AL FRANKEN 'DISCUSSING' POLITICS WITH HIS BUDDY BILL O'REILLY

KERRY TO BUY CRAPLOAD OF CRAPPY ADS
Previewing its fall strategy, John Kerry’s presidential campaign will buy $45 million worth of commercial time in 20 states through Election Day, including spots on cable television and advertising geared toward minorities.

SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR KERRY CAMPAIGN DISCOMBOBULATION
Democratic leaders, increasingly concernedthat John Kerry's presidential campaign is adrift, are urging the presidential nominee to make changes in his staff before Labor Day, according to some party sources.

If not, said one party strategist, "it could be too late." Sources say major changes could come at the campaign's highest level.

The concern, according to these sources, is that Kerry has failed to effectively respond to attacks from Republicans and criticism of his military service in Vietnam, particular ads from a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

More...

MINNESOTA MAN CALLS MICHAEL MOORE A 'FAT BASTARD' AGAIN

DON'T BELIEVE THEM... CERTAINLY NOT DISENGENUOUS HEADLINE-MAKERS

"Giuliani blasts Kerry; McCain defends war"

- USATODAY.com

- PTDcomment > Even Democrats commented about Guiliani's "light-hearted approach" to pointing out Kerry's flaws... that wasn't blasting. We've seen blasting.

ALSO - What credibility does USATODAY have after hiring Michael Moore to "report" on the GOP's convention?

DELEGATES' ENCOUNTER WITH THE NEW YORK TIMES TURNS UGLY...

JOHN McCAIN PRAISES MICHAEL MOORE AT GOP CONVENTION, CALLS HIM "FILM MAKER"

BREAKING... NEW WEBSITE everyoneagainstkerry.com PROMISES NOT TO DISCRIMINATE

NICE SHORTS MR. TERESA HEINZ CHICKEN LEGS

ATTENTION: SWIFT BOAT VETS
POLLS LOOK GOOD... LOOKS LIKE A JOB WELL DONE... PERHAPS YOU CAN COUNSEL THIS GROUP ON THE EFFECTS OF LIBERAL DEMONIZATION... THEY'RE ABOUT TO ROLL OUT SOME ADS...

PLEASE PARTICIPATE: Day of Prayer: Jerusalem Project
The International Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem, instituted with the endorsement of hundreds of Christian leaders from around the world, representing tens of millions of Christians, will be held annually on the first Sunday of every October, until the coming of Messiah. Our call is for sustained, fervent, informed global intercession for the plans and purposes of God for Jerusalem and all her people. This global grassroots prayer initiative coincides with the season of Yom Kippur , and for the first time in Church history, makes an effort at linking the Christian liturgical calendar with the Biblical, Jewish calendar. More...

MICHAEL MOORE: "I'M A LOSER"
Moore details here...

"NOT EVEN A DISENGENUOUS FILMMAKER"... I HAVE MUCH MOORE RESPECT FOR McCAIN AFTER HIS CONVENTION SPEECH...

WFTV.com - News Of The Strange - Second Toy Found In Candy Appears To Depict Osama Bin Laden

HEY CRAZY AMERICANS...WE REMOVED THE PLANE...
In Miami, a wholesaler has announced that his company will recall 14,000 bags of candy. The bags contain a toy that looks like a plane flying into a building and, we found, a second toy that looks like Osama Bin Laden suspended between the two buildings.

UNFIT FOR KERRY

WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT? THEIR FATHER'S TOO CONSERVATIVE FOR THE MTV CROWD PERHAPS?

THE BOOS THAT ROCKED THE VOTE: KERRY DAUGHTERS RECEIVE RUDE AWAKENING AT MTV AWARDS

MTV, ROLLING STONE and the rock and roll establishment -- past and present -- have cast their vote, and their man is John Kerry.

So on Sunday night when John Kerry's daughters were announced to speak at the annual MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS, the MTV youth were expected to welcome his daughter's as pop culture princesses.

Instead, in an era of the unexpected, the daughters of the Democratic candidate were met with cheers -- AND JEERS -- during the live broadcast in Miami.

From the moment Alexandra and Vanessa started speaking, the boos outweighed anything close to cheers, and the reaction turned worse when the daughters asked the VIACOM youth to vote for their father. So shocked by the reaction, the taller of the two daughters tried to 'shhhhhh' her peers to no avail.

