Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Monday, Nov. 01, 2004 - 1:57 a.m.

Congratulations, Red Sox; excellent way to break a curse. :)

More importantly, GO, PACKERS, YOU ROCK!!!

"Bin Laden's fallen off the radar.ï¿½ --Afghan official in Kabul working with the American search team.

According to the anonymous official, bin Laden hasnï¿½t been seen since he gave everyone the slip in Tora Bora three years ago. Until, of course, nowï¿½

Stupid Quote(s) of the Day:
"We want people to think 'terrorism' for the last four days. And anything that raises the issue in people's minds is good for us." --Bush-Cheney campaign official, commenting on Osama bin Ladenï¿½s latest video release.

ï¿½Anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush." --Senior GOP strategist who also referred to the new bin Laden video as ï¿½a little gift."

"It's very helpful to the president," --Sen. John McCain

First off, I love how the mainstream press has consistently failed to identify ï¿½Bush-Cheney campaign officialsï¿½ and ï¿½Senior GOP strategistï¿½ or ï¿½White House staffersï¿½ and ï¿½Members of the administrationï¿½ by name for the last 4 years. WTF is that all about?? But the real substance of the above quotes is this: leave it to the Republicans and their 1984 version of the truth to actually spin Bushï¿½s obvious utter failure to find and capture Osama bin Laden as a positive for the president. With any luck, thisï¿½ll backfire all over their asses like it did the Spanish governmentï¿½s when they tried to spin the pre-election terrorist attack there to blame it on the Basque separatists. See, when your people are hip to your bullshit, it *really* pisses ï¿½em off when you try to spin the blatantly negative in your favor.

And yet, there are still people out there who are going to vote for Bush. Makes you wonder what the hell heï¿½d have to do to lose support. I think Bush could actually shoot a baby in the head on live national television and get away with it scot-free, without losing a single approval point. The people who support him would spin some yarn about how it wasnï¿½t a baby at all, it was actually a bomb disguised as a baby, and the young, blond-haired, blue-eyed woman holding it was actually a terrorist pretending to be an SUV-driving soccer mom. And half of the American public would completely buy the whole damned thing.

But thatï¿½s just loopy, isnï¿½t it? Isnï¿½t it???

ï¿½No matter how you try to blame it on the president the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?ï¿½ --Ex-mayor of New York and rabid Bush supporter, Rudy Giuliani on how it is absolutely NOT the presidentï¿½s fault nearly 380 tons of explosives have gone missing in Iraq since the US invasion.

But, you know, he totally supports the troops.

"A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief." --George W. Bush, campaigning Oct. 27, 2004, in Pennsylvania

Yeah; "Hello, Kettle? This is Pot..."

And that brings us to what will probably be the last of my for-the-love-of-God-please-donï¿½t-vote-for-Bush posts. I hear the more Republican of my readers sighing in relief. I appreciate you stuck with me, even though I must piss you off a LOT. And while I respectfully disagree, I have to respect those of you who believed that if I could only be made to see the error of my unpatriotic ways and deeply flawed logic, I would happily switch to Bush, and doggedly stuck with your polite ï¿½Bush-is-good-why-canï¿½t-you-see-thatï¿½ emails. I also appreciate that most of you refrained yourselves from flames. I can take a flame, I just prefer not to. So thanks again.

