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Still more on GOP and Bush hypocrisy 
GOP Hypocrite of the Week: The Republican National Politburo (AKA, RNC) a Buzzflash Editorial
Well, you would think a party that tosses around words like liberty and freedom with calculated abandonment, a party whose "leader" keeps talking about God giving democracy to the world and sending our soldiers to die for it -- well, you would think that this political party would champion democracy in the homeland.
But you're wrong. Boy, are you wrong.
The Republican National Politburo (officially called the RNC) has been masterminding a Machiavellian effort to suppress Democratic votes around America. From coast to coast, they have used every trick in the book -- legal and illegal -- to keep Democrats from exercising their right to vote in a democracy. [more]
This is Democracy under Bush
Lucas County Democratic headquarters burglarized Blade Staff
The Lucas County Democratic Headquarters was burglarized overnight, and three computers, including the party's main system, were stolen.
The computers contained highly sensitive information, including the party's financial information, names and personal phone numbers of hundreds of party members, candidates, and volunteers.
The computers also stored e-mails from candidates that included discussion about campaign strategy.
However, it apparently wasn't tripped during the night. Workers arriving about 7:30 a.m. yesterday noticed the back window had been shattered and called police.
Just in case your wondering, Lucas County is in the hotly contested state of Ohio.
More evidence that the GOP is trying to rig the election: GOoPers fired in SD now work for BC04 in Ohio by kos
You know those Republicans who got fired for voter fraud in South Dakota?
Well, the Republican Party rewarded their efforts by giving them new jobs in Ohio.
Larry Russell, who left the state Republican Party's get-out-the-vote operation when questions came up about absentee ballot applications, has joined the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio.
According to an internal Republican Party memo obtained by the Argus Leader, three other GOP workers who resigned also will be involved in the Ohio campaign [...]
Jason Glodt, executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party, confirmed the memo was authentic. But he said he did not want to comment on an internal communication.
The memo was e-mailed to Republican staffers and officials Sunday evening by Glodt.
"Todd Schleckeway, Nathan Mertz and Eric Fahrendorf have also been recruited to Ohio to work with Larry on the President's campaign," the e-mail said.
The Modern Republican Party: Where no fraud goes unrewarded.
More from Josh Marshall.
Jon Stewart rocks
Jon Stewart shreds Tucker Carlson
Stewart on Crossfire
They're not pawns! Support the troops
Platoon defies ordres in Iraq by Jeremy Hudson
A 17-member Army Reserve platoon with troops from Jackson, Miss., and around the Southeast deployed to Iraq is under arrest for refusing a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel, the troops' relatives said Thursday.
The soldiers refused an order on Wednesday to go to Taji, Iraq -- north of Baghdad -- because their vehicles were considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, said Patricia McCook of Jackson, wife of Sgt. Larry O. McCook.
Sgt. McCook, a deputy at the Hinds County, Miss., Detention Center, and the 16 other members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company from Rock Hill, S.C., were read their rights and moved from the military barracks into tents, Patricia McCook said her husband told her during a panicked phone call about 5 a.m. Thursday.
The platoon could be charged with the willful disobeying of orders, punishable by dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of pay and up to five years confinement, said military law expert Mark Stevens, an associate professor of justice studies at Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C.
On Friday, the Army confirmed that the unit"s actions were under scrutiny. [more]
3 easy steps
stop sinclair
This week, Sinclair Broadcasting -- the largest owner of local television stations in the U.S. -- ordered its 62 stations to preempt regular programming to air an anti-Kerry documentary a few days before the election.
Their aim is clear: use the public's airwaves to sway the election in favor of an administration that staunchly allows companies like Sinclair to get even bigger. Great for Sinclair's bottom line -- terrible for our democracy.
It's not about liberal or conservative. It's about corruption, the destruction of democratic discourse, and Big Media trying to skew elections. Together we must stop it.
Hey Lynne, Dick, what do you have to say about this?
Keyes: Cheney's gay daughter practicing 'selfish hedonism' from The Associated Press
Illinois Republican Senate candidate Alan Keyes has labeled homosexuality "selfish hedonism" and said Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter is a sinner.
The former talk show host who has made two unsuccessful runs for the White House made the comments Monday night in an interview with Sirius OutQ, a satellite radio station that provides programming aimed at gays and lesbians.
After saying homosexuality is "selfish hedonism," Keyes was asked if that made Mary Cheney "a selfish hedonist."
"Of course she is," Keyes replied. "That goes by definition." [more]
The company they keep
Ya heard it here first by Josh Marshall
Ya heard it here first.
And now the Manchester Union Leader comes on board.
The unindicted co-conspirator in a 2002 election fraud case, which has already yielded two felony guilty pleas, is none other than Jim Tobin, New England regional chair of Bush-Cheney 2004, according to court documents filed Thursday by the New Hampshire Democratic Party and now reported by the Manchester Union Leader.
Tobin is named, according to the Union Leader and TPM sources, in the plea agreements of Allen Raymond and Chuck McGee, the two men who have already pled guilty to felonies in the case.
Tobin, says the article, did not return calls requesting comment from the Union Leader Tuesday or Wednesday. Tobin has also not returned repeated calls over the last three months from TPM requesting comment on his alleged involvement in the case. TPM last attempted to contact Tobin on Sunday and Monday of this week.