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH

HEY DAN,... SHOOTING RUMORS AROUND IS BULL
"This rumor has swirled around a bit from time to time throughout the year, the chatter being that Mr. Bush would prefer to run with Sen. John McCain – or maybe Rudy Giuliani – and will sooner or later find a way to do it.

No one can be found inside the Bush-Cheney campaign who does anything but scoff at this. That, of course, doesn't keep people from musing about it and some were today, but none of them were anywhere near in a position to know anything.

They were just shooting the bull."

- From Dan Rather's Convention Journal

NICKED HIMSELF? I WAS TOLD IT WAS A HANGNAIL...
Retired Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr. said Thursday in his first on-the-record interview about the swift boat veterans dispute that "I was absolutely in the skimmer" in the early morning on Dec. 2, 1968, when Lt. (j.g.) John Kerry was involved in an incident that led to his first Purple Heart.


"Kerry nicked himself with a M-79 [grenade launcher]," Schachte said in a telephone interview from his home in Charleston, S.C. He said, "Kerry requested a Purple Heart."

Schachte, a lieutenant, said he was in command of the small boat called a Boston whaler or skimmer, with Kerry aboard in his first combat mission in the Vietnam War. The third crew member was an enlisted man, whose name Schachte did not remember.

Two enlisted men who appeared at the podium with Kerry at the Democratic National Convention in Boston have asserted that they were alone in the small boat with Kerry, with no other officer present. Schachte said it "was not possible" for Kerry to have gone out alone so soon after joining the swift boat command in late November 1968.

More about the nicking and purple heart requesting...

SO OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS MAY HAVE BEEN RIGHT...
A captured al-Qaeda operative has told Canadian intelligence investigators that a Montreal man who trained in Afghanistan alongside the 9/11 hijackers was responsible for the crash of an American Airlines flight in New York three years ago.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents were told during five days of interviews with the source that Abderraouf Jdey, a Canadian citizen also known as Farouk the Tunisian, had downed the plane with explosives on Nov. 12, 2001.

I'M SORRY, CALL ME AN ENEMY OF CIVIL LIBERTIES AND CANDYMAKERS, BUT THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS...

THE DAILY WAFFLE

TODAY'S PICK:

FIRST HE SAID: "Terrorist organizations with specific political agendas may be encouraged and emboldened by Yasser Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman.... [Terrorists] whose only object is to disrupt society require no such 'role models' as Arafat."

— The New War, by John Kerry, published June 1997

THEN HE SAID: "Obviously, Yasser Arafat has been an impediment to the peace process... As far as I'm concerned, he's an outlaw to the peace process."

— John Kerry, interview with the Associated Press, March 10, 2004

Thanks to: The Kerry Spot on National Review Online

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE'S
"KERRY SPOT"

HOW DOES HE DO IT ?

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL DUBS IT "A ONE-SENTENCE FLIP-FLOP":

"The truth, which is what elections are all about, is that the tax burden of the middle class has gone up while the tax burden of the middle class has gone down."

--John Kerry, quoted by the Associated Press, Aug. 25 and printed in all seriousness in this New York Times article...

#1 NYT BESTSELLER

THIS IS A GREAT SITE... THEY HAVE A FEW OF OUR GRAPHICS... FINE... BUT LISTEN TO THE AUDIO THAT PLAYS WHEN YOU VISIT THE PAGE... IT'S GENIUS. I'M NOT JOHN KERRY, BUT I'M SURE HE WOULDN'T APPROVE THIS MESSAGE.

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND FLIP-FLOPS... HERE'S KERRY'S HYPOCRITICAL "LET'S PLAY NICE" CAMPAIGN IN A NUTSHELL

HUGO CHAVEZ'S GOOD BUDDY SINKS TO A NEW... I MEAN... ANOTHER LOW...

CLASSIC STEWART, TYPICAL KERRY.
"I watch a lot of the cable news shows, so I understand that you were never in Vietnam," asked [John] Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."

"That's what I understand, too, but I'm trying to find out what happened," [John F.] Kerry joked.

