Although we of The Scallion are still officially on hiatus, we couldn’t resist dropping our faithful Readers a line just this once.
 
Until we return, please remember to check out this short list of fine sources for news stories almost surely absent from the nation's mainstream commercial media:
 
http://www.democracynow.org/
http://www.alternet.org/
http://www.truthout.org/
http://www.jimhightower.com/ and the weblog http://hightower.fmp.com/weblog.php
http://www.prwatch.org/ and its archives http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/index.html
http://gregpalast.com/
http://www.commondreams.org
 
If you read no other news, be sure to scan the headlines at Democracy Now! It's the best way for Real Americans (affectionately known as Unamericans) to defend themselves against Bush's pathologically compulsive bait-and-switch, closed-door politics of extreme hubris that, unfortunately, continue to thrive in 2004.
 
As always, for news with a giggle, try this "official" website: http://www.whitehouse.org/

Happy reading; keep the faith; and keep fighting -- this is our country, and it is up to each of us to save it … and to rescue the embattled majority of average working class folks from the tyranny of the privileged minority of super-rich elitists.

A Case of Mistaken Identity – a Live Report from A.J., The Scallion’s Always Webmeister and Sometimes Roving Reporter

July 19, 2004. I accidentally went to georgebush.org instead of georgeWbush.org. Silly me. Well, the other (wrong) website had a whole page full of traitors -- including Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, etc. Very nifty -- very helpful for those of us who want to *support* these so-called traitors. The only problem is that there were errors and omissions in the traitor list: they omitted folks like Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader, Arianna Huffington, and Amy Goodman, but they included John Kerry. The problem with calling John Kerry a traitor is that, by everything I hear recently, he agrees with Bush on everything from soup to nuts. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Kerry plans to vote for Bush in November. Even John Edwards, who was omitted from the list, is more of a traitor than Kerry because he at least talks about the plight of the poor and corporate crime. Besides, he is a traitor just for being a successful trial lawyer who has won malpractice cases for millions of dollars at the expense of doctors like Bill Frist.

The other (wrong) website also had a page on how laws are made. Obviously, they were trying to parody whitehouse.org because they had two pages of legalese when we all know that the process is really quite simple.

How Laws are Made (101):

1. A big corporation buys as many politicians in both parties as it can afford.

2. When the corporation tells the politicians what laws it wants, then this suggestion becomes a bill* in Congress. (*The name is really a bad pun, since it is the taxpayers who will ultimately pay the bill.)

3. If the corporation has put enough money into the politicians’ campaign coffers, then the bill becomes law.

I have not yet decided whether or not to set these purveyors of apocrypha straight.

First TV Debate Between the Bush-Cheney Ticket and the Kerry-Edwards Ticket

July 19, 2004. Despite a plethora of wildly inaccurate, negative ads sponsored by the Bush campaign -- a highly unusual approach for incumbents to use against challengers -- to dissuade the nation’s voters from voting for senators John Kerry and John Edwards, the Bush camp has been feeling increasing pressure from its opponents and critics. To head off such inconvenient opposition at the pass, a debate was staged by the Republican National Committee to Elect Bush for a Change -- Meaning a Change for the Worse for Poor People and a Change for the Better for Rich People and Wouldn’t it Be Nice to Pretend the Country Actually Voted for Bush This Time Even Though Diebold Will Actually Hand Over All the Votes Anyway?

What follows is a transcript of the entire debate between the Bush-Cheney incumbents and the Kerry-Edwards challengers.

[Beginning of transcript]

Bush: The war on Iraq was not an illegal invasion founded on lies. Even if it were -- not that it was -- that is unimportant. What is important is that we got Saddam out.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: We need to send more troops into Iraq.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: We need to occupy Iraq for at least another ten years -- probably many more years than that.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: We need to cut more taxes for the rich in order to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: Corporate crime, the environment, class wars, and the economy are not important to the American people. All they care about is can we keep ‘em safe.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: Americans don’t want gun control.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: Americans don’t want gay marriage or for women to be able to abort their fetuses or rights for uppity women, coloreds, or Mexicans.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: The rights, needs, and wants of American corporations outweigh the rights, needs, and wants of the American people.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: The American government should not under any circumstances be held accountable for its actions.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Bush: Are you even listening to a word I say, because, from where I stand, you sound just like a Republican.

Kerry: I agree completely.

Edwards: There are two Americas --

Cheney: SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! ... YOU -- GET THAT FUCKING CAMERA OUT OF MY FACE!!!

[End of transcript]