Newsweek: Schizophrenia on the web.

Yesterday, Eleanor Clift writes a bit about Dean and hand wringing of the Beltway Democrats, while today..The same publication releases the results of a poll, showing Dean's star rising, whilst Bush's numbers are the lowest in Newsweek's history. Perhaps after their recess, the movers and shakers of the Democratic party will show some support of Dean.

If voters are at all interested in what is truly in their best interests'(and there is much precedent that they don't vote this way), then anyone but Bush would be a shoo-in.

A-List blogger Atrios has declared Monday Dec. 15th to be, "Write like Nedra Pickler" day.

Democratic front-runner Howard Dean of Vermont acknowledged that Al 'Qaeda' Gore's endorsement has "been beneficial", and gave Gore a nod in making the World Widw Web available to all, while neglecting to add that if it wasn't for Ben Franklin's experiments with electricity, his internet success would have never been possible.

Fuck!! My entire ~1000 words or so concerning the US and global job markets present and future just got nixed by a power outage. Argggh!!!

Shorter version:

Short term solution: Job retraining likely to result in lower paying, but better than McJobs.

Longer term: Attempt to bring rest of world up to US standards in all areas of work environment.

Prognosis:

Short term: outlook reasonable chances for success

Long term: outlook continued to be plagued by continually changing nations with younger work forces.

Okay. I was just at Atrios' site, and there is more about an AP writer named Nedra Pickler. If you take a look at her(?) writing style, you'll note an oddly disassociated manner. Try Googling.

Ms.(?) Pickler, in an effort to in her words, "Cover both sides of an issue," inserts the oddest of personal editorial in what should be straight news coverage. We here at PureBS™ are non-partisan. We simply point out that things are not always what they seem.

The thing that struck Atrios, and me as well, about her story in the Washington post here, is that in a straight news story with the byline Surging Front-Runner Dean Under Attack, Pickler adds this intuitive gem: "But when he criticizes Bush's links to Lay, Dean never mentions that Enron's mismanagement was not the result of the president's tax-cut package."

Odd to say the least. Nor does he(Howard Dean) mention the Invisible Pink Unicorn Theory to describe the universe. Both statements are equally spurious. Ms.(?) Pickler does not seem to be able to differentiate between hard news and editorial. I am certain that this is a blindspot that a large quantity of my fellow Americans have as well.

On a more interesting note, that paradigm of morality, Rush Limbaugh, has taken note of Ms.(?) Pickler's work and -- here's the shocker -- has thrown his support behind the AP reporter. Ms. Pickler's balancing act has not added much of value to the national discourse, and Rush's support may be an indication that Ms.(?) Pickler's job with the AP may be on life support. More to follow, I'm sure.

Today's reading assignments:

Salon..everything.

The NYT Reports on CT Governor John Rowland's(R-Reprehensible) shenanigans..Can you say, 'recall?' He may cede the office without another Californian style coup.

On an interesting note, Democratic frontrunner, Howard Dean, is winning converts as well as raking in the dough. Eveything that Dean has wanted, he has gotten. I read an article -- can't find it now -- that detailed Dean's long string of successes. With Gore's endorsement, he has gotten the inside the beltway nod that he was missing. I think that the media, in trying to make Gore's endorsement into a non-issue, have really created the story here.

The unelectable Bush pisses off everyone.

Okay. The dynamic between Bush, Cheney, Halliburton, France, Germany, Canada, Great Britain, some GOP members, the UN, the Pentagon and whomever is really in charge in Iraq is simple.

Oh, I know, you'll hear all manner of Bush policy apologists telling you it's not their guy's fault. Bollocks. Everything, from the Halliburton billing fiasco to the row over -- and let's be adults here, and call the Iraqi 'obstructionists', the countries that got the WMD issue right -- the issuing of rebuilding contracts, to the cancellation of debt...is dubya's fault. If you want to play commander-in-chief, it's a four year commitment.

Additional color regarding the issuance of contracts here.

A taste of Halliburton's greed here.

Finally, a smattering of James Baker's Excellent Debt Adventure. Odd that ol' Jim still serves as senior counsel to the Carlyle Group. Can you say conflict of interest? Very good.

Now that we've cleared the air, it's time to polka!!

Note: If this seems a bit of a ramble, it is due in part to my being dreadfully tired. I know that my sentence structure could use work. Oh well.

Hungry? Out of Work? The Bush Recovery™ not working for you?

