• A. Throw things like rice, confetti, toast, and toliet paper around
• B. Get up on the stage and do the Time-Warp (it's just a jump to the left...)
  
• C. Actually meet one of the Time-Warpers/Wedding Photographer from the film, and hear some stories about the filming process
• and finally, D. Have an opportunity to wear neon-green hair and white socks with black pumps -- and have no one think you look out-of-place in the least.
  

Who Are We?
The Internets Veterans For Truth are a few long-time bloggers, designers, and techies who decided (in slackerly fashion, around the end of last week) that some of the clips that've been floating around online needed to be seen by everybody.

A few catchy slogans, registered domains, and a mess of volunteered hours of encoding, design, dev, and server wrangling later...

Also, we served alongside George W. Bush in the hot, dry Texan jungles of the Internets Deltas.

Ron Sexsmith
Garden State soundtrack
Azure Ray
Chantal Kreviazuk
Jeff Buckley
Sarah Slean
Coldplay
Aimee Mann
Joss Stone
Cowboy Junkies
Johnny Cash
Jonatha Brooke
Natalie Merchant
Remy Zero
The Shins

• NASA photo analysis: Bush wore a device during debate:

George W. Bush tried to laugh off the bulge. "I don't know what that is," he said on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, referring to the infamous protrusion beneath his jacket during the presidential debates. "I'm embarrassed to say it's a poorly tailored shirt."

Dr. Robert M. Nelson, however, was not laughing. He knew the president was not telling the truth. And Nelson is neither conspiracy theorist nor midnight blogger. He's a senior research scientist for NASA and for Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and an international authority on image analysis. Currently he's engrossed in analyzing digital photos of Saturn's moon Titan, determining its shape, whether it contains craters or canyons.

For the past week, while at home, using his own computers, and off the clock at Caltech and NASA, Nelson has been analyzing images of the president's back during the debates. A professional physicist and photo analyst for more than 30 years, he speaks earnestly and thoughtfully about his subject. "I am willing to stake my scientific reputation to the statement that Bush was wearing something under his jacket during the debate," he says. "This is not about a bad suit. And there's no way the bulge can be described as a wrinkled shirt."

Nelson and a scientific colleague produced the photos from a videotape, recorded by the colleague, who has chosen to remain anonymous, of the first debate. The images provide the most vivid details yet of the bulge beneath the president's suit. Amateurs have certainly had their turn at examining the bulge, but no professional with a résumé as impressive as Nelson's has ventured into public with an informed opinion. In fact, no one to date has enhanced photos of Bush's jacket to this degree of precision, and revealed what appears to be some kind of mechanical device with a wire snaking up the president's shoulder toward his neck and down his back to his waist.

• Berkeley Breathed has a new cartoon out -- starring an oversized hamster outfit, Dick Cheney, and Teresa Heinz Kerry.
  

• Yet another example of the GOP attempting to suppress voter turnout among minorities here. This is a travesty.
  

We are looking for compelling stories that both entertain and promote strong values. Of course, they should also be fun to read and should provide readers with an uplifting and satisfying ending. They should be just like life — except with the right comeback at the right time. These novels can be written in the first- or third-person and can be single or multiple points of view. The writing should be lively and intelligent, with a certain amount of attitude. Think chick lit for all ages. Think romantic comedy with a divine twist.

... There should be no explicit sex in these stories, and a minimum of sensuality and sexual desire. Both humor and drama have a place in these books; foul language, swearing and scenes containing violence do not. Though the stories may take place in urban environments, hanging out in bar settings, drinking alcohol or becoming involved in sexual situations is not appropriate for Christian characters.

.... Because Steeple Hill Books sells to both CBA and ABA bookstores, we must adhere to CBA conventions. The stories may not include alcohol consumption by Christian characters, dancing, card playing, gambling or games of chance (including raffles), explicit scatological terms, hero and heroine remaining overnight together alone, Halloween celebrations or magic or the mention of intimate body parts. Lying is also problematical in the CBA market and characters who are Christian should not lie or deceive others. Possibly there could be exceptional circumstances (matters of life and death), but this has to be okayed by an editor.

We are looking for authors writing from a Christian worldview and conveying their personal faith and ministry values in entertaining fiction that will touch the hearts of believers and seekers everywhere.

I adore Jon Stewart. Have you watched his CSPAN Interview? (bit torrent required)

Really -- Stewart is more than just someone to make you laugh. He's articulate and poignant in his criticisms. It also doesn't help that I agree with him wholeheartedly -- from his views on the media to the Iraq quagmire, to his disdain for that "douchebag of liberty" -- Robert Novak.

I downloaded the show, and I found myself stopping intermittedly to transcribe different bits of what he was saying.

• Stewart: [about the media's responsibility] It's about a process, not about a moment. It's not about one debate, and it's not about one issue. It's about holding to account this idea that debate is two advocates for two corrupt organizations that -- to have a Democratic strategist and a Republican strategist is NOT a debate. That's Coke and Pepsi discussing beverage supremacy. And it's not real.... they have a role, and they have a job -- but they're not doing it.

• Stewart: [concerning FOX's popularity as "fair and balanced"] FOX didn't come out of the gate and just automatically earn its street cred, they earned it over time by presenting a narrative. But it's not helping, just like Al Jazerra's narrative isn't helping -- it helps make them popular, but it doesn't help the country. there's a responsibility within the media to help.

• Stewart: [regarding the Bush administration] I have never seen reality distorted in such a way that I feel like they're trying to gaslight me. I don't think that effective policy means say it louder, and more times. Doesn't work for me. And Iraq was a mistake. MIS-TAKE. And when the President says, "history will judge if I made mistakes" -- you know what, we don't have the luxury for history to judge it. You better judge it NOW. We don't have the time. The idea that he can't think of one -- I got a list, and I'd be happy to talk to him about it.

With Tuesday's election deadlocked, Kerry took aim at the president's perceived strength -- national security -- and hammered him for a fourth consecutive day on the missing explosives.

Bush on Wednesday accused Kerry of opportunism, saying: "A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as commander in chief ... that is part of a pattern of a candidate who will say anything to get elected."

Kerry threw the words back at the president 24 hours later, announcing he was going "to apply the Bush standard" and declaring: "Mr. President, I agree with you."

"George Bush jumped to conclusions about 9/11 and Saddam Hussein," he said. "George Bush jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction and he rushed to war without a plan for the peace. George Bush jumped to conclusions about how the Iraqi people would receive our troops. He not only jumped to conclusions, he ignored the facts he was given."

Secret plans for the war in Iraq were passed to British Army chiefs by US defence planners five months before the invasion was launched, a court martial heard yesterday.

The revelation strengthened suspicions that Tony Blair gave his agreement to President George Bush to go to war while the diplomatic efforts to force Saddam Hussein to comply with UN resolutions were continuing

• Returning to Persian dance class. I'm all loose and feeling fine. I also had a nice chat with my instructor, who's from Iran. She's in the process of moving and having her parents come visit from her country. When I mentioned the election (can I *not* mention it everywhere I go?! sigh), she was very much for a Kerry win. I can't blame her -- knowing the new "Bush doctrine," her country could be next on the neocons' list.