And now, the chortle of unbridled glee filling the atmosphere here in Katieland must spill out. Bush is on the ropes, and I could not be more happy. Al Qaqaa, I love you. KSTP? You rock. Rudy Giuliani? Shame on you. Blaming the troops is a huge no-no, big guy. Or didn't you get the memo? About damn time someone in the Republican party finally got irrevocably busted for not supporting the troops. It's been a busy, busy week in politics, and I couldn't be more pleased. Bush loses 377 tons of explosives, and then tries to pretend it didn't happen on his watch, the stuff disappeared way before we got there. To demonstrate, the Pentagon releases satellite images of 2 trucks parked in front of 2 bunkers at a complex. Only problem? The satellite images are of some other bunker complex, NOT Al Qaqaa. That doesn't fly, so a lackey blames the troops for failing to secure them. That doesn't help, so the Pentagon comes up with some pitiful story about having already removed some of the stuff on April 13, so it really isn't missing, after all, they destroyed it already, including some white phosphorous they also found at Al Qaqaa, but gee, there werenï¿½t any bunkers there with the IAEA seal, so clearly all the bad stuff was gone long before they got there. The problem with that story is that the IAEA seals were there, and they were captured on videotape, to boot. In addition, the IAEA verifies the videotaped seals, says it only placed them on bunkers housing the really powerful and dangerous HMX (at Al Qaqaa), the IAEA also has pictures to prove it, and oh, wait: there wasn't any white phosphorous at Al Qaqaa. So, hello, Pentagon, but you weren't there. What you did have was two soldiers and two imbedded news people who were there one day all by themselves, and they easily breached the bunkers, complete with pictures and video, and then you failed to secure the stuff when notified (again) that it needed to be. That wasnï¿½t the first time you were notified of where the stuff was, but somehow, gee, you just couldnï¿½t get over there to dispose of explosives it would really suck if the insurgents got hold of. Seriously, could it get any better? Well yeah, if Osama bin Laden would shut his big yapping, preachy mouth (as if I need you telling me I can vote, Osama ï¿½ bite me), but you can't have everything, so I'll just sit here smugly happy in the monumental ineptitude of George Bush's regime finally leaping up to bite him on the ass in a massively public fashion. ::sigh:: Oh, the joy. Taste the rainbow, indeed. :)

First, the Friday Must-Reads this bright day. Paul Krugman lets fly with just a few of the recent foul-ups of this administration. KSTP video of the Al Qaqaa bunker and a timeline regarding the weapons and the US' mishandling of them. Want more? Video of the sealed bunkers prior to the news crew and two - count them, TWO - soldiers breaking into the bunkers on April 18; footage which utterly shoots down the Pentagon's claim they had already been to Al Qaqaa on April 13, and found no HMX there. But then, it turns out, the military WASN'T at Al Qaqaa, they were actually at another bunker complex 10 miles away. Their excuse for the erroneous claim they'd already searched Al Qaqaa before leaving the region? It's an area the size of Manhattan, so they can't be faulted for not being able to tell one set of bunkers from another. But this is all about the reading, so don't take my word for it, visit the New York Times article on the subject for the full story in all its glorious and cohesive detail. After you hang out at the NYT, you might want to check out David Kay's CNN appearance. Follow that up with the results of a Johns Hopkins study released today that shows 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result of the US invasion of Iraq, most of them women and children who have been killed since May 2003 - the "end of major hostilities" in Iraq. I'm thinking if you ask the people of Iraq, major hostilities are still going, but that could just be me. Add to that Dick Cheney's woes as Halliburton is completely and thoroughly busted in being awarded yet another no-bid contract. Yeah, seems the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer literally said ï¿½no wayï¿½ to the $165-million extension contract, but some higher ups and her assistant got together behind her back to okay it anyway, despite her having written such comments across the document as ï¿½I can not approve thisï¿½, ï¿½incorrect!ï¿½, ï¿½not a valid reasonï¿½, and ï¿½no how!ï¿½. Is there anyone left in this country who seriously thinks Halliburton is not being given preferential and unfairly biased treatment, or why that is so? Coz, if you're out there, please speak up. I have some fabulous waterfront property I'd like to sell you.

