November...

I've taken on a huge DMB conversion project lately, so I haven't even looked at MySpace in a while let alone blogged from State of Denial. Now I'm off to Texas for 2 weeks to train new employees for work. I will have no internet and may not survive the withdrawl!

I voted on Wednesday. I was offered an optional paper ballot (which I took!) and went to my booth to carefully fill in the bubble next to the (D)'s all the way down the page. For 10am at an early polling station 2 weeks before the election, it was surprisingly busy in there.

The polls are neck and neck for House control in Congress. Three months ago I expected the Dems to pick up 7-10 seats. Now I expect at least 14, probably no more than 18, but if the GOP lost 25 seats I would not be totally shocked. It's all about turnout and the war in Iraq. I think people are dissapointed at the same old Iraq news story last night as we saw the same day 3 years ago. More dead, more dying, no end in sight. I'm not saying the Dems will have an enlightened solution on November 8th if the win, but the current strategy is stagnant and doing no better at securing Iraq or bringing an end to the war. So, do you stick with what we've had the last 3 1/2 years or do you try something different? The Dems clearly want change and if the GOP voters are not fully committed to the current strategy and choose not to vote, Nancy Pelosi will have the gavel and the lamest of Lame Duck sessions will begin.

The GOP will either keep a majority in the Senate by 1 seat or there will be a tie in membership. However, with the candidates in a few key races having to distance themselves with the typical GOP rubber stamp (Missouri's Talent, New Jersey's Kean, and Maryland's Steele) there could be more Dem led legislative victories than expected. Orin Hatch's support of stem cell research is one example.

So I hope you go vote and I hope you vote for my people. I think this country would be better off with more balance of power with at least some respect and consideration for other ideas. Government is like a pendulum - it never stays with one extreme for very long before it swings back the other way. I think it's time to swing the pendulum and change the course of American politics.

I'm Henry Hart and I approved this message.

My November Senate/Gubernatorial Predictions...

There is a website that I consider to be the Mecca of online election data. http://www.uselectionatlas.org I have created a page there with my election predictions for the Senate and will do the save for the governors by the end of the day.

http://uselectionatlas.org/PRED/SENATE/2006/pred.php?action=indpred&id=1677

Maybe one day they'll spend the time to swap the red and blue states to get the color scheme current with todays trends. One can only dream...

My November Senate/Gubernatorial Predictions...

There is a website that I consider to be the Mecca of online election data. http://www.uselectionatlas.org I have created a page there with my election predictions for the Senate and will do the save for the governors by the end of the day.

http://uselectionatlas.org/PRED/SENATE/2006/pred.php?action=indpred&id=1677

Maybe one day they'll spend the time to swap the red and blue states to get the color scheme current with todays trends. One can only dream...

Senator Allen's sinking ship...

As if the "macaca" incident and claims of past racial slurs weren't enough, apparently Sen. Allen is taking part is some shady, unfair business practices and allegedly breaking Senate rules by doing so. From cnn.com...

An Associated Press review of Allen's financial dealings from that era found that the senator:

• Did not have to look far to find corporate suitors, joining three Virginia high-tech companies he assisted as governor. Allen served on boards of directors for Xybernaut and Commonwealth Biotechnologies and advised a third company called Com-Net Ericsson, all government contractors.

• Twice failed to promptly alert the Securities and Exchange Commission of insider stock transactions as a Xybernaut and Commonwealth director. The SEC requires timely notification and can fine those who file late.

• Kept stock options provided to him for serving as a director of Xybernaut and Commonwealth, but steered other compensation from his board service to his law firm.

Read for yourself... http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/09/allen.stocks.ap/index.html
Any more of these damaging reports coming out against Sen. Allen and the fat lady will be entering stage left.

http://www.electoral-vote.com

Here is a great quote from the front page of electoral-vote.com posted this morning...

The NY Times had a very insightful story about the Foley scandal and the religious right, which forms the core of the Republican party these days. Briefly summarized, practically all the evangelicals interviewed said that Foley had sinned and should repent but that they were voting Republican because Democrats tolerate homosexual behavior. The fact that Foley was solicting minors didn't bother them as much as the fact that he is gay. Also, Speaker Hastert's not only tolerating, but hiding Foley's behavior didn't seem to make a difference.