• The preview for the new extended Return of the King is now out! There's going to be an extra 50 minutes of scenes added -- I'm already anxious to see them! I'm especially looking to the showdowns of Gandalf with Saruman and the Witch King. The day it comes out, I'm watching all three extended videos back-t0-back. At this rate, it's going to to take ALL day. Love it. (thanks Ryan!)

• The BoSox are on the verge of winning. Pretty exciting, especially for a fair-weather baseball fan like meself. :)

Subject: Why we have no flu vaccine
Text: Do not miss the last line of this post

How the vaccine works:
Influenza vaccine is produced by growing the virus in eggs. The virus is killed and processed to create the vaccine, which is given by injection under the skin. The body then produces antibodies to the virus over the next two to four weeks. If the immunized person then comes into contact with the influenza virus, the antibodies attack and kill the virus before it has a chance to cause infection. The vaccine contains the 3 most likely strains to be active during the "flu season"

Why the shortage:
Almost half of the nation's flu vaccine will not be delivered this year. Chiron, a major manufacturer of flu vaccine, will not be distributing any influenza vaccine this flu season. Chiron was to make 46-48 million doses of vaccine for the United States. Chiron is a British company. Recently British health officials stopped Chiron from distributing and making the vaccine when inspectors found unsanitary conditions in the labs. Some lots of the vaccine were recalled and destroyed.

Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US?

The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of the nations flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very low profit margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor. In the late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the flu. The strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine made by a US company.

What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine. The liability outweighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suits UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine in the US.

By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.

FROM NOW ON

Have we been blind
Have we been lied to
Best keep our eyes open
From now on
There's no peace of mind
When the war's inside you
It feels like something's broken
Something's gone

But it's a new day from now on
And this time I won't wonder
From dusk till dawn
If a new day's coming
It's a new day from now on

We live in times
Where choice is frowned upon
Afraid to even raise
Our voice in song
Or speak our minds
For fear of falling on
The wrong side of opinion
Where has freedom gone

But it's a new day from now on
And this time I won't wonder
From dusk till dawn
If a new day's coming
It's a new day from now on

They're in the business of panic and control
We're in the business of the heart
And of the soul

Have we been blind
Have we been lied to
Best keep our eyes open
From now on
But it's a new day from now on
And which case I won't wonder
When Monday's gone
If Tuesday's coming
It's a new day from now on

New day from now on
And this time I won't wonder
From dusk till dawn
If a new day's coming
It's new day from now on

You've always painted the Bush administration as these macho poseurs, phony gunslinger tough guys. Is that the kind of daddy we're looking for?

Yeah. And that's probably why Bush didn't let his own daddy speak at the Republican National Convention -- which was unbelievable that a former president who went to war with Iraq wasn't given a speaking slot. But Bush didn't want the real daddy, because the real daddy has differences with him on the Iraq war. The ironies of that are beyond belief. The father went to war in Iraq to defend the principle that you can't invade another country unilaterally; the son goes to war with Iraq to establish the principle that you can invade another country unilaterally.

It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves. And it is a great encouragement to see that things which we thought impossible are possible to others, and how easily these others do them. It makes us feel that we may emulate their flights and venture to fly ourselves, as the young birds do when their parents teach them; they are not yet ready for great flights but they gradually learn to imitate their parents.

Our outward comportment and behaviour may be better than theirs, but this, though good, is not the most important thing: there is no reason why we should expect everyone else to travel by our own road, and we should not attempt to point them to the spiritual path when perhaps we do not know what it is.

from Teresa of Ávila, On the interior castle of the soul

The rapture: When all the believers in Jesus Christ, who have been born again, are taken up to heaven.

After the rapture, there will be a lot of speculation as to why millions of people have just disappeared. Unfortunately, after the rapture, only non believers will be left to come up with answers. You probably have family and friends that you have witnessed to and they just won't listen. After the rapture they probably will, but who will tell them?

We have written a computer program to do just that. It will send an Electronic Message (e-mail) to whomever you want after the rapture has taken place, and you and I have been taken to heaven.

If you wish to do something now that will help your unbelieving friends and family after the rapture, you need to add those persons email address to our database. Their names will be stored indefinitely and a letter will be sent out to each of them on the first Friday after the rapture. Then they will receive another letter every friday after that.

This rapture letter service is FREE and will hopefully gain the person you send it to an eternity in heaven.

Be in a crabby mood most of the week preceding it, and then send out a few email invitations with only a day's notice.

• A nasty rumor circulated that *I* was the one who did the cooking of the turkey, and not chef Angela.

• The first game of the World Series was on -- and the BoSoxs need all the good mojo watching they can muster!

• Is our address still posted on our house?

• Maybe we gave people the wrong address! (because 1234 is too complicated of a number to remember)

• Every other house/street in Saskatoon must be experiencing a black out of power

• A massive car accident on College or 8th Street must be delaying everyone from showing

• There's a raging blizzard that hasn't made it our way, yet

• The monster that lives underneath our deck must be eating the guests before they make it to our back door

• The Rapture has occurred and and we're the only three people Left Behind -- doomed to become stars of a cheesy Christian book series, where we defeat the antiChrist of the U.N.

Just after 2 a.m. on Sept. 9, 1993, Christopher Simmons, 17, and Charles Benjamin, 15, broke into a trailer south of Fenton, Mo., just outside St. Louis. They woke Shirley Ann Crook, a 46-year-old truck driver who was inside, and proceeded to tie her up and cover her eyes and mouth with silver duct tape. They then put her in the back of her minivan, drove her to a railroad bridge and pushed her into the river below, where her body was found the next day. Simmons and Benjamin later confessed to the abduction and murder, which had netted them $6. Police called it ''a cheap price for a life.''

The two were convicted. Benjamin was sentenced to life in prison, and Simmons was given the death penalty. The Missouri Supreme Court overturned Simmons's sentence last year, and the case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently heard arguments on the constitutionality of the death penalty for those who are 16 or 17 when they commit their crimes. (The court has already ruled against execution of anyone under 16.)

Unlike other death-penalty cases, this one has drawn intense interest from the American Medical Association, the nation's psychiatrists and psychologists and other health and research groups. They've filed briefs with the court making a novel scientific argument -- that juveniles should not be executed because their brains are still developing. In other words, teenagers cannot be held fully responsible for their actions because all the wiring to allow adult decision making isn't completed yet. As Stephen K. Harper, a professor of juvenile justice at the University of Miami School of Law, puts it, ''Adolescents are far less culpable than we knew.''

The briefs in the Simmons case are based on research that shows that the human brain, once thought to be fully wired by about age 12, continues to grow and mature into the early or mid-20's. And the last part to mature is the frontal lobes, or prefrontal cortex, responsible for all the hallmarks of adult behavior -- impulse control, the regulation of emotions and moral reasoning.