A group of Vietnam veterans has accused Kerry, in public statements and in television commercials, of exaggerating his actions during the war, where he served on a Navy swift boat and earned five medals. (Special Report: America Votes 2004)

As Kerry launched into one of his lengthy monologues about why President Bush avoids talking about issues like the economy, jobs and the environment, the comedian interrupted.

"I'm sorry," Stewart said. "Were you or were you not in Cambodia?"

More...

KERRY CALLS BUSH A LIAR AT EVERY CAMPAIGN STOP. NO, DON'T EVEN TRY IT... SAYING "I'LL BE A PRESIDENT WHO TELLS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THE TRUTH" IS AKIN TO SAYING "BUSH IS A LIAR"... KERRY'S JUST NOT MAN ENOUGH.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Tuesday accused the Bush campaign of adopting "the tactics of fear and smear" because its record is a failed one, saying November's election comes down to a choice between right and wrong.

CNN.com - Kerry criticizes %27fear and smear%27 tactics - Aug 24%2C 2004

KERRY CALLS SWIFTIES... BLAH, BLAH, BLAH... SLEEPWALKING?!?!

**Drudge Report World Exclusive**

Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry personally phoned anti-Kerry swift boat vets, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Kerry reached out to Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant Cdr., USN (RET) Sunday night, just hours after former Sen. Bob Dole publicly challenged Kerry to apologize to veterans.

Brant was skipper of the #96 and # 36 boat and spent time with Kerry in An Thoi. Kerry and Brant slept in the same quarters, and Brant used to put Kerry back to bed at night when Kerry was sleepwalking.

Brant received a call from Kerry at his home in Virginia while he was watching the Olympics on TV.

The call lasted 10 minutes, sources tell DRUDGE.

KERRY: "Why are all these swift boat guys opposed to me?"

BRANT: "You should know what you said when you came back, the impact it had on the young sailors and how it was disrespectful of our guys that were killed over there."

[Brant had two men killed in battle.]

KERRY: "When we dedicated swift boat one in '92, I said to all the swift guys that I wasn't talking about the swifties, I was talking about all the rest of the veterans."

Kerry then asked if he could meet Brant ["You were one of the best"] -- man to man -- face to face.

Brant declined the invite, explaining that Kerry was obviously not prepared to correct the record on exactly what happened during Vietnam and what happened when Kerry came back.

DRUDGE REPORT 2004%AE

GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGNING... FLORIDA STYLE

ECONOMISTS: BUSH WINS
Despite an embarrassing failure in their forecasting four years ago, political scientists and economists are again predicting the outcome of the presidential election, and most foresee a win for President George W. Bush.

"If this election follows historical patterns, it looks very likely that Bush is going to win," said Ray Fair, a Yale University economist whose model is built mainly around gross domestic product growth and predicts that Bush will take 58.5 percent of the vote.

'WE'LL FIGHT TO THE DEATH - PRAISE BE TO ALLAH... NOW, WHEN CAN WE START NEGOTIATING?" -MUQTADA AL-SADR
Iraq's defense minister on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr holding the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf -- get out or be wiped out.

Interim Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Sha'alan said Iraqi forces will move Tuesday evening to seal off the mosque and will use loudspeakers to encourage al-Sadr's supporters to leave.

PTD COMMENT > SMOKE THEM OUT ALREADY... WE'RE FIGHTING KERRY'S SENSITIVE WAR ON TERROR HERE

CNN.com - Mosque ultimatum%3A Get out or be wiped out - Aug 24%2C 2004

THE WAIT BEGINS

Bush asks outside groups to halt attacks on both John Kerry and himself; I assume this includes the Swift Veterans for Truth. I won't hold my breath waiting for the Kerry campaign to denounce MoveOn.org.

Bush denounces ads by outside groups

THE WORST STORY LEAD EVER

Not that I expect much from The Washington Post, but isn't it depressing that the Dobbs story Bob quotes below features the most unimaginative story lead ever? Every writing coach I know warns against using the "he never would have imagined" sentence:

"When John F. Kerry rescued Jim Rassmann from the Bay Hap River in the jungles of Vietnam in March 1969, neither man could possibly have imagined that the episode would become a much-disputed focus of an American presidential campaign 35 years later."

Well, why would Kerry or Rassman have imagined such a thing? They obviously don't have ESP. I'm appalled to find such a cheap cliche of a lead in one of the nation's most respected newspapers.

