I went looking around and saw Bernie at Bejata dot com. That helped.

What did not help was a post referred by Booker Rising by Dennis Sanders, who describes himself thus:

The Moderate Republican

If you are a moderate Republican who wants to bring the Party of Lincoln back to its roots, you've come to the right place. I am your host, Dennis Sanders a 30something, gay, African American, Republican minister living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I was, however, able to put aside the cognitive dissonance for a moment.

Election 2004 - America just hocked its future on the altar of self-righteous hatred and bigotry

…I'm afraid America has chosen a course that will result in some radical consequences for us all. Paranoid America, selfish and greedy America, flag-waving America, "love it or leave it" America has now entered a very dark age that will leave many devastated, though they know it not at present. If you want a positive vision, stop reading this now. If you want a vision of what has just been unleashed, keep reading.

We have economic and environmental trainwrecks coming not that far down the road. In the near future, expect some very bitter battles re: judiciary and the laws of this land as they have been traditionally interpreted. [P6: And expect ALL those battles to come down within the next two years. Most will begin within the next two months.] America just hocked its future on the altar of self-righteous hatred and bigotry. In their zeal to shove an evangelical "I'm headed for the rapture" mindset down the throats of half of America, the radical right forgets that it is the blood of their children who will pay for their zealotry.

When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, If there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.

Over the last few weeks the media got a bit of religion and started challenging the bullshit the Bush regime issues. All the endorsements for John Kerry and the admissions of mishandling the run-up to invading Iraq should not be forgotten…by the media or by us. Even if they didn't know they were being had at the time (I know, that's generous to the point of stupidity) they know now.

She sends me this link and takes solace from the fact that old age will take more of the Republican leadership.

Because I'm a good father I'll explain later how the values of the Confederated States of America survived such that the South has risen again. But I've already explained how this year was a first attempt and that people who are serious about fixing the nation are venting, not quitting.

---

---

I really am getting pissed about paying Red State bills with my Blue State money, though.

Reding trackbacks and such I got to this post at a small victory.

Michele writes reasonably and well. Sadly, because she is so reasonable, I have to conclude she is NOT representative of the Bush administration. Worse, this:

What does the (presumed) election of George Bush mean to you, as a member of the left? It means you and your party have four years to get yourselves together and figure out exactly what you stand for. It means you have a couple of years, max, to come up with a viable candidate who represents the majority of you and doesn't pander to every knock off group of your party.

reminds me a lot of how the USofA promotes methods for "developing nations" that bear ABSOLUTELY NO RESEMBLANCE to the history of our own development. "[Pandering] to every knock off group of your party" is exactly the method the Neocons used to come to power. Pander verbally and dispose of them when you've got your hands on the levers of power (and I hope every Log Cabin Republican feels most singularly stupid this day).

Teen's KKK Costume Wins Prize, Suspension
Associated Press

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A high school student's costume garnered a top prize - and a five-day suspension - at the school's Halloween masquerade party.

The Ku Klux Klansman getup took the prize for the scariest costume at the City High School dance attended by the principal, assistant principal and other staff members.

Superintendent Bert Bleke said he agreed with the school's decision to suspend the student but wanted to know why adults at the party failed to stop the senior, who was wearing a white-hooded outfit, from entering, much less winning a prize.

"There are a number of questions I have and don't yet have answers to," Bleke said.

Quote of note:

"The Republicans are smarter," mused Oregon's governor, Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat. "They've created ... these social issues to get the public to stop looking at what's happening to them economically."

"What we once thought - that people would vote in their economic self-interest - is not true, and we Democrats haven't figured out how to deal with that."

Living Poor, Voting Rich
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

In the aftermath of this civil war that our nation has just fought, one result is clear: the Democratic Party's first priority should be to reconnect with the American heartland.

I'm writing this on tenterhooks on Tuesday, without knowing the election results. But whether John Kerry's supporters are now celebrating or seeking asylum abroad, they should be feeling wretched about the millions of farmers, factory workers and waitresses who ended up voting - utterly against their own interests - for Republican candidates.

Estate Taxes Show Fewer Modest Fortunes but More Big Ones
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

The number of Americans who left modest fortunes when they died declined in 2003 from 2001, while the number who left large fortunes increased, government data posted on the Internet showed yesterday.

The data, from the Internal Revenue Service, provide the first glimpse of how the reductions in the estate tax championed by President Bush, which took effect in 2002, have reduced the taxes on the wealthy.

