Good News Regarding Hobbit Movie

From TVNZ:

It looks like Peter Jackson will direct the movie version of the Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit after all.

There was uproar last week when New Line Cinema told the director he was no longer needed.

But Jackson been thrown a lifeline by film producer Saul Zaentz who holds the screen rights to Tolkien Enterprises.

Zaentz has told The Sun newspaper the rights to The Hobbit fall back to his company next year and when that happens, Jackson will be back on the project.

They better get a move on this, or else Ian McKellen will be too old to play Gandalf.

New Evidence Regarding Bobby Kennedy Assassination

This is interesting:

New video and photographic evidence that puts three senior CIA operatives at the scene of Robert Kennedy's assassination has been brought to light.

The evidence was shown in a report by Shane O'Sullivan, broadcast on BBC Newsnight.

It reveals that the operatives and four unidentified associates were at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles in the moments before and after the shooting on 5 June, 1968.

The CIA had no domestic jurisdiction and some of the officers were based in South-East Asia at the time, with no reason to be in Los Angeles. * * *

The BBC report claims that Sirhan Sirhan was in a "trance" at the time he allegedly shot Kennedy. That sounds like a great idea for a movie, except for the fact that such a movie has already been made made and remade.

Vegas Trip 2006

Vegas is getting more difficult for me every year. When I first visited that town about 15 years ago, I had no problem staying up most of the night and operating on four hours of sleep a day. Not anymore.

We arrived in Vegas at around sundown on Thursday, November 9. I wanted to play in a poker tournament at 7 pm that evening over at the Sahara, but both Linda and I were catching a cold and I was tired from the trip down so I took a nap instead. Todd and Erika arrived about midnight, so I rallied and joined them on a trip to Casino Royale to play craps. I had some luck there last year, but it was slow death this time. Several rollers got right up to the beginnings of a nice roll, but would then seven out right when things were ready to get profitable. My dice rolling was pitiful -- I would seven out immediately after establishing a number.

Todd and Erika had enough of craps after about forty minutes or so of losing, then switched to blackjack. I stayed at the craps table and continued losing. After having a late meal at the Caribe Cafe at the Mirage, we returned to the Casino Royale to play some Blackjack Switch, which is a variation of blackjack wherein each player is dealt two hands (and must therefore make two bets of equal size) and is then allowed to switch the second card dealt to each hand. This option, of course, gives the players a big advantage, so the dealer is allowed to hit on a soft 17, blackjacks only pay even money, and a dealer 22 will push against any player who has 21 or less (that push on 22 rule is brutal, by the way). I'm not sure what all this means with regard to the house advantage, but Todd, Erika, and I got crushed at this game, so I switched back to craps and continued playing into the wee hours and ended up losing about $160 for the night.

Linda's Skydive

I made it back to the hotel room at about 6:00 am. Linda was just waking up as I was going to bed. She had to meet a shuttle bus to take her skydiving. At right is a picture of Linda as she's about to leave the airplane.

At left is a photo of Linda in freefall. As you can see, the weather was perfect that day. She said that they really didn't give you much of a chance to change your mind once events started in motion. If I were to try it, I have this image of me acting like that young soldier in Apocalypse Now who wouldn't get out of the chopper and kept yelling "I'm not going -- I'm not going . . ." until someone finally forced me out of the plane. Linda said that nothing like that happened with her.




At right is a picture taken after the chute has opened and they are approaching a landing. Linda got to take control of the parachute for a while after it opened and she put them in a power spin that Linda said made her feel a bit sick.



Here's a photo taken right at the moment of landing, which she described as being very soft.

And here is Linda back on the ground and unhooked from everything. The images seen here are actually still shots from a film which her instructor made on the way down. It's pretty fun to watch. Linda says she'll probably do it again one of these days.

Those of us who weren't skydiving wanted to get some gambling in, except for Todd, who wanted to do the scary rides at the Stratosphere; so Erika and I went over to the Sahara to see if we could get in a no-limit ring game. We put our name on the list, then started playing blackjack (the normal kind, not the switch blackjack I played the night before). There wasn't enough interest at the Sahara in a no-limit money game, so we continued to play blackjack for a while, and we had a great time. Both Erika and I won money.

After a short afternoon nap, Linda and I joined Todd, Erika, Mike, and Mike's Linda for dinner at The Bellagio's Jasmine restaurant (after a fairly lengthy wait for a cab). The food was great and the table we had was one of the best settings I've ever been in for a meal (it was right up there setting-wise with the lunch Linda and I had last May in Maui at Mama's Fish House). We had a killer view of the Bellagio Fountains as well as the Eiffel Tower mock-up at Paris. It was very nice. Todd, Erika, Mike, and Mike's girlfriend Linda then went to see "O" and my Linda and I did some shopping. I had all these big plans to gamble late into Friday evening, but I was tired from only getting about 3 1/2 hours of sleep the "night" before that I went to bed instead and actually got eight full hours of uninterrupted sleep, a first for me in Vegas.

