By: Rodolfo Acuña  

Vice President Cheney has no combat experience. During the Vietnam War, he received five student and marriage deferments of service. He told the Washington Post in 1989: "I had other priorities in the 60's than military service." I am sure that others, too, had "other priorities".

President Bush spent the Vietnam War years in a Texas Air National Guard unit, where he received a preferential acceptance. He signed up for six years in 1968, moving to Alabama in 1972 to work on a Republican congressional campaign, then returned to Texas in 1973. He claims to have performed his Guard duties in Alabama, though the base commander, when questioned by reporters, had no recollection of Bush's showing up for drills. With this spotty military background, Bush is in no position to accuse Democrats of not being patriotic.

Among others with no combat background who are pushing for a unilateral first-strike against Iraq are Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

Hey 'Monkey Boy'!
When are you going to replace the ineffectual Harvey Pitt?

By: Arianna Huffington  

Chalk up another profitable victory for those promoting the legal drugging of America's children, also known as the good folks of the pharmaceutical industry. Earlier this month, a federal judge struck down a Food and Drug Administration regulation that required drug makers to test medicines routinely given to children.

In keeping with the White House's habit of assigning foxes to guard the henhouses they used to stalk - including the tres-vulpine Harvey Pitt and Gale Norton - last summer the President appointed lawyer Daniel Troy as the FDA's general counsel. While in private practice, Troy had successfully challenged the agency's power to regulate drug companies, particularly the companies' ability to freely promote and market their products.

It probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, then, that from his lofty post Troy has overseen a dramatic decrease in the number of drug companies that have been reprimanded for running false or misleading commercials, even as the drug ads filling our TV screens and magazines have multiplied. Of course, it could just be that the drug companies have all joined the Boy Scouts and are now being meticulously honest and trustworthy.

By: Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman  

Didn't have anything good to do earlier this week, so decided to spend the day at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

AEI is the granddaddy of the big corporate front groups. Their job? Re-engineer the political economy to the liking of their corporate paymasters.

Last year, AEI took in $23 million from corporations, corporate foundations, and wealthy individuals.

By: Jim Hightower  

Yoo hoo, White House and Congress, excuse us all the way to hell, but could you possibly take a minute or two from beating your chests and trying to out-do each other with your war whooping against Saddam Hussein to notice that we've got a little problem here on the homefront?

I'm not talking about the Homeland Security Department, with its new ensemble of gun-toting federal agents and its cute, color-coded, terrorism-alert scheme. Instead, maybe you might notice that our so-called economy has moved into Code Red, threatening our national security in ways that the blowhard thug in Iraq can't approach...

By: Mike Hersh  

Republicans are still trying to bring back the horrible and wrong-headed policies which gave us rivers catching fire, children with brain damage from preventable poisoning, and the Great Depression.

These policies fail and fail, costing American jobs, health, and even lives. It's not that Republicans never learn. They learned that if they do the bidding of the oil companies, the insurance companies, and the big drug companies, they can get huge campaign war chests and try to buy elections by tricking voters. They're doing it again, as always.

"If the Republicans get control of both the House and the Senate, get used to living in a police state where you are nothing more than a worker ant - or a 'useless eater' to be done away with if you can no longer work - and your offspring are looked upon as nothing more than cannon fodder for the Bush regime's endless wars. And that's the truth - unspeakable or not."

- Bev Conover, Online Journal editor and publisher

By: William Rivers Pitt  

The pundits and talking heads describe Tuesday's election as nothing particularly special or important. There are no major issues at stake, they say. Even if there were, voter turnout will be low. The status of Congress will not change, they say. Nothing to see here.

Lies. This is not just another election. The House and Senate are very much in play, up for grabs to whichever party gets the vote out. The issues at stake will absolutely and immediately define the future of this nation and the world.

The republic stands upon the edge of a knife. Within reach of your hand is the ability to bring this nation back from the brink, back to where it belongs. Do not let this historic opportunity for real change pass you by. Stand and be counted. Vote. Be prepared to defend the voting rights of others. The democracy you save will be your own. It is up to you.

