Gep for VP?
Say it ain't so! If Kerry takes Gep as his VP, we deserve to lose. Could we have a more boring ticket?

The War on Drugs in full effect
How very interesting (I've bolded the most interesting parts):

CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) -- When police noticed Dina Dagy's family was spending $250 to $300 a month on electricity, they suspected a marijuana farm was flourishing under high-intensity lights inside their suburban home.

What they found when they showed up with a drug-sniffing dog and a search warrant was a wife and mother who does several loads of laundry a day, keeps a dishwashing machine going, has three electricity-guzzling computers and three kids who can't remember to turn the lights out when they leave a room.

"It's hard to believe a high utility bill would be enough to issue a state warrant," said Dagy, who is demanding the Police Department issue a written apology.

Authorities say they have already apologized verbally several times and were only following proper procedures. Tracking down marijuana growers by reviewing electricity bills, they say, is a common practice.

"I understand they feel something isn't appropriate here, but it is very much consistent with how search warrants are prepared," said police Lt. Bill Rowland.

When authorities noticed how high the bill for the Dagy home was, they sent a police dog to the neighborhood, and it reacted as though it had smelled drugs.

They also noticed the family had put its trash out that morning, something police say drug growers often do to hide the evidence. In the Dagys' case, however, it was trash day.

Tracking down growers this way is common? Excuse me? So the police just happened to "notice" this electricity bill by doing what? Accidentally asking the power company for it? In my personal, very humble opinion, the cops should need a warrant just to get those kinds of bills. It may be common practice to do this sort of thing, but it's also a slap in the face to the Constitution.

And of course, taking out the trash IS common practice with drug traffickers...much like it is with every single person in the country. However, as I sit here in the dark, my garbage piling up outside my garage, I wonder how this family could be so obvious.

Russians claim superweapon
The Ruskies are claiming to have created technology that would make any U.S. missle shield obsolete. Should we believe this? Probably not, but it's not important, since whatever missile shield system we have is pretty much obsolete either way.

OPEC makes supply cuts
Remember when Bush promised to work with OPEC to keep that oil flowing? Yeah...I'm beginning to feel as if he may not be entirely trustworthy.

Krugman
Today's must-read.

Prager tackles religion
The opening paragraph to Dennis Prager's latest:

The United States of America is the only country in history to have defined itself as Judeo-Christian. While the Western world has consisted of many Christian countries and consists today of many secular countries, only America has called itself Judeo-Christian. America is also unique in that it has always combined secular government with a society based on religious values.

Well THIS is where the problem is. Conservatives must just have totally different copies of the Constitution. You see, my copy almost seems to imply that we aren't, and never will, be "defined" as under any religion. This can all be settled by giving Dennis here a correct version of the Constitution.

I'm also kind of missing the point on how a society in which stem cell research is "playing God" and state-sponsored execution is "justice" is religious.

Snow brings back outsourcing debate
It isn't entirely untrue that outsourcing is a good thing - it does help American businesses to an extent - however, the Bush team might be better off not bringing it up, because for pro-outsourcers, it's a losing issue.

WH blames gas prices on Congress
Because the best way to deal with slow economic progress is to deny that it's your fault and let the public be confused as to where the problem lies. It worked wonders for FDR. Or......did he do the complete opposite? I forget.

WMD search shifting to "intent"
So maybe Saddam didn't HAVE weapons, but did he intend on having them? Well, did Bush "intend" on attacking Iraq before the WMD fiasco either way? We can say that yes, he probably did.

Science on the verge of creating life
Be prepared for a debate even larger than the one on cloning and stem cells. Science may be at the point where it can take matter and create life. Now cloning is one thing, but this is the closest to "playing God" that we have gotten. My opinion on playing God: why not? Let us further ourselves. The debate is really one of "how far should we take science?" Any rhetoric stating that we are somehow imitating God through science is ludicrious - if you believe in God, you don't believe that he slaved at a lab table looking for primitive ways to modify plants and animals. But of course, invoking religion is always a good way to rally the troops.

WH, CIA vs. Clarke
This is huge. Josh Marshall happened to catch that the White House may be using the CIA to see how to wage their war against Clarke. How intriguing. I mean, what could the CIA possibly have to hide regarding the war on terror?

Elevating the discussion
Can't argue your way out of a debate with an obnoxious, pro-gay rights liberal? Send them hate mail!

Liberal talk radio
It begins tomorrow, so tune in.

Janet censored again
Apparently saying "Jesus" on the air is now worthy of censorship.

Condi to testify publically and under oath
Breaking news via CNN, but here's the link.

Kerry nets $3 million at one event
Perhaps fundraising won't be too difficult after all. Hoping to get $2.5 million in all of California, Kerry got $3 million at one event.

I am back
I had a great time in Florida, but I have no idea what is going on in the world. Nevertheless, I'll be back on the offensive tomorrow ASAP. Hopefully my readers will return to me.