reyonthehill

It is June 30 and you know what that means... time to predict how this election will end up. First of all, we all know who is going to decide this election, as we have heard this over and over again, and that is the "undecided" voters. Who are these "undecided" voters? I'm not one. Neither are you (as people who read political blogs usually do have an opinion). So who are they?

Let's break down the current race as it stands now: 40% are for Kerry, 40% for Bush, and 20% are in the middle. But of that 20%, 5% are leaning towards Kerry and 5% are leaning towards Bush. So we are down to the final 10% - these are those lovable "undecided" voters. (You never know what they will do!)

This is also why you see every poll showing roughly 45% for Kerry and 45% for Bush with 8-10% undecided, and if either Bush or Kerry do hold a slim lead, it is within the margin of error. It will be this way until after the debates, and possibly up to election day.

But where are these "undecided" folks? Let's face it, they are scattered all across America, from Maine to Nebraska to Oregon and Alaska. The only ones that will make a difference, however, in the election are those who reside in the "battleground" states. (Don't you just love these terms?)

Ohio voters, Michigan voters, and voters in Pennsylvania and Florida will make the decision as to who the next president will be. And the undecided voters residing in those four states will be the ones tipping the scales, which amount to roughly 3-5% of the entire population. (Democracy at it's finest.)

But let's face it - undecided voters don't do much of anything. They don't watch the news, they don't read the papers, and they certainly don't research issues or candidates. They wait for someone to come to them or something to happen to them. If they lose their job, their pet gets sick, the gas prices rise, their tree gets cut down by a neighbor - these are the issues that fuel the undecided. If none of these happen though, undecideds tend toward the incumbent. That is why, with Rudy Guiliani as his running mate, George W. Bush will win re-election this November, and the downward spiral that is this nation's policies will continue. So it goes...

The upcoming GOP convention in New York City will bring all sorts of Republicans to the Big Apple - mayors, governors, and delegates. And the GOP bash will also bring a lot of call girls. The following quote is from the New York Daily News.

"We have girls from London, Seattle, California, all coming in for that week... It's the week everyone wants to work" -- a Manhattan escort service madam, on the GOP convention.

Source: CBS News

During the Red Scare brought on by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Walt Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), of which Richard Nixon was a member, on October 24, 1947.

The following is an exchange between Disney and committee chairman J. Parnell Smith.

Mr. SMITH: Do you have any people in your studio at the present time that you believe are Communist or Fascist employed there?

Mr. DISNEY: No; at the present time I feel that everybody in my studio is 100 percent American.

Mr. SMITH: Have you had at any time, in your opinion, in the past, have you at any time in the past had any Communists employed at your studio?

Mr. DISNEY: Yes; in the past I had some people that I definitely feel were Communists.

Mr. SMITH: As a matter of fact, Mr. Disney, you experienced a strike at your studio, did you not?

Mr. DISNEY: Yes.

Mr. SMITH: And is it your opinion that that strike was instituted by members of the Communist Party to serve their purposes?

Mr. DISNEY: Well, it proved itself so with time, and I definitely feel it was a Communist group trying to take over my artists and they did take them over.

The CHAIRMAN: Do you say they did take them over?

Mr. DISNEY: They did take them over.

Source: George Mason University

During the Red Scare brought on by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Ronald Reagan, an actor in Hollywood and active anti-communist, was an informant for the FBI. On October 23, 1947, Reagan testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), of which Richard Nixon was a member.

The following is an exchange between Reagan and committee staff member Robert Stripling.

Mr. STRIPLING: Mr. Reagan, there has been testimony to the effect here that numerous Communist-front organizations have been set up in Hollywood. Have you ever been solicited to join any of those organizations or any organization which you considered to be a Communist-front organization?

Mr. REAGAN: Well, sir, I have received literature from an organization called the Committee for a Far-Eastern Democratic Policy. I don’t know whether it is Communist or not. I only know that I didn’t like their views and as a result I didn’t want to have anything to do with them.

Source: George Mason University

During the Red Scare brought on by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Ronald Reagan, an actor in Hollywood and active anti-communist, was an informant for the FBI. On October 23, 1947, Reagan testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), of which Richard Nixon was a member.

The following is an exchange between Reagan and committee staff member Robert Stripling.

STRIPLING: As a member of the board of directors, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and as an active member, have you at any time observed or noted within the organization a clique of either communists or fascists who were attempting to exert influence or pressure on the guild?

REAGAN: Well, sir, my testimony must be very similar to that of Mr. (George) Murphy and Mr. (Robert) Montgomery. There has been a small group within the Screen Actors Guild which has consistently opposed the policy of the guild board and officers of the guild, as evidenced by the vote on various issues. That small clique referred to has been suspected of more or less following the tactics that we associate with the Communist Party.

