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The stakes just went up 
Rehnquist Hospitalized With Cancer in Md. by Gina Holland
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, the second-oldest man to preside over the nation's highest court and its premier conservative figure, is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer.
Rehnquist, 80, underwent a tracheotomy at Bethesda Naval Hospital in suburban Maryland on Saturday, the Supreme Court announced Monday. It said he expects to be back at work next week when the court will next be in session.
Even so, Rehnquist's hospitalization little more than a week before the election gave new prominence to a campaign issue that has been overshadowed by the war on terrorism. The next president is likely to name several justices to a court that has been deeply divided in recent years on issues as varied as abortion and the 2000 election itself.
Rehnquist, a conservative named to the court in 1972 by President Richard Nixon and elevated to chief justice by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, has had a series of health problems. [more]
Broad and varied support
Who Supports Kerry? by Miriam Raftery
Debates and news reports offer a barrage of statistics that confuse some voters. Look past the hype to discover who stands behind John Kerry. This list speaks for itself, reflecting the high caliber of Kerry's leadership. In fact, Kerry is supported by an unprecedented broad coalition of military leaders, corporate executives, labor unions, environmental groups, scientists, women's organizations, minority leaders, economic experts, educators, and senior diplomats--including prominent Republicans and Democrats. [read the entire list]
More conservatives for Kerry
Why I'm voting for John Kerry by Steve Chapman
At the age of 50, I get few chances to try something entirely new. Come Nov. 2, I plan to take one of those rare opportunities. I'm going to vote for a Democrat for president.
I've never done it before, and I hope I never have to do it again. But President Bush has made an irresistible case against his own re-election. His first term has been one of the most dismal and costly failures of any presidency. His second promises to be even worse.
I know there are people for whom voting Democratic comes easily. Not me. Contemplating the prospect, I feel how I did a few years ago when I took up downhill skiing: not sure I would like it, and apprehensive of the risks involved. I cast my first presidential ballot in 1972 for Richard Nixon, and since then I have alternated between voting Republican and voting Libertarian.
John Kerry is not an inspiring candidate. He's a believer in expensive government solutions, a defender of abortion rights and a supporter of the congressional resolution that gave Bush the authority to invade Iraq. I'm a small-government, pro-life libertarian who thought the war was a terrible idea from the start.
But I can't vote Republican this year--and the stakes demand using any available instrument to remove Bush. Kerry is not the ideal instrument, just as a rubber raft is not the optimal vessel on the open sea. But when the ship is sinking, you can't be choosy. [more]
Staggering incompetence
Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq by James Glanz, William J Broad and David E. Sanger
The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.
The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year.
The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."
Administration officials said Sunday that the Iraq Survey Group, the C.I.A. task force that searched for unconventional weapons, has been ordered to investigate the disappearance of the explosives.
American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings.
The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the same type of material, and larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people.
The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material, and even sealed and locked some of it. The other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain.
"This is a high explosives risk, but not necessarily a proliferation risk," one senior Bush administration official said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country. (emphasis added) [more]
Kerry Statement on Bush's Failure to Secure Explosives in Iraq
Dover, NH - Senator John Kerry released the following statement today on the Bush administration's failure to secure nearly 380 tons of high-grade explosives in Iraq:
"George W. Bush who talks tough and brags about making America safer has once again failed to deliver. After being warned about the danger of major stockpiles of explosives in Iraq, this administration failed to guard those stockpiles where nearly 380 tons of highly explosive weapons were kept. Today we learned that these explosives are missing, unaccounted for and could be in the hands of terrorists.
"Terrorists could use this material to kill our troops and our people, blow up airplanes and level buildings.
"In May of this year, the administration was warned that terrorists may be helping themselves to 'the greatest explosives bonanza in history.' And now we know that our country and our troops are less safe because this president failed to do the basics. This is one of the great blunders of the Bush policy in Iraq.
"The unbelievable incompetence of this president and his administration has put our troops at risk. George W. Bush has failed the essential test of any commander in chief to keep America safe.