Money for School Lunches Diverted to Livestock, Report Contends

By: Thomas B. Edsall  

A hunger advocacy group has charged that a special livestock drought-relief program crucial to the Senate campaign of Rep. John Thune (R-SD) cannot be financed without cutbacks in school lunch programs and food banks for the poor.

The Bread for the World study added up all mandated programs and other expenditures under the $6 billion Section 32 fund, and concluded the $752 million "will soak up" cash traditionally used "to buy 'bonus' surplus commodities - foods such as fruits and vegetables, beef, and salmon", half of which went to school lunch programs and the rest to food banks and food kitchens.

The analysis supports earlier complaints by some Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee and by commercial commodity associations whose members sell surplus production through the federal program that will be used to finance the livestock relief.

From:  

The neck-and-neck Florida gubernatorial race had turned into a knock-down, drag 'em out on this final campaign weekend, featuring Bill "Big Dog" Clinton against George W. "Shrub" Bush campaigning in the state at the same time.

Clinton enters the fray tanned, rested, and ready, his power to stir Democrats and Independents undiminished from the days when he was the last elected U.S. President.

Bush, visibly irritated and testy in the face of the exploding Harvey Pitt scandal and growing Democratic momentum nationally, finds himself having to stump in a desperate bid to prop up his brother Jeb, who was supposed to cruise effortlessly to victory thanks to his crony connections and huge campaign war chest.

By: Bryan Zepp Jamieson  

If Democratic turnout is high, the left is going to expect the Democrats to stop surrendering and put up a fight. They are going to demand that Senators accept ONLY qualified and impartial candidates for the Supreme Courts and lesser courts, and not ideological disgraces like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. They are going to demand that Democrats work for universal health care, for strong worker's rights, for strong protection of personal privacy, the environment, the safety, availability and accessability of water, power, communications, and medical care. Above all, they want Democrats to support Clean Campaign laws that will greatly reduce the influence of massive international corporations and other well-heeled pressure groups who have all but stolen our government from us.

That's the price tag the left wants: that the Democrats stop trying to appease the unappeasable, and start showing some backbone.

It's the Democrats' last and best chance. It's our last and best chance.

Tuesday, vote as if your life depended upon it.

It does.

"There is a pattern of this White House announcing its support for a general principle, whether it be prescription drug coverage or No Child Left Behind. Then, when it comes down to the actual realization of that goal, they - to use the President's term - crawfish."

- Senator Bob Graham (D-FL)

By: Youssef M. Ibrahim  

Let us not be fooled: The upcoming war against Iraq has nothing to do with the war against terror.

President George W. Bush's war is fueled by two things: bolstering the President's popularity as he attempts to ride on the natural wave of American patriotism unleashed by the criminal attacks of Sept. 11; and a misguided temptation to get more oil out of the Middle East by turning a "friendly" Iraq into a private American oil pumping station.

Both will backfire and may indeed cost this President and his warmongering cabinet their sought-after second term.

"Truth will get you broke - or dead."

- George H.W. Bush

By: Rebecca Knight  

There is no question that the votes cast next Tuesday will determine the direction this great nation takes for a significant period of time. We are on the brink of a defining moment that will impact generations to come as significantly as any election in our history. Anyone who doubts that premise should reflect on the changes we have experienced in the past two years since George W. Bush obtained the White House.

Those who are satisfied with the direction of our nation will probably cast votes for Republican candidates. Those who are not satisfied will undoubtedly cast votes for Democratic or Independent candidates. Where the outcome will take us is anyone's guess. The pundits and pollsters are having a difficult time predicting many races that are too close to call.

The big question remains, how can anyone be satisfied with the direction of this nation?...

By: Wayne Madsen  

He's America's Joseph Goebbels. As a 21-year old Young Republican in Texas, Karl Rove not only pimped for Richard Nixon's chief political dirty tricks strategist Donald Segretti but soon caught the eye of the incoming Republican National Committee Chairman, George H.W. Bush. Rove's dirty tricks on behalf of Nixon's 1972 campaign catapulted Rove onto the national stage. From his Eagle's Nest in the West Wing of the White House, Rove now directs a formidable political dirty tricks operation and disinformation mill.