Tournament At The Sahara

I played poker only once on this trip, and it was in a tourney over at the Sahara on Saturday morning. It started out great for me. I won the first three hands at my table, mostly from positional play (I started on the button), then things quieted down for me until I got dealt pocket tens in late position. The waitress was bringing me a drink when I was dealt the pocket tens, so when the action got to me I was a bit distracted and I simply called with the tens instead of raising. The flop was all low cards with a possible straight draw but no flush draws yet. A player ahead of me raised it up, and I called and everyone else in the hand folded. The next card was also a low one, and this time the guy ahead of me checked and I put in a bet of about 1/2 the pot. He called. The last card was also low, but there were still no flush draws on the board. The guy ahead of me checked, and I put in a nice bet. He then raised me all-in, and I immediately called because I felt that my pocket tens were still good. They were, and I took down a nice pot.

A few hands later, I got dealt pocket sevens and limped in from early position. A player ahead of me went all-in short stacked. The guy across the table whom I pegged as a good, solid player called the all-in, as did I. A 5-7-9 hit on the flop, with two spades in the mix. The guy I pegged as a good player checked to me, and I moved all-in with my trip sevens because the board looked pretty scary to me. The guy across the table thought about it for quite a while -- he was clearly on a draw and a call would have used up all his remaining chips. He decided to fold then told the dealer that he better not put an 8 on the board because that would have given him his straight. Well, an 8 hit on the turn, and the guy was mad at himself for folding, and I thanked God that he folded because I would have been crippled had he stayed in the hand. I ended up taking down another good pot, and it gave me a chip stack of well over 10,000 as well as the chip lead at the table.

I decided at that point to do a little bullying, and I managed to take down a few more smaller-sized pots. But pretty soon, some of the shorter stacks started moving all-in, and I started calling them. A guy with about 2000 in chips moved all-in when I had an A-8, so I called him. He had a Q-J, meaning that I was ahead in the hand pre-flop. Nothing hit on the flop, but he ended up getting a jack on the turn and beating me. The same thing happened a couple more times, and pretty soon my chip stack was cut in half and the blinds were going up fast.

My cards went dead for an appreciable amount of time, and the guy two players to my left started going on a nice roll. He took a player out with pocket kings, then a few hands later took two players out when he got pocket aces. Two hands after he got his pocket aces (and about three hours into the tournament), I got dealt KQ suited on the button -- which was the best hand I'd seen in quite a while -- and everyone folded to me. Although that's a pretty good hand to raise with on the button when only the blinds are left, I decided to simply limp in (the big blind at that point was 1000). The small blind folded, but the guy in the big blind who had just got dealt pocket aces a couple hands earlier raised with enough chips in to put me all-in if I called with my KQ suited.

I thought about it for a long time, and concluded that he was weak and was simply trying to play the rush. I called and he turned over yet another pair of aces in the pocket! It was his third big pair in about ten minutes and his second AA in the last three hands. When he turned em over, I said "again?" in a tone of disbelief. His aces held up and I was out of the tournament. I probably shouldn't have called him with just a KQ suited, but my gut told me he was weak and hold 'em is a game where you oftentimes have to go with what your gut tells you because that's all the information you have. Oh well. He made a nice move because he probably figured that I wouldn't have put him on yet another high pair, and he was right.

The Last Night In Vegas

I went back to the hotel room, then we all made our way to Caesar's Forum. We stopped in a Fat Tuesday's, and I got one of their orangy drinks which featured Everclear as the booze. In fact, I ordered an extra shot of Everclear -- they put the extra shots in test tube-like things and then place them upside down in the slushy drink so you can "release" the extra shot at your leisure. Anyway, the drink got me fairly intoxicated (good Everclear will do that, you know). Linda and I went back to the hotel room -- we waited in line for a cab for about 40 minutes -- and took a little nap prior to the Tenacious D show. Given our problems with getting a cab, we went down nice and early, but the line in front of the hotel was very long and very few cabs were showing up. We ended up waiting 55 minutes for a cab, which is nothing short of an outrage. Vegas really needs to do something about the taxi situation. I've been going there since the early nineties, and catching a cab used to be a pretty easy thing to do.