The estate tax now applies only to estates greater than $1 million, up from $675,000 when Mr. Bush took office. Those figures double for married couples.

The estate tax applies to all assets - after deducting debts and expenses like funerals and legal fees - in excess of $1 million a person. Mr. Bush and others, who call this tax the "death tax,'' assert that it represents second, third or even fourth taxation of the same dollar. In most estates, however, some or all of the dollars have never been taxed because the person held unrealized capital gains or the wealth grew from a tax-free gift.

If one considers the USofA to be a single entity this looks like as mandate. But the interests of the urban and rural folks diverge almost absolutely.

Quote of note:

Although final judgment is still to come, yesterday's balloting did in several instances validate important elements of the Bush political model. This strategy has been based from the outset of Bush's term on carefully tending to the Republican Party's conservative base, and a governing strategy based more often on trying to vanquish political adversaries rather than split the difference with them.

The politics of personal destruction is still the Republicans' most potent political weapon.

At this point, I think "blue state" folks should join the state's rights bandwagon to the degree that we insist we get returns from the Federal Government in proportion to the taxes we pay. Corporations may pay for the politicians but the citizens of the "blue states" pay for the government. I want the exact same logic used to justify one third of the money stolen from the future being given to one twentieth of the population applied to government spending: those that pay the most get back the most.

Shared hosting is not a cure-all, and I can't afford the cure-all.

You can't communicate with people that don't listen (when the hell did I forget that?)

Convincing the motivated is easy. Convincing the hoi poloi is easy…as long as you're trying to convince them they were right all along.

Reconstruction II proceeds apace.

Live blogging a debate is one thing, live blogging a whole day is another. I had no intention of commenting on the returns as they came in. But I wanted to watch…I guess I'm just kinky like that.

I'm having a weird reaction to the current state of affairs. The phrase "oddly at peace" comes to mind…"oddly" because I should not be at peace. And I just had the reason clarified in my mind by a conversation with my brother. It's because something I "knew" has crystallized into almost physical fact: for those who seek power, humans aren't peers they are the field on which the game is played.

This should, I guess, complete my conversion to Black Conservative, but it doesn't. I can't unsee the things I've seen and the USofA can't undo the things its done. I can, however, prepare for a rather wrenching transformation. I suggest you do the same.

Working Families Party, just like I said.

Quote of note:

Victory on Tuesday would give Bush a third opportunity to court voters beyond his core coalition. But in a campaign in which he's stressed his resolve and defined the race as a stark choice between left and right, he's given very little indication that he would govern differently in a second term from the first.

After 4 Years, Bush Is No Closer to Building a GOP Majority

…The highly contentious atmosphere in Washington that the new president inherited after Bill Clinton's eight bruising years and the lengthy postelection dispute in Florida probably limited Bush's ability to expand his support. But it's worth remembering that in the first months of his term, a majority of Democrats approved of his job performance in polls.

Silence of the Wolves, and Their Ilk, in Swing States
A record-setting barrage of political ads that hit a feverish pitch in the final week is all over.
By Nick Anderson
Times Staff Writer

November 2, 2004

WASHINGTON — In one of his last television commercials before the election, President Bush waxed eloquent and emotional on the sacrifices of the U.S. military and his zeal to defend the country. In another, wolves lurked in a forest — symbolizing terrorists on the loose — as a narrator denounced Sen. John F. Kerry for proposing to cut funding for spy agencies.

New data released Monday on airtime purchased for campaign advertisements show which spot Bush favored for his closing pitch.

Group Challenges Sinclair Licenses
A nonprofit petitions the FCC, saying the broadcast firm violates media-control limits.
By Walter F. Roche Jr.
Times Staff Writer

November 2, 2004

WASHINGTON — A Massachusetts-based nonprofit group on Monday filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission challenging the license renewal applications for television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group in North and South Carolina.

The challenge to license renewals for six Sinclair stations and two owned by a closely affiliated firm, Cunningham Broadcasting, came after the firm was embroiled in national controversy over plans to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal," a film that is highly critical of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.

The 6th Circuit is the same Appeals court that voted along party lines to leave a man to die as a political gesture.

An Inexplicable Vote for Death

Paul Gregory House was convicted of murdering a neighbor in 1985, before the era of DNA typing. The Tennessee jury that found him guilty was told that the semen found on the body of the neighbor, Carolyn Muncey, matched his blood type. The jury, citing the fact that Mrs. Muncey had been raped, said Mr. House should be sentenced to death.