STRIPLING: Would you refer to them as a disruptive influence within the guild?

REAGAN: I would say that at times they have attempted to be a disruptive influence.

STRIPLING: You have no knowledge yourself as to whether or not any of them are members of the Communist Party?

REAGAN: No, sir, I have no investigative force, or anything, and I do not know.

STRIPLING: Has it ever been reported to you that certain members of the guild were communists?

REAGAN: Yes, sir, I have heard different discussions and some of them tagged as communists.

Source: George Mason University

Former Clinton administration officials are circulating this timeless joke.

How many Bush administration officials does it take to change a light bulb?

Seven.

- One to deny that a light bulb needs to be replaced.

- One to attack and question the patriotism of anyone who has questions about the light bulb.

- One to blame the previous administration for the need of a new light bulb.

- One to arrange the invasion of a country rumored to have a secret stockpile of light bulbs.

- One to get together with Vice President Cheney and figure out how to pay Halliburton one million dollars for a light bulb.

- One to arrange a photo-op session showing Bush changing the light bulb while dressed in a flight suit and wrapped in an American flag.

- And finally, one to explain to Bush the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Source: Washington Post

With the release of Reagan documents that show that his policies led to the rise of Osama bin Laden at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, vital questions come to mind. Where did the Smithsonian come from and how did it get here?

"In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he would in 1835), the estate should go 'to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.'

"The motives behind Smithson’s bequest remain mysterious. He never traveled to the United States and seems to have had no correspondence with anyone here. Some have suggested that his bequest was motivated in part by revenge against the rigidities of British society, which had denied Smithson, who was illegitimate, the right to use his father’s name. Others have suggested it reflected his interest in the Enlightenment ideals of democracy and universal education.

"Smithson died in 1829, and six years later, President Andrew Jackson announced the bequest to Congress. On July 1, 1836, Congress accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust. In September 1838, Smithson’s legacy, which amounted to more than 100,000 gold sovereigns, was delivered to the mint at Philadelphia. Recoined in U.S. currency, the gift amounted to more than $500,000.

"After eight years of sometimes heated debate, an Act of Congress signed by President James K. Polk on Aug. 10, 1846, established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust to be administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary of the Smithsonian."

Source: Smithsonian

If there were one crazy woman on this planet, it would be Ann Coulter. In her column this week, Coulter eulogizes the former president in classic neo-conservative form. She begins... "America's greatest president has gone home. God worked through Ronald Reagan on Earth and now He's taken him back."

Source: Yahoo!

The Bush administration should mark this moment as a turning point in it's reign by implementing new rules of engagement: If we are going to violate international treaty and law, including U.S. law, let's not write memos about it.

Administration memos, including memos from the Department of Justice, have surfaced this week. However, Attorney General John Ashcroft refused to disclose such memos citing executive privilege. This morning on CNN, however, Senator Leahy of Vermont, lead Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, appropriately stated that only the president can cite executive privilege, and being that the president has said he wants to get to the bottom of the prison abuse scandal, and that he knew nothing of the orders to "torture" the prisoners, Ashcroft should release all documents related to the matter.

One of these memos includes the "argument that the president, as commander-in-chief, is not bound to observe international laws against torture, or even a 1996 U.S. law enacted to comply with the U.N.-sponsored Convention Against Torture."

Source: Newsweek

As his supporters say, Bush is a "man of conviction," and they are right. Bush soon will be convicted of impeachable crimes.

The following is a blog entry written my an editor of The Nation listing infamous items of Reagan's tenure as president. I am not sure what everyone of them means, but over time I will do research to be sure I do.

66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport

By David Corn

The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.

Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, “homeless by choice,” Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, “constructive engagement” with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Nancy’s astrologer.

Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig “in control,” silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, “mistakes were made.”

Michael Deaver’s conviction for influence peddling, Lyn Nofziger’s conviction for influence peddling, Caspar Weinberger’s five-count indictment, Ed Meese ("You don’t have many suspects who are innocent of a crime"), Donald Regan (women don’t “understand throw-weights"), education cuts, massacres in El Salvador.

“The bombing begins in five minutes,” $640 Pentagon toilet seats, African- American judicial appointees (1.9 percent), Reader’s Digest, C.I.A.-sponsored car-bombing in Lebanon (more than eighty civilians killed), 200 officials accused of wrongdoing, William Casey, Iran/contra.

“Facts are stupid things,” three-by-five cards, the MX missile, Bitburg, S.D.I., Robert Bork, naps, Teflon.

Source: Bushlies.com