We missed the opening act of the Tenacious D show, but got to our seats just as Jack Black and Kyle were starting their performance. We almost didn't make it, though. Linda and I, after gaining admittance to the venue, got lost in the bowels of The House of Blues trying to find our seats. As we were looking around for the door to the concert area, I felt like we were in that scene from Spinal Tap -- the one where the group couldn't find the stage and wandered around back stage for quite a while. We went through one set of doors and actually ended up outside the theater. According to the staff at the House of Blues, that should have been impossible and nobody there believed that we had actually presented our ticket, submitted to the search, and gone inside. Anyway, we finally convinced them that we had, in fact, already gone inside and they let us go back in.

The concert was a lot of fun. Tenacious D has some hysterical songs, and I was pretty much laughing all the way throughout the concert. And the House of Blues is a truly great venue. I definitely want to catch more shows there on future Vegas trips.

After the show, Todd, Erika, Mike, and Mike's Linda went to play hold 'em at the Mandalay Bay poker room. I, however, wanted to play more craps, so I went in search of a cheap craps table, which was kind of a bummer because I missed Jack Black. He showed up at the Mandalay Bay poker room and Linda and Erika got a picture with him. They had some trouble operating the camera, and Jack Black said something like, "You don't know how to operate your own f#%king camera?" Linda replied, "You use the 'F' word way too much." Black's reply was "You're f#%king right."

I regret that I missed that whole exchange, but, as I noted, I was on a quest for a cheap craps table and I ended up back on a $3 table at the Casino Royale. I decided to play more aggressively than usual since it was our last night there and since I did very little gambling the day before, but after four hours of play I was down $200 so I decided to call it a night. I did, however, finally have a halfways decent roll with the dice at one point. I actually hit three numbers before sevening out.

Except for my double Everclear drink, I laid off of the booze pretty much all that last day and evening. So even though I was out until 4 am that night and was tired for the trip home on Sunday, I wasn't hung over and that made the trip home bearable despite the two hour delay at McCarran, the two hour delay at PDX, and the fact that they lost my luggage.

Last year I stayed up all night on the last evening there and I drank a lot, so I felt like crap on the trip home. But not this year, which made a big difference in my attitude. After the last trip (Nov. 2005), I figured I needed a whole year to recover. Now I'm ready to go back immediately.

Harold And Kumar Aren't Going To Amsterdam

Don't worry -- a new Harold and Kumar movie is definitely in the works, and although it sounds like they will try to go to Amsterdam, it doesn't look like they're going to make it (from Production Weekly):

John Cho and Kal Penn are set to reprise their roles as stoners in the sequel to “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.” The screenplay is by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who penned the original script and will co-direct the sequel. Production is planned for a late January start date in Shreveport, Louisiana. “Harold & Kumar 2,” follows the cross-country adventure of the pot-smoking duo as they try to outrun the authorities after being suspected as terrorists when they try to sneak a bong on board a flight to Amsterdam.

This sounds like a good way to go. I originally assumed that the second movie would take place in Amsterdam, but I wondered how they'd build any tension if the film was set there (given that pot is legal in Amsterdam).

Of course, they could still call the movie "Harold and Kumar Go To Amsterdam" and have them actually reach that city at the end of the film -- just like they finally made it to White Castle at the end of the first movie.

And speaking of Kal Penn, it looks like he has a role in the new season of 24.

Back From Vegas

As expected, the trip to Vegas was a blast, even though I lost about $400 gambling. I didn't play as much poker as I usually do -- I played in one tournament, and lasted about three hours before I lost all my chips. I spent most of my gambling time at the craps tables, where I couldn't really get much going.

Anyway, I'll post more on this trip later (including some photos of my wife skydiving).

Harold's Blog Signing Off (Politically Speaking)

It's been fun, but my days as a political blogger have come to an end. I was going to continue doing political posts in the event the Republicans retained control of both branches of Congress, but that didn't happen, so my job here is done.

Many thanks to all my readers for their support. I'll continue to do the occasional post on fishing, backpacking, poker, travel, and perhaps a few other non-political pursuits, so tune in now and then if you have any interest in that stuff. And I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a very occasional politically-tinged post appearing here if something really major happens (e.g., Bush fleeing to Paraguay or something like that).

We're leaving tomorrow morning for a long weekend in Vegas, so check in early next week if you want to know whether I won any money or not. I plan on playing a lot of Texas Hold 'Em -- both tournaments and money games -- as well as a lot of craps. We're also going to the Tenacious D show at the House of Blues on Saturday night, which should be interesting.

If this year's trip is half as fun as last year's Vegas vacation, then we're going to have a great time.

Well, So Much For America's "Permanent Majority" Party

I missed most of the election coverage tonight due to a poker game, but am beginning to catch up now (my wife and Slic[k] kept me up to date on the major developments via cell phone while I played). It is certainly a great night for America and a very bad night for Amerika.

And speaking of Amerika, here are a couple of quotes that will bring back some memories:

DeLay himself drew the line sharply the day after the 2004 elections. "The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country," DeLay declared. "We're going to be able to lead this country in the direction we've been dreaming of for years."

Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leading figure in both the DeLay and Bush political operations, chose more colorful post-election language to describe the future. "Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans," he told Richard Leiby of The Post. "Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant. But when they've been 'fixed,' then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful."

Oh what a difference two years make.

Perhaps the most shocking thing that happened tonight is that it looks like the Democrats have a real shot at taking control of the Senate. It all comes down to Virginia, where the Democrat James Webb currently leads the Republican George Allen 50% to 49%.

CNN is really pushing the idea that Webb would have been the clear winner in Virginia if it wasn't for the fact that the Green Party candidate picked up 25,000 votes. I look at it a little differently. The Senate race in Virginia came down to one word, and that word was "maccaca." Had Allen not said that word on the campaign trail, then Webb wouldn't even have come close.

A single word might determine control of the Senate. Amazing.

MSM Finally Reporting On GOP Voter Suppression Tactics

From MSNBC:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the possibility of voter intimidation in the U.S. Senate race between Sen. George Allen, a Republican, and Democratic challenger James Webb, officials told NBC News.

State officials alerted the Justice Department on Tuesday to several complaints of suspicious phone calls to voters who attempted to misdirect or confuse them about election day, Jean Jensen, Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, told NBC’s David Shuster.

Jensen told NBC that she had been contacted by FBI agents. The FBI in Richmond refused to comment.

State Democratic Party counsel Jay Myerson said in a written statement issued by the Webb campaign that he believed Republicans are behind an orchestrated effort to suppress votes for the Democratic challenger. * * *

In the Washington, D.C., area, NBC affiliate News4 reported on its Web site that it had received e-mail from a viewer in Virginia who said he received a phone call from so-called volunteers threatening voters with arrest if they cast ballots.

News4 reported: “The viewer's e-mail stated after he had voted, he received a call from an unknown caller who said they knew the voter was registered out of state and would be arrested if they voted today. The viewer's e-mail stated he's been registered to vote in Virginia for the last three years and has the Virginia Voter Registration card to prove it.”

There is, of course, a lot more to this story that the Mainstream Media are not reporting. Josh Marshall has an excellent summary of what is really going on here:

There are two basic issues about the calls. And to understand what the fuss is about, you need to understand the two together.

First, the calls themselves.

Most of the call's script is a fairly standard attack robocall, a series of Republican talking points aimed at the Democratic congressional in a particular district. Nothing particularly noteworthy. The key is the introduction. The lead into the call starts with the speaker saying 'I'm calling with information about' Dem candidate X. Then there's a short pause.

At this point, you know it's an annoying robocall, so a lot of people just hang up. If you hang up then, you think it's a call from the Democratic candidate.

Second, the repetition. And this part is the key. If you don't listen through the whole message, the machine keeps calling you back, often well in excess of half a dozen times with the same call. It only stops if you listen all the way through.

As you can imagine, that's driving a lot of people through the roof.

In other words, the Republicans behind the calls win either way. If you keep hanging up, you think you're being harassed by the campaign of the local Democratic House candidate. If you give up and listen all the way through, you hear the political attack. The true source of the call, the NRCC, the GOP House campaign committee, is only revealed at the end of the call.

(Federal regulations dictate calls be identified at the top of the call.)

Third, and for this there is as yet only anecdotal evidence, many of the calls seem to be going out overnight or during, say, a major sporting event in the given district.

One final note: JB -- I owe you five bucks. BushCo did not attack Iran during the run-up to the Mid-Term Elections as I predicted they would.

Karl Rove Is The Anti-Crist

From ABC News:

The television travel pool producer says they shot Karl Rove on camera reacting to Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist bailing on the Bush appearance in Pensacola today so that he can campaign in other parts of the state.

Asked what the Crist cancellation meant for Bush, Rove said "Let's see how many people show up in Palm Beach on 24 hours notice versus 8 or 9,000 people in Pensacola." Rove also said to ask Crist's people why they cancelled. The pool producer noted that Rove was "a little uppity" in his response.

After saying this, Rove tried to say it was off the record but the pool producer pointed out to him that the camera was rolling (and had been as he spoke earlier about GOP polling) and there were recorders in his face.

President and Mrs. Bush have are scheduled to appear at a campaign rally in Pensacola, on Monday afternoon for the entire Florida GOP ticket. During a briefing of White House reporters last week, a senior administration official said that one of the reasons the President was traveling to Florida today was to campaign for Charlie Crist.

The fact that Jeb Bush is currently the governor of Florida makes this whole episode even more hilarious.

A Sign Of The Times

Some interesting news from Florida (from Fox):

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist decided Sunday to skip an appearance with President Bush in favor of crisscrossing the state in the final hours before Election Day .

