MaxSpeak on John Kerry’s debate with “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” mouthpiece John O’Neil – circa 1971:

More important is how O’Neill’s defense of the Vietnam war looks with the benefit of hindsight, and with respect to Iraq. It’s all there: the progress reports based on bogus numbers, the commitment to replace U.S. troops with those of South Vietnam. The defense by O’Neill of acts that could be classified as war crimes. Interesting was that, then as now, O’Neill demands that Kerry name names. In other words, when Kerry says the U.S. is violating international law, and that he himself was a party to such violations, O’Neill demands that Kerry and associates file depositions that can be used as evidence in criminal prosecutions of other veterans. Then as now, the jingoists would shift the blame from those in command to those on the ground. Support the troops, indeed. It’s hard to see how any veteran could come away from this debate with animus towards Kerry. Disagreement, of course. But not personal dislike. By the way, I recall nothing from this debate from O’Neill — I didn’t catch all of it — contesting Kerry’s medals. Given how hard he comes after Kerry for his beliefs, it’s hard to believe he would have foregone this line of attack if there had been anything to it at the time. Nor can I imagine the Nixon Administration failing to investigate any dubious award of a medal to such a nettlesome critic.

LiberalOasis juxtaposes Bush’s claim yesterday that missile defense is “the future” and its opponents are “living in the past” with the Republicans’ deafness before 9/11 to warnings like this one from Senator Levin (D-MI):

The greatest threat to us are the terrorist[s] who could use a truck, who could use a ship, who could use a suitcase against us. That [missile defense] system does nothing for that.

As LiberalOasis observes:

Now after 9/11, the Bush Administration still hasn’t modernized its outlook, still hasn’t invested in border security, still hasn’t secured Russian loose nukes, still is pushing Reagan-era missile defense boondoggles. Also of note in Dubya’s remarks yesterday, he renewed his cry for “medical liability reform now.” Apparently tort reform is more urgent to Bush than our intelligence system.

Skimping on bread and circuses, the Bloomberg administration offers protesters buttons and discounts not to do anything too distracting:

Law-abiding protesters will be given buttons that bear a fetching rendition of the Statue of Liberty holding a sign that reads, “peaceful political activists.” Protesters can present the buttons at places like the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Sex, the Pokémon Center store and such restaurants as Miss Mamie’s Spoonbread Too and Applebee’s to save some cash during their stay. If only the Romanovs had thought of this. “It’s no fun to protest on an empty stomach,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday, when he announced the program at NYC & Company, the city’s tourism office, which will distribute the buttons to all comers to its Midtown office. Protesters can also get the buttons from groups that have a legal permit to rally. But Mr. Bloomberg conceded yesterday that not everyone who wore a button would be strictly vetted for his or her peacefulness. “Unfortunately, we can’t stop an anarchist from getting a button,” he said, though he doubted any of them would want to wear one.

Anarchists aren’t the only ones amomg the overwhelmingly violence-rejecting protesters who’ll be rejecting the impiratur buttons as well. I can think of some things Mayor Bloomberg could do with those buttons…

Josh Benson notes that John Kerry has given the Democrats better polling on the taxes issue than Republicans for the first time in decades:

Republicans have “owned” the tax issue for the better part of half a century, but all that may be changing with this election. An ABC News/Washington Post poll from two weeks ago found that, when asked, “Who would you trust more to handle taxes?” Kerry led Bush 49% to 43%. By contrast, when asked a similar question in late July of 2000, voters chose Bush over Al Gore by 15 points. Given the historical advantage of Republicans on the tax issue, John Kerry’s ability to claw to parity is remarkable: Bush delivered wildly on his 2000 campaign promises, only to lose ground on taxes to the Democrats.

To be fair, I think it’s Bush, not Kerry, who deserves the credit for utterly shredding the GOP’s credibility on the tax issue, as local and state taxes have shot up nation-wide to accomodate Bush’s combination of tax cuts and spending hikes and to compensate for Bush’s concurrent spending cuts in the areas that hurt.

Iraqi police threaten journalists’ lives:

Iraqi police have threatened to kill every journalist working in the holy city of Najaf, where US forces are locked in a tense stand-off with Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army. After a series of veiled warnings to leave on Sunday, two marked police cars pulled up at dusk outside the Sea of Najaf hotel on the outskirts of town, where Arab and Western journalists are staying. Ten uniformed policemen walked into the hotel and demanded that the al-Arabiya, Reuters and AP correspondents go with them. Journalists told them they were not there, but the policemen found and arrested Ahmed al-Salahih, the al-Arabiya correspondent, who the day before had been given a special exemption from the earlier eviction orders. A uniformed lieutenant then told the assembled journalists and hotel staff: “We are going to open fire on this hotel. I’m going to smash it all, kill you all, and I’m going to put four snipers to target anybody who goes out of the hotel. You have brought it upon yourselves.”

I wouldn’t expect to hear anything about this from American authorities because, you know, Iraqis are sovereign now. I mean, it’s not like they’re trying to do anything really immoral, like nationalizing industry or creating a social welfare system.