Do you have your voter registration card?! :) You donï¿½t have to have it to vote, but you should probably take your ID and a bill or something with your name and address on it, maybe your social security card or library card, something, just in case you need to produce ID at your polling place. I always take my passport (if my DL isnï¿½t current), cell bill, and bank statement with me, along with my voter information pamphlet, just in case. Iï¿½m so proud of all of you who registered to vote for the first time in your lives. Good on ya! :) I am a big fan of the voting, in case you havenï¿½t noticed. Okay; now, since this year is one of the biggest elections of our lives, you might need to actually wait in line this time around. Like I said, I had to actually wait in line once, and it took about 45 minutes to vote. I suggest going in the middle of the day, rather than the beginning or end, when most people go. Itï¿½s like being at Disneyland; you ride the really popular rides when everyone is at lunch, and the lines are much shorter. So think of the voting experience as a ride a Disneyland. A really political ride at Disneyland, but a ride, nonetheless. :) So, you know, go in the middle of the day. Like maybe after lunch. Just tell your boss you went to the polls on your lunch hour, and gee, it took longer than expected; sorry! Maybe take lunch at 1:30 or so, instead of 12. Or 11:30. Or go eat at 12:30 and then vote at 1, when youï¿½re done. But I think the more removed from the average personï¿½s lunch hour, the better, because there are probably other people who will decide to vote at lunch, too. Me, Iï¿½ll be going around 3, but I donï¿½t have to work Tuesday. I usually vote on the way home from work, and even during the recall election here, which was HUGE, I didnï¿½t have to wait in line, but Los Angeles is one of the cities (out of I think 5) that are severely understaffed, so Iï¿½m thinking it may take me a little longer than usual to vote this time, but I donï¿½t really care. Itï¿½s that important. I can always read in line, or play that little puzzle game where the little blobby Pacman ghost-looking thing pushes boulders into houses on my cell phone while I wait. Donï¿½t let news stories about the lines dissuade you. You got this far and registered; you donï¿½t want to waste a perfectly good registration, do you? Talk about anti-climactic, NO! Get thee to the polls and vote. Remember: Disneyland! Tigger will be so proud of you. :)

Also, quite a few people ï¿½ mostly in key battleground states, but not only there ï¿½ have received official-looking letters and official-sounding phone calls telling them their registration was illegal and they would not be allowed to vote. Turns out the letters were fraudulent and the phone calls placed from RNC offices. So if by some weird, slim chance you got or get one of those, by all means, call your county or city election official to find out whatï¿½s up, but one way or another, GO VOTE ANYWAY. Donï¿½t let anything keep you from the polls this year if youï¿½re a registered voter. Itï¿½s your Constitutional right. :) And remember all those returned pieces of mail in Ohio that the Republican party is using to try to gain an injunction against newly registered voters to keep them from voting? Apparently, they were sent by registered mail, which means they were not delivered to peopleï¿½s homes but were held at the post office, with a pick-up notice delivered to peopleï¿½s homes. Now, I donï¿½t know about you, but I drag my heels going to pick up registered mail, anyway. I hate standing in line at the post office, because itï¿½s damned inconvenient, and my post office is infamous for hideously long and slow-moving lines. Iï¿½ve let more than a few pieces of registered mail go returned to the sender in my lifetime, because I only bother to go down and pick one up if itï¿½s a piece of mail Iï¿½m expecting. Iï¿½m sure as hell not going to rush on down to wait in line for a piece of mail from the Republican party. So somehow I am not shocked that a lot of other people didnï¿½t want to, either. Not surprisingly, in fact, he first voter to appear at the challenge hearing told the court she had chosen not to take the letter when she saw it came from the Pubbies. The election board has already thrown at least one challenge out and is asking for a criminal hearing, seeing as the woman who instigated one challenge of almost 1000 registered voters after a member of the GOP asked her to admitted she has no personal reason to believe any of the registrants registered to vote illegally. There have been fraudulent letters sent out, fraudulent phone calls made, Kerry Get Out the Vote (GOTV) phone lines cut, and much, much more going on in the last few weeks or so. If you want just a taste of whatï¿½s been going on, check out the Daily Kos and scroll down to October 31.

Now, as election day approaches, there are a few numbers Iï¿½d like to share with a few of you. Namely, those of you who think that gee, maybe the shrub and his pals are straight shooters who deserve 4 more years. Near as I can verify, all numbers were valid when I put this list together, though some troop numbers may have changed here and there (I think the US may have increased troop strength to 140K, and Britain may have sent another 850 recently.) Also, Iï¿½d like to add for those of you who may have forgotten (I had) that in 1981, both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice publicly stated that Sadaam Hussein was not a threat, that he did not possess weapons of mass destruction, and that UN resolutions and weapons inspections were working and effective. Condi told John King that in a television interview (on CNN, I believe) as late as July of 2001. And lastly, if you really need one more reason why you shouldn't vote for Bush, go read up on his background and that of his entire cabinet.

