Republicans Basing Campaigns on Attack Ads

Republicans seem to have realized that their own candidates have little to offer so they've moved on to attacking Democrats. I've never been a real big fan of attack ad's but since the first target selected is Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown I'm really not thrilled.

Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

More at the Washington Post.

ABC Marketing "Path to 9/11" As Fact In Australia

ABC is lying again. Despite admitting that some scenes were based on events that never happened, ABC has been advertising "Path to 9/11" in Australia with the tagline "The story of exactly what happened". AMERICAblog has a picture up.

Where Is Michael Moore?

As the ABC controversy continues to unfold I've got to ask, where is Michael Moore? He's the perfect person to be speaking out against ABC. After all it was ABC's parent company, Disney, that ordered Miramax to back out of distributing Fahrenheit 9/11. Who else would be more fit to ask why ABC seems to be charging ahead with "Path to 9/11" then someone who's film from the other political side was dropped?

Guantanamo Inmate Pays Disney A Visit

Someone put a life size dummy of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, complete with hood, up along the track of Disneyland's "Rocky Mountain Railroad" ride.

Families visiting Disneyland on their holiday this week saw a life-size Guantanamo bay inmate standing inside the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland in Anaheim California.

The sculpture, consisting of an inflatable doll dressed in an orange jumpsuit with its hands and feet manacled remained in place for one and a half hours before Disneyland's security staff shut down the ride and removed it amid fears over public safety.

More can be found at the Wooster Collective.

Critic Says Path to 9/11 "Deserves to Bomb" Anyways

A television critic for the Chicago Sun-Times has criticized ABC's "Path to 9/11" for just being plain old boring. The review is filled with lines like "'Path' is the dullest, worst-shot TV movie since ABC's disastrous 'Ten Commandments' remake" and my personal favorite:

"Excuse us all, writer Cyrus Nowrasteh and director David L. Cunningham, for not acting like Hitler Youth in the glory days before ordinary Americans knew commercial planes could be turned into missiles."

Yes, it seems that ABC's attempts to add drama through fiction have failed miserably with the film receiving zero stars.

ABC Still Plans To Air "Path to 9/11"

Though rumors circulated that ABC was considering pulling the flick, as of 8 P.M. Friday ABC is still planning on airing it as planned. They are, however, doing some last minute editing.

Source: E! Online News

US Paid Florida Journalists To Undermine Cuba

Ten Florida journalists working for a Spanish language paper in Miami were paid more than $300,000 to work on radio and TV stations that the US broadcasts into Cuba. BBC reports that the signals can't be broadcast in the US due to anti-propaganda laws.

The Cuban government has long alleged that journalists writing on US-Cuban politics were in the pay of the US government.

In July a row erupted in Argentina between Cuban President Fidel Castro and Juan Manuel Cao, a reporter for Miami's Spanish-language Channel 41.

Mr Cao put Mr Castro on the spot and the president replied by asking if anyone was paying him to ask that question.

Mr Cao has now admitted being paid by the US government, the Herald reports.

''There is nothing suspect in this,'' he said. "I would do it for free. But the regulations don't allow it. I charge symbolically, below market prices.'' -- BBC

Ten journalists, including two staffers with The Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper, received a total of more than $300,000 from the U.S. government for working on a radio and TV station aimed at undermining Cuba's communist government, the Herald reported Friday.

Pablo Alfonso, who reported on Cuba and wrote an opinion column for El Nuevo Herald, was paid almost $175,000 since 2001 by the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting to host shows on Radio and TV Marti, according to government documents obtained by The Miami Herald.

Olga Connor, a freelance reporter who wrote about Cuban culture for El Nuevo Herald, received about $71,000, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who covered the Cuban exile community and politics, was paid almost $15,000 in the last five years, The Miami Herald reported. -- Local6.com

Google Launches News Archive Search

Google has rolled out a new feature for it's invaluable Google News service. The News Archive search goes back farther then the 30 days the typical news search does and automatically generates a timeline featuring top stories. Some stories can be accessed for free though some require a subscription to the paper or charge a small fee for access to the article.

News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. Users can search for events, people, ideas and see how they have been described over time. In addition to searching for the most relevant articles for their query, users can get an historical overview of the results by browsing an automatically created timeline. Search results include both content that is accessible to all users and content that requires a fee. Articles related to a single story within a given time period are grouped together to allow users to see a broad perspective on the events. -- Google

More details can be found on the Google Blog.