Now the Justice Department is intervening to delay discovery and depositions that would almost certainly bring more of the facts to light before election day. [more]
Swift one
TV conglomerate committing fraud with documentary¹ by Josh Marshall
(...)
Then this weekend, Sinclair was at it again. The broadcasting group announced that it would order all 62 stations to pre-empt prime-time broadcasts to air an anti-Kerry documentary titled "Stolen Honor," which attacks Kerry's time as a war protester in the early 1970s.
(...)
Democrats are obviously in an uproar over this stunt. But it's not a free-speech issue or even a fairness issue. It's a massive instance of election and campaign-finance fraud done right out in the plain light of day.
Sinclair is shamelessly doing its part to corrupt and pervert the political process in this country. And they (and the puppeteers behind the scenes) should be held to account.
Swift Boat Lies by Kevin Drum
(...)
But there was also this:
Back in Tran Thoi, villager Nguyen Van Khoai said that about six months ago he was visited by an American who described himself as a Swift boat veteran and told him another American from the Swift boats was running for president of the United States. Nguyen said the man was accompanied by a cameraman.
"They say he didn't do anything to deserve the medal," Nguyen said. "The other day, they came and asked me the questions and I said that the recognition for the medal is up to the U.S.A."
He said that, after they met, the Swift Boat veteran and the cameraman turned around and went back down the river. Nightline has not been able to identify the men.
Unbelievable. The SBVT [Swift Boat Veterans for Truth] folks, hoping to dig up dirt on Kerry, interviewed these villagers six months ago and have known the truth all along.
(...)
What a revolting bunch of men. What a disgusting, repellent, sleazy operation. And now Sinclair Broadcasting is about to air their movie. [more]
Support the troops
Operaton Truth
Attention all women
U.S. Rejects U.N. Plan for Women from the Associated Press
The United States has refused to join 85 heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education, healthcare and choice about having children.
The Bush administration said it withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."
Kelly Ryan, deputy assistant secretary of State, wrote to backers of the plan that the United States was committed "to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women's fullest enjoyment of universal human rights."
"The United States is unable, however, to endorse the world leaders' statement," Ryan said, because it "includes the concept of 'sexual rights,' a term that has no agreed definition in the international community."
Ryan did not elaborate. At previous U.N. meetings, U.S. representatives have spoken out against abortion, gay rights and what they see as the promotion of promiscuity by distributing condoms to prevent AIDS.
The statement was signed by leaders of 85 nations, including those in the European Union, China, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan and more than a dozen African countries, as well as 22 former world leaders.
Uzbekistan -- Fighting terror with terror
UK ambassador is withdrawn from Uzbekistan by Andrew Woodcock
Britain's ambassador to Uzbekistan has been withdrawn from his post for "operational reasons" following a series of public differences of opinion with his employers.
Craig Murray has courted controversy since being appointed to the embassy in Tashkent in 2002 by publicly accusing the Uzbek government of torturing political and religious prisoners.
Earlier this week, details were revealed of a furious memo he sent to the Foreign Office, complaining that the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) was using information passed on to it by the CIA but originally obtained in Uzbek torture cells.
As well as being morally and legally wrong, the practice was unreliable because prisoners under torture could be expected to say whatever their tormentors wanted to hear, he warned.
And he wrote: "We are selling our souls for dross."
(...)
Mr Murray caused a stir by speaking out publicly in 2002 about brutality in Uzbek jails, highlighting the case of two men who were boiled to death.
His leaked memo was compiled in response to an inter-departmental meeting in London this July on the use of intelligence from Uzbekistan, which lies to the north of Afghanistan and has experienced problems of its own from Islamist militants.
Mr Murray - who was not invited to the meeting - alleged that the country's hard-line president, Islam Karimov, was seeking to portray his Government's suppression of Islamists as part of the global war against international terrorism.
And he warned: "Tortured dupes are forced to sign confessions showing what the Uzbek Government wants the US and UK to believe - that they and we are fighting the same war against terror.
"This is morally, legally and practically wrong."
Intelligence officers had argued that, as they did not know the precise source of the information they received, they could not establish whether the individual involved had been tortured or not, Mr Murray wrote.
And he added: "I will not attempt to hide my utter contempt for such casuistry, nor my shame that I work for an organisation where colleagues would resort to it to justify torture.".
Of the hundreds of cases of political and religious prisoners he had looked into in Uzbekistan, very few had not involved the use of torture, he said. [more]
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The view from abroad
Polls: View of America Worsening by Beth Gardiner
America's reputation around the world is hurting, according to a series of coordinated polls from 10 countries, including many of the United States' closest allies.
In seven of the countries where the surveys, commissioned by major newspapers, were conducted more people said their view of America had worsened over the past two to three years than improved. That question was asked in nine countries.
By big margins, those questioned said the war in Iraq (news - web sites) did not aid the global fight against terrorism.
And in eight out of 10 nations, those polled said -- often in landslide proportions -- that they hoped to see Democrat John Kerry beat U.S. President Bush in next month's election. Bush won backing from a majority of respondents only in Russia and Israel.
The polls were conducted in Canada, France, Britain, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Mexico, Israel and Russia, with results to be published in the participating newspapers on Friday. Not all questions were asked in every country. [more]
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