On Friday, October 3, 2003, at 1 p.m., Jennifer Parker-Cash sighted a UFO over "McDonough Elementary School on Lowell Road, near Exit 8, Wellington Road, off (interstate highway) Route 93 North in Manchester, New Hampshire (population 107,006)." According to Parker-Cash, the UFO was "a large stationary object emitting a pulsating or highly reflective light. I'd say there were two off-white orbs that had a wrinkled or baggy appearance and looked like they had material streamers hanging from them. When they suddenly disappeared, a group of silver-white orbs swarmed like a group of bees in a tight, swirling formation. They went up and down, side to side and sometimes swirled like cream being stirred in coffee. While stationary, they emitted bright blue beams and appeared flat, and the two wrinkled orbs that looked like a scoop of dirty clouds was off-white. At first they were stationary, and then they took off to the south in a swirling formation." (Email Form Report)
Ahhh, that's why he is getting the award
There has been a furor over why Bush 41 would award Sen. Ted Kennedy with the 2003 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service. Now we know why: ["Bush Sr.'s 'message' to Bush Jr."].
Now it's all out. Father Bush has done it in his own preferred nuanced way -- the way Establishment gentlemen operate -- but he has revealed the depth of his disagreement with his impetuously uninformed son.Thanks again to Dan Kennedy for posting this on his Media Log. Some of us don't waste our time anymore reading The Boston Globe's pathetic op-ed pages.
Dems wonder about Kerry
Here's a pretty good piece by The Boston Herald's Andrew Miga about the state of the John Kerry presidential campaign: ["Lost: '04 strategy, property of Sen. Kerry"].
"He's had a lot of trouble finding his voice and he's had difficulty distinguishing himself from the rest of the pack" - Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey M. Berry.
That is essentially the problem. A guy like Kerry should know who he is by now. It was the same criticism many had with Al Gore in 2000. In some ways, Kerry does know who he is. But the voters are not buying. In the senate, Kerry has been a good corporate Democrat, just left of a DLC Democrat.
In many ways, Howard Dean and Kerry are very much alike. However, Dean was able to grasp the anti-Iraq invasion vote early on and allowed the media to paint him as a liberal Democrat. Anyone who knows anything about politics knows that Dean is a moderate and only has to look at his comments on Medicare - essentially siding with Newt Gingrich - to realize that he isn't a "liberal."
Dennis Kucinich is the true anti-war candidate and is perfect on most other issues, including trade policy which if implemented would create a renaissance in manufacturing and job creation, or revenue, to pay for welfare programs for the millions of Americans out of work due to our insane trade policy. He is personally pro-life, a very popular position which could chip away at some of President Bush's base. He is also perceived as the only candidate who can keep Ralph Nader from running and bring Greens to the polls. Unfortunately, Kucinich waited too late to make a decision to run and is floundering at the bottom of polls. He has only been to NH a couple of times and instead, has been campaigning in other states. In a press release this week, his campaign noted that he was in Hawaii - and was the only candidate to visit the state. However, this doesn't win votes in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, or Arizona, the early contests.
But back to Kerry. It was smart for him to vote against the $87 billion package which was loaded with waste and fraud. The key now is for Kerry to expand his platform and move beyond just talking about health care. Health care is important, but out here in the real world, the people need real career options.
Gephardt smacks Dean on trade
Finally, Dick Gephardt has taken off the gloves and gone after Dean on the bad trade deals he favored as governor: ["Gephardt blasts Dean's stance on NAFTA, China trade relations"].
Gephardt's campaign cited the Progressive Policy Institute, a research arm of the Democratic Leadership Council, as the source of the figure, which covers 2000 to 2002, as well as a labor think tank's report that found Vermont had lost 6,213 jobs between 1994 and 2000 because of foreign trade. Dean held the governor's job from 1991 until January of this year.Gephardt is also right to criticize John Edwards for voting to establish Permanent Most Favored Nation status for China which has cost his home state of North Carolina thousands of jobs. This is probably one reason why Edwards has such low favorability ratings at home.
Latest polls show interesting results
John Kerry finds a lead - in Pennsylvania. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Kerry with 18 percent. Nipping at his heels are Wesley Clark with 17 percent, Joe Lieberman with 15 percent, and Dick Gephardt with 10 percent. This is not a good sign for Gephardt who should be in a better position due to the many labor organizations which have endorsed him. Quinnipiac was quick to note that Hillary Clinton would get 43 percent of the poll if she were running, a frightening revelation.
A Field Poll of California posted Wednesday shows a three-way race between Clark with 17 percent and Dean and Lieberman tied at 14 percent. Kerry is fourth at 9 percent.
A couple of polls from Iowa show it's a three-man race:
A McLaughlin and Associates poll from Tuesday shows Dean with 23 percent, Gephardt with 20 percent, and Kerry with a strong third, at 17 percent. These numbers are pretty good for Kerry who shows some strength outside New England.
Democracy Corps posted polls Friday showing similar results: Gephardt at 27 percent, Dean at 26 percent, and Kerry at 17 percent.
Democracy Corps also posted polls for New Hampshire and South Carolina.
In NH, Dean has a commanding lead with 38 percent. Kerry has 21 percent and Clark has 11 percent. Far behind are Gephardt with 8 percent, and Leiberman and John Edwards both stalled at 6 percent.
In SC, it is a six-way race: Edwards at 14 percent, Gephardt with 13 percent, Clark has 12 percent, Lieberman at 11 percent, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and Dean tied with 10 percent. Gephardt jumping to second place is a good sign, and Sharpton continues to show he will be a factor in southern states, with double-digit numbers.
Lastly, a UNH poll from Tuesday shows that NH is a three-way race: Dean with 30 percent, Kerry with 17 percent, and Clark a distant third with 10 percent.