Al Gore Joins The Anti-ABC Crew

Al Gore has joined the ranks of those opposing ABC's "Path to 9/11" mockumentary. Gore released a statement saying that he was "deeply concerned that ABC is considering going forward with their plans to broadcast this so-called docudrama".

In an interesting note, the "Path to 9/11" blog ABC had set up took down a statement supporting the film supposedly from the makers of Syriana and An Inconvenient Truth.

Also it seems ABC is suffering a defection as Harvey Keitel, an actor who plays an FBI agent in the film, has joined in the criticizing of the film. He made the following statement on CNN.

You can't put these things together, compress them and then distort the reality. . . . You cannot cross the line from a conflation of events to a distortion of the event," Keitel said. "Where we have distorted something, we made a mistake, and it should be corrected.

Sources:

• Washington Post
  
• Think Progress

It's also worth mentioning that this is the 200th post for Left of Ohio.

Republicans Have No Room To Talk About ABC Documentary

A controversial documentary is made by a major network and is set to be aired. A political party criticizes the film saying it's inaccurate. The year is 2003. The network is CBS. The documentary is titled "The Reagans".

A four-hour miniseries on Ronald and Nancy Reagan has created a firestorm for CBS as Republican loyalists marshaled a campaign to soften the TV movie's depiction of the former president. -- USA Today

Yes, the ABC "Path to 9/11" controversy isn't the first of it's kind. If you've noticed that for the most part Republicans haven't been speaking out against film critics it might just be due to their objections to The Reagans and their fear of being labeled a hypocrite. In fact some Republicans have gone one step further and urged ABC to fix historical inaccuracies in the film, and for that I applaud them.

2,973 people of all races, religions, ethnicity's, and political background died in the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and any documentary should reflect the beliefs and purposes these people held dear in their lives, not someone else's political agenda or personal opinions.

Democratic Party Speaking Out Against "Path to 9/11"

The Democratic Party has a petition calling for ABC to pull the factitious "Path to 9/11" from it's lineup due to the way it portrays fictional scenes as fact.

MSNBC reported earlier today that rumors were going around that ABC was considering pulling the film.

Docudrama - A filmed dramatization based on fact that combines documentary and fictional elements. In the production process, "based on" allows the creators of the text wide creative latitude and a docudrama is, at best, a skillful representation of a real person or event.

Tribunal Plan Faces Turbulence

Bush's plan for terrorists to be tried in secret tribunals is facing criticism as the House prepares to take on the issue. The big surprise is that it's not just Democrats opposing the bill. Some "key Republicans" and Pentagon lawyers are also opposing the issue.

• Washington Post


• CNN

Senate Report Says No Saddam - al-Qaeda Link

MSNBC is saying that a Senate Committee has found that Saddam Hussein had no ties with al-Qaeda.

There’s no evidence Saddam Hussein had a relationship with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaida associates, according to a Senate report on prewar intelligence on Iraq released Friday. Democrats said the report undercuts President Bush’s justification for going to war.

The declassified document, written by the Senate Intelligence Committee, also explores the role that inaccurate information supplied by the Iraqi National Congress, an anti-Saddam exile group, had in the march to war.

It discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that prior to the war Saddam’s government “did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates.” -- MSNBC

Scholastic Dropping "Path to 9/11" Materials

TPMMuckraker is reporting the Scholastic has announced it won't be distributing the originally planned "Path To 9/11" but rather it will replace it with materials stressing media literacy and critical thinking. Full Scholastic press release below.

SCHOLASTIC REPLACES “THE PATH TO 9/11” CLASSROOM GUIDE WITH NEW DISCUSSION MATERIALS FOCUSING ON CRITICAL THINKING AND MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS

New York, NY (September 7, 2006) -- Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today announced that it is removing from its website the materials originally created for classroom use in conjunction with the ABC Television Network docudrama, “The Path to 9/ll,” scheduled to air on the ABC Television Network on September 10 and 11, 2006. A new classroom discussion guide for high school students is being created and will focus more specifically on media literacy, critical thinking, and historical background.