It's hard to believe that the jurors would have come to that conclusion if they had known that the semen's DNA matched that of Mrs. Muncey's husband, Hubert, not the defendant. A 15-judge United States Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati that heard a request to reopen the case knew that. Yet the judges recently voted, 8 to 7, that Mr. House should neither be freed nor given a new trial. They were not swayed by six witnesses implicating Mr. Muncey. Two said Mr. Muncey had told them he had killed his wife while he was drunk.

Blocking-and Rocking-the Black Vote
11/01/2004 @ 5:49pm
Jacksonville, Florida

At 8:30 this morning, members of the Jacksonville Leadership Coalition met to discuss precisely how they were going to make sure all voters in Duval County will be able to vote tomorrow. It was, perhaps, the most important meeting of the hundreds of meetings the group-representing more than 100 churches as well as unions and civic groups-has had in several months of steady organizing.

Florida Republicans have been busy too, compiling and disseminating lists that members of the coalition believe will be used to challenge voters on Tuesday. (Because of Florida law, poll watchers cannot use their right to challenge a voter during early voting.)

Ed at Vision Circle:

A lot of people are going to be mad that their selection for president did not win.

And the country will be worse off for it.

As long as there's a clear winner there will be less anger than you'd suspect. And the result of whatever anger that develops will depend on who is angry.

If the Republicans lose the Presidency, their anger will be a good thing. See, this season we've seen fear mongering, rabble rousing and a denial of responsibility that dwarfs that which the Black communities are accused of, are at the root of all Republican campaign strategies. Their anger will keep them from getting subtle for a while.

Adam Mordecai at Change For America is in Florida working the voter information thing.

The latest in the litany of complaints I have received as of late:

• I
  received 3 calls within the last hour from voters calling to reconfirm
  their polling place after they received last minute phone calls from
  supposed election officials notifying them of voting location changes
  (extremely incorrect ones.)
• I also received a call from a guy
  who sent his voter registration in almost a month ago, and was sent a
  incomplete notice TODAY that he had put an incorrect social security
  number on the card.

They are pulling out read more

I'm watching all the election returns on CBS News.

www.CBSNews.com will provide the fastest, most reliable, most user-friendly election results available anywhere. Live results, updated every 90 seconds, for the Presidential, Congressional and gubernatorial races will be available down to the county level. CBSNews.com visitors will see projections as soon as they're made by the Network's Decision Desk. The same complete, detailed national and state exit poll data used by CBS News producers and correspondents will be available on CBSNews.com as soon as the polls are closed. To provide context to the data, experts from the CBS News Election Unit will update clear, user-friendly stories on voter trends and behavior throughout the evening. At the end of the night, CBSNews.com will feature opinion and analysis commentary from our partners from across the entire political spectrum. CBSNews.com will also Webcast all of the key victory celebrations and concession speeches.

A SCALIA/THOMAS MAJORITY WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE:

In the second presidential debate Bush was asked, given the opportunity, who he would appoint to the Supreme Court. Bush responded that he wouldn't pick a judge who supported "the Dred Scott case, which is where judges, years ago, said that the Constitution allowed slavery because of personal property rights." Why would President Bush reference Dred Scott v. Sandford, which hasn't been good law since the end of the Civil War? Because "to the Christian right, 'Dred Scott' turns out to be a code word for 'Roe v. Wade.'" Dred Scott has been compared to Roe v. Wade by prominent conservatives such as George Will, Peggy Noonan and Michael Novak. By referencing Dred Scott, Bush made it clear that "he would never, ever appoint a Supreme Court justice who condoned Roe." If Roe v. Wade is overturned, "there's a good chance that 30 states, home to more than 70 million women, will outlaw abortions within a year; some states may take only weeks." (For more on Bush's misuse of the Dred Scott decision read this new column from American Progress).

For two reasons: first, it's always cool to run into someone who gets it without you yourself having to be the teacher. And second, when people get pissed I can always send them to him.

Keeping Slaves, Killing Indians, Being Republican

…But it strikes me (undoubtedly because I have been reading and thinking a lot about the 1840s and 50s for the last couple of years) that a true, harsh and meaningful way of explaining the red-blue split is this: the more recently that a place permitted slavery or engaged in wars on Indians, the more likely it is to be a Republican state today. Republican states in 2004 are those where slaves were kept or Indians shot during the last 150 years. Democratic states are those where the Indian wars and slavery ended in the first half of the 19th century or earlier. Of course there are conspicuous anomalies -- Indiana (and maybe now Iowa or Wisconsin) on the right, Delaware and Maryland on the left -- as there always are to such "rules."

