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Campaign 2006Reading Carole Cadwalladr's delightful account of her trip to Kazakhstan in The Guardian helped to lighten up this morning's surfing in cyberspace."Oh, Borat has got it all wrong. Everyone I meet is in agreement on this. Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is not a totalitarian dictator; he is only moderately repressive: banning and intimidating opposition parties, jailing the odd journalist, etc. The country's national drink is not horse piss; it is fermented horse milk that merely tastes of piss. And Jew-baiting is not, actually, a national sport. It's more of a hobby, as in the phrase 'You're as tight as a Jew' or the practice of making 'a Jewish phone call' (when you get the other party to call you back on your landline).Dilyara, a fresh-faced student of economics in the city of Karaganda, who's showing us around the place and has lived in the States, is quite clear on this. 'There's an image of Jewish people being mean and crafty and good with money but I don't think many people have actually met them. We have Jews but they tend not to announce themselves.'And then she takes us - Steve, my travelling companion, and me - into a cafe where we have a bit of cake.'What's it called?' I ask.'The cake? It is known as "nigger in the foam".'So, you see, wrong, wrong, wrong. Or, perhaps, just a little bit right. And although the sequences in Sacha Baron Cohen's new film, Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan, that purport to be in Kazakhstan were filmed in Romania, he didn't pick Romania, or Belarus, or Uzbekistan. He picked Kazakhstan.Poor Kazakhstan. First Stalin, now Borat. It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for the government and its blundering attempts to first sue Cohen and then hire a Western PR firm and launch a debunking marketing offensive - although the fact that Nazarbayev is alleged to have stashed $80m in an offshore account goes some way to mitigating my feelings in this." *No pause even on Sunday. In fact the tempo is increasing. Not a tv watcher, I miss most of them -- the slanderous ads, messages full of innuendos and spin. Just reading about them makes me sick. Among the many items to be found about this very American practice, Bob Hill's column in The Courier Journal (Louisville, KY) stands out. This is what he wrote about the impressions of children in a grade school: Campaign ads are resonating out of the mud Memo To: Anne Northup, John Yarmuth, Mike Sodrel, Baron Hill, and, OK, since you're coming to town, President Bush. Subject: America's children. It's also so important in this era of declining family values that we teach our children to respect one another, to always tell the truth. That's why I carefully taped several of your political messages and took them to a local grade school to show the kids. You would have been pleased. Your messages are getting out. One of the children said the commercials made him sad because it reminded him of the way Mommy and Daddy behaved just before they got divorced. Another child said she wanted to work in politics when she grew up because people got to tell lots of lies and make fun of each other and didn't even have to go to their rooms. Thank you for being such role models to our future generations. I know that's just one reason why you devote so much time and money to achieve higher office. Commercial controversy I don't mean to give you full credit for helping America's children in these confused and troubled times. In fact, one of the more precocious children mentioned he had heard his Mommy talking about Rush Limbaugh criticizing Michael J. Fox for shaking so much during a commercial. Limbaugh had said Fox was either faking his Parkinson's disease symptoms or had not been taking his drugs. The child wondered why Mr. Limbaugh would want to make fun of a sick man -- even if he did apologize later. Maybe one of you could answer that? I couldn't. All I could say was maybe Mr. Limbaugh already knew quite a bit about drugs and was willing to share his expertise. What I do know for certain is that your thoughtful words and campaign strategies have finally united our bitterly divided country. It's hard to go anywhere and not find somebody wanting to borrow an old 7-iron. Some of our most angry citizens have even suggested that the best way to cure Iraqis of wanting democracy is to ship over a few hours of our political commercials. I won't go that far. I still believe in politics -- and the Tooth Fairy. I know when all the mud clears you'll go back to talking about honesty, integrity, the need for good role models, always doing the right thing. You'll be more than willing to go into schools to explain to children that sometimes you just have to tell lies and have your friends make fun of sick people to get to be a role model. They'll understand. Please don't forget your Bibles or other religious text for the swearing-in ceremonies. I'm Bob Hill, and I approve this memo. Bob Hill's column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Reach him at (502) 582-4646 or bhill@courier-journal.com. Comment on this column, and read his blog and previous columns, at www.courier-journal.com/bobhill.