“After a thorough review of the original guide that we offered online to about 25,000 high school teachers, we determined that the materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with controversial issues,” said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO of Scholastic. “At the same time, we believe that developing critical thinking and media literacy skills is crucial for students in today’s society in order to participate fully in our democracy and that a program such as ‘The Path to 9/11’ provides a very ‘teachable moment’ for developing these skills at the high school level. We encourage teachers not to shy away from the controversy surrounding the program, but rather to engage their students in meaningful, in-depth discussion.”

The new guide clearly states that Scholastic had no involvement with developing the ABC docudrama, and that the company is not promoting the program, but that the program can provide a springboard to discussion about the issues leading up to 9/11, terrorism and the Middle East. The guide will focus on three issues:



1. Media Literacy - what is a docudrama; how does it differ from a documentary; what are the differences between factual reporting and a dramatization?

2. Background to 9/11 - what are some of the causes of unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world that give rise to attacks on the U.S. and other countries?

3. Geography and Culture -- there is a long history of conflict in the Middle East. How well do students understand each of the countries involved and what influences their behavior?

Scholastic has been providing free educational materials for use in the classroom in conjunction with television programs and films since the 1950’s. Classroom discussion guides have also been created in the past to support discussion of major events such as the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters, the shootings at Columbine and many others.

“As we have done with many discussion guides in the past related to major events, we encourage teachers to engage their students in these important discussions about news, media and public opinion. Understanding and evaluating media messages can be challenging for adults and young people alike and developing media literacy skills is critical for students in order for them to be well-informed participants in our democratic society,” added Robinson.
The Scholastic mission is clearly stated in its credo and editorial platform which includes the statement: “Good citizens may honestly differ on important public questions. We believe that all sides of the issues of our times should be fairly discussed – with deep respect for facts and logical thinking – in classroom magazines, books and other educational materials used in schools and homes.”

The new guide will be available on Friday, September 8 at www.scholastic.com/medialiteracy.

About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a leader in educational technology. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, and school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries and television networks; and the Company's Internet site, www.scholastic.com.

Contacts:

Scholastic
Kyle Good
212-343-4563
kgood@scholastic.com

ABC Statement About Pathgate

I found this at Think Progress, I'm not sure if it's the whole statement.

“The Path to 9/11″ is not a documentary of the events leading to 9/11. It is a dramatization, drawn from a variety of sources including the 9/11 Commission Report, other published materials, and personal interviews. As such, for dramatic and narrative purposes, the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, and time compression. No one has seen the final version of the film, because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible. The attacks of 9/11 were a pivotal moment in our history, and it is fitting that the debate about the events related to the attacks continue. However, we hope viewers will watch the entire broadcast of the finished film before forming an opinion about it.

Why Is The AARP Telling My County Not To Vote?

Today I opened up the Monroe County Beacon, a weekly newspaper that rarely has anything less than 2 weeks old, to find a 3/4 page ad with the words "Don't Vote" centered above the fold. Near the bottom appears the URL "dontvote.com" that leads to an AARP page saying to not vote until you know the issues. Just to be safe a WHOIS query confirmed the AARP owned the domain (though it was up for sale) and below the ad itself was the line "Paid for by AARP" followed by a Washington D.C. address.

Now it's okay for AARP to tell people to not vote until they know the issues. It's not okay to run an ad that says only "Don't Vote" in a county where most people don't use computers. The AARP needs to stop and think before it pulls stunts like this.

Washington Post Slams Bush On Secret CIA Prisons

The Washington Post has a story up slamming the Bush Administration for it's reaction to a WP reporters revelation of secret CIA prisons a few months ago. Yesterday Bush publicly admitted these CIA prisons existed.

If memory serves -- actually, I looked it up -- it was The Washington Post's Dana Priest who disclosed nine months ago that terror suspects were being interrogated at secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe.

This brought her lots of outrage, from the Bush administration and conservative critics. (Oh, and there was a Pulitzer, too.) Bill Frist and Dennis Hastert demanded an investigation, and a House committee launched one. Justice was notified as well, and the inevitable leak investigation was launched. The gist of the indictment: How dare a reporter and a newspaper undermine the war on terror by disclosing what the administration was doing with taxpayers' dollars?