Crist, the state attorney general, is in a close race with Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Davis to replace the president's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush , who can't seek re-election because of term limits.

Crist's chief of staff, George LeMieux, said that the decision to skip the Monday rally with Bush in Pensacola wasn't a snub of the president, but a choice to appear in seven other cities where Crist has a chance of gaining ground.

Crist, you might remember, was the guy who claimed he spoke up against government intervention in the Terri Schiavo situation when he actually did not (at least not in public). So I can understand why he wants to avoid Bush like the plague -- Crist has enough problems already.

One would think that Bush, once he heard that he was being snubbed by Crist, would find some other state to visit, but very few GOP candidates seem to want him around.

Our president is one strange dude -- he stays on vacation when he is truly needed (like after being warned in August 2001 that bin Laden is determined to strike inside the U.S. or during the Katrina Catastrophe), but doesn't go on vacation when he probably should be staying as far away from a situation as possible. He certainly doesn't seem to be very popular with the voters right now, if the new CNN poll is any indication (from Political Wire):

President Bush's approval rating dipped to 35% in the final CNN poll before the midterm elections. A stunning 41% of likely voters say their disapproval of his performance will affect their vote in Tuesday's elections for control of Congress.

In the generic congressional race, the poll gives Democrats a 20 point lead, 58% to 38%.

This election season is definitely a strange one. Usually, I can't stand to watch Bush talk on TV, but now I love seeing him get lots of screen time and it's the Republican candidates who would love to see him go away.

She's Kidding, Right?

This is laughable (from ABC News via Josh Marshall):

"It's been difficult to govern, really, since 2000," says ABC News' Cokie Roberts, a long-time observer of Congress. "The country has been split down the middle and the Congress has been split down the middle. There's no reason to believe that that will really change after Tuesday unless there's a huge Democratic wave."

Cokie must not have been doing much "Congressional observing" lately.

Cheney Is Clearly Losing It

How do I know this? Because in his interview with George Stephanopoulos this morning, Dick Cheney was asked what he thought the insurgents were trying to get American voters to do, and this was how the Vice President responded:

"I think when they see something happen such as happened in Connecticut this year when the Democratic Party in effect purged Joe Lieberman primarily over his support for the president and the war, that says to them that their strategy is working."

Did you catch it? Cheney actually used the term "Democratic Party" instead of the BushCo-approved "Democrat Party." It was a stunning error which must have pissed off the folks at FoxNews to no end.

All of Cheney's lying must finally be getting to him.

Haggard's Penchant For Gay Sodomy Blamed On Haggard's Wife! (Plus -- Libby Dole Really Is An Asshole)

Warning: This post addresses GOP sexual problems so you might want to get the kids out of the room before you read it.

Here is what Evangelical Pastor Mark Driscoll of Seattle has to say about Pastor Haggard's Gay Sex Scandal (via Huffington Post):

"Most pastors I know do not have satisfying, free, sexual conversations and liberties with their wives. At the risk of being even more widely despised than I currently am, I will lean over the plate and take one for the team on this. It is not uncommon to meet pastors' wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness. A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband's sin, but she may not be helping him either."

God, I sure do miss the good old days when male right-wing religious leaders who weren't getting enough at home would simply go out and engage in sexual relations with female prostitutes.

Meanwhile, first-class asshole Libby Dole was on Tim Russert's show this morning and she had this to say:

"It's almost as if the Democrats are content with losing because to pull out -- to withdraw from this war -- is losing."

When the two "outraged" Democrats on the show wanted to respond to that comment, Dole wouldn't let them talk and just continued to spew raw sewage for a couple minutes and neither of the Democrats were actually able to give much of a response to Dole.

Here's how I would have responded if (1) I was still a Democrat, and (2) I had been on Russert's program:

"Mrs. Dole -- if I was really content with losing in Iraq, then I'd be voting for the Republicans this year, because you Republicans are the ones who lost this war. It was a bad idea from the start to invade Iraq, and the GOP compounded their initial screw-up through years of mismanagement and just plain idiocy.

So don't lecture me on how I want to lose in Iraq, Mrs. Dole. I could go out and get a frontal lobotomy and still do a better job managing this war than you folks did. In fact, your party and our Deserter-In-Chief were so profoundly incompetent with regard to this war that your failures in Iraq almost amount to treason."

Unfortunately, the Democrats are, for the most part, reluctant to aggressively respond to the GOP slime machine, and that is why I refuse to jump on the bandwagon and predict the Democrats will seize control of the House this Tuesday. I just don't think the Democrats have what it takes to win, even though they couldn't have asked for a better political climate.