''Scientists can now demonstrate that adolescents are immature not only to the observer's naked eye but in the very fibers of their brains,'' says the brief by the A.M.A. and the psychiatrists. ''Normal adolescents cannot be expected to operate with the level of maturity, judgment, risk aversion or impulse control of an adult.''

...

Nobody is arguing that teenagers deserve a pass; the new brain science is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Sometimes adolescents do appear to act like adults -- but the point is that they can't do so consistently. And even when they seem to be acting like adults, they are using their brains in a different way. Adolescents, unlike adults, often operate from a more instinctual, reflexive part of the brain.

...

None of this means that Simmons should be absolved of his repugnant crime on the grounds that his amygdala made him do it. The question is whether he, and others who are 16 or 17 when they commit their crimes, should be held to the same standard as adults. ''There's no question that the new science is changing the debate,'' says Laurence Steinberg, a psychologist at Temple University and the director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that mentally retarded criminals are exempt from the death penalty because of ''disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment and control of their impulses.'' The scientific evidence suggests that 16- and 17-year-olds share similar ''disabilities'' in reasoning and judgment.

...

Was Simmons thinking and acting like an adult when he murdered Shirley Ann Crook? That's a question science can't answer. As the A.M.A. and the psychiatrists write in their brief, scientists can ''shed light on certain measurable attributes'' related to teenagers' culpability. But ''science cannot, of course, gauge moral culpability.'' That is what the Supreme Court must do.

The more you care for people and are accomodating to their needs -- the less it is reciprocated.

Now that I've worn out, I've worn out the world
I'm on my knees in fascination
Looking through the night
And the moons never seen me before
But I'm reflecting light

I wrote the pain down
Got off and looked up
Looked into your eyes
The lost open windows
All around
My dark heart lit up the skies

And now that I've worn, I've worn out the world
I'm on my knees in fascination
Looking through the night
And the moons never seen me before
But I'm reflecting light

Give up the ground
Under your feet
Hold on to nothing for good
Turn and run at the mean times
Chasing you
Stand alone and misunderstood

And now that I've worn, I've worn out the world
I'm on my knees in fascination
Looking through the night
And the moons never seen me before
But I'm reflecting light

George Bush suffered an embarrassing rebellion from the ranks yesterday when the founder of the conservative Christian Coalition said the White House had dismissed the very idea of US casualties in Iraq during the run-up to the war.

In an interview with CNN, the movement's founder, Pat Robertson, described a conversation with Mr Bush shortly before the war in which Mr Robertson voiced his fears for American troops, and suggested it was time to prepare the country for loss.

"I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties,'" Mr Robertson said. He said Mr Bush had replied: "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties."

FEDERAL HEALTH ADVISERS SAY CURRENT SAFEGUARDS FOR BLOOD DONATIONS IN U.S. ARE SUFFICIENT DESPITE DISCLOSURES THAT A 2ND BRITISH RESIDENT MOST LIKELY ACQUIRED MAD COW DISEASE THROUGH A TAINTED TRANSFUSION. (AP)

PERSONALITY DISORDERS APPEAR TO SHIFT OVER TIME WITH MANY PEOPLE IMPROVING AT A STEADY RATE. NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS. (RUETERS)

SWEDISH STUDY SUGGESTS WITH AT LEAST 10 YEARS OF CELL PHONE USAGE MIGHT INCREASE THEIR RISK OF DEVELOPING A RARE BENIGN TUMOR ALONG A NERVE ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD WHERE THEY HOLD THE PHONE (AP)

JIMMY SMITS AND ALAN ALDA FOR PRESIDENT? THEY ARE AMONG THE CANDIDATES KICKING OFF CAMPAIGNS ON “THE WEST WING” AS A NEW SEASON STARTS NEXT WEEKS. SHOWS EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS SUGGESTS GOP TAKEOVER POSSIBLE.

“SEX AND THE CITY” STAR KRISTIN DAVIS IS IN NEGOTIATIONS TO PLAY TIM ALLEN’S WIFE DISNEY REMAKE OF THE “THE SHAGGY DOG”.

CHRIS ROCK TO HOST NEXT ACADEMY AWARDS TELECAST. SHOW SCHEDULED FOR FEB 27 JUDGE DENIED REQUEST BY ROBERT BLAKE’S LAWYERS TO INTRODUCE ALLEGATIONS LINKING MARLON BRANDO’S SON TO THE 2001 KILLING OF BLAKE’S WIFE DURING HIS UPCOMING MURDER TRIAL.

PRISON LIVING? NEW YORK MAGAZINE SAYS MARTHA STEWART MAY WRITE A BOOK ON HER PRISON EXPERIENCE. SAYS DEAL COULD BE WORTH $5 MILLION. RONALD ISLEY LEAD SINGER OF THE ISLEY BROTHERS INDICTED ON TAX EVASION CHARGES. ISLEY EXPECTED TO MAKE FIRST COURT APPEARANCE IN NOVEMBER. (AP)

MONEY PIT? TEXAS JURY AWARDS ACTRESS SANDRA BULLOCK $7 MILLION IN A LAWSUIT AGAINST HER BUILDER. BULLOCK SAYS SHE NEVER LIVED IN HOME ON LAKE AUSTIN DUE TO CONSTRUCTION FLAWS (REUTERS)

RAP RADIO EMINEM TO LAUNCH SATELLITE MUSIC RADIO CHANNEL CALLED “SHADE 45” ON SIRRIUS NETWORK OCT 28 WITH A LIVE BROADCAST OF A CONCERT FROM NEW YORK (REUTERS)

LOG ON TO CNN.COM ENTERTAINMENT FOR A LOOK BACK AT THE LIFE OF ACTOR CHRISTOPHER REEVE AND A GALLERY OF IMAGES FROM HIS CAREER.

"Stop hurting America" by proclaiming these stupid headlines. Sheesh. Can anyone else ever focus on what's on the screen when you're distracted by flashing, rolling headlines (that are stupid, besides) and various other things going on at the screen at one time?

Oy, to have actual "fair and balanced" news.

(Picture via Jeff and the headlines via Beyond magazine, one magazine that I wouldn't mind writing for one day)

CARVILLE: Friday, Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show," appeared on CROSSFIRE and used his time to blast this show and the media at large. His appearance has generated a lot of comments.

Matt Lewis of Toronto, Ontario, says -- well, what does Matt say?

Here you go, Bob.

NOVAK: OK. Here's Matt Lewis from Toronto, Ontario. We'll get this right.

"Well, my suspicions have been confirmed. Jon Stewart is the most overrated, overhyped comedian in the world today. I presume Jon Stewart must regard the viewers of CROSSFIRE as hacks if he does think we are able to see through the talking points and come to an analytical decision about what we believe to be true."

CARVILLE: Well, you know what? I'm a hack. I'm kind of proud of it. Now, and it's one thing if Jon Stewart wants to attack CROSSFIRE. That's his business and we have a good time with it. Why is he attacking Ted Koppel? NOVAK: Here's another thing.

