Hunter S. Thompson on Bush

Bankrate: You are neighbors with Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador and longtime Bush family friend featured in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Hunter S. Thompson: I can see him from my front porch. He's been a pretty good neighbor; that counts for a lot out here. He will shoot some skeet now and then. I don't want to say anything really ugly about him. He's an enlightened plutocrat, I guess you call it. Michael Moore is dead right on that, and it's even worse than you think. Bandar. All kinds of roads cross out here. Networks and wires.

Bankrate: The Bush Administration seems to have lit your fuse. Are you angry again?

Hunter S. Thompson: Very angry. I'm very angry. That's why I guess I have to write this (campaign) piece for Rolling Stone. This is the darkest hour that I have seen in my long experience as an American. This is evil.

Complete interview...click here

"Gannongate" may prove to be pivotal in defining journalism as we know it

This was the week that may have changed investigative journalism in our time. If you haven't been following the scandal, the links below will bring you up to speed.

It is an amazing story and it promises to just keep getting better as the layers of the rotting onion are peeled back and we are treated to the reactions from right wing media, Congress, and The White House. And it will just keep getting better because the new journalism of the blogosphere, supported by select progressive media, will keep spreading the word and uncovering the stench. At the core of this onion is the very betrayal of all we hold dear as humans and Americans, for the core reveals the mechanics behind the neoconservative power play that is designed to bring a new fascism into being.

Please take a few moments, follow these links, and become part of the movement to spread truth, dig dirt, and take our country back. It is NOT too late. This is as important as it gets. The first link is easily the most vital political site on the internet today. The second is the bomb. The third is a great clearing house for this gathering storm called "Gannongate".

Jump in, have fun, the water's fine.

Daily KOS
Daily KOS Gannon/Wilson story
AmericaBlog Gannon story lines

Most Senate Dems grow spines and take a stand against torture.

Only a few weeks ago, it looked like Alberto Gonzales, referred to lovingly as "Torture Boy" by such noted writers as Maureen Dowd and Bart, would skate easily through the confirmation hearings to become the next Attorney General. I was already missing John Ashcroft. And despite the fact that I am indeed missing John because the whole Senate voted his evil replacement in today, Americans of good conscience should be celebrating the hope that some real opposition seems to be budding. 36 Democrats voted against Gonzales, which in anybody's book, is a very hopeful sign.

Considering this sweeping vote, one must challenge the Democrats who voted FOR torture as American policy. They have betrayed the party and indeed the nation by endorsing this behavior.
Here they are, don't forget their names. Oh, and don't forget that Bush actually KISSED Joe Lieberman as he left the stage. With friends like that, who needs enimas? And to think that Gore chose this man to be next in line for the Presidency. It's just the kind of madness that gives my friend Branmuffin the cause to believe that Dems and Repubs are of the same cloth. It is votes like today however that gives credence to the difference between rancid black sail cloth and heavy cotton with some stains.

(1) Senator Ken Salazar (Colorado).

(2) Senator Joseph Lieberman (Conn.).

(3) Senator Ben Nelson (Neb.).

(4) Senator Mary Landrieu (La.)

(5) Senator Pryor (Ark).

(6) Senator Bill Nelson (Fla.)

What do Vietnam and Iraq have in common?....happy voting stories

 

Thanks to Tom Tomorrow, I found this amazing story. It needs no comment as it is just another reflection of our
political history, viewed through the complicity of manipulated media. How does that saying go? The more things change, the more they remain the same?

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote; Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror

by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (1967)-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

....A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in January, 1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu, the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.

The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy to the Saigon Government, which has been founded only on coups and power plays since November, 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military junta..