In all seriousness, rewarding the GOP on November 5 will only increase the appetite of Rove to amass more and more power into the White House. The advent of a Democratic-controlled Senate and House might even begin to spell the end of the road for Segretti's star pupil. German opposition figures in the mid-1930's often lamented the fact that they could have stopped the rise of the Nazis if only they had been more united in a common front when they had a chance. However, they fell prey to the media manipulation of Goebbels and fought among themselves more than they did against the menace from the far right. We Americans also have an early opportunity to stem an out-of-control and anti-constitutional regime with the Rasputin-like Rove at the after steerage helm of our ship of state. That opportunity presents itself next Tuesday - Election Day.

By: John M. Berry  

U.S. economic growth is close to stalling, analysts said yesterday after the release of the latest weak economic reports, with many predicting that the Federal Reserve will cut short-term interest rates next week to give the economy a boost.

The Labor Department said the nation's unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month while the total number of payroll jobs fell by 5,000 after a drop of 13,000 in September. The total number of hours worked also fell, and the number of people looking for work but unable to find it rose by more than 100,000, to 8.2 million.

Meanwhile, manufacturing continues to weaken. The Institute for Supply Management reported that its index tracking conditions in that sector fell last month to 48.5 - the lowest level this year - from 49.5 in September. Both readings were below 50, indicating that manufacturing activity was declining.

And consumer spending, the key propellant of economic growth over the past year, fell 0.6% in September...

By: David Teather  

George Bush quashed evidence in the insider dealing inquiry he faced a decade ago, it was claimed yesterday, further undermining White House efforts to restore some confidence in Wall Street.

A memo has emerged that was sent by lawyers in 1990 that warned executives of the energy firm Harken, for which Mr Bush was a director, against cashing in stock if they had any negative information about the company.

Harken was undertaking financial engineering to keep it afloat at the time.

A week later the President cashed in $848,000 of shares...

By: Richard Reeves  

The cover of Le Point last week was a squinty photograph of President Bush under the headline: "Cet homme est-il dangereux?" (Is this man dangerous?)

Inside the news magazine there were a dozen pages on whether the American leader was trying to drag the rest of the world into some kind of perpetual war, beginning in Iraq and then moving on to Iran, Syria, and North Korea. In case anyone missed Le Point's point, the first headline inside read: "Doctrinaire cynique, vissionaire lucide ou Doctor Folamour?"

"Folamour", of course, translates as "Strangelove". The lead photograph across two pages was the President of the United States standing between two generals looking across the South Korea-North Korea border. Bush's binoculars still had caps on over the lenses.

American policy, Le Point reported, was being set by an "ultraminoritaire" of the "ultradroite" (extreme right) - and the world better watch out for those folks. Well, I happen to agree with that last part: Watch these guys!

"The truth is useless. You have to understand this right now. You can't deposit the truth in the bank. You can't buy groceries with the truth. You can't pay the rent with the truth. The truth is a useless commodity that will hang around your neck like an albatross - all the way down to the homeless shelter. And if you think that the million or so people in this country that are really interested in the truth about their government can support people who would tell them the truth, you got another think coming. Because the million people in this country that are truly interested in the truth don't have any money."

- Jeb Bush (Bushwhacked, p.162)

Is Thomas White Suited To Lead Our Troops Into War?

By: Jason Leopold  

Secretary of the Army Thomas White is preparing to lead thousands of the nation's soldiers into war with Iraq and still, not one journalist has spilled any ink on White's knowledge of the suspect accounting practices at Enron Energy Services, the division he ran for several years before being tapped to run the Army.

This is the same man who admitted in sworn testimony before a Senate committee in July that he phoned dozens of his former colleagues at Enron last year to get information on Enron's financial condition and whether it would impact the value of his stock he still held in Enron. White's phone conversations with his Enron buddies took place shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC and while military personnel were being sent to break up the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

White clearly did not have his priorities in order...

"I was a bulldog on the pant leg of opportunity."

- George W. Bush, on his career as Texas oilman and baseball owner

"He's not an entrepreneur. He's a welfare recipient."