Well, it took awhile, but yesterday President Bush confirmed the story. Used it in a speech. Some might even say used it as political ammunition. Now, apparently, with the five-year anniversary of 9/11 approaching -- not to mention the midterm elections -- it's okay to talk about secret prisons, at least if your initials are POTUS. -- Washington Post

Court Says Ohio Unfair to Minor Parties

It seems that a court ruled that Ohio's laws about getting on the ballot were unfair to minor parties.

CINCINNATI - Ohio's rules for primary elections make it too hard for minor parties to get on the ballot, a federal appeals court ruled.

That requirement meant minor parties had to file petitions with 32,290 voter signatures by Nov. 3, 2003, to get candidates on the March 2004 primary ballot.

"The practical effect of the state's election law has been to limit the rights of parties other than the Republican and Democratic Parties from appearing on the general election ballot," Gibbons wrote.

Judge Richard Griffin dissented in Wednesday's decision, saying that the Libertarians had been able to follow the rules in previous elections. Ohio election rules treat the Libertarians the same as any other political party, Griffin wrote.

State officials have contended that the rules are fair because they apply to all parties. Attorney General Jim Petro could seek a hearing by the full 6th Circuit or could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court U.S. Supreme Court.

Source

Pathgate Continues: ABC Under Even More Fire

The ABC docudrama "Path to 9/11" faces even more criticism. Think Progress is reporting that the FBI agent hired as a consultant for the film quit halfway through filming because writers and producers were “making things up”.

Senate Votes Down Ban On Cluster Bombs in Crowded Areas

Yesterday the Senate voted 70-30 on an amendment to the Pentagon budget bill that would ban the use cluster bombs near heavily populated areas. The infamous Ted Stevens (R-AK) was very vocal against the issue saying "The rules of engagement properly belong with the Department of Defense and the commander in chief" and that "the ability of our military to use these munitions to protect our people".

Israel has been criticized recently for its widespread use of cluster bombs in the recent conflict with Lebanon. UN teams in Lebanon to defuse landmines were reassigned to defusing unexploded bomblets after the cease fire.

Source

Breaking: ABC To Release Statement on "Path to 9/11"

MSNBC is reporting that ABC is about to make a statement about it's upcoming docudrama "The Path to 9/11"

Update: (1:13 P.M. 9/7/06)

After flashing the breaking news banner a few times and doing a few interviews MSNBC moved to another story. I'll try to find the statement text and post it unless it's done verbally.

Update #2 (2:13 P.M. 9/7/06

The ABC statement simply said it wasn't a documentary and that the docudrama (as they call it) will be aired as planned.

John Bolton Vote Put Off Again?

Looking over a Reuters political summary at the Washington Post that included this little paragraph:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday scrubbed a planned vote on President George W. Bush's bid to keep John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, did not explain why the vote on whether to send Bolton's nomination to the full Senate was removed from the day's agenda and did not say if or when it would be taken up again.

Is this an effort to try and keep Bolton in the UN even though it appears he would never make it through a Senate vote?

Ted Stevens Drops Hold Again

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) has once again dropped his "secret hold" on the pork transparency bill. Stevens and West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd (D) had previously been discovered as having holds on the bill. Stevens, who is infamous for his $200 million "Bridge to Nowhere" project, claimed the $15 million price tag on the bill was too high. Byrd claimed to have placed his hold so that there would be time to debate the issue. Both had dropped their holds though Stevens temporarily replaced his.

Though Senator Stevens has withdrawn his hold the bill is still being held up as another unknown Democrat has placed a new hold on the bill.

More at TPMMuckraker.

Ohio Governor Race Is Most Expensive In State History

Together the two gubernatorial candidates have earned a total of $21.2 million over the last 16 months according to reports filed on Wednesday, making this the most expensive gubernatorial election that the state has ever seen. Democrat Ted Strickland has a slight advantage with $11.2 million compared to Blackwell's $10 million.

Source: Akron Beacon Journal

Strickland Looking For The Sweet Sounds Of Victory

I was going through my email a minute ago and I found this overlooked gem sent on the first of the month.

The Strickland Campaign is forming a “campaign choir” to perform at targeted rallies during the month of October.

The purpose of the choir is to highlight the strengths of Ohio’s diversity and convey a positive message of hope for our state. The music will be high-energy, inspirational, and inclusive. The power of many voices coming together as one will be symbolic of the campaign itself.