"Every step of the way this administration has miscalculated miscalculated about how many troops we need. Secretary Rumsfeld cavalierly dismissed the danger of looting -- and now we know the impact.
"Make no mistake: our troops are the best-trained and best-led forces in the world, and they have been doing their job honorably and bravely. The problem is the Commander-in-Chief has not being doing his.
"If President Bush can't recognize his failures in Iraq, he can't fix them. And he's doomed to repeat the same mistakes there and elsewhere. We can't afford to risk four more years of George W. Bush.
"With President Bush, we face the prospect of a war that's spiraling out of control in Iraq. As president, I will succeed in Iraq and bring our troops home."
Lockhart Statement on Reports of Missing Explosives in Iraq
Washington, DC - Kerry-Edwards Senior Advisor Joe Lockhart issued the following statement on reports of missing explosives in Iraq:
"Today, the Bush administration must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq. How did they fail to secure nearly 380 tons of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so? And why was this information unearthed by reporters -- and was it covered up by our national security officials?
"These explosives can be used to blow up airplanes, level buildings, attack our troops and detonate nuclear weapons. The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site. They were urgently and specifically informed that terrorists could be helping themselves to the most dangerous explosives bonanza in history, but nothing was done to prevent it from happening.
"This material was monitored and controlled by UN inspectors before the invasion of Iraq. Thanks to the stunning incompetence of the Bush administration, we now have no idea where it is.
"We need to know what the administration knew about this and when. We need to know why they failed to safeguard these explosives and keep them out of the hands of our enemies. The National Security Advisor should be at her desk in Washington tomorrow to work this problem and answer these questions, instead of giving speeches in battleground states."
Corruption
Top Army Official Calls for a Halliburton Inquiry by Erik Eckholm
The top civilian contracting official for the Army Corps of Engineers, charging that the Army granted the Halliburton Company large contracts for work in Iraq and the Balkans without following rules designed to ensure competition and fair prices to the government, has called for a high-level investigation of what she described as threats to the "integrity of the federal contracting program."
The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, said that in at least one case she witnessed, Army officials inappropriately allowed representatives of Halliburton to sit in as they discussed the terms of a contract the company was set to receive.
Her accusations offer the first extended account of arguments that roiled inside the military bureaucracy over contracts with the company.
In an Oct. 21 letter to the acting Army secretary, Ms. Greenhouse said that after her repeated questions about the Halliburton contracts, she was excluded from major decisions to award money and that her job status was threatened. In response, Army officials referred her accusations to the Pentagon's investigations bureau for review and promised to protect her position in the meantime. [more]
Leadership?
Bush Says U.S. Safety from Terror 'Up in the Air' by Steve Holland
President Bush said it is "up in the air" whether the United States can ever be fully safe from terrorism, prompting an attack from Democrat John Kerry's campaign that Bush was sending a mixed message.
Bush's comment, made in a television interview, surfaced as he campaigned in New Mexico, a state he lost narrowly to Democrat Al Gore and is in a tight contest this year for its five electoral votes.
Bush told the Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes" show, taped on Saturday and released on Sunday, that U.S. security was "much better" since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up -- you know, is up in the air. I would hope we could make it a lot more safe by staying on the offensive," he said.
The Kerry campaign accused Bush of sending a mixed message, the same criticism Bush makes against Kerry by saying the Massachusetts senator has shifted positions on the Iraq war for political purposes.
No endorsement
For President: None of the Above he Detroit News editorial
Agonizing choice comes down to this: Neither Bush nor Kerry meets our endorsement test
As Election Day approaches, we find ourselves, like many Americans, agonizing over the presidential election.
Four years ago, the choice was clear. We endorsed George W. Bush based on his promises of fiscal conservatism, limited government and prudence in foreign affairs.
Today, we sadly acknowledge that the president has failed to deliver on those promises.
(...)
We will never feel obliged to defend a president whose blunders and misjudgments have hurt the nation.
(...)
But this president has a knack for squandering success. [more]
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