"Thank you for letting Jon Stewart speak on your show. You had the guts to allow him to speak freely. Thank you." -- Morgan Terry. I guess that's Boerne, Texas.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

NOVAK: Let me say something about Jon Stewart. I don't think he's funny. And I know he's uninformed.

CARVILLE: Well, I think he's funny. I just think he's a pompous ass attacking Ted Koppel. Why would you want to attack somebody that's been in this business this long? Attack CROSSFIRE, Tucker, me. Who cares?

NOVAK: Because he's uninformed. Because he's uninformed.

CARVILLE: He's funny, but he shouldn't attack Ted Koppel.

"Let's see, what did I do on Friday? Umm, got a haircut.... called a guy a dick on national television... on a a nuanced public policy show, named after the stray bullets that hit innocent bystanders in a gang fight.

But they came back at me pretty good -- they said that I wasn't funny, and I said I know that, but tomorrow I'll go back to being funny, and your show will still blow."

stump speech (stump speech) noun

A political speech, delivered on a campaign tour.

[Originally, campaigning politicians often stood on tree stumps when addressing voters. Today, the stump is used metaphorically in expressions such as "stump speech" (a campaign speech) or "on the stump" (on the campaign trail).]

Hustings is the British equivalent of the US word stump. Until 1872 Hustings was the raised platform from which candidates were nominated for the British Parliament, and where they addressed electors.

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus.

"What was supposed to be a debate between the two 14th District candidates ended up being a stump speech by the one candidate who showed up Monday at the Akron Press Club." Stephen Dyer; US Congressman Skips Akron Press Club Debate; Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio); Sep 28, 2004.

"Addressing the association members, (Bob) Brown delivers his standard stump speech, sprinkled with a joke or two, about his fiscal and energy proposals." Charles S. Johnson; Brown Takes Quiet Approach to Politics; Missoulian (Missoula, Montana); Oct 10, 2004.

In just two weeks, United States citizens will vote for their next president. The US presidential election is one event that determines the fate of not just one country but also of much of the rest of the world.

If you think about it, it's astounding how one office can have so much power over the lives of so many -- power that can be used as the winner chooses: to make a difference in the people's lives or to brush them aside.

The word election comes from the Indo-European root leg- (to choose) that is also the source of such words as intelligent, diligent, logic, dialog, and legal. In fact, that's probably not a bad way to choose a candidate: one who is intelligent, one who is diligent in solving problems, one who uses logic, one who prefers to engage in a dialog, and one who employs legal means.

If you're a United States citizen, make your vote count this November 2. Be informed. Think of the country. Think of the world. And vote with your conscience. In the meantime, enjoy this week's words from the world of politics and elections.

My name is Anu Garg and I approve of this message.

What underlies Bush's certainty? And can it be assessed in the temporal realm of informed consent?

All of this -- the ''gut'' and ''instincts,'' the certainty and religiosity -connects to a single word, ''faith,'' and faith asserts its hold ever more on debates in this country and abroad. That a deep Christian faith illuminated the personal journey of George W. Bush is common knowledge. But faith has also shaped his presidency in profound, nonreligious ways. The president has demanded unquestioning faith from his followers, his staff, his senior aides and his kindred in the Republican Party. Once he makes a decision -- often swiftly, based on a creed or moral position -- he expects complete faith in its rightness.

The disdainful smirks and grimaces that many viewers were surprised to see in the first presidential debate are familiar expressions to those in the administration or in Congress who have simply asked the president to explain his positions. Since 9/11, those requests have grown scarce; Bush's intolerance of doubters has, if anything, increased, and few dare to question him now. A writ of infallibility -- a premise beneath the powerful Bushian certainty that has, in many ways, moved mountains -- is not just for public consumption: it has guided the inner life of the White House.

George W. Bush and his team have constructed a high-performance electoral engine. The soul of this new machine is the support of millions of likely voters, who judge his worth based on intangibles -- character, certainty, fortitude and godliness -- rather than on what he says or does. The deeper the darkness, the brighter this filament of faith glows, a faith in the president and the just God who affirms him.

The leader of the free world is clearly comfortable with this calculus and artfully encourages it. In the series of televised, carefully choreographed ''Ask President Bush'' events with supporters around the country, sessions filled with prayers and blessings, one questioner recently summed up the feelings of so many Christian conservatives, the core of the Bush army. ''I've voted Republican from the very first time I could vote,'' said Gary Walby, a retired jeweler from Destin, Fla., as he stood before the president in a crowded college gym. ''And I also want to say this is the very first time that I have felt that God was in the White House.'' Bush simply said ''thank you'' as a wave of raucous applause rose from the assembled.

Every few months, a report surfaces of the president using strikingly Messianic language, only to be dismissed by the White House. Three months ago, for instance, in a private meeting with Amish farmers in Lancaster County, Pa., Bush was reported to have said, ''I trust God speaks through me.'' In this ongoing game of winks and nods, a White House spokesman denied the president had specifically spoken those words, but noted that ''his faith helps him in his service to people.''

A recent Gallup Poll noted that 42 percent of Americans identify themselves as evangelical or ''born again.'' While this group leans Republican, it includes black urban churches and is far from monolithic. But Bush clearly draws his most ardent supporters and tireless workers from this group, many from a healthy subset of approximately four million evangelicals who didn't vote in 2000 -- potential new arrivals to the voting booth who could tip a close election or push a tight contest toward a rout.

And for those who don't get it? That was explained to me in late 2002 by Mark McKinnon, a longtime senior media adviser to Bush, who now runs his own consulting firm and helps the president. He started by challenging me. ''You think he's an idiot, don't you?'' I said, no, I didn't. ''No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!'' In this instance, the final ''you,'' of course, meant the entire reality-based community.

I just think there's something dangerously subversive going on when religion becomes a fad. It's one thing to start smoking because all the popular kids are doing it, but it's another thing to change your faith because it's the "in" thing. In his book, "The Hero With a Thousand Faces", Joseph Campbell proclaims that we are all essentially worshiping the same cosmic force regardless of our religious proclivities, and I a pluralist I couldn't agree more. But still, sometimes it'd be nice to hang around with the cool kids. Even God would understand that.

The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.

This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

When the bookers got Jon Stewart to appear on CNN's Crossfire, they probably were expecting a funny Jon, not a testy one. But Stewart said what a lot of people had been waiting years to hear on the show -- someone calling it like it is. Stewart called Tucker Carlson "a dick."

Stewart also said:

* that Crossfire is "hurting America."
* "stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America."
* that Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala are "hacks."
* "what you do is partisan hackery."

Or how about this exchange:
STEWART: You know, the interesting thing... is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
STEWART: You need to go to one.

Or this:
CARLSON: OK, up next, Jon Stewart goes one on one with his fans...
STEWART: You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.

Stewart may not have made any friends, but at least he pointed to one of the worst problems in our political discourse. No, not that Tucker Carlson is a dick, but that creeps like him are in control of it.