The director of the choir, M. David Brown, has conducted choirs to sold-out audiences on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, as well as on Good Morning America and The Today Show. Mr. Brown’s work was recognized in Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine. His experience includes working with such artists as Whitney Houston, Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson and countless others, as well as Broadway artists Melba Moore, Daphne-Rubin Vega (Rent) and Jesse Martin (Rent, Law and Order), and gospel artists Kirk Franklin and Cissy Houston. Mr. Brown uses gospel-styled arrangements to build bridges between people of different faiths, backgrounds, and walks of life.

We are asking for those of you with a passion for music and a passion to Turn Around Ohio to join in this new endeavor. The rehearsal time will be minimal, and will occur in the evenings to avoid work conflicts. The music will not only help take Ted Strickland’s message to the masses, it will also lift your spirits and provide you with a unique forum to meet new people, all the while building stronger community support.

To express interest in becoming a part of the campaign choir, please send your name, experience (if any), voice part (soprano/alto/tenor/bass) and contact information to:

That definitely takes the cake for weirdest campaign tactic I've ever seen in Ohio.

Meet The Bloggers Is Making Ohio Candidates Do Exactly That

The website Meet The Bloggers is making Ohio Democrats do exactly that. The site runs a podcast (feed) featuring interviews with candidates from all over the state. I'd recommend checking them out.

CQPolitics Lists Ohio's Senate Race As "Leaning Republican"?

CQ currently rates the race in its highly competitive category of Leans Republican.

The CQPolitics website has categorized the Ohio Senate race as "Leaning Republican" even though polls show Democrat Sherrod Brown in the lead. I know it's not worth making a big deal over but I'd still say the race should be moved to "No Clear Favorite".

Republicans Are Divided On Wiretapping

It seems some Republicans may not be going along with Bush's plan to have Congress legalize his controversial NSA wiretapping program. Four different bills are being proposed on the issue causing many to wonder how Republicans will manage to pull together enough focus to get one passed

Republican leaders have planned to produce legislation by month's end that would give the administration as much latitude as possible to continue the program. But that effort may be splintering. The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider as many as four contradictory bills on the issue tomorrow and could approve all of them. That would leave it to Senate leaders and the White House to sort out how to proceed.

Sens. Mike DeWine (Ohio), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) sponsored a competing bill that would require a court-issued warrant for wiretapping beyond 45 days, unless the attorney general certifies to Congress in writing and under oath that such a warrant could not be obtained but that the surveillance is necessary for national security. With DeWine and Graham on the Judiciary Committee, the legislation is likely to be approved tomorrow, committee staff members and Senate leadership aides said yesterday.

Both quotes from the Washington Post.

CBS Poll Shows Many Americans Feel Less Safe Since 9/11/01

A CBS poll shows that a lot of Americans feel less safe now than they did before September 11th, 2001. While not a majority, 46% of those polled said they felt "uneasy or in danger". Only 14% said they feel safer now than they did 5 years ago.

By a four-to-one margin (48 percent to 12 percent), Americans think the war in Iraq has made the threat of terrorism against the United States worse rather than better.

Ohio 6th and 18th Districts Both Leaning Democrat

Ohio 2006 is reporting that Democrats are leading polls in both the 6th and 18th districts. Both seats are open. The 18th seat is currently held by Bob Ney who, due to scandal allegations, pulled out of the race. The 6th district is held by Ted Strickland who is the Democratic nominee for Ohio Governor.

6th District
56% Wilson (D)
40% Blasdel (R)

18th District
47% Space (D)
43% Undetermined Republican

The 18th district will choose a Republican candidate in a September 14th special election.

Democratic Party Speaks Out Against ABC 9/11 Docudrama

The following is a letter sent out by the Democratic party about the upcoming ABC documentary about 9/11.

Dear David,

Does a major national broadcast network want to stain itself by presenting an irresponsible, slanderous, fraudulent, "docu-drama" to the American public?

Not if you and I have the last word -- but either way, we're about to find out.

The ABC television network -- a cog in the Walt Disney empire -- unleashed a promotional blitz in the last week for a new "docudrama" called "The Path to 9/11". ABC has thrown its corporate might behind the two-night production, and bills it as a public service: a TV event, to quote the ABC tagline, "based on the 9/11 Commission Report".

