Safire: Duelfer to France: J'accuse!

We've all seen the stories citing "no WMDs found - Duelfer report says!", "Bush lied!". But we don't see much about these findings - from the same report:

"Powerful officials and their profiteering friends in France had a reason to try to stop the U.S. from overthrowing Saddam Hussein: they were pocketing billions in payoffs through a United Nations oil-for-food front."

The French officials are furious, because they say the Americans were involved too! The NYTs own Judith Miller and others, tried making the French diplomat's case:

However, within 24 hours of the damning report's issuance, Judith Miller and her colleagues had the names of the U.S. companies involved - Chevron, Mobil, Texaco, Bay Oil and one Oscar Wyatt Jr. of Houston, who may have profited by $23 million - on the front page of The New York Times. (Will our runaway anti-press prosecutor try to clap Judy in jail for protecting her confidential government sources on this one, too?)

Not surprising was the focus on American companies by the early press reports, and not French or Russian interests. Still more of the "blame America" and "anything to defeat Bush" mentality of our press!

And here's more, from the WaPost, with an emphasis on the UN's role.

Milwaukee: City, county spar over ballot supply

JS Online: City, county spar over ballot supply:

"Barrett said that the 679,000 ballots the county had agreed to print were less than the amount prepared for the presidential election in 2000 as well as for the the gubernatorial race in 2002. He and the city's top election official said that the city requested 938,000 ballots from the county, which, by law, pays for and prints ballots.
In a letter sent to City Elections chief Lisa Artison, Walker said that he had 'serious questions' about the need for that many ballots when the city reported having 382,000 registered voters in September."

As you read through this article, have your calculator ready. The number of ballots requested by the city is nearly three times the amount needed to cover the registered voters. Recent experience shows this:

For the September primary, the city requested 841,357 ballots, or about 3,000 per ward plus the absentee ballots. Barrett said that the number requested in September was "in retrospect, too high" and, in fact, only some 94,643 votes were cast in the city.

Obviously, the Republicans have some concerns:

"These requests do not appear to be driven solely by higher census counts, but by anticipated voter registration drives in certain areas," Walker wrote to Artison.

The chairman of the county commission, Doug Haag, who is also the Republican Party's chairman in Milwaukee County, went further.

Haag said Republican Party officials questioned why voter-registration groups seem to target only Milwaukee's central city and students on the city's east side. And he noted that Wisconsin has same-day registration.

"Why is there this need to get all these people registered?" Haag said. "If people want to vote, they will vote. If they want to stay in bed and not vote, they don't have to bother."

Given all the stories, from around the country and our own recent history (Smokes for Votes, etc), are they really off base raising these concerns?

In addition, there's this about the deployment of lawyers to the polls on election day.

Subject: Hey, I'm busy -- running for President!

This reminder from Dan D:

And let us not forget when Larry King asked him recently about being briefed by the Bush administration on the possibility of new Al Qaeda attacks, Senator Kerry said: They have offered to brief me; I just haven't had time.


That pretty much says it all. Folks, the entire election
could turn on that one sentence. Spread it far and wide.

Stem Cells: Politicizing the Death of Superman

There are thousands of articles on stem cell research and the number is growing. A Google News search of "stem cell research" returned 5,510 items including this one:

"It's a hot topic in the current campaign.

President Bush initiated federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells - but with substantial limits, which John Kerry promises to lift.

As is often the case when politics infuses science, truth tends to suffer.

Kerry insinuates that Bush has effected a federal ban on such study. Not so: Limitations on what the government will fund aren't a ban. "

I am not a scientist. I support science, and recognize that we are infinitely better off with the vast majority of scientific discoveries over the centuries. I also think some 'discoveries' and methods by which they came about, raise moral questions, which, as human beings, we should consider.

Meanwhile, the moral issues are inescapably in the present: Does the deliberate destruction of a human embryo equate to the taking of a human life?

It's a tough question; at the very least, those who answer in the affirmative deserve respect for their beliefs - and, in any event, it's not a topic that lends itself to rational discussion in a political campaign.

One need only consider how badly science is served whenever "global warming" is raised to see where the stem-cell debate is headed.

There are advocates on both sides of this issue. Almost all agree that any 'cures' for the debilitating diseases and afflictions being used as political footballs (Alztheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, etc) are years and years away - if ever. Additionally, most agree that 'lines of morality' do exist in the scientific community. Where they are drawn, however, is another debate. This from another of the 5,510 articles:

The other problem in the embryonic stem-cell debate, Schriber said, is a lack of fundamental understanding about it and its potential.

"It's not like stem-cell research is going tomorrow to help cure people with spinal cord injuries," he said. "But by investing in this now, it will help years down the road.

"The problem is that the issue is being polarized into a religious argument."

There are alternatives to using fertilized eggs or embryos, but they involve an even more explosive topic: cloning. They include removing the nucleus of a human egg and inserting the genes from, say, a human hair, to create a human clone from which to cull embryonic stem cells.

"I don't think anyone wants human cloning," Schriber said. "That's medically unethical; that's easy (to determine)."

Ultimately, the difference between the candidates shouldn't be whether they 'support stem-cell research' or not - they both do. The difference is the approach they will take for this, and future, scientific decisions, where the federal government should, or should not be, involved. George Bush believes in considering the 'moral' and 'ethical' lines and John Kerry simply ignores them.

UPDATE: Edwards comments are way over the line - but hey, he's a trial lawyer. What can we expect?

Not Just a Personality Clash, a Conflict of Visions

David Brooks, in this NYTs op-ed piece, refers to a Conflict of Visions. One of my favorite authors also addresses this topic:

"In the current issue of The Weekly Standard, Adam Wolfson argues that the foreign policy debate between George Bush and John Kerry is really a conflict between two values: freedom and internationalism."

Read the whole thing, as well as Thomas Sowell's book above. Both this op-ed piece and the book by Sowell take - what I believe - a non-partisan approach to explain the differences between two visions which dominate the world today.

Hurricane Frances Made Me FAT!

This only suggests more voting problems in Florida. When hurricanes are blamed for everything from obesity to domestic violence - by professionals - there's little doubt in my mind that we're heading for a repeat of 2000 in Florida! If only this were satire.

Voter Fraud in Colorado

Here's the link, w/ video, the video is disturbing and likely not unique to Colorado:

"Most of the fraud has come from registration drives, where people at grocery stores or on the streets ask you to sign up. 9News has learned many workers have re-registered voters multiple times by changing or making up information about them. 9News has documented 719 cases of potentially fraudulent forms at county election offices show fraudulent names, addresses, social security numbers or dates of birth in Denver, Douglas, Adams, Boulder and Lake counties. Information from other counties is still coming in.

Some voter registration application forms are completely bogus. Others belong to legitimate voters, who have had one or two facts changed that could affect their registration when they show up at the polls November 2nd. Tom Stanislawski registered to vote six years ago. But this summer, someone signed him up again and changed his party affiliation. 'My concern would be I'd walk in November 2nd and be unable to vote,' he said."

Undecided in Iowa?

Or anywhere else for that matter. Hat tip to Andrew P: DesMoinesRegister

"This is America. Land of freedom, opportunity and strong if sometimes ill-informed opinion.

No one who's been paying attention can be undecided. After following Bush and Kerry day after day, it's humanly impossible to not favor one over the other."