We explain a bit. Mind you, this recovery is now in its (drum roll, please) 23rd month. No, that is not a misprint. As you may have guessed, this is far from an average recovery. A few figures:

The economy has gained 330,000 jobs since August, lagging about 7 million jobs behind the normal hiring cycle after a recession, says Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley’s chief economist.

The jobs picture is even bleaker if you remember that the economy has lost 2.8 million relatively high-paying manufacturing jobs since the start of the down cycle. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average manufacturing worker who is laid off takes a 13% to 14% wage cut in his or her new job.

Many of this recovery’s new jobs come with fewer benefits. But even those companies that continue to provide solid benefits are passing on more of that cost. According to Hewitt Associates, employees can expect to pay 23% of the cost of their own health-care benefits in 2004, up from 21% in 2003.

Things are far from robust. Tomorrow, we'll offer more color to the continued economc malaise, and offer some short, and long term solutions.

Bob Somerby

Well, okay..not Bob Somerby, but this is his turf..CNN(Clearly Not News)'s Bill Schneider offers up this byline:

Gore reinvents himself yet again

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Remember how Al Gore kept re-inventing himself during the 2000 campaign? He's still at it.

This week, the newest Al Gore showed up to claim the political Play of the Week.

Former Vice President Al Gore joins the revolution! Gore, the ultimate party insider, has cast his lot with Howard Dean's outsiders.

Gore's endorsement doesn't just make Dean the man to beat. It also transforms Gore into a man with a future. Gore is clearly impressed by Dean's army of energetic, Internet-savvy political insurgents.

"Howard Dean really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire, at the grassroots level all over this country, the kind of passion and enthusiasm for democracy and change and transformation of America that we need in this country," said Gore on Tuesday.

There's a political movement going on out there.

"What even we underestimated was the huge response that we've gotten in terms of the resources, the energy, the number of people out there leafleting and talking about Howard Dean," said Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager, on October 17.

Al Gore doesn't want to stop it. He wants to be part of it. More blather.

**********************************************************

Mr. Schneider and his League Of Pundits Know that you know that Gore re-invents himself...why? Because they've been telling you so for years. Of course they never get around to telling you exactly how Mr. Gore transforms. That is simply because what they know you know is a fabrication.

UPDATE

Aunti Idiot Aryan calls off shock troops. Brownshirts in despair..Story here. More at eleven!!

Civility Declared Dead

In a startlingly chilling episode best explained by David Neiwert's excellent series: Rush, Newspeak and Fascism: An exegesis, self-styled "anti-idiotarian" Emperor Misha I...the pseudonym for an anonymous blogger of the fascist bent..has put out nothing short of a cyber bounty of sorts against Eric A. Blumrich, replete with a map, and a "signed coffee mug" for a reward should one of his(?) minions find Mr. Blumrich's head on a pike. I'll not link to Auntie Idiot Aryan's site because he(?) doesn't need further rewards for his(?) misdeeds.

Here's a link to another's thoughts about the matter. Yeah, I know, it's an About.com agnosticism/atheism site, but of the four sites that I found that had commentary about this repugnant issue, it has the best synopsis.

I urge any and all readers to bookmark and read Neiwert's excellent Fascism series. It's in layman's term yet borrows much from scholarly texts.

**************************

*sigh*

Lovely.

WASHINGTON Dec. 11 — Pentagon auditors found that Vice President Dick Cheney's former company overcharged by possibly as much as $61 million for gasoline in Iraq, senior defense officials said Thursday.

Halliburton's subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, also submitted a proposal for cafeteria services that was $67 million too high, the officials said speaking on the condition of anonymity. The officials said the Pentagon rejected that proposal.

The Pentagon officials said they were concerned about the problems with KBR's contracts, which were awarded without competitive bidding for up to $15.6 billion.

"Contractor improprieties and/or contract mischarging on department contracts will neither be condoned nor allowed to continue," Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon's budget chief, said Thursday.

Defense officials said the Pentagon was negotiating with KBR over how to resolve the fuel overcharging issue.

As uncurious George would say.."corporate malfeance."

****************************************

I know how to solve this issue. Get Cheney's cronies hands' out of the pie!

It's a good day to be an American.

Unelectable. The biography of George W. Bush.

I need some answers, dammit!!

Today's questions:

1) What is the status of the 'investigation' of the Valerie Plame investigation?

2) What is the status of requiring electronic voting machines to print a paper document? Nationwide and voter reviewed is the only acceptable solution.

3) What is the status of the new WMD search in Iraq? David Kay(not a scientist), where are you?

That is all.

I need answers, dammit!!