That's false. "The Path to 9/11" is actually a bald-faced attempt to slander Democrats and revise history right before Americans vote in a major election.

The miniseries, which was put together by right-wing conservative writers, relies on the old GOP playbook of using terrorism to scare Americans. "The Path to 9/11" mocks the truth and dishonors the memory of 9/11 victims to serve a cheap, callous political agenda. It irresponsibly misrepresents the facts and completely distorts the truth.

ABC/Disney executives need to hear from the public and understand that their abuse of the public trust comes with a cost. Tell Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger to keep this right-wing propaganda off the air -- we'll deliver your message:

http://www.democrats.org/pathto911

This story is breaking quickly. The bias of the "docudrama" only became known when ABC began circulating previews recently. Less than two weeks ago, 9/11 Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste confronted a lead writer of "The Path to 9/11" after watching the first half of the miniseries at a screening, but most of what we know amounts to bits and pieces because ABC chose to screen the miniseries to conservative bloggers and right-wing media outlets exclusively. Almost none of the Democrats portrayed in the film have even been asked for their thoughts.

But we still know enough, thanks to news accounts and crack research, to fact check "The Path to 9/11" as a biased, irresponsible mess. Here's what you need to know:

• Richard Clarke -- the counterterrorism czar for the Clinton administration, now himself a consultant to ABC News -- describes a key scene in "The Path to 9/11" as "180 degrees from what happened." In the scene, a CIA field agent places a phone call to get the go ahead to kill Osama Bin Laden, then in his sights, only to have a senior Clinton administration official refuse and hang up the phone. Sandy Berger, President Clinton's National Security Advisor, called the same scene "a total fabrication. It did not happen." And Roger Cressey, a top Bush and Clinton counterterrorism official, said it was "something straight out of Disney and fantasyland. It's factually wrong. And that's shameful."
  
• Another scene revives the old right-wing myth that press reporting made it impossible to track Osama bin Laden, accusing the Washington Post of blowing the secret that American intelligence tracked his satellite phone calls. In reality, responsibility for that blunder -- contrary to "The Path to 9/11" -- rests with none other than the arch-conservative Washington Times.
  
• The former National Security Council head of counterterrorism says that President Clinton "approved every request made of him by the CIA and the U.S. military involving using force against bin Laden and al-Qaeda," and the 9/11 report says the CIA had full authority from President Clinton to strike Bin Laden. Yet chief "Path to 9/11" scriptwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh, a friend of Rush Limbaugh, says the miniseries shows how President Clinton had "frequent opportunities in the '90s to stop Bin Laden in his tracks -- but lacked the will to do so."
  
• ABC asked only the Republican co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean, Sr., to advise the makers of "The Path to 9/11". The producers optioned two books, one written by a Bush administration political appointee, as the basis of the screenplay -- yet bill the miniseries as "based on the 9/11 Commission Report."

This is a picture of bias -- a conservative attempt to rewrite the history of September 11 to blame Democrats, just in time for the election.

Tell Walt Disney president Robert Iger that you hold his company responsible -- and that this community demands that ABC tell the truth:

http://www.democrats.org/pathto911

ABC is trying to use of the airwaves -- airwaves owned by you and me, and loaned to broadcasters as a public trust -- to slander Democrats and sell a slanderous, irresponsible fraud to the American people, and they're shamefully doing it just weeks away from Election Day.

The Walt Disney Corporation could have given Americans an honest look at September 11. Instead, the company abandoned its duty to the truth -- and embraced the fiction known as "The Path to 9/11."

But ABC isn't the only company pushing this gross revision of history. ABC has enlisted the reputable education and children's entertainment company Scholastic, Inc. to send 100,000 letters to high school teachers, urging them to show students "The Path to 9/11". Scholastic has also created a discussion guide for teachers to use to encourage students and their families to watch this irresponsible fraud and then discuss it in school. The discussion guide does not in any way point out the concerns and criticisms that have been raised about the validity and accuracy of the film.

We've got to stop this now.

ABC/Disney must face an accountability moment. You can ratchet up the pressure on ABC by sending your own letter to Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger -- tell him to keep this propaganda off their air.

http://www.democrats.org/pathto911

We'll keep you up to date as this story evolves.