And, while I am on the subject, Bill Maher gave some great advice to the Democrats on how to deal with the GOP Slime Machine:

When [the Republicans] say the terrorists want the Democrats to win, you say: "Are you insane? George Bush has been a terrorist's wet dream. He inflames radical hatred against America and then runs on offering to protect us from it. It's like a guy throwing shit on you and then selling you relief from the flies."

Right on, Bill.

And by the way, this is how you deal with extreme right-wing talking heads -- you respond to their talking points and then viciously counter-attack. Watch it and learn.

Alleged GOP Sodomite Offers Up Clinton Defense

I'm home for lunch watching CNN and I about choked on my food when I heard excerpts from an interview with Ted Haggard, the disgraced evangelical pastor and, as of yesterday, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

Haggard basically said that he hooked up with the alleged gay male prostitute for a "massage" (hint hint - nudge nudge - say no more), and that although he did purchase Meth from this guy, he didn't actually take it and instead "threw it away."

Haggard did say one thing that I thought was credible -- he said he gave up his senior pastor role and resigned from the NAE because "both of those roles are based on trust, and right now my trust is questionable."

You think?

By the way, here is a transcript of one of the voice messages that the gay male prostitute claims was left by Haggard, who called himself Art in the message (Haggard's middle name is Arthur):

"Hi Mike, this is Art. Hey, I was just calling to see if we could get any more. Either $100 or $200 supply. And I could pick it up really anytime I could get it tomorrow or we could wait till next week sometime and so I also wanted to get your address. I could send you some money for inventory but that's probably not working, so if you have it then go ahead and get what you can and I may buzz up there later today, but I doubt your schedule would allow that unless you have some in the house. Okay, I'll check in with you later. Thanks a lot, bye."

(Emphasis added). Although that sure appears to be a drug call to me, I must admit that I don't have a lot of experience in that sort of thing. In fact, the only illegal drug I've ever tried was marijuana -- I tried it only once, and I swear to God I never exhaled.

Libby Won't Be Able To Use Memory Expert

This is probably all meaningless anyway, given that Bush will undoubtedly pardon Scooter, but it is interesting:

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will not be allowed to use a memory expert at his perjury and obstruction trial, a federal judge ruled Thursday, blocking a key tactic in Libby's defense strategy.

Libby, who is accused of lying to investigators in the CIA leak case, wanted an expert to testify that memory is unreliable, especially during times of stress. Libby says he had national security issues on his mind and any misstatements he made about the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's name were mistakes, not lies.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said allowing a memory expert would be a waste of time and would only confuse the jury. Walton said jurors, like everyone else, understand that memory sometimes falters and can judge for themselves whether witnesses are reliable.

The issue provided the case's first courtroom drama last week when Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent hours questioning the research of memory expert Elizabeth Loftus. Fitzgerald picked apart the psychologist's testimony until she acknowledged errors and misstatements in her findings.

Bush: I Screwed Things Up So Badly That You Have To Vote Republican

Bush and Cheney said this the other day:

"However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses," Bush told a raucous crowd of about 5,000 GOP partisans packed in an arena at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, one of his stops Monday. "That's what's at stake in this election. The Democrat goal is to get out of Iraq. The Republican goal is to win in Iraq." ***

Cheney, meanwhile, said in an interview with Fox News that he thinks insurgents in Iraq are timing their attacks to influence the U.S. elections.

"It's my belief that they're very sensitive of the fact that we've got an election scheduled," he said. Cheney said the insurgents believe "they can break the will of the American people," and "that's what they're trying to do."

So, according to BushCo, if you vote for the Democrats next week, you vote for the terrorists. I think this response to that particular line of bullshit is right on the money (via TMP Cafe):

"After botching the Iraq War about as thoroughly as possible, and refusing to admit errors, change strategies or hold anyone responsible for their incompetence, the Bush administration is now arguing that the American people don't have the right to hold them responsible, either, since a Democratic victory would cheer terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere. In effect, Bush and Cheney are trying to hold America hostage to their own mistakes.

"This breathtaking line of 'reasoning' is all the more deplorable because it expresses a sense of complete U.S. helplessness in the struggle against jihadist terrorists. We can't change direction because that would be a victory for our enemies. So they effectively control us. Given the administration's obsession with denying there are any practical restraints on U.S. freedom of action in Iraq or anywhere else, that's an especially ironic point of view."

Think about it -- Bush's basic position during the run-up to the mid-term elections is that he's screwed things up so badly that a political course change would mean the terrorist control the U.S. electoral process.

Heckuva job, Georgie.

And by the way, I watched the HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy" last night. They should have aired it on Halloween, because it was pretty scary stuff.

If it wasn't for electronic voting, I'd be pretty confident that the Dems would at least take control of the House in the upcoming election. But after watching the documentary, I'm pretty sure that won't happen. My only hope now is that the vote tampering will be so obvious that public outcry will force a real investigation, but I doubt that will happen.