After co-host Tucker Carlson suggested that Stewart went easy on Senator John Kerry when the candidate was a guest on "The Daily Show," Stewart unloaded on "Crossfire," calling hosts Carlson and Paul Begala "partisan hacks" and chiding them for not raising the level of discourse on their show beyond sloganeering.

"What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery," Stewart said. "You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

"I watch your show every day, and it kills me. It's so painful to watch," Stewart added as it became apparent that the comedian was not joking. He went on to hammer the network, and the media in general, for its coverage of the presidential debates. Stewart said it was a disservice to viewers to immediately seek reaction from campaign insiders and presidential cheerleaders following the debates, noting that the debates' famed "Spin Alley" should be called "Deception Lane."

"The thing is, we need your help," Stewart said. "Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations and we're left out there to mow our lawns."

While the audience seemed to be behind Stewart, Begala and Carlson were both taken aback. The hosts tried to feed Stewart set-up lines hoping to draw him into a more light-hearted shtick, but Stewart stayed on point and hammered away at the show, the hosts, and the state of political journalism. Carlson grew increasingly frustrated, at first noting that the segment wasn't "funny," and later verbally sparring with the comedian.

"You're not very much fun," Carlson said. "Do you like lecture people like this, or do you come over to their house and sit and lecture them; they're not doing the right thing, that they're missing their opportunities, evading their responsibilities?"

"If I think they are," Stewart retorted.

NEW YORK - The cable pay-per-view company iN DEMAND has backed away from a plan to show a three-hour election eve special with filmmaker Michael Moore that included the first television showing of his documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The company said Friday it would not air "The Michael Moore Pre-Election Special" due to "legitimate business and legal concerns." A spokesman would not elaborate.

Moore has just released his movie on DVD and was seeking a TV outlet for the film, which sharply criticizes President Bush (news - web sites), as close to the election as possible.

Earlier this week, trade publications said Moore was close to a deal with iN DEMAND for the special, which would also include interviews with politically active celebrities and admonitions to vote. The Nov. 1 special was to be available for $9.95.

Moore said Friday he signed a contract with the company in early September and is considering legal action. He said he believes iN DEMAND decided not to air the film because of pressure from "top Republican people."

"Apparently people have put pressure on them and they've broken a contract," Moore told The Associated Press.

"We've informed them of their legal responsibility and we all informed them that every corporate executive that has attempted to prohibit Americans from seeing this film has failed," Moore said. "There's been one struggle or another over this, but we've always come out on top because you can't tell Americans they can't watch this."

The New York-based iN DEMAND, owned by the Time Warner, Cox and Comcast cable companies, makes pay-per-view programming available in 28 million homes, or about one-quarter of the nation's homes with television.

In a statement, iNDEMAND said any legal action Moore might take against the company would be "entirely baseless and groundless."

This spring, Moore did battle with the Walt Disney Co., which refused to release "Fahrenheit 9/11" through its Miramax Films because it was too politically partisan for the company's taste.

After that fight became public, Moore found other distributors. The movie, which attacks Bush's handling of the war on terrorists and war in Iraq (news - web sites) and the Bush family's ties to Saudi royalty, earned more than $100 million at the box office.

In an interview with a Maine television station that aired this week, former President George H.W. Bush called Moore a "slimeball" and an expletive.

Also Friday, Moore offered to let Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. air the movie for free. Such a deal would likely get a chilly reception at Sinclair, a broadcaster with a reputation for conservative politics that plans to air a critical documentary about John Kerry (news - web sites)'s anti-Vietnam War activities on dozens of TV stations two weeks before the election.

The biggest winner is "The Biggest Loser" in this compelling new weight-loss drama in which two celebrity fitness trainers join with top health experts to help 12 overweight contestants transform their bodies, health and ultimately, their lives. Caroline Rhea ("Sabrina, The Teenage Witch") hosts the unscripted, one-hour series in which two competing teams follow comprehensive diet and exercise plans to undergo radical physical makeovers. Unique physical challenges, surprising alliances and irresistible temptations make the competition even tougher for the contestants, who ultimately have to decide which player gets eliminated each week. In the end, "The Biggest Loser" becomes the biggest winner, walking away with a healthier body - and $250,000.

• Jesus According to a Woman by Rachel Conrad Wahlberg -- This one looks interesting. There's a chapter on Jesus and the Uterus Image and one on Jesus and the Audiacious Woman. I'm all over that.
• Spiritual Problems in Contemporary Literature edited by Stanley Romaine Hopper -- biggest bonus about this book: an essay by the godfather of 20th century rhetoric, Kenneth Burke ("Mysticism as a Solution to the Poet's Dilemma").
• God in All Worlds: An Anthology of Contemporary Spiritual Writing edited by Lucinda Vardey. This looks to be the ultimate in bedside reading -- an anthology including everything from Albert Einstein to Flannery O'Connor to Mathatma Ghandi.
  
• Reaching Out by Henri J. M. Nouwen -- I've heard his name over and over again on the Resonate mailing list.
  
• The Teaching of Buddha -- This is one of my coolest finds, I think. It's in both English and Japanese, and the inside cover contains a collection of postcards. I think they're actually from India and the Far East -- including a picture of Ghandi ("Gandhjii") in a "graceful mood" and several other hand painted parchment postcards. There's also a printed train ticket receipt from 1997 wishing me a "Happy Journey" for two adults. The romantic in me's imagination just runs wild thinking of the stories attached to the ticket, postcards, and book. I had to buy it.

• Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman -- I'm already a fan of Postman, so it's a definition addition to my shelf.
• Myth and Mythmaking edited by Henry A. Murray -- We're talking essays by Northrope Frye, Joseph Campbell, and Marshall McLuchan.
• Interplay of Influence: News, Advertising, Politics and the Mass Media by Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell -- I have such a respect and admiration for these women's work, and they are the type of scholar I'd like to (eventually) become.
• Notes Towards the Definition of Culture by T.S. Eliot -- I'm just an Eliot fan.
• The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
• The Last Days of Socrates by Plato
• Ways of Seeing by John Berger

• Seven Days to a Perfect Night's Sleep by Debra L. Gordon -- Do you even have to ask why I'd buy this book for a buck?
• In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje -- I have both the book AND the book on tape (read by the author himself!). I loved his English Patient, while hating the film adaptation.
• The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir & The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan -- Just because they're classics in Women's Studies, and they need to be on my shelf next to my Naomi Wolf and bell hooks.
  
• The Illuminated Book of Days edited by Kay & Marshall Lee -- This looks like a neat little book to have. I'm not sure there's much scholastic value to it, but it does have pretty pictures.
• The Little Oxford Dictionary, 4th ed. -- How cool is it that I now have a bite-sized OED? I am such a geek.
• and finally, a non-book item, the Reality Bites soundtrack -- if only for the My Sharona track and the single of Ethan Hawke singing.

Mr. Bush: Two things. One, he clearly has a litmus test for his judges, which I disagree with. And secondly, only a liberal senator from Massachusetts would say that a 49 percent increase in funding for education was not enough. We've increased funds. But more importantly, we've reformed the system to make sure that we solve problems early before they're too late. He talked about the unemployed. Absolutely, we've got to make sure they get educated. He talked about children whose parents don't speak English as a first language. Absolutely, we've got to make sure they get educated. And that's what the No Child Left Behind Act does.