Thank you,
Tom

Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

Engadget Reports Diebold Machine Hacked in 4 Minutes

The tech blog Engadget is reporting that a a group call Black Box Voting have replaced the memory card of a Diebold voting machine without leaving a trace. The feat was done in only 4 minutes and only used $12 worth of tools.

ABC Refuses To Send Clinton A Copy Of Mockumentary

ABC's again courting controversy with it's 9/11 documentary. It seems that they won't send copies of the film to Bill Clinton's office as well as to Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, who have all requested copies.

It's also been revealed that there are no scenes featuring Bush in the school room during the attacks.

Rumsfeld Vote Probably Won't Happen

It know seems unlikely that a no confidence vote against Donald Rumsfeld will occur due to Republican efforts to block an up-or-down vote.

An effort by Senate Democrats to force a vote on whether Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should stay on the job appeared to be fizzling out Wednesday. Republicans, calling the move a political stunt, promised to block an up-or-down vote on the measure and Democrats conceded there's not likely to be any vote whatsoever.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., on Tuesday said Democrats were drafting a nonbinding resolution "that would express a loss of confidence in the Bush administration's Iraq policy, including a loss of confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld."

But Boxer acknowledged that the Rumsfeld resolution could be struck down on a point of order since it is not germane to the pending legislation, the Pentagon spending bill. A Democratic leadership aide speaking on condition of anonymity said Democrats would not challenge the point of order. -- MSNBC

Tom Delay Tries His Hand At Lobbying, Well Sort Of...

Tom Delay has sent out a mass email to his supporters urging them to vote for Sara Evans, a country music singer and republican supporter, in the upcoming season of ABC show Dancing With The Stars.

Sara Evans has been a strong supporter of the Republican Party and represents good American values in the media. From singing at the 2004 Republican Convention to appearing with candidates in the last several election cycles, we have always been able to count on Sara for her support of the things we all believe in. … One of her opponents on the show is ultra liberal talk show host Jerry Springer. We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans.

An article and the full letter can be found at Think Progress.

Yet Another Secret Program

Right now President Bush is giving a speech revealing that the CIA has an "alternative program" to deal with terrorists that resist interrogation, though he claims we haven't used torture. He's also calling on Congress to pass legislation to protect US officials from war crimes and to legalize his war crimes tribunals rather than give terrorists more rights. Thats the MSNBC analysis, not mine. I only caught part of the speech so I'll have to wait to hear what everyone else has to say or for the speech to be put up for download.

Breaking: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Moved To Gitmo

The mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as well as several other high profile terrorists are being moved to Guantanamo.

Stevens Again Holding Up Anti-Pork Bill

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) replaced his hold on the pork transparency bill and once again he isn't alone. It seems that there is mystery Democrat that has also placed a hold on the bill. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia had placed a hold in the past but dropped it when he announced that he had done it.

Lebanon Threatens To Break Israeli Blockade By Force

Lebanese officials are threatening to break an Israeli blockade on the country by force if Israel doesn't lift it within 48 hours, the time frame set by the UN.

"We will wait for the 48 hours given by Kofi Annan, and if the situation is resolved, we will thank him. If it is not, the Lebanese government will take the necessary measures and we will break the blockade with all our might,"
-- Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh

Reuters

Update: (12:57 P.M. 9/6/06)
Israel has announced that it is lifting the blockade.

Harris Wins Florida Primary Despite Disastrous Campaign

Former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris has won the Republican nomination in the Florida Senate race (and this sentence had as many capitalized words as lowercase). Republicans had urged Harris not to run as they doubt she can win and recent polls favor the Democratic candidate by as much as 30 points.

Article at the Washington Post.

An Old Political Joke For Both Parties

I was reading through all the election news this morning when I remembered a joke I once read in a Readers Digest a few years ago. It went something like this:

Before a child was going to bed his dad pulled out a large book of fairy tales and asked which one he should read. The kid, believing that he'd heard them all, "Dad, do all fairy tales start with 'Once upon a time...'?". The father replied "No, some start with the line 'If elected I promise...'".

I'm sure I didn't tell that completely right as it's been a few years since I've read it, but I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

ABC Learning From The Fox Playbook

An ABC "Docudrama" about 9/11 is taking some serious fire from progressives. The documentary, written by a conservative, blames the Clinton White House.