MICHAEL DOBBS WAPOST ARTICLE...

Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete
Critics Fail to Disprove Kerry's Version of Vietnam War Episode

By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 22, 2004; Page A01

When John F. Kerry rescued Jim Rassmann from the Bay Hap River in the jungles of Vietnam in March 1969, neither man could possibly have imagined that the episode would become a much-disputed focus of an American presidential campaign 35 years later.

For Kerry, then a green and gangly Navy lieutenant junior grade and now the Democratic challenger to a wartime Republican president, that tale of heroism under fire has become integral to his campaign. A centerpiece of public rallies, videos and a new campaign advertisement, it has helped distinguish the candidate from his Democratic primary rivals and from President Bush, who spent the war at home as a member of the Texas Air National Guard.

More...

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO "HMM"

According to The Washington Times, "Anti-coalition forces have killed a prominent Iraqi chemical-weapons scientist whom U.S. investigators were questioning at Abu Ghraib prison, in an attempt to unravel the mysteries of Saddam Hussein's arsenal."

Iraqi arms scientists killed before they talk

A history lesson for us all:

About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in the year 1787, Alexander Tyler (a Scottish history professor at The University of Edinborough) had this to say about "The Fall of The Athenian Republic" some 2,000 years prior.

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
>From Bondage to spiritual faith;
>From spiritual faith to great courage;
>From courage to liberty;
>From liberty to abundance;
>From abundance to complacency;
>From complacency to apathy;
>From apathy to dependence;
>From dependence back into bondage."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the most recent Presidential election:
Population of counties won by:
Gore=127 million
Bush=143 million
Square miles of land won by:
Gore=580,000
Bush=2,2427,000
States won by:
Gore=19
Bush=29
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore=13.2
Bush=2.1

Professor Olson adds:
"In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare..."

Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the "complacency and "apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

RIGHT ON BOB.
"One day he's saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off their ears, cutting off their heads, throwing away his medals or his ribbons, the next day he's standing there, 'I want to be president because I'm a Vietnam veteran.'"

"Maybe he should apologize to all the other 2.5 million veterans who served. He wasn't the only one in Vietnam, ... And here's, you know, a good guy, a good friend. I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out."

- Former Senator Bob Dole, whose World War II wounds left him without the use of his right arm

"CONTROVERIAL", "DENIED OVERTIME", AND "BUSH" ... FORGET FACTS... IT'S ALL HIS FAULT
Controversial new rules regarding overtime pay went into effect Monday, with the Bush administration and labor advocates squabbling over how many U.S. workers are affected.

The changes mark the first major overhaul of the federal overtime law in more than 50 years.

The Labor Department says the new rules will strengthen overtime rights for 6.7 million American workers, including 1.3 million low-wage workers who were denied overtime under the old rules.

New overtime regulations go into effect

SHE FLATTERS HERSELF

DRUDGE REPORT: JANET JACKSON: BUSH WHITE HOUSE USED MY BOOB TO DISTRACT FROM IRAQ

Janet Jackson now claims that her "Nipplegate" Super Bowl incident was used by the Bush administration to distract people from the war in Iraq!

Mike Slezak, managing editor of GENRE magazine, tells DRUDGE he has set the provocative Jackson interview for October's issue.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard since Hillary gasped for air after Bill's confession of the Monica affair.

Yes, Janet, President Bush decided to use your boob for a distraction. As if he couldn't have come up with something better.

Here's the real reason so much was made of your stunt, Janet: you dress like a slut.

VINTAGE KENNEDY

"If they have that kind of difficulty with a member of Congress, how in the world are average Americans, who are getting caught up in this thing, how are they going to be treated fairly and not have their rights abused?" Kennedy asked Homeland Security undersecretary Asa Hutchinson.

Why should this official have to apologize for doing his job?

Well, at least now we know what Kennedy thinks of the rest of us: we're "average" Americans, compared to his "above average" status. Above average in body mass, maybe.

Security official apologizes to Kennedy

KERRY CALLS FOR BOOK BAN

The following item is fascinating in light of the fact that Kerry campaign adviser Howard Dean recently accused the Bush administration of wanting to burn books. Can you imagine the outcry if Bush had tried to stop "Fahrenheit 9/11"? Hmmm ...