Mr. Schieffer: Senator.

Mr. Kerry: You don't measure it by a percentage increase. Mr. President, you measure it by whether you're getting the job done. Five hundred thousand kids lost after-school programs because of your budget. Now that's not in my gut. That's not my value system. And certainly not so that the wealthiest people in America can walk away with another tax cut - $89 billion last year to the top 1 percent of Americans, but kids lost their after-school programs. You be the judge.

Mr. Kerry: Well, I respect everything that the president has said and certainly respect his faith. I think it's important and I share it. I think that he just said that freedom is a gift from the Almighty. Everything is a gift from the Almighty. And as I measure the words of the Bible, and we all do, different people measure different things: the Koran, the Torah or, you know, Native Americans who gave me a blessing the other day had their own special sense of connectedness to a higher being. And people all find their ways to express it.

I was taught - I went to a church school, and I was taught that the two greatest commandments are: love the Lord your God with all your mind, your body and your soul; and love your neighbor as yourself. And frankly, I think we have a lot more loving of our neighbor to do in this country and on this planet. We have a separate and unequal school system in the United States of America. There's one for the people who have and there's one for the people who don't have. And we're struggling with that today. The president and I have a difference of opinion about how we live out our sense of our faith. I talked about it earlier when I talked about the works and faith without works being dead. I think we've got a lot more work to do. And as president I will always respect everybody's right to practice religion as they choose or not to practice, because that's part of America.

him: I am now a Bush supporter after the last debate

me: you're lying.

him: No I am not. I think having George W. Bush as president is sending a clear message. It sends a clear message to long term drug users and people with dementia that they too can be the most powerful man in the world.

me: phew

him: It also tells terrorists not to mess with the US as our leader is crazier than yours

me: don't scare a sick girl! but you're right. unbelieveable people can support that train wreck.

SCHIEFFER: Senator Kerry, a new question for you. The New York Times reports that some Catholic archbishops are telling their church members that it would be a sin to vote for a candidate like you because you support a woman's right to choose an abortion and unlimited stem-cell research. What is your reaction to that?

KERRY: I respect their views. I completely respect their views. I am a Catholic. And I grew up learning how to respect those views. But I disagree with them, as do many. I believe that I can't legislate or transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on somebody who doesn't share that article of faith. I believe that choice is a woman's choice. It's between a woman, God and her doctor. And that's why I support that. Now, I will not allow somebody to come in and change Roe v. Wade. The president has never said whether or not he would do that. But we know from the people he's tried to appoint to the court he wants to. I will not. I will defend the right of Roe v. Wade.

Now, with respect to religion, you know, as I said, I grew up a Catholic. I was an altar boy. I know that throughout my life this has made a difference to me. And as President Kennedy said when he ran for president, he said, I'm not running to be a Catholic president. I'm running to be a president who happens to be Catholic. My faith affects everything that I do, in truth. There's a great passage of the Bible that says, What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead. And I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way to other people.

That's why I fight against poverty. That's why I fight to clean up the environment and protect this earth. That's why I fight for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that fundamental teaching and belief of faith. But I know this, that President Kennedy in his inaugural address told all of us that here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own. And that's what we have to -- I think that's the test of public service.

Your location on the scale above is based on the sum of your answers to questions in this quiz. Your views on economic issues most closely resemble those of John Kerry of the Democratic Party. John Edwards is the Democratic candidate for Vice President. For more information see their campaign website.

Your location on the scale above is based on the sum of your answers to questions in this quiz. Your views on foreign policy issues most closely resemble those of John Kerry of the Democratic Party. John Edwards is the Democratic candidate for Vice President. For more information see their campaign website.

Your location on the scale above is based on the sum of your answers to questions in this quiz. Your views on cultural issues resemble those of two candidates – Democrat John Kerry and Libertarian Michael Badnarik.

Like most libertarians, Badnarik seeks to limit government intervention in personal choices, so his views on most of the cultural issues in this quiz are quite liberal. But his views that gun-control laws and many government regulatory agencies are unconstitutional are very conservative. Therefore the sum of his views line up close to John Kerry's center-left position on cultural issues.

So I figured, to get well you need energy. And anger is a form of energy.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, the highest ranking Roman Catholic prelate in
Colorado, has advised the faithful that a vote for John Kerry is a sin that must
be confessed before receiving communion. The web site "Catholic Answers" says
it is a sin to vote for anyone who, among other things, supports abortion. It is
all right to support the death penalty.

So did that do it?

here's the full article.

http://www.counterpunch.org/brauchli10132004.html

GREENSBORO, NC—In an announcement that has alarmed voters across the nation, Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he will personally attack the U.S. if Sen. John Kerry wins the next election.

"If the wrong man is elected in November, the nation will come under a devastating armed attack of an unimaginable magnitude, one planned and executed by none other than myself," Cheney said, speaking at a rally in Greensboro, NC. "When they go to the polls, Americans must weigh this fact and decide if our nation can ignore such a grave threat."

Added Cheney: "It would be a tragedy to suffer another attack on American soil, let alone one perpetrated by an enemy as well-organized and well-equipped as I am. My colleagues and I urge voters to keep their safety in mind when they go to the polls."

Although Cheney would not comment on the details of his proposed attack on a John Kerry-led U.S., national-security experts said he possesses both the capabilities and the motivation to pose a serious threat.

"There is no question that Cheney has the financial assets and intelligence needed to pose a threat to our nation," said Peter Bergen, terrorism researcher and author of Threats And Balances: Former Executive Branch Officials And The Danger To America. "After all, this fanatic can call upon the resources of both the Republican Party and Halliburton to aid him in his assault. America would be foolish not to take his warning seriously."

After his speech, Cheney was asked to confirm his remarks.

"Make no mistake: If Kerry becomes president, no one will be safe from me," Cheney told reporters. "Businesses, places of worship, schools, public parks: No place will offer you refuge. A vote for Kerry is a vote to die in your own bed at the hands of Dick Cheney."

"The greater her education, the less productive a woman will be at housework, according to a rating system that takes in typical chores including the number of shirts ironed, of dishes washed, of floors vacuumed.

The explanation is due to what researchers call "the morale effect," which essentially means women with higher levels of education, particularly those who are also employed outside the home, are more likely to be disheartened by the drudgery of household chores and disengage from those tasks...."

"....For stay-at-home wives, for example, researchers found a 1% increase in formal education translates into a 0.66% decrease in housework productivity. For dual-earner wives, a 1% increase in formal education translates into a 1.76% decrease in housework productivity.

Dr. Sharp's study found that even when researchers controlled for variable factors such as the number of hours available to spend on housework or the amount of outside help deployed to assist in housework, the data continued to show a negative relationship between education and productivity."