Some of the issues raised against the documentary include:

• ABC has only gotten the Republican co-chair of the 9/11 commission to support the film.


• Conservative bloggers received advance copies of the film, progressive bloggers have not.


• Various people from the Clinton administration and a member of the 9/11 commission are disputing a scene from the movie.

ABC has also recently launched a major push to have the film shown to high school students.

Karl Rove's Dad Was Gay, Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

The Architect, a new book about Karl Rove, has revealed that Karl Rove's dad, Louis Rove, was openly gay. A friend of Louis is quoted as saying "Louie didn't hide the fact that he was gay. But he didn't play it up either".

Karl Rove Trivia:

But Rove acknowledges that, in 1970, he used a false identity to gain entry to the campaign offices of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon, who was running for state treasurer. Once inside, Rove swiped some letterhead stationery and sent out 1,000 bogus invitations to the opening of the candidate's headquarters promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing." -- Washington Post

Strickland Ahead In Polls But More People Know Blackwell

While Ted Strickland has a two digit lead in polls it seems that more people know Ken Blackwell. My local news is reporting that while 9 out of ten Ohioans know Blackwell, only 7 out of ten have heard of Strickland.

This doesn't suprise me much as Blackwell appeared in the national news during the 2004 election while Strickland is a Congressman in a district that holds no major cities.

Myspace For Democrats

The Democratic Party has launched their new "Party Builder" social networking site. The site allows people to create a profile and blog as well as offering tools to write letters to the press, create and promote events, and raise donations.

How Quickly We Forget

I find it amazing how quickly we all forget big news stories of the past. In fact I'd bet that some people have already forgot the name of the man that was recently arrested in the JonBenet Ramsey case (John Mark Karr). I've put together this list of questions about hot news stories of the past, how many do you recognize?

1.) On January 13th 2002 the White House suffered from what health scare?

2.) Why was the U.S.S. Greeneville in the news in 2001?

3.) What year did the Oklahoma City bombing occur?

4.) What was the name of the shoe bomber?

5.) Who was the leader of Russia before Vladimir Putin?

Names (who are they?)

• Marshall Applewhite
  
• Jim McGreevey
  
• Chandra Levy
  
• Ken Jennings
  
• John Walker Lindh

How many do you recognize without looking them up?

Do You Know Where Your Congressman Is?

Yahoo offers a service called Megavote that will tell you how your Senators and Congressman are voting on the issues. You simply have to enter a zip code or state, email address (they can send it to any address, not just yahoo mail), and whether you prefer HTML or plain text emails. Then every week that Congress is in session you'll receive an email telling you how your Representative's are voting and what bills are about to be voted on.

On a related note Congress reconvenes today for a month long session before adjourning for the November election.

Republicans Rushing To Get Votes Through Before November

Republicans are expected to try and get as many security related issues voted on as they can before adjourning for the campaigns for the November election. With the House in serious contention (though as one person pointed out to the press, if the '04 election had been held in September Kerry would be President) and even a small chance of Democrats taking over the Senate they want to get these votes in while they still hold a majority. Also a major push for security related bills may help some Republicans in their reelection bids as security has been a strong point in opinion polls for the party.

I'd also like to include the following quote by Ohio's own John Boehner, the House majority leader.

From homeland security to national security to border security, House Republicans will focus first and foremost on addressing the safety and security needs of the American people throughout the month of September. (My underlining)

Article

Crocodile Hunter Dies After Stingray Attack

Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, died today after being stung in the chest by a stingray while filming off Australia's northeast coast. He was 44 and is survived by two children, Bindi Sue and Bob Clarence as well as his wife Terri.

Reuters

Week In Review 9/2/06

I've been getting back into the daily grind after my week off but posting has been down. I attribute this decline to a combination of unpacking and a slower news week. Readership has been down but I suspect that my counter may not be working right as I've gotten comments during times when it's shown no visitors. I've also been reading more than usual and am currently in the middle of Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them". Next week should prove to be more eventful.

Next Week's Events

• UN Ambassador John Bolton will finally face a vote. (9/7)


• The 5th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (9/11)


• The first Ohio gubenatorial debate. (9/5)


• Possible Iran sanctions.


• There's talk of another North Korea missile test.


• The start of Cindy Sheehan's Camp Democracy in Washington D.C. on the 5th.