From the Drudge Report:

The Kerry campaign calls on a publisher to "withdraw book" written by group of veterans, claiming veterans are lying about Kerry's service in Vietnam and operating as a front organization for Bush. Kerry campaign has told Salon.com that the publisher of UNFIT FOR COMMAND is "retailing a hoax" ... "No publisher should want to be selling books with proven falsehoods in them," Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton tells the online mag ... Developing ...

DEAN, McGREEVEY AND OTHER DEMOCRATIC WASHOUTS

In Bob's absence, I'll do my best to post some interesting stuff, though I'm not near as funny. For now, here are links to my last two columns:

McGreevey, the Brave Little Governor

Howard the Lame Duck

PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE WE CONTINUE TO PULL OURSELVES OUT OF HURRICANE CHARLEY'S TRAIL OF WRECKAGE... WE'LL BE BACK ONLINE SOON... PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON...

NOTICE: PTD WILL BE BACK ON LINE WITH WEBSITE AND BLOG UPDATES SOON... RECOVERY FROM CHARLEY UNDER WAY...

WELCOME TO MULLET ISLAND, FLORIDA

WELCOME TO COMMUNISM
This Cuban just bought a new car... isn't communism great?

TYPICAL DEMOCRAT: "It Makes Little Difference"

(Fallen NJ Governor Jim McGreevy, Democrat) said that "it makes little difference that as governor I am gay," but added that staying in office and keeping the affair and his sexual orientation secret will leave the governor's office "vulnerable to rumors, false allegations and threats of disclosure."

PTD COMMENT > Right, Jim, it all makes "little difference"... not for you, not for the embarrassed armpit of the U.S. (New Jersey)... I can say that - that's my home state... and not even for your wife... you're just practicing your Clintonesque rights taken to a new level ... cheat on your wife... homosexual relationship... defile your post... no big deal.

At least YOU resigned.

VICE PRESIDENT HALIBURTON DOESN'T UNDERSTAND NUANCEDNESS... KERRY IS OF SUCH INTELLIGENCE WITH NUANCED GRAVITAS THAT CHENEY JUST CAN'T UNDERSTAND. WITH THAT SAID, WHO NEEDS CONVICTIONS?

IT'S KIND OF LIKE THAT BLANK CANVAS AT THE ART GALLERY THAT THE MARTINI-SIPPERS ARE SO ORGASMICALLY IMPRESSED WITH... IT'S DEEP - WHO NEEDS SO-CALLED "ARTISTIC VALUE"?

WE, MY FELLOW RED-STATERS... AS COMMONERS, JUST CAN'T UNDERSTAND.

FROM YAHOO - Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that Democratic Sen. John Kerry lacks "deeply held convictions about right and wrong" as he argued that voters would make a grave mistake if they replaced the current commander in chief.

Yahoo! News - Cheney Says Kerry Lacks Deep Convictions

KRUGMAN IS SQUASHED IN A DEBATE WITH O’REILLY:
O’Reilly was masterful.
He didn’t for one moment grant Krugman the undeserved respect that everyone else grants him, thanks to the prestigious aura of his Princeton professorship and his New York Times column. And O’Reilly didn’t let Krugman get away with any of his usual stunts.
by Donald Luskin National Review Online

STOLEN X-BOX, SIX MURDERS. BRING ON THE DEATH PENALTY. ANYBODY DISAGREE?

SIX BRUTAL SLAYINGS AND AN ENDANGERED PATCH OF SOD
"It took me so long to get this grass to grow, I can't let it die," said Jim Walker, as he strung bright orange tape around a wood stake and his mailbox in an attempt to keep cars and trucks off his lawn.

- Jim Walker of Deltona... concerned that the attraction of a nearby crime scene, where 6 people were slain, would spill over onto his new grass.

MINUTES SPENT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT DO WHEN THE 2ND PLANE HIT ON 9-11:

BUSH: 7 MINUTES
KERRY: 40 MINUTES

KERRY, BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, FROM CNN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN KING...

KING: Where were you on 9/11?

HEINZ KERRY: You know, it's very interesting. I landed at National Airport less than 12 hours before, coming from Pennsylvania, where I was doing a prescription drugs thing -- meeting. And I came in from Pittsburgh, landed at National, and that's the last time I landed at National for quite a while.

