Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 12 October 2006 11:55:51 PM. © Crooks and Liars

It's official: Christian Right Leader Calls for Gay GOP Purge

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/12/open-thread-278/

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Cranley Stands Up for Property Tax Rollbacks

post from Take Back Cincinnati on 12 October 2006 11:46:00 PM. © Take Back Cincinnati

Despite pressure from City Manager Milton Dohoney, John Cranley is holding the line to fight for the property tax rollbacks Cincinnati residents were promised earlier this year. From the Cincinnati Enquirer:-snip-Council member John Cranley, chairman of the Finance Committee which will take up the issue Monday, said he will not vote to eliminate the [...]

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http://www.takebackcincinnati.com/?p=174

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Late Nite FDL: The Firedoglake Design Awards 2006

post from Firedoglake on 12 October 2006 11:13:26 PM. © Firedoglake

(Ned the Fighting Koi hits the road, as rendered by Monk) We've had some great submissions to the TRex Virtual USO Tour 2006 art contest! I will be posting the winners tonight and as a group, we will choose which design will go on to adorn[...]

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http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/10/12/late-nite-fdl-the-firedoglake-design-awards
-2006/

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C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Ringo Starr

post from Crooks and Liars on 12 October 2006 11:02:24 PM. © Crooks and Liars

I've known Richard for a bunch of years and recorded for him before I got injured. He is exactly the same in person as he is on Letterman, (fixed) A quick wit that always puts a smile on your face. Mark Hudson, another very funny and charismatic personality introduced us and I've always been grateful to [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/10/12/cls-late-nite-music-club-with-ringo-star
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Open thread

post from AMERICAblog on 12 October 2006 11:00:00 PM. © AMERICAblog

Is it just me, or has Google News become useless? Their definition of "news sites" seems to include an ever increasing number of simply bizarre Web sites that aren't even the top in their category of site. Meaning, they've tried to include blogs, but only some blogs, and many of the ones they have you'll never have heard of, and many of the ones you have heard of are just plain bad. When I'm doing a news search, I want news site - not blogs, not left-wing conspiracy sites, or right-wing religious nutjobs. News. If they want a blog search enging, that's fine too. But the current state of affairs has taken a great news search engine and turned it into a bunch of noise.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/36615379/open-thread_12.html

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GTL’s NFL Picks - Week 6

post from Gun Toting Liberal on 12 October 2006 11:00:00 PM. © Gun Toting Liberal

GTL’s record, year to date: 53-21Last week: 13-1As with last week, this week will mark yet another woeful day for the road teams with only four of them delivering anything but darkness back to their hometown fans. Only the good folks of Cincinnatti, Kansas City, San Diego, and Chicago will have any reason to [...]

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http://guntotingliberal.com/archives/116

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Wow

post from LamontBlog: Ned Lamont (D) for CT on 12 October 2006 10:57:00 PM. © LamontBlog: Ned Lamont (D) for CT

(Update: Forward this article to your friends and family here.)

I just got around to reading the Journal-Inquirer's editorial today:

...It is important for Democratic voters to know where Good Old Joe really stands this year and who his friends are...

At the Monday luncheon he:

- Said House Speaker Dennis Hastert should not resign.

- Introduced two Republican candidates for state office - for comptroller and state treasurer. He didn't introduce any Democrats, who have previously been told not to campaign at these luncheons.

- Thanked his Republican "friends" for their support, and he said he would never forget them.

Last week Lieberman told a Washington, D.C., newspaper that:

- He would also never forget the Democrats, like Chris Dodd, who moved to support Ned Lamont after he won the Democratic Senate nomination.

- If re-elected, Lieberman expects to retain his seniority. Otherwise, he said, he would have to consider not caucusing with the Democrats.

Well, there is only one other group to caucus with - the Senate Republicans.

Connecticut Republicans know what's going on in this election. Their nominal candidate, Alan Schlesinger, has between 3 and 5 percent in the polls. The Republican national chairman has declined to endorse him and Gov. Jodi Rell said he should withdraw from the contest. Republicans know that Joe is their horse in this race.

Democrats who think Lieberman is still one of them need to wake up and smell the coffee.

And voters of all stripes who think Lieberman isn't running one of the most expensive, personal-attack-filled campaigns in Connecticut history need to do likewise:

Once upon a time there was a primary. And in that primary, we ran a campaign that focused almost exclusively on the issues. We talked about Senator Lieberman ? often. Of course we did, but we kept it to the issues: Iraq, his support for a deeply flawed president, and votes he cast in the Senate, like his vote for the Bush/Cheney energy policy. In a limited amount of time, we introduced a candidate who would stand up to President Bush on Iraq, would work for universal health care in ways Senator Lieberman never has, and wanted to do something about the earmark process in Washington, D.C.

