The Revolution Starts Now...

As a kid growing up in Texas, i hated just about anything even remotely related to country music. anything that was associated with those fucking rednecks i hated, i wanted nothing to do with. Bruce Springsteen was as country as it got for me.

Then, during my freshman year of college, i started reading about two great young upstarts in the country scene - Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle. While Dwight would eventually take me to the traditional side of country and the entire Bakersfield scene, it was Steve who helped me see the more rockin' side of country.

And now, 17 years after i first heard a couple of his records, I finally saw live, and it was everything i could have hoped for. It was an amazing, exciting, wonderful, and very relevant concert.

Steve Earle is one of the more vibrant, politically active artists today. His work against the death penalty over the past decade has been tireless, but, as he admitted tonight at the show, it's taken a backseat to his efforts to stop the war in Iraq.

Met with thunderous applause when he announced that he was determined to stop the war, it made my heart smile when the audience cheered long and loud.

The 17 years i waited i think was just the way it was meant to be - if i'd seen him 10 years ago, it might have been just another concert i saw and cataloged in my mind, only to come up in random conversation.

But his political activism against the war, speaking out against GW Bush, and just his general rabble-rousing in the face of our Right Wing Religi-Con Fascist government, made this the perfect time to see him, today, four days before the biggest and most important election of my lifetime.

Thank you, Steve Earle. Thank you for reminding me that good music and politics do mix, and that there are musicians who still believe they can make a difference with their words.

For you Steve, we'll help bring Woody Guthrie back, and we'll change the world in just a few short days by electing a new president.

The Final Countdown...

a few days before the election, and my confidence is at an all time high. all the things that should have been happening over the past several months to show the failures of the Bush regime, are instead happening over the course of about two weeks - new stuff from the still-not-dead Osama Bin Laden, more investigations into improprieties with Cheney's Halliburton, the sheer absurdity of Dick Cheney calling the war in Iraq "brilliant," and well, the list goes on and on.

as for me, I still maintain that Kerry will win with between 279 and 297 electoral votes, and i think this election won't be as close as some people believe. we'll see how that bears out when every vote is counted - granted, all this depends on less chicanary from the Republicans than we saw in 2000, so, well, i guess we'll see.

as for this blog - not sure what's gonna happen with it once the election is over. i talk politics at lot more than i write it - with friends, co-workers, and fellow commuters during my 1.5 hour journey every morning on the train. if i talked less about it, i'd probably have more to say here. lol

other people with other blogs simply do politics in the blogosphere better than i do. i think i have the insane rant thing down pretty good, but for news, that's not my thing. i prefer the commentary aspect of it.

still, i can't imagine not having things to say, so i'm fairly certain i'll update this with at least some regularity. don't abandon me yet! :o)

Here We Go Again...

so, a couple weeks ago, in Las Vegas, an employee of a private voter registration firm alleges that his bosses trashed registration forms filled out by Democratic voters because they only wanted to sign up Republican voters.

unfortunately, that appeared to be the tip of the ice berg, as fraud allegations favoring George Bush and the Republicans are starting to creep up everywhere. Just today, an ostensibly nonpartisan voter registration drive in Western Pennsylvania has triggered accusations that workers were cheated out of wages and given instructions to avoid adding anyone to the voter rolls who might support the Democratic presidential nominee.

If they were a Kerry voter, we were just supposed to walk away," said Michael Twilla, of Meadville, who said he has been paid for only eight of 72 hours he worked.

Twilla provided the Post-Gazette with a copy of the script he said he had been given.

It instructs the canvassers to hand unregistered Bush supporters a clipboard with a registration form, and to advise them the canvassers will personally deliver the forms to the local courthouse.

A lower portion of the form also advises the canvassers to ask undecided voters two questions: "Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro life?" and "Are you worried about the Democrats raising taxes?" If voters say they are pro-life, the form says, "Ask if they are registered to vote. If they are pro-choice, say thank you and walk away."

These bastards will stop at nothing. there is nothing too low for them.

Running scared...