Your Tax Dollars At Work, Part XXIV (With Update)

I'm sure BushCo will find some way to blame John Kerry for this monumental screw-up:

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”

Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures.

Feel safer now?

UPDATE: What's the GOP response to all this? Well, blame the liberal press, of course (bet you didn't see that one coming).

The Times They Are A-Changin'

From Media Life:

Fox News’s total audience fell 24 percent in the past year, to 1.3 million viewers from 1.7 million, and its key primetime audience, viewers ages 25-54, was down 7 percent in October on a year-to-year basis, to an average 363,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann's numbers continue to rise.

Oregonian Poll: Kulongoski Leads Saxton By Seven Points

Here is some good news:

Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who appears to be benefitting from an angry voter mood toward President Bush and the Republican Party, now holds a lead of seven percentage points over GOP challenger Ron Saxton, according to a new poll conducted for The Oregonian and KATU.

The new survey shows that Kulongoski, who leads 46 percent to 39 percent over Saxton, is now well positioned to win re-election on Tuesday barring any major new developments or shifts in voter turnout.

Independent pollster Tim Hibbitts, who conducted the Oct. 28-31 survey of 600 likely voters, said he thinks the Democratic surge in races around the country has spilled over into Oregon as well.

"This is going to be a Democratic year," he said. "Saxton has basically run against a headwind that is not helping him."

Meanwhile, three of the most contentious measures on the ballot appear headed for defeat, suggesting a reluctance by voters to make big political, social or fiscal changes in Oregon.

The poll showed voters rejecting proposals to limit state spending, set term limits on lawmakers and require parental notification before a minor could get an abortion.

"We may have an electorate this year that just says 'no,' " said Hibbitts, "The 'no' side clearly has the momentum."

Response To A Reader

Yesterday, I did something I've never done in this blog -- I extended a compliment to Dick Cheney. I enjoyed his comment with regard to John Kerry (Cheney said that Kerry "was for the joke before he was against it."). I thought that was pretty funny, and said with regard to Cheney that "I hate the sonofabitch, but I'll give credit where credit is due."

A reader named "Bob" posted this comment in response:

Harold said:

"I hate the sonofabitch"
Your hatred is very apparent in most of your posts. It goes equal with your one sided thoughts.

Sure, it might have been a slip up on Kerry's part but his so called apology showed no remorse. If Bush would have been the one with the "misquote", you would be all over him calling him a idiot. So, why wouldnt you feel the same of JFK?

My hatred is apparent in most of my posts? Then I'm not trying hard enough. Folks like Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh, and O'Reilly are much better at this hate thing than I am, so please excuse me, Bob, if I don't rise to the level that you are used to. [And, by the way, Kerry did show remorse. Stop getting your news from Fox].

With regard to Cheney, I think that draft dodger is one of the most despicable political figures alive today, and I do hate him. I freely admit it. What's to like?

And I have no doubt that the Idiot Bush will be viewed as the worst two-term president in American history and probably the worst one ever. That's pretty sad when you consider that 9-11 gave him the opportunity to be remembered as a great president. He had my support in the autumn of 2001 -- as well as the support of a lot of other non-Republicans -- and he pissed it all away.

And don't get me started on John Kerry. I've called him a political coward in this blog, and I stand by those words. As I noted in another post, I really do hope this fake scandal finishes him as a presidential contender. If it does, then we can thank you and the rest of the extreme right for spinning his statement like you did and convincing the Corporate Media to run with it. You guys finally did something right. Congratufuckinglations.

And you bring up a great point that "[i]f Bush would have been the one with the 'misquote', you would be all over him calling him a idiot." Well, you're absolutely right about that -- although I have more problems with the statements he doesn't mangle (like "bring it on"). But I'll tell you who wouldn't be all over it, and that's the Corporate Media. In fact, just yesterday, John Boehner, the House Majority Leader, blamed the troops for BushCo's catastrophe in Iraq, yet he gets a pass from the Corporate Media while Kerry gets crucified for screwing up a joke about how much of an idiot Bush is.

Of course, the real joke is when you guys refer to these folks as the "liberal media" or otherwise infer that the media are somehow opposed to the Republican Party. Drug addict Rush Limbaugh, when interviewing Bush yesterday, asked this question:

Well, you have maintained optimism throughout. Many people, I guess -- in the opposition press, the opposition party -- are incredulous that you are optimistic about the outcome next Tuesday. Why is that? Why are you optimistic? What do you know that they don't?

The opposition press? Geesus, I wish this opposition press was around three-and-a-half years ago when Bush was lying his way into Iraq.

Anyway, that's the last time I give Dick Cheney a compliment.

