The Collision of Church and State at the Ballot Box

Preaching politics has come a long way since evangelicals in the "Moral Majority" helped sway the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan. Gone are the navy blue suits, red ties, and gray headed preachers.

Enter Jason Roy, lead singer of "Building 429." That's a Christian rock band and part of a political-religious-musical effort that is described as the antithesis of "Rock the Vote." They call their effort "Redeem the Vote." And they encourage Christian youth to turn out on election day.

Gone too is the religious alignment with the Republican right. A series of 10 ads from peopleoffaithfortruth.org uses Christians offering political testimony of their religious faith and their lack of faith in President Bush.

From an earlier post over the summer, I pointed out how frequent worshippers tend to vote Republican. But that Democrats weren't willing to cede the religious vote.

Which leads us to this point in the campaign, where we're praying it'll be over soon and ready to thank God when it is.

A No Brainer -- Politicians Try Reading Our Minds

Political consultants are turning to brain scans to see what candidates and issues we identify with. They call it "neuromarketing." Tin foil hats apparently won't protect you from it. (ABC News)

Finding Your Polling Place

Looking for where you're supposed to vote? Try the Internet(s).

Taegan Goddard has a couple of very helpful links at PoliticalWire.com. They'll take you to an online service to find your polling place -- and a quick rundown of the law in your state in case you have to cast a provisional ballot.

If the honchos at the polls tell you that you can't vote, remember the Election Protection Project. Take their number with you: 1-866-OUR VOTE (1-866-687-8683). It's a free call.

I'll keep this link posted at the right for quick reference through election day. It's listed as "Finding Your Polling Place & Knowing Your Rights to Vote."

Kerry and the JFK Conspiracy

Hold on to your tin foil hats -- the New York Post is reporting a connection between Senator John Kerry and Lee Harvey Oswald. Seems the Senator's cousin, Michael Paine, was a buddy of Oswald's and even had him over as a frequent house guest. (NY Post)

Dress Up With George

Dress the President. Sorry no mysterious bulge to hide on his back, but there are some cool pilot clothes and lots of leather. (Fingertime.com)

The Bush-Kaddafi Ticket

A hastily formed group of Arab Americans issued a last-minute endorsement of President George W. Bush. The move was coordinated in part by a registered lobbyist for the Libyan leader Col. Muammar Kaddafi. Randa Fahmy Hudome just signed a $1.4 million contract to represent Colonel Kaddafi's regime. She's a former member of the Bush administration. (Newsweek via MSNBC)

Laugh it Off

Need a good laugh as the campaign gets too serious? About.com has a collection of the best political humor all in one place. Hang onto the site (or check back with my Liberal Multimedia link at the right) and use it to soothe your disappointment when your candidate loses -- when the vote counts are final -- in February, 2005. (About.com)

More Muddying the Waters over the Missing Munitions

A Pentagon briefing today conflicts with the story they put out yesterday on the missing munitions.

Major Austin Pearson briefed reporters on how he and his men removed more than 200 tons of high explosives from the Al Qaqaa site. But he couldn't say if the material was the same as the explosives videotaped under IAEA seal after Baghdad fell.

Just yesterday, the Secretary of Defense argued that the explosives were moved before Americans arrived at the site. Yesterday, the Pentagon also released reconaissance pictures claiming to show Iraqi's moving the munitions on March 17th.

Last night, ABC aired video from KSTP-TV showing troops with the 101st Airborne examining high explosives at the site on April 18, 2003.

The Pentagon briefing, claiming that 200+ tons of the missing 380 tons were destroyed would shed credence on an earlier ABC report. That story on Wednesday cited IAEA documents in determining only 138 tons of munitions were unaccounted for.

The story of the mysterious missing munitions has been tangled all week. Maybe it was all a "catastrophic accounting success."

Curing the Doctored Ad

The Bush-Cheney campaign admits it doctored a campaign ad to make it appear like the President was speaking to a larger crowd. The original photograph shows a sea of soldiers behind the President but the doctored photo repeated images of some of the soldiers. (AP via Yahoo)

Someone Found the Missing Munitions -- Just the Wrong War

Maybe it was the last minute campaign issue of the 1864 election. A couple of weeks ago, Robert Compton unearthed a cache of 36 Confederate cannonballs. No videotape of Union Soldiers inspecting them, and no word on whether US Grant had secured the area before they were buried. (News Advance)

Doing Your Own Election Night Math

CyberJournalist.net has a list of electoral vote calculators. Try you hand at creating scenarios to make 2000 look tame. (CyberJournalist.net)

NRA Misses their Target

The folks at FactCheck.org shoot down claims in the NRA's ad against Senator John Kerry. The ad claims Senator Kerry voted to outlaw pump shotguns and deer hunting ammo. I personally don't believe there's ever been a vote to ban Buicks -- the leading deer hunting ammo on the Beltway. (FactCheck.org)

Flu Shots and a Shot at the White House

The flu shot shortage may not be a blockbuster, but it's playing a role in the Presidential campaign. All politics is no longer just local, it's personal. And few things are more personal to voters than their health or that of their kids. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Double Standards and Political Realities

Confusing the issues of reimporting drugs from Canada and the flu shot shortage, the Bush administration says it's working to import 5 million doses of flu vaccine from Canada. Yes, they oppose importing drugs from Canada, but they're importing drugs from Canada.....I'm sure it'll all wash out in the spin cycle. (Houston Chronicle)

Homeland Security -- Keeping America Safe from Rubik's Cube Knock-Offs

Small business owner Stephanie Cox was the target of a Homeland Security Department investigation. Her suspicious activity -- selling something called the "Magic Cube." It's basically the same toy as the old "Rubik's Cube" from the 1980s. Agents called, then visited her toy store, and ordered that she pull the product from the shelves.

What was the problem? Were the cubes made of plastic explosives? Did they fund terrorist toy makers?

Nope. A rival toy company claimed patent infringement. The maker of the "Magic Cube" says the patent expired years ago.

But we can all sleep better tonight knowing that the DHS's toy patent color coded alert level has dropped to "Baby Blue." (ABC)

October Surprise 2 - Umpteen

There hasn't been a blockbuster "October Surprise," but things from flu shot shortages to missing munitions have added up to a rapid fire collection of mini-surprises. The Christian Science Monitor is monitoring them. (CSM)

The Buck Stops...With the Troops in the Field

As if 380 tons of missing munitions weren't a big enough headache for President Bush's campaign, one of his high profile supporters just dropped a bombshell.

Former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani says the troops in the field -- not the President -- are to blame.

"No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be with the troops. They were there," Giuliani said in an interview on NBC's 'Today' show. "Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?"

The Bush campaign had been working to convince voters Senator Kerry was blaming US soldiers -- not the President -- for the missing munitions. (LAT)