KING: How'd you hear about it?

HEINZ KERRY: I was at home in Washington. I had just come in and I got a call...

KERRY: I think I called.

HEINZ KERRY: And they said, look at the TV. I looked at the TV and I couldn't believe it.

KING: Where were you?

KERRY: I was in the Capitol. We'd just had a meeting -- we'd just come into a leadership meeting in Tom Daschle's office, looking out at the Capitol. And as I came in, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon. And then word came from the White House, they were evacuating, and we were to evacuate, and so we immediately began the evacuation.

2ND PLANE HITS THE SOUTH TOWER OF THE WTC @ 9:03 am
PLANE HITS THE PENTAGON @ 9:43 am

THAT'S 40 MINUTES OF SITTING AT THE TABLE FOLKS... REALIZING "NOBODY COULD THINK"... LET'S HEAR FROM THE KERRY FOLKS. WHAT SAY YOU?

CNN.com - Transcripts

HAS ANYONE HEARD AN ACCEPTABLE GOP RESPONSE TO THIS BESIDES 'HE DIDN'T WANT TO SCARE THE CHILDREN'. DON'T THROW TOMATOES, JUST EMAIL IT TO US.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Thursday he would have handled news of the al Qaeda attacks on New York and the Pentagon differently than did President Bush.

Bush was told of the suicide hijackings while he was in a Florida school classroom.

"Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to -- and I would have attended to it," Kerry told the Unity conference of minority journalists in response to a question about what he would done.

CNN.com - Kerry hits Bush reaction to 9/11 attack news

AT THIS HOUR, 'UNFIT FOR COMMAND' TOPS AMAZON LIST
Amazon.com: Top Sellers

DICK CHENEY USES IDIOCY OF DEAN FOR POLITICAL GAIN
Vice President Dick Cheney shot back Wednesday at former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, who is publicly questioning whether the administration uses terror warnings to help President Bush politically.

Dean raised the issue over the weekend in the wake of an upgraded terror alert level for financial institutions in Washington, New York and New Jersey.

"There have been some commentary from some of our critics -- Howard Dean comes immediately to mind -- saying somehow that this is being hyped for political reasons, that the data that we collected here, the casing reports that provided the information on these prospective attacks, is old data, four or five years old," Cheney said during a campaign appearance in suburban Kansas City.

"That just tells me that Howard Dean doesn't know anything about how these groups operate."

CNN.com - Cheney rebuts Dean's allegation of threat hype

CAN I GET A COSTCO-SIZED BAG OF DORITOS WITH MY MEDICATION PLEASE?
Israeli soldiers suffering from combat stress after tours of duty in the Palestinian territories could soon be treated with cannabis to relieve their symptoms, the Ma'ariv daily reported.

The mental health department of the Medical Corps is set to to begin tests in the next few days on volunteers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after reserve duty, the paper said.

A scientist who will help conduct the experiment heads a research team, which discovered that cannabis helped mice that had suffered physical stress and even reduced the risk of stroke.

Hundreds of Israelis have been treated for combat stress after performing their mandatory national service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

www.smh.com.au - Stressed soldiers to be treated with cannabis

DAMNING. This stings.

HOW THE DEMOCRATS READ NEWS
There goes Newsday again, scaring us into voting for Bush... that damn Right-Wing Media Conspiracy's at it again. The timing of this article is awfully suspicious - one day before Bush is going to travel to Peroria on a campaign stop and COINCIDENTALLY - two and a half weeks TO THE DAY after Bush was in Des Moines talking about terror of some sort...

THE TIMING !!! DON'T YOU PEOPLE SEE IT ??

THIS IS WHY WE BELIEVE THE DEATH PENALTY IS TOO LENIENT.

CHALLENGE: FIND THE HIDDEN MESSAGE
A veterans group seeking to deeply discredit Democrat John Kerry's military service will charge in the new bombshell book UNFIT FOR DUTY:

Two of John Kerry's three Purple Heart decorations resulted from self-inflicted wounds, not suffered under enemy fire.

All three of Kerry's Purple Hearts were for minor injuries, not requiring a single hour of hospitalization.

A "fanny wound" was the highlight of Kerry's much touted "no man left behind" Bronze Star.

