According to this AP report Harry Reid "wrote at least four letters helpful to Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, and the senator's staff regularly had contact with the disgraced lobbyist's team about legislation affecting other clients."

The article goes on to say that

Reid has recieved nearly $68,000 in donations from Abramoff's firm, lobbying partners and clients.

..

Reid's office acknowledged Thursday having "routine contacts" with Abramoff's lobbying partners and intervening on some government matters -- such as blocking some tribal casinos -- in ways Abramoff's clients might have deemed helpful.

more below

So the Democrats are united on social security. BFD. Social Security is the easiest thing in American politics to defend. THer's a reason it's called hte third rail. Because anyone who touches it gets zapped. Basically, the Democrats are united in their resolve to not do anything. Good for them. Social Security should be left alone.

But in the process, they've voted for Abu Gonzales, Condi Rice, tort reform which only hurts people and helps corporations, and that giant present to republican donors in teh form of the bankruptcy bill. They've failed to raise the minimum wage, and don't seem to eager to pick up that cause again anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the minimum wage hasn't been raised in nearly 10 years.

I haven't seen anythign on this, incredibly, and if it is a repeat, well...I"m not sorry. This should be on the recomended list. We can have one less Gannon diary to make room.

Link

An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA (news - web sites) interrogation while in a position condemned by human rights groups as torture -- suspended by his wrists, with his hands cuffed behind his back, according to reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

More below

Everyone who tells me that I can't be pro-life without hating women can go to hell. Everyone who flames me or tries to tell me what a horrible hipocrit I am can go to hell. Everyone who tells me to shut the fuck up and get out their face because I hold a different viewpoint can go to hell riding a thorny broomstick.

Yesterday, in a diary about women's issues, I made a post regarding how other women's issues are being eclipsed by abortion, which has somehow become the end all be all of women's issues. In this post, I menationed that I am pro-life. I think it's wrong. But that's me. I never said that the dem party should compromise on the issue, or even that the laws should be changed in any way. I'm pro-life.  And what do I get for having a different viewpoint? All kinds of angry people telling me how much I hate women.

This is the kind of shit that drives most people away from progressive politics. We only have two sets of ideology to pick from, dem or repub, and if you don't fit into the mold perfectly, the "hoilier than thou"  will hound you until you start thinking the other side isn't so bad.

up2date's excellent diary yesterday, "Teen pregnancy has me seeing Red" got me thinking about other statistics. Here's one that I put into a handy little chart, color coded by red and blue states.  

Click on the picture to see a larger, clearer version.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041020/us_nm/campaign_vandals_dc_7

In addition to my canvassing and other more mainstream election year activites, I've also been giving a lot of thought to stealing yard signs. I live in what is probably the most liberal area of Milwaukee, very very blue. Yet there are a couple of poeple who insist on putting their Bush-Cheney signs up. I kind of see it as a slap in the face to all of the working poor around here (not ot mention the minorities. If you're not a white male, the Bush administration doesn't give a damn about you.) I like to think of the lawn signs as political game. BY putting a sign on your lawn, you are joining the visibility game.

Now, I know Bono is supposed to be on our side, fighting for the poor and whatever, but I can't help feeling that  he's a self-important, arrogant, pretentious fuck. Those happen to be my exact feelings for George Bush. Somebody took my two great hates and merged them into this funny, and pointless, little song.....

http://www.audiostreet.net/artists/006/407/song_sunday_bloody_sunday.html#

I've been thinking a lot lately about how we all should be surrogates for Kerry, and about how Republicans have been sending talking points to the campaign offices which then in turn write them out as a letter from a regular citizen to the local paper. So to counter balance that, we should all be bombarding newspapers across the country wit letter denouncing Bush and praising Kerry, more or less. To my surprise, my first letter got published in the local rag, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Here it in the extended entry...

http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/aug04/253568.asp

This I think explains it all:

source: http://americanassembler.com/features/iq_state_averages.htm

This chart is derived from taking the Ravens Advanced Progressive Matrices of average IQ by state (Source:IQ and the Wealth of Nations) then simply applying that state's election results from the 2000 presidential election.

I think he's already rejected the idea, under oath no less, but who likes the idea of Richard Clarke as VP?

I stole this from the agonist, but I figured dkossacks would like it too, so here you go.

http://www.agonist.org/archives/015277.html#015277

(I particularily Like the last two paragraphs.)

How I wish Our president could speak that well. I'd be a lot less sceptical about the war if I wasn't convinced that the man int he oval office was incapable of proper grammer.

Tenet is really getting grilled hard right now on why the CIA trained Afghan Jihadists and then didn't keep track of them after the Russians withdrew from Afghanistan.

Live feed here.

You can see the ads here. All cheesy piano tracks, and Ws assertion that he knows what we need to do to fix everything. No substance. And from an AP story:

Bush Campaign Defends Ads With 9/11 Images

NEW YORK - President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election campaign on Thursday defended commercials using images from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including wreckage of the World Trade Center, as appropriate for an election about public policy and the war on terror.

Some families of the victims of the attacks are angry with Bush for airing the spots, which they called in poor taste and for the president's political gain.

"With all due respect, I just completely disagree, and I believe the vast majority of the American people will as well," Karen Hughes, a Bush campaign adviser, told "The Early Show" on CBS. "September 11th was not just a distant tragedy. It's a defining event for the future of our country. ... Obviously, all of us mourn and grieve for the victims of that terrible day, but September 11 fundamentally changed our public policy in many important ways, and I think it's vital that the next president recognize that."

The first three ads, unveiled Wednesday at campaign headquarters in suburban Washington, will run on broadcast channels in about 80 markets in 18 states, most of which are expected to be critical to the election, and nationwide on select cable networks.

Two of the spots show the destruction at the World Trade Center and include an American flag flying amid the debris. They also feature images of firefighters working through the wreckage.

"It's as sick as people who stole things out of the place," said Firefighter Tommy Fee of Queens Rescue Squad 270. "The image of firefighters at ground zero should not be used for this stuff, for politics."

Hughes said the ads are a tasteful reminder of what the country has been through the last three years.

"I can understand why some Democrats might not want the American people to remember the great leadership and strength the president and first lady Laura Bush brought to our country in the aftermath of that," she said.