Today Sec. of State Colin Powell said about the Iraq insurgency, "It's getting worse."

A rare moment of honesty from the Bush Administration. Here's the numbers they don't usually enjoy mentioning to the American People...As of 9/26/04:

Attacks by Insurgents per day:
70-80 avg.

U.S. Military Killed in the past Week:
15

U.S. Military Killed from "Mission Accomplished" through hand-over of "Sovereignty":
1.89 per day

U.S. Military Killed from hand-over of "Sovereignty" through Today:
2.34 per day

Total U.S. Military Killed since hand-over of "Sovereignty" (90 days ago):
194

Total UK Military Killed since then:
6

Total U.S. Military Dead since start of War:
1,048

U.S. Military Amputees, Wounded, Injured & Psychologically Disabled,
All now evacuated from Iraq:
27,800 est.

Iraqi Civilians Killed since start of War:
20,900 est.

Iraqi Military Killed (by end of "major hostilities"):
28,000 est.

Total Iraqis Killed (Civilian and Military):
48,900 est.

Population of Iraq:
25 million

Killed in the US on 9/11:
2,973

Population of US:
293 million

Stockpiles of WMD's found in Iraq so far:
0

Sources: Iraq Coalition Casuality Count, U.S. Dept. of Defense, McLaughlin Group

Bush tells O'Reilly in his interview (to be run over three days starting Monday...not spinning at all) that he would do the "Mission Accomplished" thing all over again.

From Reuters:

It brings to mind what John Stewart has been saying lately about Bush. "He drove us into a brick wall...but he didn't blink!"

...More "Republican Jesus" right here, courtesy of Jesus' General.

You may remember the various outrageous and unsupported statements by Cheney, Bush, Hastert and the rest of the Wingnuts suggesting outright that "The Terrorists support John Kerry". (In case you don't, the ad at right was on Drudge a few months ago. Just one of many created to send the message). UPDATE: Another story on this point, just released by AFP

Of course, in none of those cases did any of the irresponsible folks making the claim have a shred of actual evidence to support their smear. They were just smearing for Smear & Fear sake. Anything to win a Presidential election.

It seems obvious to me that Bush has been a terrorist's Dream President as he's effectively done everything they could have hoped for. Even Donald Rumsfeld has acknowledged that our actions in Iraq are likely "creating terrorists faster than we can kill them".

When it comes to hard evidence one way or another as to whom "The Terrorists" support however, there is only one clear statement from any Terrorist that I know of. And they have firmly endorsed George W. Bush for President as reported by the International Herald Tribune last March just after the Madrid bombings.

The note claiming responsibility for those bombings made "The Terrorists" preference for George W. Bush quite clear:

So shouldn't the ad at right be changed to "1 out of 1 Terrorist Agrees! VOTE BUSH!"? Or should Bush/Cheney change their slogan to "Bush/Cheney - Even the Terrorists Support Us!"?

At least there is actual documented evidence to back up those claims.

(Thanks John Aravosis for the tip)

This is the ad currently appearing on Drudge's site...

Ironic today, if only for this item. Not to mention the countless hundreds of other biased and incorrect reports like the one I pointed to that are featured every single month on Drudge and echoed in the rest of the Right Biased media chamber.

The beat goes on. Anything to win.

For how long now has the White House told us they've "released everything pertaining to Bush's National Guard service"?

From Reuters:

Yes, it was another late-on-Friday-night, too-late-to-make-it-onto-the-Nightly-News coincidence again this week.

Yesterday, The Washington Times lied in a story about a John Kerry appearance on CNN's Crossfire in 1997 where they claimed, after viewing a copy of the tape, that John Kerry had said: "We know we can't count on the French. We know we can't count on the Russians. ... We know that Iraq is a danger to the United States, and we reserve the right to take pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest."

Unfortunately, the piece was a complete lie, as blogged yesterday right here, made even more destructive as it was picked up by Drudge, and thus predictably carried by the rest of the Rightwing Echo Chamber (Rush, Sean, Fox, the wingnut Blogosphere, etc.) Drudge, predictably, has not bothered to carry the "Correction" posted today.

Today, The Times has just made matters worse by running a "Correction" to the story right here.

Here is the letter I just sent off to Mr. McCaslin (following up a note I sent yesterday) along with a CC to his Managing Editor. Feel free to do the same!

(But seriously...stay safe guys! It's not your fault! Our prayers are with ya!)

