GET OVER IT, WE LOST!
Even as Sen. John F. Kerry's campaign is steadfastly refusing to challenge the results of the presidential election, the bloggers and the mortally wounded party loyalists and the spreadsheet-wielding conspiracy theorists are filling the Internet with head-turning allegations that frauds cost the Democrats the election.
"At this point the number of irregularities brought to our attention is not going to change the outcome of the election," said DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera. "The simple fact of the matter is that Republicans received more votes than Democrats, and we're not contesting this election."
(WASHINGTON POST)

17 REASONS NOT TO SLIT YOUR WRISTS
"If you're looking on the bright side, there's some good news to be found in Tuesday's results. "
(ALTERNET)

ALABAMA HEALTH RANKINGS RELEASED
"Alabama is tied with West Virginia for 43rd this year; it was also 43rd in 2003. Strengths include strong support for public health with 7.3 percent of the state health budget allocated to public health, high access to adequate prenatal care with 77.8 percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care and a moderate rate of uninsured population at 14.2 percent. Alabama's challenges include a high prevalence of obesity at 28.4 percent of the population (Our state is the fattest, click here for details), a high premature death rate with 9,814 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population and a low high school graduation rate with 57.2 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate within four years. Alabama is 39th for the combined measures of risk factors and 47th for the combined measures of outcomes, indicating that the state's relative healthiness may remain steady or improve in future years. Disparities in health outcomes are high in Alabama, as shown in the difference in premature death rates. "
(Suggested by Jim Sturdevant)

US COMPANY FINED FOR SELLING VACCINES TO CUBA
"In early June, Chiron Corp was slapped with a $168,500 fine by the U.S. Treasury Department for having shipped vaccines to Cuba for infants and children from its plants in Germany and Italy in 1999-2002. The vaccines included those for polio, haemophilus influenza, flu, rabies and a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. The sanction, according to this Cuban site, "came only two months after the Bush administration had unveiled its program to 'aid the Cuban people' in which it promised that once the current Cuban government is removed, the United States will launch a program to assure that all children under 5 years of age will be vaccinated against the very diseases prevented by these vaccines."
(MEDICC.ORG)

YOUTH VOTE DID MATERIALIZE
"The 2004 presidential race, as far as the youth vote was concerned, was a landmark election, bringing out nearly 21 million voters under the age of 30 to the polls, the biggest turnout, in raw numbers, since 1972.'
The youth vote in 2000 made up 16.4 percent of the total, translating to about 16.2 million votes. In 2004, the the youth vote made up 18.4 percent, translating to about 20.9 million votes. That's a jump of 4.6 million and a jump in overall turnout, too. More than 51 percent of citizens ages 18 to 29 voted. In 2000, it was 42.3 percent."
(WASHINGTON POST)

MILITARY 'COMMISSIONS' HALTED BY FEDERAL JUDGE
"A coalition of defense lawyers and conservative military law experts hailed a decision by a federal judge halting the Bush Administration's special trials at the U.S. military prison in Cuba.
In a setback for the Bush administration, U.S. District Judge James Robertson found that detainees at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may be prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions and therefore entitled to the protections of international and military law -- which the government has declined to grant them. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

ELECTION SEEN AS GREEN LIGHT FOR GOP ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
"With the elections over, Congress and the Bush administration are moving ahead with ambitious environmental agendas that include revamping signature laws on air pollution and endangered species and reviving a moribund energy bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration. In addition, the administration intends to accelerate conservation efforts by distributing billions of dollars to private landowners for the preservation of wetlands and wildlife habitats."
(NEW YORK TIMES)

LESBIAN ELECTED DALLAS' SHERIFF (NO, REALLY!)
"One-time migrant farm worker Lupe Valdez made history this week when she became the first woman and the first Hispanic elected Dallas County sheriff, not to mention the first Democrat to win the post since the mid-1970s. She also is openly gay."
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, unearthed by Bill Messick)

EMINEN JOINS THE REVOLUTION
"Eminem, the man who George Bush once called 'the most dangerous threat to American children since polio' , and one of the least likely artists to come out with an overtly political message and a rallying call to youth, released 'Mosh, a rousing call to arms for the hip hop generation to take back the government that seeks to represent them.
With 'Mosh,' Eminem, the most polarizing musician of our times, takes on the most polarizing election of our times.
In the video, Eminem leads a mob fired up and politicized by four years of outrage and anger at the Bush administration. Clad in black hoodies, fists raised, the angry young men and women descend on a state building ... to vote."
(ALTERNET)

UNION CLAIMS HATCH ACT VIOLATION BY FORMER BUSH ADVISER
"When retired Air Force Col. Ken Cordier took questions during a mandatory training session on prisoner-of-war issues, 'his comments included statements about scumbags who threw their medals over the fence, [and] that the Democratic Party was the 'peace' party, as if that were a derogatory title,' an American Federation of Government Employee wrote in the union's request for a Hatch Act investigation. "
(WASHINGTON POST)

BUSH'S PENCHANT FOR SECRECY
"As detailed in a telling new Congressional report, Mr. Bush's secrecy obsession - by now a widely recognized hallmark of his presidency - is truly out of hand."
CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT
CLICK HERE FOR A DETAILED PRESS RELEASE
(NYT)

NEWS CREW CONFIRMS WEAPONS THERE AFTER US ARRIVAL
A videotape shows a huge supply of explosives still at the Al Qaqaa munitions complex nine days after the fall of Baghdad.
FOR AN ONGOING DISCUSSION ON THIS TOPIC SEE THE TALKING POINTS BLOG

(NYT)

WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN SPIN
"As the presidential election reaches its final days, both campaigns are airing a barrage of dishonest claims in their advertisements. An examination of several prominent examples demonstrates just how bad the situation has become."
(SPINSANITY)

SWING STATE REVIEW
The blog, Election Law at Moritz is publishing a swing state review, most importantly reporting that "All eyes are, or should be, on Ohio, as the state prepares to conduct hearings later this week on the challenges raised by the Republican Party to over 20,000 newly registered voters. The vast majority of these challenges will occur in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and is predominantly Democratic territory. The county's board of elections will hold hearings at the Cleveland Convention Center to hear the more 17,000 challenges lodged by the Republicans in this county. "
(ELECTION LAW AT MORITZ, unearthed by Ed Still's VOTELAW)

IS TOO!
Minneapolis' City Pages has just posted a story with some Bush quotes, the most interesting of which is a listing of the times he has made the al Qaeda/Sadam connection.
"This is a person [Saddam] who has had contacts with al Qaeda."
--October 2002
"He's got connections with al Qaeda."
--October 2002
"This is a guy who has had connections with these shadowy terrorist networks."
--October 2002
"We know he's got ties with al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"In terms of [Iraq's] support for terrorism, we have established that Iraq has permitted al Qaeda to operate within its territory. As the president said recently, 'The regime has long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist organizations. And there are al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq.' The president has made his position on Iraq eminently clear, and in the coming weeks and months we shall see what we shall see."
--John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, speech to the Hudson Institute
"We know that he's had connections with al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"He's had connections with shadowy terrorist networks like al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"We know that he has had contacts with terrorist networks like al Qaeda."
--November 2002
"And, not only that, he is--would like nothing better than to hook up with one of these shadowy terrorist networks like al Qaeda, provide some weapons and training to them, let them come and do his dirty work, and we wouldn't be able to see his fingerprints on his action."
--November 2002
"Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda."
--January 2003
"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East."
--GWB to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, as reported in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, June 23, 2003
"Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out."
--Speaking to Condi Rice, March 2002, a full year before the invasion of Iraq.

(CITY PAGES)