Well, it seems Sinclair is caving.

realizing that their foolhardy airing of the biased John Kerry movie was costing them not only sponsors, but also investors, Sinclair Broadcasting has decided to tone things down, and apparently will not be showing the film "Stolen Honor" in its entirety.
instead Sinclair will be airing some sort of political special called "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," which will no doubt include clips of the film, and surely some biased rant about the "liberal media", etc etc etc.

it's amazing what some pressure on advertisers, combined with the concerns of nervous investors losing money, can accomplish.

and for those who claim that the movie was to be unbiased, you really don't have to go any further than the film's home page, where a poll asking "What is your opinion of Sinclair Broadcasting's intent to air Stolen Honor on all 62 of their television stations, during prime time, October 21 –24?" offers the following four options:

* The DNC is worried the truth unearthed in Stolen Honor will negatively impact Kerry’s presidential race.
* After the CBS scandal, partisans on both sides of the political spectrum should applaud truthful journalism.
* Forces are at work to keep the public from seeing this moving and powerful account of Kerry’s betrayal.
* Sinclair Broadcasting should air Stolen Honor as intended.

yea, that's unbiased...

Reap What You Sow...

It's good to see the fuckers get what they deserve, and the way Sinclair has leaped into the shithole, it's no surprise they're swimming amidst a whole mess of turds.

Sinclair Broadcasting Shareholders Demand Officers Return Profits From Insider Trading; Conf. Call Today 1 PM ET

Officers Who Ordered Stations to Show Anti-Kerry Film Also Sold Stocks at High Mark, then Drove Values Down

Famed shareholder attorney William S. Lerach will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. today to discuss insider self-dealing by officers of Sinclair Broadcasting, the Baltimore-based television chain that is forcing its affiliates to show a propaganda film that attacks presidential candidate John Kerry. He will release a set of demands aimed at making Sinclair executives disgorge millions of dollars in unjustified profits taken out of the firm when stock prices were high during the past 12 months. Yesterday the company's stock fell a further 8 percent after being down more than 50 percent from the year's beginning, as advertisers pulled back to avoid the station's self-generated political controversy.

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(WASHINGTON, DC, October 19, 2004) - Media Matters for America Underwrites Sinclair Broadcast Group Shareholder Demand

First Step Toward Legal Action Against Sinclair Calling for Immediate Access to Equal Airtime To Balance Partisan Attack Film Stolen Honor

(WASHINGTON, DC, October 19, 2004) - Media Matters for America (MMFA) announced today that it is underwriting the costs of a shareholder action, demanding that Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., provide equal time to those "with views opposed to the allegations" in the anti-Kerry film Stolen Honor, which Sinclair plans to air between October 21-24, in prime time, on all 62 of its stations reaching up to 25 percent of U.S. TV households

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Anti-Kerry Film Producer Accused of Libel

PHILADELPHIA - A Vietnam veteran shown in a documentary criticizing Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s anti-war activities filed a libel lawsuit against the movie's producer Monday, saying the film falsely calls him a fraud and a liar.

Kenneth J. Campbell, now a professor at the University of Delaware, said in the suit that "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" combines footage of him appearing at a 1971 war protest with narration that claims that many of the supposed veterans who took part in the event were later "discovered as frauds" who "never set foot on the battlefield, or left the comfort of the States, or even served in uniform."

The suit said viewers would be left with the perception that Campbell had lied about his military service.

"It paints me as having been a fabricator, a fraud and a liar," Campbell said.

Campbell attached copies of his military records to the lawsuit, showing he received a Purple Heart and eight other medals, ribbons and decorations for his service in Vietnam

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Sinclair Fires Washington Bureau Chief -

BALTIMORE - The Washington bureau chief for Sinclair Broadcast Group said he was fired Monday after he criticized the company's plans to produce a news program based on a documentary critical of John Kerry (news - web sites)'s Vietnam-era anti-war activities. Jon Leiberman said he was fired by Joseph DeFeo, Sinclair's vice president for news, and "escorted out of the building."