30 - number of countries in the ï¿½coalition of the willingï¿½
3 - number of Latin American countries in the coalition
2 - number of African countries in the coalition (both of whom are at war with each other and vying for US support in that war)
135,000 - number of US troops on the ground in Iraq, down from approx. 150K
6800 - number of British troops, the second highest number from another country
3000 - number of Italian troops, the third highest
2500 - number of Polish troops, the fourth highest
1300 - number of Spanish troops and last ï¿½sizeableï¿½ contingent sent by any country
400 - number of Honduran troops
385 - number of troops from El Salvador
115 - number of Nicaraguan troops
6,800 ï¿½ total number of troops from the other 23 coalition countries, including noncombat troops
296 ï¿½ average number of troops sent from each of the other 23 coalition countryies
90,000 - number of Iraqi policeman currently on the job in Iraq (excluding those killed or kidnapped in the last 2 weeks)
53,000 ï¿½ of those 90,000, the number to have had some training (excluding those killed or kidnapped in the last 2 weeks)
8,169 ï¿½ the number of Iraqi policemen to have actually undergone a full course of police academy training in Iraq
8 ï¿½ the number of weeks it takes to complete Iraqi police academy training
1,200,000 ï¿½ number of National Guard members in the US
45 ï¿½ percentage of those members currently called into active duty ï¿½ the highest percentage since World War II
7,000 ï¿½ number of military recruiters currently cruising malls and school job fairs
1,000 ï¿½ number of recruiters the military added this year
1,120 ï¿½ minimum number of American soldiers killed in Iraq so far
958 ï¿½ minimum number of American soldiers killed so far in Iraq since Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner proclaiming ï¿½Mission Accomplishedï¿½ and stated unequivocally, ï¿½We have prevailed.ï¿½
914 ï¿½ minimum number of American deaths so far in Iraq since Bush announced ï¿½Bring ï¿½em onï¿½ on July 2, 2003
0 ï¿½ number of soldiersï¿½ funerals Bush has attended
7,532 ï¿½ number of soldiers the DoD says were wounded in action between March 2003 and Sept. 27, 2004, the last time they released official numbers
9,000 - approximate unofficial estimate of how many have been wounded to date
69 ï¿½ minimum number of UK soldiers killed so far in Iraq
72 ï¿½ minimum number of other coalition troops killed so far in Iraq
592 ï¿½ number of days as of this writing since US and coalition troops invaded Iraq
100,000 ï¿½ approximate number of Iraqi civilians killed during the invasion/occupation of Iraq, most of them women & children
168.9 ï¿½ average number of Iraqi civilians killed per day since the invasion of Iraq