U.S. to Question China About Bush Comment

WASHINGTON Nov 1, 2004 — The State Department will ask the Chinese government about comments by a former senior Chinese official who accused President Bush of trying to "rule over the whole world."

Spokesman Adam Ereli said Monday the comments by Qian Qichen, a former vice premier and former foreign minister, were not consistent with the views outlined by Chinese officials during a visit to Beijing last week by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Qian's commentary in a state newspaper said the invasion of Iraq "destroyed the hard-won global anti-terror coalition."

Ereli told reporters, "We will be discussing the remarks further with the Chinese government for purposes of clarification."

Most U.S. Hispanics Back Kerry - Poll
Mon Nov 1, 2004 02:30 PM ET

MIAMI (Reuters) - A majority of U.S. Hispanics plan to vote for Sen. John Kerry in Tuesday's election, possibly offering the Democratic challenger a crucial boost against President Bush, an opinion poll showed.

The Zogby International poll conducted for the Miami Herald found that 61.1 percent of Hispanics nationwide supported Kerry, while 32.8 percent backed Bush.

Both Kerry's and Bush's campaigns have spent heavily on wooing the growing Hispanic population, which amounts to more than six percent of the electorate but 13 percent of the population.

Political analysts have said that if Kerry could keep Hispanic support for Bush at below 35 percent, it improves his chances of defeating the president, especially in hotly contested swing states like Florida and New Mexico.

Quote of note:

The GOP had filed a petition last week questioning addresses of 5,619 registered voters and seeking to have their names removed from the voting list, but the city Election Commission refused.

The Republicans then came up with a new list of more than 37,000 questionable addresses Saturday and demanded that the city require those voters to produce identification before allowing them to cast ballots.

City Attorney Grant Langley called that request outrageous, and said a check of the original list of 5,619 registrations had found "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" of legitimate addresses.

GOP, Milwaukee agree on voter list

Zarqawi's role in Iraq overstated, analysts say
By Thanassis Cambanis, Globe Staff | November 1, 2004

AMMAN, Jordan -- American officials have grossly inflated the role of Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the violence in Iraq in their eagerness to blame foreign terrorists for the insurgency, according to Jordanian analysts and Western diplomats.

Convicts who spent time in a Jordanian prison remember Zarqawi as a ''prison prince" -- a hands-on block leader who commanded a few dozen followers with a nod or a glance, but who left arguments about religious ideology to more educated jihadists. They recall him as brutal and inarticulate, dependent on others for direction.

Federal Judge Bars Political Party Challengers at Polls
The Associated Press
Monday, November 1, 2004; 9:16 AM

CINCINNATI -- A federal judge on Monday barred political party challengers from polling places throughout Ohio during Tuesday's election. State Republicans planned to appeal.

The order by U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott found that the application of Ohio's statute allowing challengers at polling places was unconstitutional. The presence of challengers inexperienced in the electoral process questioning voters about their eligibility would impede voting, she said.

Quote of note:

Maybe it's only because the accusations are more likely (since the cliffhanger election of four years ago) to be reported by the media, but it does appear that the Republicans in particular are investing more than the usual effort in finding ways to suppress the vote in areas that are predominantly black and poor and thus likelier to vote Democratic.

Watching for a Groundswell
By William Raspberry
Monday, November 1, 2004; Page A21

Tomorrow's "too close to call" presidential election may not be so close after all, a woman I know predicted the other day. There's a good chance, she said, that it will be decided by the "unwanted, unpolled unlikelies." That, of course, would be great news for challenger John Kerry, who has never had more than a marginal lead in the polls among those considered likely voters.

Bush Seeks Limit to Suits Over Voting Rights
Administration lawyers argue that only the Justice Department, not the voters, may sue to enforce provisions in the Help America Vote Act.
By David G. Savage and Richard B. Schmitt
Times Staff Writers

October 29, 2004

WASHINGTON — Bush administration lawyers argued in three closely contested states last week that only the Justice Department, and not voters themselves, may sue to enforce the voting rights set out in the Help America Vote Act, which was passed in the aftermath of the disputed 2000 election.

Veteran voting-rights lawyers expressed surprise at the government's action, saying that closing the courthouse door to aspiring voters would reverse decades of precedent.