What would we find as we digest results of the midterm elections ? The map dominated by "red", Republican, states as in 2004? Although the headlines read "Republicans facing 'electoral hurricane' in face of centrist Democrat push", the report filed by Julian Borger from Knoxville,TN, in The Guardian mentions possible scenarios:What if ..? The Capitol Hill scenariosDemocrats win the House of Representatives aloneThis would put a serious dent in the last two years of the Bush presidency. Democrats would be able to put forward their own legislation and control the federal budget. They would also take over the chairs of the powerful House committees, armed with power of subpoena, allowing them to launch investigations into the Iraq war and other presidential decisions taken in the first six Bush years.Democrats win both the House and SenateThey would have total control of the legislative agenda, forcing the president to accept it or use his veto. The Senate can launch its own investigations, which are taken more seriously. It has the additional power of ratifying treaties and confirming judicial nominations and cabinet appointments. With control of both houses, the Democrats could bring the Bush presidency to a virtual halt. George Bush would be a lame duck.The Democrats fail to capture either chamberIt would stun the party and plunge it into even deeper despair and defeatism, triggering an all-out fight between its competing power centres. The Bush White House would be given a new lease of life at home and abroad, and the president's influence over his party would be reasserted. *It is an uneasy time for us all -- Democrats and Republicans.

They are backAnd how! The faceless, nameless organizations that fund slanderous advertisements are back with a vengeance, spending money like there is no end to it. The same people who gave us the "Swift boat verterans" in 2004. The fact is that negative ads pay. As long as voters give more attention to such ads and salacious, inconsequential tidbits than to real issues they will be fed such drivel. Red herrings will be let loose to deceive the voters. Victory of some candidates will be based largely due to impact of such ads and they will go to Washington to give speeches about moral values and deal with the nation's problems. The total spending (by both parties) have already exceeded one billion dollars. By November 7th the figure is expected to be more than 1.5 billion as voters are deluged with ads in the remaining days. The Democrats have not only to worry about slanderous ads but also the possibility of voter fraud. Diebold machines, for one. In the face of polls that show the Republicans to be in a very weak situation, President Bush and the vice president appear to be too sanguine about the result. Maybe they know something. Michael Grunwald in the Post: "When the news is bad, the ads tend to be negative," said Shanto Iyengar, a Stanford professor who studies political advertising. "And the more negative the ad, the more likely it is to get free media coverage. So there's a big incentive to go to the extremes." "The Year Of Playing Dirtier" - Excerpts:Rep. Ron Kind pays for sex!Well, that's what the Republican challenger for his Wisconsin congressional seat, Paul R. Nelson, claims in new ads, the ones with "XXX" stamped across Kind's face.It turns out that Kind -- along with more than 200 of his fellow hedonists in the House -- opposed an unsuccessful effort to stop the National Institutes of Health from pursuing peer-reviewed sex studies. According to Nelson's ads, the Democrat also wants to "let illegal aliens burn the American flag" and "allow convicted child molesters to enter this country.To Nelson, that doesn't even qualify as negative campaigning."Negative campaigning is vicious personal attacks," he said in an interview. "This isn't personal at all.By 2006 standards, maybe it isn't.On the brink of what could be a power-shifting election, it is kitchen-sink time: Desperate candidates are throwing everything. While negative campaigning is a tradition in American politics, this year's version in many races has an eccentric shade, filled with allegations of moral bankruptcy and sexual perversion.At the same time, the growth of "independent expenditures" by national parties and other groups has allowed candidates to distance themselves from distasteful attacks on their opponents, while blogs and YouTube have provided free distribution networks for eye-catching hatchet jobs.When the news is bad, the ads tend to be negative," said Shanto Iyengar, a Stanford professor who studies political advertising. "And the more negative the ad, the more likely it is to get free media coverage. So there's a big incentive to go to the extremes.The result has been a carnival of ugly, especially on the GOP side, where operatives are trying to counter what polls show is a hostile political environment by casting opponents as fatally flawed characters. The National Republican Campaign Committee is spending more than 90 percent of its advertising budget on negative ads, according to GOP operatives, and the rest of the party seems to be following suit. A few examples of the "character issues" taking center stage two weeks before Election Day:In New York, the NRCC ran an ad accusing Democratic House candidate Michael A. Arcuri, a district attorney, of using taxpayer dollars for phone sex. "Hi, sexy," a dancing woman purrs. "You've reached the live, one-on-one fantasy line." It turns out that one of Arcuri's aides had tried to call the state Division of Criminal Justice, which had a number that was almost identical to that of a porn line. The misdial cost taxpayers $1.25.