- James Runzheimer, Texas lawyer and anti-tax activist

By: Monica Friedlander  

They, whose leader has taken the reigns of government not by popular vote but by appointment by a partisan Supreme Court, have the nerve to tell us that we're too partisan!

They, who stand to gain from this tragedy, have the nerve tell two grieving sons who lost their parents and sister how to remember their loved ones!

And they, who have called Wellstone unpatriotic for daring to vote his conscience, are striking back at his memory by attacking a memorial service!

By: Brian Balta  

Democracy only works when the people voting are informed. By holding back this information, President Bush has managed to ensure that the debate focused entirely on Iraq, and whether or not we should invade Iraq. There was no debate on whether or not North Korea was a greater threat than Iraq or if the administration was focusing on the right target.

The Bush administration, by keeping this information secret until after the Iraq resolution passed, made absolutely certain that nothing would threaten their Iraq resolution. The withholding of important points of information may make a vote go the way that you want, but it's certainly not how democracy is supposed to work.

"You know what the outrage is here? It's the stupid outrage from the namby pamby... You know what? This man was political. It was a funeral. It was a political funeral. I've been to Louisiana. You go to somebody that played jazz, you play jazz at a funeral... Namby pamby dinner party Washington Post op-ed crowd, you don't know what the hell you're talking about."

- James Carville, on Crossfire

By: Paul Krugman  

Yet it's no accident that Mr. Pitt picked the wrong man. Mr. Webster was chosen over better candidates precisely because accounting industry lobbyists - a group that clearly still includes Mr. Pitt - believed he would be ineffectual.

Let's call it the Pitt Principle. The famous Peter Principle said that managers fail because they rise to their level of incompetence. The Pitt Principle tells us that sometimes incompetence is exactly what the people in charge want.

In this particular case, ordinary investors demanded a crackdown on corporate malfeasance - and Mr. Pitt pretended to comply. But this administration is run by and for people who have profited handsomely from their insider connections. (Remember Harken and Halliburton? And why won't the administration come clean about that energy task force?) So he picked someone with an impressive but irrelevant background, whom he could count on not to get the job done.

By: Derrick Z. Jackson  

The Bush Boyz took over the wild, wild western world 20 months ago, and gunsmoke is still billowing out of the streets. The saloon still reeks of thirsty charlatans. The town remains without a physician to stop the bleeding. The only Bush rolling down the street is tumbleweed.

While the Bush Boyz tell us how evil and oppressive Saddam Hussein is, corrupt CEO's continue to spill out of the saloon, angry people are blasting away from coast to coast, the dollar is shrinking, and health insurance is disappearing. That does not sound like a community overcoming chaos. That is a great way to create a ghost town, turning promises into tumbleweed.

By: Mike Shannon  

You want to hear something scary? I don't mean Hollywood or storybook scary; I mean the kind of scary where real bad things happen to real people. The Associated Press released a story on Halloween that claims that all their research and inside sources point to voter turnout for Tuesday's election being the lowest for any midterm election since 1942. To be specific, they believe that the percentage of voting age Americans who participate in this election may be as low as one third. Meaning a full two thirds of the American adult population has apparently decided that there is nothing important or vital at stake in this election. What planet are these people living on?

It would be next to impossible to list all the consequences of what is at stake in this election. Even a partial list, ranging from the immediate: control of the Senate, shifting of the House of Representatives back to Democratic hands, a counterweight to Republican domination of the Federal government, to the long-term: make up of the Federal judiciary, implementation of further tax cuts that may bankrupt the future of our economy as well as government, continuation of imperial overstretch, etc., shows the enormous level of importance in this election.

By: Chris Durant  

Marijuana cultivation is a fact of life on the North Coast and Humboldt County ranks among the more attractive places to grow these particular crops.

But what draws the marijuana growers here?

"There's the soil and altitude and all these things that has made it a great growing region", said Steve Bloom, senior editor of High Times magazine.

"We have the perfect growing climate here, perfect", said Dave, a Humboldt County resident who is involved in growing pot and asked to use a fictitious name.

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