Quote of note 1:

"Socially, we're engaged in a race to the bottom," said Craig Cole, the chief executive of Brown & Cole Stores, a supermarket chain that employs about 2,000 workers in Washington and adjoining states and pays for insurance coverage for about 95 percent of its employees. "Do we want to allow competition based on exploitation of the work force?" he asked.

Quote of note 2:

A survey by Georgia officials found that more than 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees were in the state's health program for children at an annual cost of nearly $10 million to taxpayers. A North Carolina hospital found that 31 percent of 1,900 patients who described themselves as Wal-Mart employees were on Medicaid, while an additional 16 percent had no insurance at all.

Psst. President Bush Is Hard at Work Expanding Government Secrecy
By DOROTHY SAMUELS

…President Bush's antipathy to open government continues to garner only a trivial level of attention compared with the pressing matters that seem to be engaging the country at the moment, including, in no particular order, the Red Sox, Iraq, terrorism, taxes and the mysterious iPod-size bulge visible under the back of Mr. Bush's suit jacket at the first debate. But the implications for a second term are ominous.

Beyond undermining the constitutional system of checks and balances, undue secrecy is a proven formula for faulty White House decision-making and debilitating scandal. If former President Richard Nixon, the nation's last chief executive with a chronic imperial disdain for what Justice Louis Brandeis famously called the disinfecting power of sunlight, were alive today, I like to think he'd be advising Mr. Bush to choose another role model.

The Sunday NY Times (yeah, I'm trying to catch up after blowing off the weekend) has a short piece on all the fact checking that's gone on this election season.

Despite the fractious modern-day discourse, the nation's founders would have surely loved the debate fueled by the Internet. The pamphleteers of their day could be nettlesome and scurrilous, but the founders wrote the First Amendment with the faith that good ideas generally win out in the marketplace of ideas. They understood that the intellectual marketplace is the foundation of democracy, just as the dollars-and-cents marketplace is the foundation of the economy.

Before U.S. Poll, China Criticizes 'Bush Doctrine'
Sun Oct 31, 2004 08:39 PM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - On the eve of the U.S. election, China criticized the "Bush doctrine" of pre-emptive strikes, said the Iraq war has destroyed the global anti-terror coalition and blamed arrogance for problems dogging the United States around the world.

In a strongly worded commentary, Qian Qichen, one of the main architects of China's foreign policy, said the United States was dreaming if it thought the 21st century was the "American century."

"The Iraq war has ... destroyed the hard-won global anti-terror coalition," Qian said in the article in the English-language China Daily newspaper.

Ridge Says U.S. Has No Specific Election Threats
Sat Oct 30, 2004 06:08 PM ET

By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite a new Osama bin Laden videotape threatening more attacks, U.S. officials have received no specific information about election day threats and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Saturday urged Americans to feel safe when they vote.

"It's important to know ... there is no specific intelligence that targets election day, polling places and the like. The threat has always been directed to the American homeland and we need to understand that," Ridge told a press briefing.

"First of all we want to make sure that people feel safe and comfortable about going to vote," he said, affirming there were no plans to raise the terror threat level, which now stands at "elevated" or yellow.

Republicans Likely to Retain Divided U.S. Congress
Sun Oct 31, 2004 01:05 PM ET

By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Regardless who wins the U.S. presidency, Republicans are likely to remain a key voice in the nation's capital since they appear positioned to keep control of a sharply divided Congress in Tuesday's elections.

If Republicans hold on, they will have a big say in what the next president -- Republican incumbent George W. Bush or Democratic challenger John Kerry -- will be able to do.

Largely because of advantages of incumbency in fund raising and name recognition, Republicans are considered a big favorite to maintain the House of Representatives.

U.S. Deploys Satellite Jamming System
Sun Oct 31, 2004 07:44 AM ET

By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force quietly has put into service a new weapon designed to jam enemy satellite communications, a significant step toward U.S. control of space.

The so-called Counter Communications System was declared operational late last month at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, the Air Force Space Command said on Friday in e-mailed replies to questions from Reuters.

The ground-based jammer uses electromagnetic radio frequency energy to knock out transmissions on a temporary and reversible basis, without frying components, the command said.

Backing whistleblower, general claimed racism, sexism at Corps of Engineers
Sunday, October 31, 2004
(10-31) 15:26 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

A senior Army contracting officer who had criticized a contract given to Halliburton had been subjected to a racist and sexist work environment, her former supervisor, a retired general, said in an affidavit.