My conclusion from this is that the Democrats should simply forget about these voters. It is a lost cause and catering to them just alienates other voters. Instead, they should forget family values and attempt to peel off libertarians from the Republican party. These people are hopping mad at the Republicans for abandoning their long-standing commitment to balanced budgets and for Bush's turning the Clinton surplus he inherited into the biggest budget deficit in history. Furthermore, they believe that the government has no business interfering with people's personal lives. If you want an abortion, it is none of the government's business. If two consenting adults want to do something in their own bedroom, it is none of the government's business. If you want to borrow a book from the library, it is none of the government's business which book. If you want to call someone on the phone, the government has no business eavesdropping on you without a court order. On these and many other civil liberties issues, libertarians and Democrats are in close agreement. Libertarian Republicans salute former Arizona senator Barry Goldwater as their hero, not Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush.

State of Denial: Chapter 7...

"Well Mr. President, first of all, I consider it an honor of a lifetime to be able to serve... But there's one other really important reason (why I don't care if I get the job of Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff). You know, ambition is important in people. But too much ambition, my observation, in senior military leaders is a dangerous thing... the military positions are first positions of service. And I think when ambition gets in the way of service that it's a dangerous thing."
-Vernon Clark to President Bush at the White House, Summer 2001 (p. 62)

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.

State of Denial: Chapter 6...

(It was hard to pick just one from this chapter... GO BUY THIS BOOK!)

"On July 10, 2001, CIA Director George Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, Copher Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terror organization. Black laid out the case, comprised of communications intercepts and other TOP SECRET intelligence, showing the increasing likelihood that al Qaeda would soon attack the U.S. It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided that he and Black should go to the White House immediately. Tenet called Condoleezza Rice from the car, and said he needed to see her now... For months Tenet had been pressing Rice to set a clear counterterrorism policy... Perhaps a dramatic appearance... would get her attention. Tenet had been losing sleep over the recent intelligence he'd seen. There was no conclusive, smoking-gun intelligence, but there was such a huge volume of data that an intelligence officer's instinct strongly suggested that something was coming. He and Black hoped to convey the depth of their anxiety and get Rice to kick-start the government into immediate action."
-p. 49

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.

State of Denial: Chapter 5...

Bush's first mention in the New York Times, in November 1967, had been as a former DEKE (Delta Kappa Epsilon) president defending the practice of branding new fraternity pledges with a hot coat hanger.
-p. 47-48

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.

State of Denial: Chapter 4...

(not a lot of punch-line material to work with in this chapter)

"Here's what I can tell you about Don Rumsfeld. You're never going to get any credit. And you'll only know how well you're doing if he gives you any more work. If that happens, you're doing fine."
-Vice President Dick Cheney (p. 34)

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.

State of Denial: Chapter 3...

Rumsfeld sent short notes all around the building (the Pentagon), called "snowflakes," asking questions, seeking detail and asking for reconstructions when it was unclear to him what had happened. He'd developed the snowflake system early in the Nixon administration... Though unsigned, everyone knew they represented orders or questions from the boss. But if a snowflake leaked, it provided deniability - no signature, no clear fingerprints. He was quite proud of his new management tool.
-p. 23

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.

State of Denial: Chapter 2...

"Had we gone into Baghdad - We could have done it. You guys (Gulf War veterans) could have done it. You could have been there in 48 hours. And then what? Which sergeant, which private, whose life would be at stake in perhaps a fruitless hunt in an urban guerrilla war to find the most-secure dictator in the world? Whose life would be on my hands as the commander-in-chief because I, unilaterally, went beyond the international law, went beyond the stated mission, and said we're going to show our macho? We're going into Baghdad. We're going to be an occupying power - America in an Arab land - with no allies at our side. It would have been disasterous."
-George H. W. Bush speaking to Gulf War veterans at the Fort Myer Army base, February 28, 1999 (p. 11-12)

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.

State of Denial: Chapter 1...

"I don't have any idea about foreign affaris. This isn't what I do."
-George W. Bush speaking with Condoleezza Rice, August 1998 (p. 6)

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This is a quotation from the book State of Denial by Bob Woodward. I will be quoting an excerpt from the book one chapter at a time until the November elections.