At Least The Terri Schiavo Debacle Is Being Raised In One Campaign

Last year, Howard Dean promised that Terri Schiavo would be an issue in the run-up to the 2006 Mid-Term elections. And why not -- I personally know several conservatives who were outraged by how the GOP involved itself in that private matter merely to satisfy the Extreme Christian Right, so one would think that this issue would be getting a lot of play this year. But it isn't.

Well, that's not entirely true -- it is getting a lot of play in Florida:

Knocked off his stride by a free-wheeling, three-way debate Monday, Republican nominee for governor Charlie Crist remained on the defensive Tuesday as he explained a claim that he had opposed government intervention in the Terri Schiavo case.

Asked point blank by debate moderator Chris Matthews, "Did you speak up at the time against the congressional action," Crist replied: "Yes, I did."

"It made my jaw drop," Michael Schiavo said from his Clearwater home Tuesday. "The man lied through his teeth."

Schiavo fought both the state and federal governments to let him take his wife off life support after she had spent 15 years in a vegetative state. "The man ran from this like the plague. And now he's going to say he spoke up? He did not. He didn't say a word."

On Tuesday, after a Cabinet meeting in Tallahassee, Crist said "there are varying degrees" of speaking up. He said he spoke up in private conversations with his colleagues in the attorney general's office and with friends that government should stay out of the dispute between Terri Schiavo's husband and her family.

I'm no expert as to what "speaking up" means in the political world, but something tells me that Crist's explanation just ain't gonna fly.

The Two Best Quotes To Come Out Of The Fake Kerry Controversy

"How great is it that the half-wits who dragged this country into Iraq are oblivious to the joke about them being half-wits?"

- From "Captain Irony" in a comment at the Hoffmania site.

* * *

"He was for the joke before he was against it."

- From Dick Cheney (I hate the sonofabitch, but I'll give credit where credit is due).

Thank You, GOP

I think the recent Kerry flap will ultimately be a good thing for the Democrats for two reasons:

1. It will help keep the focus on Bush: Our Deserter-In-Chief got plenty of air time yesterday feigning indignation over Kerry's failed joke by trying to argue that Kerry was actually insulting the troops. That's fine with me, because the more people see Bush on TV during the run-up to the mid-terms, the more they'll remember how much of an idiot he is and how much of a disaster he caused in Iraq. This excerpt from a Washington Post article sums up the problem:

One GOP strategist, speaking candidly about the president on the condition of anonymity, offered this assessment: "I'd say he's at least 50 percent of the problem." In strongly Republican areas, he said, the president can still rally the party's base, but in more marginal districts, Bush is a drag on GOP candidates. "He's the problem," the strategist said. "He should stay away."

He definitely should stay away, but he won't be able to if Rove feels that continuing to attack John Kerry is the right strategy during the last few days of the campaign. Frankly, I'm not seeing exactly how Rove can get any more mileage out of Kerry's statement, but I hope he continues to try.

2. It Might Prevent Kerry From Running For President In 2008: Although I really doubt this Kerry thing will affect the Mid-Term elections, I'm hoping that it affects Kerry's ability to run for president in 2008. He's made some noise that he might want to run again, and that's the last thing the Democrats need. In fact, no Democrat who voted for the Iraq War should run for president in 2008. The Iraq Debacle will not go away as a campaign issue -- it will still be in play in 2008 -- so the Democrats have to run a candidate who opposed the Iraq War or who at least wasn't in the position to vote for it.

The GOP knows that the last thing they need is to have to run against a Democrat in 2008 who opposed the Iraq War. That's why Rupert Murdock is openly supporting Hillary Clinton -- she voted for the war, so he thinks the GOP can beat her. He's probably right.

Have George Allen's Reelection Chances Turned To [Ma]Caca?

From TPM Cafe:

With four new polls in two days showing Dem Jim Webb edging into a lead over GOP Senator George Allen, Webb has just launched a new ad which doesn't mention Allen and looks as if it contains Webb's closing argument: "As a Marine I fought a lot of battles for this country. But the battle we're in right now is the most important of my life. Those in power haven't served us...If you're ready for change, I'd be honored to have your vote."

Last week, I thought that Allen had it in the bag, but things are apparently going so well for Webb right now that he is actually running a positive ad. This is what pollster John Zogby told Political Wire:

Political Wire asked pollster John Zogby which races he thought would serve as "bellwethers" for Election Night.

In the Senate, it all boils down to Missouri, Tennessee, and New Jersey. I do think Virginia goes to the Democrats.

In the House, if the Democrats win NY-26, IL-6, and CT-2, then it is curtains for the Republicans.

I'm still stunned that Allen, who was considered a shoe-in just a few weeks ago, is now behind in the polls.