The affidavit by retired Lt. Gen. Joe N. Ballard demonstrated the integrity of Bunnatine Greenhouse, said her attorney, Michael Kohn. Greenhouse, chief contracting officer for the Army Corps of Engineers , has charged that the Army showed favoritism to Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, and that she was frozen out of decisions affecting it.

Angela Winters at Politopics does her own investigation of a voter suppression attempt:

I'm ready to blow my lid. After I've tried to stay as objective as possible in this situation, that objectivity is about to flee the coop. I'm not the expert on appropriations bills, but it doesn't seem to be too complicated. It looks to me as if he is specifically trying to limit access to voter registration information and processes by targeting one segment in the public housing arena (poor, minorities, etc) that doesn't serve his party, while protecting another segment (military) that does serve his party.

If anyone knows specifics about this, please share. I don't want ranting, I want facts. I'm going to keep investigating this issue so this isn't the last you've heard from me.

I get the feeling the events of the next three days have already happened, they're just waiting for us to get to where they are. I get the feeling that John Kerry wins, and George Bush's backers will blame all the minority outreach for losing them key support from the "mainstream."

Don't worry, be happy
Positive feelings help prevent growing frail
By Elizabeth Querna

Whether people age into frail seniors or keep their agility depends on diet, genetics, and overall health. Now, new research from the University of Texas at Galveston suggests that a person's level of happiness might play a role, as well.

What the researchers wanted to know: Does an overall level of happiness help protect people from growing frail as they age?

What they did: The researchers studied more than 1,500 elderly Mexican-Americans living in the Southwest. Participants answered questions about how weak they felt and how hard physical tasks were for them and about how happy they were. The researchers also measured the patients' frailty with a timed 8-foot-long walk and tests to measure grip strength. Participants returned for follow-up interviews after two, five, and seven years at which they answered similar questions and retook the same tests.

Issue of note:

Packages offer salaries of up to £39,000 a year, two months' rent-free accommodation, air fares, visas for all the family, educational opportunities, a green card working visa and the possibility of citizenship.

Half of all US RN's are expected to earn between $38,792 and $44,869. The current exchange rate being around 1.8 pounds to the dollar, £39,000 works out to over $70,000…I myself would have considered going into nursing when leaving high school. I'm wondering, since this crisis has been going on for a while, why hasn't any long term thought gone into solving the problem? I mean, you wave that kind of salary under the nose of your average kid that's planning to go to technical school anyway and you'd be amazed at the focus and dedication they can muster.

This was going to be the quote of note:

"The logic is: You flatten Fallujah, hold up the head of Fallujah, and say 'Do our bidding, or you're next,' " says Toby Dodge, an Iraq analyst at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. "The reason for such [threats] is because there are not enough troops, which creates a security vacuum, which fuels the insurgency."

But I decided this:

"One thought going around now is: 'Why doesn't Iraq look like [post-World War II] Germany or Japan, which knew they had been defeated?' " says John Pike, a military analyst who heads Globalsecurity.org in Alexandria, Va. "One of the challenges we are facing now is these people don't know they have been defeated," he says. "Fallujah will be an opportunity for them to be crushed decisively and for them to taste defeat."

Quote of note:

One only wonders what the public should know that it doesn't know yet.

Why the White House leaks?
By Daniel Schorr

WASHINGTON - On Monday, The New York Times and CBS News reported that 380 tons of high-grade explosives were missing from a munitions dump near Baghdad. Two days later, The Wall Street Journal editorial page expressed dark suspicion about why the loss of the explosives should come to light barely a week before the election. One might also express suspicion about why the missing explosives should have been kept secret.

The administration obviously has reason to keep bad news under wraps in this tense preelection period. Some bad news it can't do anything about, like higher fuel prices and lower stock prices. But it can hold its own secrets close to its chest; until, that is, someone inside is motivated to blow the whistle.

Cherie accused of attacking Bush
Cherie Blair has been accused of criticising George W Bush's policies in a private address she gave during a United States lecture tour.

The prime minister's wife is said to have praised the Supreme Court for overruling the White House on the legal rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The Tories said she broke a convention that British political figures do not act in a partisan way when abroad.

But Downing Street said she was speaking in her capacity as a lawyer.

It said she was not expressing political opinions.

Mrs Blair's remarks are said to have been made in a speech to law students in Massachusetts.

She said the decision by the US Supreme Court to give legal protection to two Britons held at Guantanamo Bay was a significant victory for human rights and the international rule of law.