A Disgusting ManSheik Taj el-Din al-Hilali, is Mufti of Australia's largest mosque. "Mufti" means a Muslim scholar who interprets the shari'a (The code of law based on the Koran). Sheik al-Hilali made it clear that when it came to stupid, bigoted statements he was not going to let Rev. Pat Robertson take the front seat. Take a deep breath. Speaking at his Lakemba Mosque, this is what he said about women:News.com But when it comes to adultery, it's 90 per cent the women's responsibility. Why? Because a woman possesses the weapon of seduction. It is she who takes off her clothes, shortens them, flirts, puts on make-up and powder and takes to the streets, God protect us, dallying. It's she who shortens, raises and lowers. Then it's a look, then a smile, then a conversation, a greeting, then a conversation, then a date, then a meeting, then a crime, then Long Bay jail. (laughs)."Then you get a judge, who has no mercy, and he gives you 65 years."But when it comes to this disaster, who started it? In his literature, scholar al-Rafihi says: 'If I came across a rape crime – kidnap and violation of honour – I would discipline the man and order that the woman be arrested and jailed for life.' Why would you do this, Rafihi? He says because if she had not left the meat uncovered, the cat wouldn't have snatched it.""If you take a kilo of meat, and you don't put it in the fridge or in the pot or in the kitchen but you leave it on a plate in the backyard, and then you have a fight with the neighbour because his cats eat the meat, you're crazy. Isn't this true?"If you take uncovered meat and put it on the street, on the pavement, in a garden, in a park or in the backyard, without a cover and the cats eat it, is it the fault of the cat or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem."If the meat was covered, the cats wouldn't roam around it. If the meat is inside the fridge, they won't get it."If the meat was in the fridge and it (the cat) smelled it, it can bang its head as much as it wants, but it's no use."If the woman is in her boudoir, in her house and if she's wearing the veil and if she shows modesty, disasters don't happen.On October 26th, the News.com reported: "AUSTRALIA'S senior Muslim cleric cannot be sacked or deported despite the outrage caused by him saying immodestly dressed women invite sexual attacks." His supporters are no less disgusting. Where are the enlightened Muslims ? Why do they remain largely silent ? Pat Robertson and his ilk may have their supporters but here in America they face a lot of ridicule when they open their mouth to utter hateful, nonsensical opinions.Washington Post: Australia's Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pru Goward, accused al-Hilali of inciting rape and said the temporary ban on preaching was inadequate punishment.

Depressing to read that the number of dead soldiers this month in Iraq is nearing 100. Five more days to go before the end of October. As to Iraqi civilian casualties, the number -- even if you accept the minimum -- is staggering but deaths of Iraqi civilians do not seem to have much of an impact on Americans.Women Against WarBEAT THE DRUM SLOWLY is a grass roots movement to record all women everywhere on the peace anthem, "She Came Riding Up Slowly". Music has the ability to reach across all lines quickly and communicate. This song seeks to reach beyond political and religious affiliations to the most powerful and influential group on the planet: MOTHERS. I, for one, have had enough: thousands of years of war and atrocity in the name of Power and God. Women are half the population of the world. We know children are born with no inherent hatred for race, religion or country. And yet we raise them to believe there are reasons to kill. What if none of us did that anymore? A darling of the right-wing talk shows, Rush Limbaugh, caused an uproar by his statement about the tv ad in which Michael J. Fox supported lifting restrictions on stem cell research. Typical. Fox suffers from Parkinson's disease.

The Bill Mitchell cartoon says it all.Secret Plan CNN - Bill MitchellMitchell's cartoons used to appear in print. Then during a National Arts Journalism Fellowship, he was given a T-1 connection, a Mac and shown the Web. He's been AWOL from newspapers, living in the Northern Rockies and publishing online since '95. Comments? Yell at MitchellA Strategic Retreat or Strategy for Retreat"Stay the course" ! Who said that ?President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as "stay the course." A complete distortion, they say. "That is not a stay-the-course policy," White House press secretary Tony Snow declared yesterday. ...