Nicholas Kristof on Bush’s assault weapon ban betrayal:

…at a gun store here in Meridian, a bit west of Boise, the counter has a display promising “2 FREE HIGH-CAPACITY MAGAZINES.” All you have to do is purchase a new Beretta 9-millimeter handgun and you’ll receive two high-capacity magazines – on the condition, the fine print states, that the federal ban expires on schedule. President Bush promised in the last presidential campaign to support an extension of the ban, which was put in place in 1994 for 10 years. “It makes no sense for assault weapons to be around our society,” Mr. Bush observed at the time. These days Mr. Bush still says that he’ll sign an extension of the ban if it happens to reach his desk. But he knows that the only way the ban can be extended on time is if he actually urges its passage, and he refuses to do that.

…assault weapons, while amounting to only 1 percent of America’s 190 million privately owned guns, account for a hugely disproportionate share of gun violence precisely because of their macho appeal…They accounted for 8.4 percent of the guns traced to crimes between 1988 and 1991, and they are still used in one in five fatal shootings of police officers. If anything, we should be plugging the holes in the ban by having it cover copycat weapons without bayonet mounts, instead of moving backward and allowing a new flood of weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The Bush Department of Housing and Urban Development shafts the homeless and the housing insecure:

Proposed cuts to Section 8 housing and other U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development programs could cause a drastic local increase in
homelessness, compounding a problem that is growing with a recent loss of
jobs and a rising cost of living, public housing advocates say. The initial Bush administration proposal sought to cut Section 8 funding by $1.6 billion, but was shot down in the U.S. House of Representatives. Under the revised proposal, $300 million would be cut from Section 8, with another $1.2 billion cut from other public housing programs, said HUD Regional New England spokeswoman Kristine Foye. Section 8 is an $18 billion rental voucher program mostly serving those making under 30 percent of the median income for their area. Some of the other programs to be slashed included Hope VI, which is funding used to restore public housing, and rental assistance. Foye said HUD’s position is that the cuts will not have an adverse effect, since the organization is revamping its system…Under the new “Flexible Voucher Program,” local public housing authorities
will determine rent payments for those participating in Section 8 and will
be able to immediately respond to local market changes.

But Alison Cunningham, executive director of Columbus Emergency Shelter of
New Haven, disagrees with HUD’s assessment of the proposed cuts. “At a time when the number of homeless people is rising, you don’t cut funding for (public) housing,” she said. “It’s going to affect all of us in this business.” She said she expected demand for services to increase. Additionally, a program Columbus House is involved with, Sojourner’s Place, is funded by HUD and may be in jeopardy. This transitional housing program currently helps 16 women and Cunningham said the proposed cuts would mean that they would have to rely more on private donations.

Paul Krassner on democracy delayed – then and now:

I had been informed by a reliable source that a think tank, the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California, was contracted to determine how Americans might react to a cancellation of the election in 1972 because of “internal civil unrest” in response to the Vietnam war. Investigative journalist Ron Rosenbaum was able to determine that I was the fourth person down from a leaker in the White House. Feeling like the Ancient Mariner waving his filthy albatross in front of anybody who would listen, I did my best to spread the word, regardless of the possibility that I was being used to float a trial balloon.

I worked my way up from the underground papers to the reporters in the press tent at Woodstock. I blabbed about it at campus appearances and in alternative radio interviews. Ultimately the story filtered up into the mainstream media. When Attorney General John Mitchell announced that whoever had started this rumor should be “punished,” I sent him a letter confessing my sin, but I never heard back. Meanwhile, the Rand Corporation concluded that the average American citizen would not stand for a cancellation of the election. Now, 35 years later, that same possibility has been floated publicly from the White House by Condoleezza Rice and others, a trial balloon propelled by the arrogance of power but pricked by the polls. Oh, well, there’s always the possibility of declaring martial law.

Clinton takes one last shot at the underclass:

City officials want to eradicate 27 homeless camps, getting their occupants into shelters or out of town as Little Rock prepares for the high-profile opening of the Clinton Presidential Library. Officials deny the strategy has anything to do with the Nov. 18 opening, but homeless advocates fear the city is being merciless – perhaps at the behest of the library. The homeless were living at the library site before construction began.

A disgrace:

Israeli prison officers were looking Monday to tempt Palestinian inmates into abandoning an ongoing hunger strike with the aromas of barbecued meat and freshly baked bread. Officers were hoping that the psychological warfare tactics would derail the protest by thousands of prisoners which began on Sunday and is aimed at improving the conditions of the 8,000 inmates. Reports said that barbecues had been set up in the prison courtyards, extra bread and cakes were being cooked in the kitchens, while prison guards have been instructed to eat in front of inmates. A prison service spokeswoman said that while it was not official policy, individual guards were entitled to employ their own tactics to break the prisoners resolve…Some 1,550 of the 3,800 inmates inside detention centers run by the Israeli prison service were now observing the strike on Monday while others held in military-run prisons were also refusing their food although exact figures were not available.