5,600,000,000,000 ï¿½ budget surplus Bush inherited when he took office in Jan 2001 ($5.6 Trillion)
3,500,000,000,000 ï¿½ minimum budget deficit now ($3.5 Trillion)
9,100,000,000,000 ï¿½ dollar amount Bush has spent since taking office ($9.1 Trillion)
500 ï¿½ your estimated share of the national debt (in dollars) when Bush took office
24,000 ï¿½ your estimated share of it now
1,700,000,000,000 ï¿½ dollar amount of the Bush tax cuts ($1.7 Trillion)
507,000,000,000 ï¿½ dollar amount taken from the Social Security trust fund to offset money no longer coming in due to Bush tax cuts ($507 Billion)
1,400,000,000,000 ï¿½ Amount of Social Security budget surplus Bush has now allocated to fund other programs unrelated to Social Security through the year 2013 ($1.4 Trillion)
17 ï¿½ percentage Medicare benefits have been decreased by since Bush took office
44,600,000 ï¿½ number of people without healthcare in the United States
3,400,000 ï¿½ number of people who have lost healthcare since Bush took office
50 ï¿½ percentage increase of out-of-pocket healthcare costs for those who still have insurance since Bush took office
8.7 ï¿½ percentage of cost increase for the 10 most-used prescription drugs since Bush took office
7,500,000,000 ï¿½ amount of money Bush cut from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) budget in 2003 ($7.5 Billion)
9,400,000,000 ï¿½ amount of money Bush cut from the NCLB budget in 2004 ($9.4 Billion)
571,000 ï¿½ number of childrenï¿½s openings Bush proposed cutting from after school programs in 2003
14 ï¿½ minimum percentage average state college tuition has risen since Bush took office
375,000 ï¿½ the number of low income college students already receiving Pell Grants whose funding has been cut to some degree since Bush took office
84,000 ï¿½ the number of deserving students already receiving Pell Grants who have completely lost funding since Bush took office
1,500,000 ï¿½ number of graduating high school students whose Pell Grant funding has been reduced, either in part or in whole, due to Bush cuts in the program
12.5 ï¿½ percentage of people now living in poverty since Bush took office and inherited the lowest poverty level since 1974
5,000,000 ï¿½ if Iï¿½ve done my math correctly, the approximate number of newly poverty-stricken Americans since Bush took office
1,200,000 ï¿½ net job loss during Bushï¿½s 4 years in office ï¿½ the conservative estimate; it has been placed as high as 1.8 million
135,000 ï¿½ average number of new jobs created each month under every president since Truman except George W. Bush
306,000 ï¿½ number of new jobs Bush claimed would be created each month by his tax cuts (for a total of 5.5 million new jobs by the end of 2004)
150,000 ï¿½ number of new jobs needed each month to keep up with the rate of population growth and job demand
0 ï¿½ average number of new jobs created each month under Bush
79,189 ï¿½ the average number of jobs lost each month under Bush
9,000,000 ï¿½ the number of people unemployed in this country (or more accurately, the number of people currently on the books as unemployed ï¿½ this figure does not include people who have no job but are not collecting unemployment)
3,300,000 ï¿½ the number of people unemployment increased by since Bush took office
10 ï¿½ percentage increase in bankruptcies since Bush took office
182,700 ï¿½ average yearly income of the wealthiest 20% of Americans
1,100,000 ï¿½ average yearly income of top 1% of all Americans
30,127 ï¿½ average cut in taxes to someone in the top 1% under the Bush ï¿½growthï¿½ plan tax cut
289 ï¿½ average cut in taxes to someone in the middle 20% (making approx. $46K/year) under the Bush ï¿½growthï¿½ plan tax cut
46 ï¿½ percentage of taxpayers (64 million) who receive a tax cut of $100 or less per year under the Bush ï¿½growthï¿½ plan tax cut
3/2001 ï¿½ the month and year the recession actually began, according to National Bureau of Economic Research, a conservative economic think tank which dates business cycles
58,000 ï¿½ number of missing absentee ballots in Florida in the last month, most of them located in Democratically-dominated counties
16,000 ï¿½ number that have been remailed, 2 days before Election Day

1 ï¿½ number of presidents to enter office with a criminal record: George W. Bush
6 ï¿½ months of vacation George W. Bush has taken since taking office in January 2001, more than any other president in history
178 ï¿½ number of countries who ratified the Kyoto Treaty (on global warming) ï¿½ after years of US and world work on the agreement, Bush refused to sign it
3 ï¿½ the amount power plants are allowed to increase their current emissions of mercury into the environment under Bushï¿½s ï¿½Clear Skies Initiativeï¿½ (triple)
3,000,000 ï¿½ number of acres Bush has opened to logging in the Tongass National Forest, home to the highest concentration of our endangered national bird (the Bald Eagle) on earth
33 ï¿½ number of logging permits Bush has granted in the Tongass
700 ï¿½ number of square miles already lost to logging since Bush granted those permits and opened the Tongass National Forest to logging (thatï¿½s still only 448,000 acres, which should give you an idea of just how much land is in 3,000,000 acres; thatï¿½s a lot of national forest to give to loggers)
93 ï¿½ number of press conferences Eisenhower held
65 ï¿½ number of Kennedy press conferences (in 3 years)
83 ï¿½ press conferences held by Bush, Sr.
15 ï¿½ press conferences held by George Dubya; fewer than any president since the advent of television
10,000,000 ï¿½ number of people to simultaneously protest against George W. Bush ï¿½ the single largest protest against any one person in the entire history of the world

Remember, GET OUT AND VOTE!

Peace out,
Katie

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Yesterday's News - Next Stop

In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
In which Katie returns after a very long absence - Monday, Jun. 25, 2012
In which Katie pokes her head in and brushes some of the cobwebs away - Thursday, May. 06, 2010
In which Katie asks you to write your congressman again. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008
In which Katie asks you to please click the link and send the message to protect the rights of artists - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008