It is "the Iraq war", stupid * Death Tolls - Johns Hopkins Study Those who took the nation to war on deception and lies are dodging, weaving. and changing the message but nothing seems to be working. The tide has turned. The Democrats, who had meekly fallen in line behind them, are the beneficiaries of the backlash.Washington Post: "Two weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans are losing the battle for independent voters, who now strongly favor Democrats on Iraq and other major issues facing the country and overwhelmingly prefer to see them take over the House in November, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll."Soldiers continue to die. Latest casualty numbers: Month of October 88; total 2801. A recently released study by Johns Hopkins University caused an uproar because it mentioned civilian death toll in Iraq to be more than 650,000. Some critics went as far as to say that the release was deliberately timed before the midterm elections ! Well, what is an acceptable number to the critics of the study -- 300,000, 200,000 ? Still high, too high when you consider what lead to their death. Operation Iraqi Freedom -- give us a break. No wonder we are hated. "In a Sea of Uncertainty, We All Have an Anchor" by Shankar Vedantam in the Post makes interesting reading.Although the debate over the study has been largely driven by the political implications of the number of Iraqi casualties, psychologists say the fact that many people find the new number hard to digest is a perfect example of anchoring.Previous estimates had put the number of Iraqi casualties at 30,000 to 50,000. Once that number was anchored in people's minds, it was a foregone conclusion that most people would find it very difficult to accept a much larger number."It could be malicious and deliberate or innocent and just wrong, but the fact that the administration had set an anchor is what makes the new number seem implausible," said Max Bazerman, who studies human decision-making at Harvard Business School.It is important to remember that the psychological phenomenon does not tell you what the correct number of casualties in Iraq really is. But it does say that even if the 650,000 number is accurate, we are likely not to believe it.

Dr. Ibrahim B. Syed * Contraceptive Coverage - Court Rules Against Catholic EmployersDr. Syed is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and a writer on Islamic affairs. His 1998 article (see below) isn't likley to make him popular in the Muslim community but could very well bring the wrath of the mullahs upon him. Wearing of veil by Muslim women has become a polarizing issue. He wrote "As a matter of fact, modesty in dress is also required on the part of Muslim men." How is that going to fly with Muslim men, especially those who live in the West ?Washington Post: "While the veil issue has exacerbated tensions between non-Muslims and Muslims, it has also sparked passionate reactions within Muslim communities. Some Muslim leaders have accused Straw, Blair -- who called veils a "mark of separation" -- and others of demonizing Muslims, but others have said they have raised an important issue that has no clear consensus among Muslims."Is Head Cover For Women Mandatory In Islam ?by Ibrahim B. Syed, Ph.D - Islamic Research Foundation International,Inc.(IFRI)Hijab (head cover) for Muslim women is not mandated in the Qur’an. If it is, it is only the subjective interpretation of an ayah (verse) on the part of the reader. Hence, many Islamic scholars say that according to hadith, a woman should cover her whole body, except her face and hands. The majority of Muslims do not know in which hadith this is mentioned. A very limited number of Muslims know that this is in Sunan Abu Dawud. The English translation of Sunan Abu Dawud is in three volumes. Again, nobody ever mentions that it is in Volume Three. Actually, it is in Volume 3, Book XXVII, Chapter 1535, and Hadith number 4092, titled: "How Much Beauty Can A Woman Display?" For the benefit of the readers, the exact hadith is reproduced below:(Go to the IFRI link for the complete text.)This article was printed in the April 1998 issue, Volume 19, No. 3 of "The New Trend" publication.Asra Nomani's article in the Washington Post: Clothes Are'nt the Issue is a shocker. She cites justification for wife beating in the Koran! Makes you wonder why Muslim women remain subservient and accept such conditions. Even if the practice is not widespread it has no place in today's world.MORGANTOWN, W.Va. When dealing with a "disobedient wife," a Muslim man has a number of options. First, he should remind her of "the importance of following the instructions of the husband in Islam." If that doesn't work, he can "leave the wife's bed." Finally, he may "beat" her, though it must be without "hurting, breaking a bone, leaving blue or black marks on the body and avoiding hitting the face, at any cost."Such appalling recommendations, drawn from the book "Woman in the Shade of Islam" by Saudi scholar Abdul Rahman al-Sheha, are inspired by as authoritative a source as any Muslim could hope to find: a literal reading of the 34th verse of the fourth chapter of the Koran, An-Nisa , or Women. "[A]nd (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them," reads one widely accepted translation.A Defeat For Catholic Employers in New York StateGood news. Although the plaintiffs in this case plan to pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the chances of the justices taking this up are slim.New York Law Journal:Health Law Requiring Plans To Offer Birth Control UpheldJohn Caher10-20-2006"ALBANY - The Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the constitutionality of a women's health act that pressures some religious-affiliated employers to either offer their employees a prescription plan that includes contraceptive coverage or deny their workers any drug coverage at all.In Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Albany v. Serio, 110, the Court rejected the claims of 10 faith-based organizations and refused to exempt them from a key provision in the Women's Health and Wellness Act. The ruling makes it difficult, but not impossible, for an individual or group to avoid on religious grounds a neutral law of general application.- John Caher can be reached at jcaher@alm.com.