Senator Lieberman, by contrast, went digging through Ned?s bank account, decided the urban vote was the make-or-break and played the race card excessively (including getting surrogates to lie from the pulpits of churches), talked about Ned?s stock, faked a website hack and smeared us with it, wouldn?t shut-up about tax returns, sent paid thugs to campaign activities, equated support for our campaign with emboldening al-Qaeda, leaked charges of anti-semitism to reporters and much much more.

Read The Full Article:
http://lamontblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/wow.html

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Fresh Thread

post from Eschaton on 12 October 2006 10:09:00 PM. © Eschaton

Computer problems. Oy.

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http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_10_08_atrios_archive.html#116070563702952460

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TAKE ACTION: THROW A PARTY AT THE POLLS

A few days ago my friend Molly at Music For America gave me call to tell me about a new program they've worked out with Working Assets to help boost voters participation November 7. It looks like a great idea to me and I want to get it out there for anyone who thinks it might be useful locally and who wants to participate in the pilot program. According to a recent study, Election-Day parties can boost turnout by as much as 10% at a fraction of the cost-per-vote of more traditional get-out-the-vote methods.

Here's the general idea: You throw a party, open to everyone (yes, even Republicans) at a local polling place from 3-7pm on Election Day. Attendees are not required to vote or be registered to vote. Everything at the party is free. To be successful the party must be advertised and promoted-- residents in the precinct must be invited to attend; that means flyers, community announcements, automated phone calls and even radio and newspaper advertisements if that's feasible.

Music For America is suggesting hot food and drinks, musical entertainment, activities for kids (if appropriate), voter registration, an hourly raffle (to ensure we have a list of everyone attending as well as to make it more fun for everyone attending).

To help ensure success of the events as well as the integrity of the research, Working Assets will provide both material and organization resources to groups carrying out the parties. All participating groups will have a weekly check-in progress call with Nicole Batdorf of Working Assets and Elizabeth Addonizio of Yale.

In addition, Working Assets will provide the following resources to party organizers (some of these items may NOT be available for early pilot parties):

Letter from Yale academics explaining experiment-- to help explain concept to officials and get permission for location use
Templates for flyers
Press release template
Newspaper advertisement template
Scripts for robo calls
Budget tracking worksheet
Raffle prizes: ice cream coupons, iPod shuffle
Raffle tickets
Volunteers, recruited online & managed by you through VolunteerForChange.org

Because this is part of a serious study they need to guarantee the integrity of the research by a certain standardization. So, what's required of each party is that following:

Every party must be well advertised, including lawn signs and robo calls.
There must be music at every party.
There must be a raffle at every party.
There must be food at every party.
The duration of each party must be 4 hours.
Outdoor parties must have a tent or covering in case of bad weather.

So if you want to organize one of these, what's next? Glad you asked. You can e-mail Mark: mark@musicforamerica.org and he'll guide you through the process. And if you're a band, same thing: Mark's the man.

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2006/10/take-action-throw-party-at-polls.html

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"Victory" & "Defeat" In Iraq

MSNBC:

WASHINGTON - U.S. military casualties have surged in Iraq in recent weeks, with U.S. troops engaging in perilous urban sweeps to curb sectarian violence in Baghdad while facing unrelenting violence elsewhere.
At least 44 U.S. troops have been killed so far in October. At the current pace, the month would be the deadliest for U.S. forces since January 2005. After falling to 43 in July, the U.S. toll rose in August and September before spiking this month. The war's average monthly U.S. death toll is 64.
The number of U.S. troops wounded in combat also has surged, with September's total of more than 770 the highest since November 2004, when U.S. forces launched a ground offensive to clear insurgents from Fallujah.

President Bush mentioned several times yesterday that he "take[s] the words of the enemy very seriously, and so should the American people." But while the President likes to selectively quote al Qaeda missives that promise death and destruction, he neglects to mention these words of the enemy:

The most important thing is that you continue in your jihad in Iraq, and that you be patient and forbearing, even in weakness, and even with fewer operations; even if each day had half of the number of current daily operations, that is not a problem, or even less than that. So, do not be hasty. The most important thing is that the jihad continues with steadfastness and firm rooting, and that it grows in terms of supporters, strength, clarity of justification, and visible proof each day. Indeed, prolonging the war is in our interest, with God's permission.

"Staying the course" is exactly what the terrorists desire. Keeping the current level of troops there through 2010? 141,000 daily American targets? It's a terrorist's dream come true.

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