1. Jimmy Carter raises probability of upcoming Florida vote fraud. Jeb Bush calls it "conspiracy theory". That Carter would scream this in the Washington Post tells me it's gonna happen, and at least the opposing faction is laying groundwork for a fight. (see article below)
2. Several big items from the Tuesday 9/28/04 Wall Street Journal:
a. Page A1. Long article on Evergreen International Aviation (CIA proprietary owned by Del Smith) competing with Russia's Bierev (owned by Alexei Fedierov) to build a new fleet of US Forest Service firefighting jets with huge "water-carrying" capacity. Evergreen is converting Boeing 747s, Bierev's Be-200 is an updated Soviet troop-carrying submarine hunter. Given what we know about Evergreen, the Forest Service, and narcotrafficking, any bets on what these huge new carriers will hold, when there are no fires to put out?
b. page A1. Citigroup, Bank of Ameica, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and others now under scrutiny for multi-billion dollar Parmalat scandal.
c. page A1. Fannie Mae accounting practices exposed, capitulates to massive "restructuring".
d. page A1. Low oil inventories in US signal "high prices to say awhile". Oil hits $50.
e. page A8. Tight Canadian gas supplies threaten oil sands projects. More Peak Oil.
f. page C1. Privatization and buyout "boom" across Europe, investors include Carlyle Group.
3. I feel quite confident that Kerry is already toast. The mediots have repeated (among many other Rove mantras) that Kerry is "cold and unlikeable", while Bush is "a communicator". The Rove gang has framed the debate in the minds of voters as a "likeability" contest, as well as "Kerry's desperate last chance". And we already know US presidential "debates" are nothing more than a pre-screened, pre-scripted charades in which the participants give short speeches that they have been coached to give by their handlers. No substantive issues will be addressed. Mediots will pronounce the winner as the one with the best "zingers". Kerry is dead meat.
-------------------- Jeb Bush: Carter comment on Florida voting is `nonsense' DAVID ROYSE, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, September 28, 2004
(09-28) 17:34 PDT TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that "conspiracy theories" about the state's voting machines are "nonsense," and he criticized former President Jimmy Carter for questioning whether Florida can hold a fair election. Carter said in an opinion piece in Monday's Washington Post that despite changes designed to eliminate voting problems in Florida, conditions for a fair election still do not exist. Carter wrote that a repetition of the problems of 2000 -- when some Floridians said they didn't have confidence their votes were counted -- appeared likely. "There is this constant haranguing of nonsense, including President Carter -- which is a surprise to me because I've admired his compassionate actions in his post-presidential period," Bush said. Responding to reporters' questions about a newspaper report in which computer experts said the touchscreen machines that will be used in Tampa could be subject to tampering, Bush said: "That's bogus. All this conspiracy theory ... is just ridiculous." Deanna Congileo, a spokeswoman for the Carter Center, Carter's human rights organization, said the former president expressed his views in the opinion piece in the Post, and would have no comment beyond that. Touchscreen machines were introduced in Florida after the 2000 election, when punch-cards helped delay the outcome of the race for several weeks. President Bush prevailed by 537 votes in Florida to capture the White House over Al Gore.