Colonel Tom Vail * Iraq * Casualties * Garry TrudeauThe bluster has become muted, almost gone, but the same old refrain continues to be heard. And every day soldiers, most of them in their 20's -- some even younger -- die in the slaughterhouse that Iraq has turned into. We who opposed the war before the first pair of boots hit the ground feel vindicated but there is no joy. The cost in human terms is numbing; there is only sorrow. Tom Vail's mission is a worthy one. He will face anger, sadness, and questions about the wasted lives. Nevertheless, his personal meetings with bereaved families could provide much-needed closure for some.From The Observer (Guardian). October 22, 2006How Iraq Came to Haunt AmericaColonel Tom Vail is planning a road trip around the United States. It is his last, sad duty before returning to his family from eastern Baghdad. For when the commander of the 4th Brigade of the 101st Airborne arrives back in the States, it will be with videos of the memorial services held in Baghdad for each of his fallen soldiers to give to the families of the dead men.He knows that some of the families will not want to see him, and he understands. Grief works in different ways, he says. For others, however, it will be an opportunity to talk, to learn something, he hopes, of the inexplicable nature of their children's deaths.So, when he has a moment, when he is not driving round the battlefield that is eastern Baghdad, Vail examines the map and plans his flights and his car hire. And he wonders at the reception he will receive - a messenger of death, bringing the war back from Iraq to the home front.For when Vail and his soldiers return, it will be in the knowledge that the United States that they are going home to is not the one that they left. That in their year-long absence a seismic shift has occurred in support for the war in Iraq. And that the deaths that Colonel Vail must carry back with him to grieving families - deaths that once seemed to Americans to be a necessary cost - now seem to the majority a dreadful and pointless waste.See Doonesbury's War for Garry Trudeau and stories about injured veterans. "Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take Till he knows that too many people have died." --Bob Dylan

A few days back my friend JHL forwarded an item that appeared in The Writers' Almanac of October 19th. It took me to a poem by Gary Snyder, one of my favorite poets in America. It was timely, fitted my mood as she thought it would.The web site includes an audio link. Give it a try.MapA hill, a farm,A forest, and a valley.Half a hill plowed, half woods.A forest valley and a valley field.Sun passes over;Two solstices a yearCow in the pastureSometimes deerA farmhouse built of wood.A forest built on bones.The high field, hawksThe low field, crowsWren in the bramblesFrogs in the creekHot in summerCold in snowThe woods fade and pass.The farm goes on.The farm quits and failsThe woods creep downStocks fall you can't sell cornBig frost and tree-mice starveWho wins who cares?The woods have time.The farmer has heirs.--Gary Snyder * Here is another that I like. Now 76, Gary Snyder lives in the Sierra foothills. A WalkSunday the only day we don't work:Mules farting around the meadow, Murphy fishing,The tent flaps in the warmEarly sun: I've eaten breakfast and I'll Take a walkTo Benson Lake. Packed a lunch,Goodbye. Hopping on creekbed bouldersUp the rock throat three miles Puite Creek --In steep gorge glacier-slick rattlesnake countryJump, land by a pool, trout skitter,The clear sky. Deer tracks.Bad place by a falls, boulders big as houses,Lunch tied to belt,I stemmed up a crack and almost fellBut rolled out safe on a ledge and ambled on.Quail chicks freeze underfoot, color of stoneThen run cheep! away, hen quail fussing.Craggy west end of Benson Lake -- after edgingPast dark creek pools on a long white slope --Lookt down in the ice-black lake lined with cliffFrom far above: deep shimmering trout.A lone duck in a gunsightpass steep side hillThrough slide-aspen and talus, to the east end,Down to grass, wading a wide smooth streamInto camp. At last. By the rusty three-year-Ago left-behind cookstoveOf the old trail crew,Stoppt and swam and ate my lunch.--Gary Snyder