• Our age has witness the decline of a number of subjects that once enjoyed prestige and general esteem, but no subject, I believe, has suffered more amazingly in this respect than rhetoric . . . A great shift of valuation has taken place. In those days, in the not-so-distant Nineteenth Century, to be a professor of rhetoric, one had to be somebody. This was a teaching task that was thought to call for ample and varied resources, and it was recognized as addressing itself to the most important of all ends, the persuading of human beings to adopt right attitudes and act in response to them.

• Rhetoric always come to us in well-fleshed words, and that is because it must deal with the world, the thickness, stubbornness, and power of it. Rhetoric has a relationship to the world which logic does not have and which forces the rhetorician to keep an eye upon reality as well as upon the character and situation of his audience.
  

• Language, which is thus predicative, is for the same cause sermonic. We are all of us preachers in private or public capacities. We have no sooner uttered words than we have given impulse to other people to look at the world, or some small part of it, in our way. Thus caught up in a great web of inter-communication and inter-influence, we speak as rhetoricians affecting one another for good or ill.
  

• No one can live a life of direction and purpose without some scheme of values. As rhetoric confronts us with choices involving values, the rhetorician is a preacher to us, noble if he tries to direct our passion toward noble ends and base if he uses our passion to confuse and degrade us. Since all utterance influences us in one or the other of these directions, it is important that the direction be the right one, and it is better if this lay preacher is a master of his art.

Cereality® is more than a place to get cereal. It's a new way of thinking about cereal. A new choice in fast food. And an idea whose time has come. In fact Cereality is so unique, we have a patent pending.

At Cereality, customers choose from their favorite brands and toppings. Pajama-clad Cereologists™ fill the orders. And customers choose and add their own milk, just the way they like it.

Check out the new Fall catalog of Banana Republican:

Whether you’ve mismanaged an unpopular war, or just mangled the English language again, now’s the time to get back to the basics -- like a premium dress shirt, a versatile blazer, and that glass of bourbon you’ve wanted since 1986.

Patriotic striped dress shirt $78
Blueblood blazer $121
Alcoholics Anonymous donation $5
War with Iraq $3 trillion

Democrats rallied behind Kerry's performance by 87% to 8%, while Republicans rallied behind Bush's performance by a slightly smaller margin, 83% to 10%. But independents chose Kerry by a 16-point margin, 53% to 37%.

The reason the overall figures show only a slight advantage for Kerry, despite his greater margin among his own party and winning the independent vote, is that the sample of viewers had more Republicans (38%) than Democrats (32%) or independents (30%). Also, the sample of viewers support Bush over Kerry in the presidential race by 50% to 46%.

A: This wood indeed comes with super terror-fighting action. However, because of your offensive, terrorist-like username, we cannot sell you a product with such awesome power.

A: Not only was it approved by Swift Boat Veterans for Wood, the original investors of the company that made it, Bush Lumber Co, were SBVfW.

A: We'll have to get back to you on that, we're going to ask him later.

• Bush is one angry man. Was it me, or did he seem to be either lecturing or yelling at the audience for 2/3s of the debate? He was especially like a wounded puppy lashing out, while he was attempting to justify his actions in Iraq and the way he's tarnished our reputation in the world. (see this example of Bushie totally flipping out)
  

• I was proud of Kerry. Quite frankly, I was worried that he would come across as stiff and elitist. But he didn't -- he was articulate, and didn't have to pander to the audience in order to make a connection with them. My respect for him is growing -- especially as I'm watching Bush implode.

• It was amusing to hear Bush say "InternetS" -- what is he from, the 80s?

• It was also amusing to watch the Canadians react when Bush accused Canadian prescription drugs ("I just want to make sure it cures ya, not kills ya") -- I almost had to hold a couple of 'em back!

• Speaking of friends, I have some pretty amazing friends here. I haven't had time to feel sorry for myself for not being able to see my family this weekend -- they won't let me. I've had free dinner, lots of conversation, a cute four-year-old on my lap, and terrific conversation. I really am thankful, this weekend,

• There's something about myself that worries me. For one, I'm finding myself getting really worked up about this election -- and I mean really. worked. up. I've been sick, in one way or another, for the past month. Is this anxiety manifesting physically in me? I don't know. I know I do have a flair for the dramatic, so I could be overexaggerating -- but then I'm not so sure.
  

• I just see my country in dire straits right now. It is so divided -- and I don't see it getting any better if the current Adminstration gets another 4 years in office ("compassionate Conservatism," yeahright). I'm at a complete loss when it comes to understanding how anyone, with any sort of morality or thinking abilities, can support this man. Complete loss.

Was President Bush literally channeling Karl Rove in his first debate with John Kerry? That's the latest rumor flooding the Internet, unleashed last week in the wake of an image caught by a television camera during the Miami debate. The image shows a large solid object between Bush's shoulder blades as he leans over the lectern and faces moderator Jim Lehrer.

Klingons for Kerry

EXCLUSIVE: Straw-poll shocker! Fierce warrior race strongly backs Democrat.

Even as John Kerry struggles to establish national-security credentials nationally, an exclusive WW straw poll shows his campaign dominating one skeptical, warlike demographic: Klingons.

The poll, conducted when the DVD release of the Star Trek fan documentary Trekkies 2 attracted Portland's Klingon community to Tower Records on Southeast 102nd Avenue, may spell trouble for President George W. Bush.

The incumbent has staked his campaign on the war on terror. But those who speak the language of the Trek warrior race--known to disdain dishonor, or quvHa'ghach--seem alienated by Iraq and other issues.

According to the poll of eight local Klingons, a whopping 75 percent support the Democratic nominee.

Two Klingons polled--or 25 percent--said they planned to write in Satan.

Bush scored an abysmal zero percent in the poll.

"A good war is based on honor, not deception," says K'tok (Earth name: Clyde Lewis), a 40-year-old Klingon from Lair Hill. "The first warrior, President Bush, deceived us all with this war."

Portland Klingon speakers are increasingly influential. Last year, Multnomah County's mental-health services opened a search for a Klingon interpreter to work with speakers of the language.* Though the Klingons polled all appeared to be registered voters, they emulate an unfamiliar political system.

"On the home world, if there had been a contested election between Gore and Bush, the honorable thing would be for Gore to kill Bush," explained Khraanik (Earth name: Jason Lewis), a 38-year-old from Southeast Portland. "Or the other way around. And then ascend to the head of the High Council."

It's too early for Kerry to chill the ceremonial bloodwine, but Portland Klingons are clearly warming to the cerebral Massachusetts Democrat.

"Kerry has shown his prowess," says 33-year-old Neqha (Earth name: Eric King) of Tigard. "He saved his fellow warrior under the gun, and has been commended and awarded medals."

Neither the Bush nor Kerry campaigns were immediately available for comment on the poll results.

--Dominic Luxford with Zach Dundas

[* No, we're not making this up.]

Well, now that Kerry has won over that tough intergalatic voter demographic, winning over the rest of the country should be a breeze!