"I was told I violated company policy by divulging information from a staff meeting to The (Baltimore) Sun in this morning's edition," Leiberman said late Monday.

That staff meeting took place Sunday at Sinclair's headquarters in Hunt Valley, Leiberman said. It was announced that the news division would produce an hourlong special based on the documentary "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," he said.

The documentary features former prisoners of war accusing Kerry, a decorated veteran who took up the anti-war cause upon returning from Vietnam, of prolonging the war and worsening their plight.

Earlier this month, Sinclair ordered its 62 TV stations across the country to pre-empt regular programming to air the documentary.

"They're using the news to drive their political agenda," Leiberman said. "I don't think it served the public trust."

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and of course, the truth behind why Sinclair really wants Bush to win in November...

Jadoo Awarded Military Development Contract by US Special Operations Command

Jadoo Power Systems, Inc (Jadoo),
a leading provider of portable power products, was awarded a contract to
develop power systems for the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The
program's goal is to reduce the weight of energy storage carried in the field
by the Special Forces...

About Jadoo Power Systems:
Jadoo Power Systems, Inc. is a market-focused company that develops and
sells next-generation, portable energy storage and power generation products.
Jadoo's investors include Sinclair Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. as well as other individuals

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Nice. all of that is typical from the Right Wing fuckers who will lie, cheat, steal, and squash your rights in an effort to win.

I realize John Kerry is no great shakes. but he's a helluva lot better than anything GW Bush and his people can offer us.

Fight the Power...

By now, you've probably heard about the whole dust-up regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group and the fact they will be attempting to air an anti-Kerry "documentary" in the days before the election.

if you haven't check out Joshua Michah Marshall's Talking Points Memo, as he has covered it extensively - if you go to this link you'll have to work your way from the most current news to the very beginning, and if you go to this one, you'll have to work your up from the beginning, to the current. it's up to you. :o)

in a nutshell, SBG has ordered all 62 of its affliates to air the show.

well fuck SBG, and fuck those affliates. and now, fuck their advertisers. Go here for a list of SBG advertisers and let them know you won't be doing business with them, and go here for a noble soul is helping to spearhead the boycott.

and the boycott *is* working. if you go to the Boycott Sinclair Broadcast Group site, you'll see correspondence from numerous local advertisers who have pulled their advertising, and more important, their dollars.

The People have the Power folks!

Think It Over...

added two more links over in that section...want to figure a way to make my weather pixie random, instead of remaining as the same one. i have a random one at my work desktop...hmmm...

going to dayton and chicago this weekend for wrestling. i've been to a ton of shows over the past few months, but seemed to lose interest in writing about them. maybe because this one is much more of a journey, i'll write it up. maybe i've just lost interest in writing. i don't know. it comes and goes for me. i LOVE writing. with a passion. but sometimes, i guess i just can't be bothered. i dunno...

and what's going on in this world. i just don't get how otherwise intelligent people can support GW Bush. he's clearly lied on many an issue and his deceptions have cost lives. lots of them.

he's very obviously into supporting the wealthy and casting aside the poor, and he'd rather strip your freedoms away and keep you afraid then allow free reign and make you safer.

i don't get it. how are people so fucking dumb?

Words...

Wow.

if the debates were a four-round prize fight, the Republicans would be against the ropes, struggling to survive, midway through.

Kerry crushed Bush in the opening round, beating him with facts and truths, while solidifying his own policies to the American people.

in the second round, and the only VP debate, Edwards used his trial lawyer skills and showed why he was just that damned good at it. While Cheney often mumbled and sometimes couldn't even come up with a 30-second rebuttal, Edwards drove the points of the Democratic candidates home, explaining what they want to do and how they're going to do it, while at the same time pointing out how the Bush administration has failed the American people.

When Edwards pulled out that haliburton comment, my brain pictured him driving a sword through Cheney's chest, then pulling it out and lopping off his head. Cheney simply didn't have a prayer.

i'm feeling better and better about this election all the time. well, until the October surprise happens.