Kerry turned the tragic death of a father and small child in a Vietnamese fishing boat into an act of "heroism" by filing a false report on the incident.

Kerry entered an abandoned Vietnamese village and slaughtered the domestic animals owned by the civilians and burned down their homes with his Zippo lighter.

Kerry's reckless behavior convinced his colleagues that he had to go -- becoming the only Swift Boat veteran to serve only four months.

The Kerry campaign is planning to vigorously counter the charges and will accuse the veteran's groups of being well-financed by a top Bush donor from Texas, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

"They hired a goddamn private investigator to dig up trash!" charged a top Kerry adviser traveling with the senator late Tuesday. "This is pay for play, and the dirtiest of all dirty tricks ever played on a candidate for the presidency. How low can they go?"

Kerry supporters are comparing the effort by the veterans to the Arkansas State troopers tell-all against Bill Clinton.

UNFIT FOR DUTY will not be released until August 15.

The names. The details. All on the record.

- from Drudge

Amazon.com: Books: Unfit for Command : Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry

NEW YORK TIMES: WE'RE LEFT-WING, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Just about anybody who reads the New York Times knows that it is a bastion of liberalism, an allegation the Times has denied -- up until July 25, that is, when its staff ombudsman suddenly jumped the reservation and admitted that the Times really is a liberal newspaper.

Daniel Okrent, a self-described liberal Democrat and the Times' "Public Editor" (they don't want to admit they needed an ombudsman after the Jason Blair scandal erupted), let loose with a ringing declaration that the Times doesn't merely lean to the left - it is left.

"Is the New York Times a liberal newspaper?" he asked. "Of course it is."

(From Newsmax.com)

The New York Times > Breaking News, World News & Multimedia

DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY
BE THE FIRST TO GET THIS VALUABLE PIECE OF JOHN KERRY... PRESUMPTIVE LOSER OF THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

You can also find out more about this great candidate here.

MATT DRUDGE... MASTER HEADLINEMASTER...

TODAY ON DRUDGE:

"LEAD BALLOON: GALLUPUSATODAYCNN poll: No boost for Kerry after convention..."

KERRY'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH GIVES BUSH EXPECTED BUMP IN THE POLLS
WOLF BLITZER: we're also getting new information, the first new poll numbers since the democratic convention. they're coming in right now and they're showing an apparent difference between registered voters and likely voters. here to explain exactly what's going on our senior political analyst bill schneider. bill, this is the latest cnn/""usa today""/gallup poll. these are numbers that were completely taken, this poll since john kerry's acceptance speech. i want to show our viewers what the numbers show so far. among registered voters, this is important, registered voters, john kerry is now at 50% compared to george w. bush at 47%. you see what it was before the convention, 49/45 in favor of kerry. among likely voters, though, take a look at this. a difference, likely voters, 50% for bush, 47% for kerry. a reversal, the margin of error, though, 3% in this poll you see...

HEARD ON THE STREET IN THE BIG APPLE: "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH DIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPP... YOU GOT DDDDDIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDD !!!!!!"
John Kerry's heavily hyped cross-country bus tour stumbled out of the blocks yesterday, a group of Marines publicly dissed the Vietnam War hero as in the middle of a crowded restaurant.
Kerry was treating running mate Sen. John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, to a Wendy's lunch in Newburgh, N.Y., for their 27th wedding anniversary — an Edwards family tradition — when the candidate approached four Marines and asked them questions.

The Marines — two in uniform and two off-duty — were polite but curt while chatting with Kerry, answering most of his questions with a "yes, sir" or "no, sir."

But they turned downright nasty after the Massachusetts senator thanked them "for their service" and left.

"He imposed on us and I disagree with him coming over here shaking our hands," one Marine said, adding, "I'm 100 percent against [him]."

OUR 'FRIENDS', THE SAUDIS BLAST CANADIAN 'FILM' MAKER
Saudi royal family lambasts Michael Moore for twisting the truth in his 9/11 film

In an exclusive interview, Prince Turki al-Faisal tells Con Coughlin why the US film-maker is so wrong...

The Saudi royal family has launched a bitter attack on the American film-maker Michael Moore over his claims that the Bush administration secretly smuggled a number of high-ranking Saudi nationals out of the US in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.