That religion in America has spawned such a phenomenon as megachurches should hardly be surprising. Americans have always been drawn to the outsized; we want to be part of something big, successful, "happening." As one man told a New York Times reporter, in explaining why he attends a large, fast-growing fundamentalist church in rural Ohio, "I like being around successful peple on Sunday." We are a people in search of meaning and definition; but we also have developed in the Television Age a terrifying passivity, an insatiable desire to be entertained, and a discomfort with experiences that disturb the surfaces of our lives.

Americans flock to megachurches to find a home, and to be less alone, and yet there seems nothing more lonely and less like a home -- and nothing more dramatically removed from the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, who soiled his feet treading from village to village -- than these immense, bland, antiseptic, impersonal structures that have nothing about them to suggest transcendence or immanence, but that speak only of efficiency, material security, and the insidious ability of modern popular culture to deflect our attentions incessantly from the things of God.

The Adman's 23rd Psalm
by Del Kehl

The Adman is my shepherd;
I shall ever want.

He maketh me to walk a mile for a Camel;
He leadeth me beside Crystal Waters
In the High Country of Coors;
He restoreth my soul with Perrier;
He guideth me in Marlboro Country
For Mammon's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the
Jolly Green Giant,
In the shadow of B.O., halitosis, indigestion,
headache pain, and hemorrhoidal tissue,
I will fear no evil,
For I am in Good Hands with Allstate;
Thy Arid, Score, Tums, Tylenol, and Preparation H--
They comfort me.

Stouffer's preparest a table before the TV,
in the presence of all my appetites;
Thou anointest my head with Brylcream;
My Decaffeinated Cup runneth over.

Surely surfeit and security shall follow me
all the days of Metropolitan Life,
And I shall dwell in a Continental Home
With a mortgage forever and ever.

Amen.

All I know
Is everything is not as it's sold
but the more I grow the less I know
And I have lived so many lives
Though I'm not old
And the more I see, the less I grow
The fewer the seeds the more I sow

Then I see you standing there
Wanting more from me
And all I can do is try
Then I see you standing there
Wanting more from me
And all I can do is try

I wish I hadn't seen all of the realness
And all the real people are really not real at all
The more I learn the more I cry
As I say goodbye to the way of life
I thought I had designed for me

Then I see you standing there
Wanting more from me
And all I can do is try
Then I see you standing there
I'm all I'll ever be
But all I can do is try
Try

All of the moments that already passed
We'll try to go back and make them last
All of the things we want each other to be
We never will be
And that's wonderful, and that's life
And that's you, baby
This is me, baby
And we are, we are, we are, we are
Free
In our love
We are free in our love

Cheney got our domain name wrong -- calling us "FactCheck.com" -- and
wrongly implied that we had rebutted allegations Edwards was making about what
Cheney had done as chief executive officer of Halliburton. In fact, we did post
an article pointing out that Cheney hasn't profited personally while in office
from Halliburton's Iraq contracts, as falsely implied by a Kerry TV ad. But
Edwards was talking about Cheney's responsibility for earlier Halliburton
troubles. And in fact, Edwards was mostly right.

Voting in Iraq (Posted: 9:47 p.m.)

Edwards is giving a sense that he and Kerry have a plan for Iraq. After Edwards said, "You need more than 35 people to hold an election in Cleveland," noting that there aren't enough election officials in Iraq to hold elections. The two-shot there made Cheney look like Mr. Wilson scowling at Dennis the Menace.

Cheney is saying that the coalition in the Iraq war is as large as the coalition in the first Gulf War. What a crock. There were something like 130,000 Arab troops in the field in that war.

How many in this? Zilch-point-nada.

NEVER MET BEFORE TONIGHT [KJL]
From the president of the Senate. Nice.
Posted at 09:45 PM

WOW [Jonah Goldberg]
Cheney was ... how shall we say... vexed.
Posted at 09:45 PM

• Bush/Cheney Campaign Fails the Honesty Test -- concerning the latest campaign advertisement misleading attack nailing Kerry for his "global test."
  


• From: [Wall Street Journal reporter] Farnaz Fassihi

Subject: From Baghdad --

Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under virtual house arrest. Forget about the reasons that lured me to this job: a chance to see the world, explore the exotic, meet new people in far away lands, discover their ways and tell stories that could make a difference.

Little by little, day-by-day, being based in Iraq has defied all those reasons. I am house bound. I leave when I have a very good reason to and a scheduled interview. I avoid going to people's homes and never walk in the streets. I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can't and can't. There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive. In Baghdad I am a security personnel first, a reporter second.

[...] Then I went to see an Iraqi scholar this week to talk to him about elections here. He has been trying to educate the public on the importance of voting. He said, "President Bush wanted to turn Iraq into a democracy that would be an example for the Middle East. Forget about democracy, forget about being a model for the region, we have to salvage Iraq before all is lost."

One could argue that Iraq is already lost beyond salvation. For those of us on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any thing could salvage it from its violent downward spiral. The genie of terrorism, chaos and mayhem has been unleashed onto this country as a result of American mistakes and it can't be put back into a bottle.

The Iraqi government is talking about having elections in three months while half of the country remains a 'no go zone'-out of the hands of the government and the Americans and out of reach of journalists. In the other half, the disenchanted population is too terrified to show up at polling stations. The Sunnis have already said they'd boycott elections, leaving the stage open for polarized government of Kurds and Shiites that will not be deemed as legitimate and will most certainly lead to civil war.

I asked a 28-year-old engineer if he and his family would participate in the Iraqi elections since it was the first time Iraqis could to some degree elect a leadership. His response summed it all: "Go and vote and risk being blown into pieces or followed by the insurgents and murdered for cooperating with the Americans? For what? To practice democracy? Are you joking?"

• What do you do you do when your candidate showed up with 35 minutes of material for a 90 minute debate, and loses miserably? Why, accuse the opponent of cheating. I'm still trying to decide whether this is really hilarious or just really sad.

<>The Global Test -- It's called Reality --

[...]The test includes convincing "your countrymen" that your reasons are clear and sound. Kerry isn't just talking about satisfying France. He's talking about satisfying Ohio. He's talking about you.

Iraqi civilian fatalities: Uncertain, but at least 12,976

Iraqi military fatalities: Uncertain, several thousand

Coalition fatalities: 1198

U.S. fatalities: 1060

U.S. fatalities in September: 80 (tied for 3rd highest month and highest since May)

U.S. wounded (according to Dept. of Defense): 7032

Number of Weapons of Mass Destruction found: Zero

(via)

Hearts are worn
In these dark ages
You're not alone,
In these stories' pages
The light has fallen
Amongst the living and the dying
And I'll try to hold it in
Yeah I'll try to hold it in

The world is on fire
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
Try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able

[...]Hearts break ... hearts mend ... love still hurts
visions clash ... planes crash
Still there's talk of saving souls
Still the cold is closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line
On this short run ...
The more we take the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Presidential Address, April 16, 1953

• Funded worldwide AIDS programs for 13 years
• Fully funded worldwide global anti-hunger programs for 5 years
• Immunized every child in the world for 46 years
• Funded public housing, education, and health programs all over the world.