Bad news for Kerry! DRUDGE has the scoop! Right on the top of his page, you can still click on this headline: "Kerry Argued Case For Unilateral Preemptive Action In Iraq On CNN's CROSSFIRE In 1997..."

The link is to a new Washington Times piece by John McCaslin quoting Kerry on CNN's Crossfire in 1997, when we are told Kerry said: "We know we can't count on the French. We know we can't count on the Russians. ... We know that Iraq is a danger to the United States, and we reserve the right to take pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest." McCaslin also said that "no 'Crossfire' transcripts from 1997 are available" but that he recieved a tape of the show.

Only problem? Kerry never said it.

Media Matters has the full story of what Kerry actually said...along with the transcript!

In the wake of "Rather-Gate" has anyone yet heard the cries for McCaslin and Drudge to resign? McCaslin had the actual tape of the show, so why would he put quotes around what he knows full well that John Kerry didn't say? I think you know the answer.

John McCaslin - jmccaslin@washingtontimes.com
Mng. Editor, Francis B. Coombs Jr. - fcoombs@washingtontimes.com

What Bush actually said yesterday was:
"I saw a poll that said, uh, uh...the right trong, ri...right track, wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America."

Still trying to decipher what message he thinks he was actually sending with that quote, but in the meantime, the Kerry Campaign has responded --- and quickly! --- with another new ad. Good rapid response. Good to see.

As I've received so much Email of late on the topic of the Jimmy Swaggart video ad I released recently, I've been pondering a few of the related ideas.

Swaggart, as many "Christian" homophobes enjoy mentioning, said in his sermon after announcing that he'd kill a gay man who looked at him the wrong way and then "tell God he died", that the bible says homosexuality is "an abomination". He reminded us of that just before he endorsed George W. Bush from his pulpit.

Swaggart is right, of course, on the bible calling homosexuality "an abomination" in Leviticus 18:22. Subsequently, God also is quoted as suggesting in Romans 1:32 that those "who commit such things are worthy of death".

This got me pondering about which of the bible thumpers out there (and I know we have one or two who read this Blog regularly) might agree that gays should be put to death as the bible would seem to advocate? Any of you Theo-Cons willing to ring in on that? You know where the Comment button is.

So I started looking around for more information on what else Leviticus has to say about things, and I came again across this letter to Dr. Laura that has made it's way around the Internet starting sometime in 2000, not long after Dr. Laura informed her listeners that homosexuality was a "mistake of nature", "a biological error" and that gays are in fact "deviants".

I don't know if Laura (not an actual medical or psychological or sociological Doctor, by the way) still feels that way as she seems to flip-flop on her opinions quite a bit. For example, she had years ago converted to Orthodox Judiasm, only to then renounce her religion on the air in July of 2003.

In any case, if you haven't seen this letter, or even if you have, it seems timely in this day and age to reprint it here again, along with a picture of the good "Doctor" (pictured upper-right, I'm sorry, it was amongst the least pornographic shots that I felt it proper to display on the front page here as it was one of the few without visible pubic hair from the series of photos it seems she posed for during one of her extra-marital affairs) to remind folks who Dr. Laura is, in case they're not familiar with her work. It's interesting to "heathens" like myself, what else the bible, including Leviticus and other chapters, has to say about a few other things:

No word yet, four years after this letter was sent, on Dr. Laura's reply.

A day or so ago, Josh Marshall said: "Every so often you just have to sit back and marvel at the Twilight Zone we're living in at the moment."

Indeed...Here's one of those Twilight Zone moments from Wednesday, as reported by NY Times:

Untwist that logic while you stir yourself up another pitcher.

(via Josh Marshall)

After a couple of days of hemming and hawing and "Who us?"-ing, the Republicans have come "clean" on the story we mentioned here and then here a couple of days ago, wherein we predicted this came from the same filthy bag of dirty tricks that the Republicans used to slime their own John McCain in 2000.

As reported in tomorrow's NY Times:

In case you missed it the first time, here's the thoughtful mailing being sent out in Arkansas and West Virginia to help voters understand the "issues" at stake this year:

Just wait though. There's plenty more to come, I predict, from their filthy bag of tricks. So hold your nose and stay tuned. That rancid smell is the boyz just getting warmed up in the pig pen. These things get easier and easier, you know, when there's no troubling moral compass by which one needs to measure ones self.