Cheney Visits Hospital After Shortness of Breath

Damn.

Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a history of heart trouble, went to a hospital Saturday after experiencing shortness of breath. Two tests found no abnormalities, an aide said.

A pacemaker implanted in the 63-year-old Cheney's chest three years ago indicated no irregularities during the past 90 days, Mary Matalin, a spokeswoman for the vice president, said. The device gives doctors a three-month readout. She said an electrocardiogram, which measures the heart's electrical activity, showed no change.

Cheney, who has had four heart attacks, although none as vice president, returned Thursday night from a pheasant hunting trip in South Dakota with a cold that left him short of breath, she said.

Palestinian Leader Arafat Dies at 75

So he finally succumbed...

But what's this?

Within hours of Arafat's death, Israel sealed the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and increased security at Jewish settlements, fearing widespread Palestinian riots in the coming days.

"The Israeli Defense Forces are deploying to allow a dignified funeral ceremony for chairman Arafat," an army statement said.

The military said it would restrict access to the funeral and burial, set for Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and only allow Palestinians with permits to attend. The military will allow processions in towns and refugee camps, officials said.

A military funeral was scheduled earlier Friday in Cairo, a location that allows Arab leaders to avoid travel to the West Bank, where Israel controls access.

That seems a little suspicious to me. I suppose it makes sense on some level, but I tend to try to avoid the thought that Israel really is engaging in a military occupation of the Palestinians.

President Bush (news - web sites) issued a statement of condolence to the Palestinian people.

"We express our condolences to the Palestinian people. For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors," the president said.

Oh my god, is that actually tactful? Call me optimistic, but... well, just call me optimistic for now.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres (news - web sites), who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat and assassinated Israeli leader Yitzak Rabin, said:

"The biggest mistake of Arafat was when he turned to terror. His greatest achievements were when he tried to build peace."
...
Arafat became one of the world's most familiar faces after addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York in 1974, when he entered the chamber wearing a holster and carrying a sprig. "Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun," he said. "Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."
...
"As long as the world saw Palestinians as no more than refugees standing in line for U.N. rations, it was not likely to respect them. Now that the Palestinians carry rifles the situation has changed," Arafat explained.

One of the world's most notorious and most beloved figureheads has passed on. Who will be the nest speaker for the Palestinians? They desperately need someone strong, who will not sacrifice their interests, but also someone who's willing to compromise in a way the best represents the interests and opinions of the people... Call me optimistic...

Druggists refuse to give out pill

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the pharmacists religion doesn't mean that I trust God more than my physician...

Some pharmacists, however, disagree and refuse on moral grounds to fill prescriptions for contraceptives. And states from Rhode Island to Washington have proposed laws that would protect such decisions.
...
The American Pharmacists Association, with 50,000 members, has a policy that says druggists can refuse to fill prescriptions if they object on moral grounds, but they must make arrangements so a patient can still get the pills. Yet some pharmacists have refused to hand the prescription to another druggist to fill.

In Madison, Wis., a pharmacist faces possible disciplinary action by the state pharmacy board for refusing to transfer a woman's prescription for birth-control pills to another druggist or to give the slip back to her. He would not refill it because of his religious views.
...
"We have always understood that the battles about abortion were just the tip of a larger ideological iceberg, and that it's really birth control that they're after also," says Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) Federation of America.

"The explosion in the number of legislative initiatives and the number of individuals who are just saying, 'We're not going to fill that prescription for you because we don't believe in it' is astonishing," she said.

Pharmacists have moved to the front of the debate because of such drugs as the "morning-after" pill, which is emergency contraception that can prevent fertilization if taken within 120 hours of unprotected intercourse.

While some pharmacists cite religious reasons for opposing birth control, others believe life begins with fertilization and see hormonal contraceptives, and the morning-after pill in particular, as capable of causing an abortion.
...
In Wisconsin, a petition drive is underway to revive a proposed law that would protect pharmacists who refuse to prescribe drugs they believe could cause an abortion or be used for assisted suicide.

"It just recognizes that pharmacists should not be forced to choose between their consciences and their livelihoods," says Matt Sande of Pro-Life Wisconsin. "They should not be compelled to become parties to abortion."

Look, it's not like I would ever tell a pharmacist to abort a baby, but really, IT'S NOT THE PHARMACIST'S CHOICE! THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!

Ashcroft, Evans first to resign from Cabinet

Thank God. Although I dread what's coming next...

Red/Blue Map of the US Weighted by Population

(via Josh Marshall)

Little Repugs with Signs

A beautiful (if anecdotal) example of why the right is not allowed to be all "holier than thou"

Reason's Vote Fraud Roundup

From Tim Cavanaugh at Reason:

"With all due respect, Tim, you're full of shit."

That's what highly regarded media critic Mark Crispin Miller told me this morning, in response to my opinion that President Bush had been reelected in a more or less fair vote, with electoral and popular margins that can't be explained away by the various (often credible) claims of vote fraud.

Well, if a respected NYU professor says it, it must be true. Still, I think folks on the left might be better off figuring out why more people voted for Bush than continuing to pound the Bush-illegitimacy drum that Tuesday's results would appear to have silenced.

However, while I don't think more Diebold conspiracy theories are going to be of much use to the Democrats, I'm happy to see attention focused on the real problem of vote fraud. In that spirit, here is a roundup of anomalies, some apparently real and some pretty dubious, making the rounds since Tuesday...

Iraq Declares Martial Law, U.S. Bombs Falluja

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, declaring a 60-day state of martial law on Sunday to rein-in an insurgency that has claimed dozens of lives over the last two days and threatens January elections, said a move to retake Falluja could not be delayed much longer.

An AC-130 gunship struck Falluja with cannon fire and machine guns as American forces were massed on two sides of the city that Iraqi and U.S. authorities say is a base for loyalists of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A U.S. Marine tank company and infantry unit moved to a staging area near Falluja early on Monday. U.S. forces say they only await word from Allawi to begin their assault 32 miles west of Baghdad.

"He still hopes that it may be possible to avoid a major military confrontation in Falluja ... He is, however, not optimistic," said Allawi spokesman Thair al-Naqib.

Witnesses said there was heavy fighting on the eastern and western fringes of the city, including around a bridge over the Euphrates. The Iraqi 36th Command Battalion seized the main hospital in Falluja, blindfolding a number of people and kicking down doors but not firing a shot.

The U.S. military says 1,000 to 6,000 fighters are holed up in Falluja. U.S. attacks have killed dozens of guerrillas but have failed to scare them away, a senior Marine commander said.

So our new plan of action is to scare the terrorists? Seems to me that in this post-10/31 world, we might need to try a little harder. Plus, how many of these fighters won't eventually be involved in kamikaze attacks on civillians and soldiers anyway? They're not afraid of death, they're excited about it.

Why, Ohio, Why?

James Capozzola asked relatives in Ohio about the election, and heard back:

You have to replace Maine with Ohio in the old adage, "As Maine Goes, So Goes the Nation."

I believe it is because Ohio has become a microcosm of America.

It has major industry, agriculture, and retail. It has a bit of high-tech and a lot of education. It has urban blacks in Cleveland and white transplants in Columbus. Cincinnati believes it is part of the south, while Toledo and Akron have had to change as part of the old auto industry and reflect the hard times that fall on cities where the average paycheck has gone from union scale to minimum wage. It has extreme wealth and extreme poverty, but unlike NYC the two don't run into each other on a daily basis. It has small towns that are actually small towns and not exurbs, where people can live comfortably without worrying about urban problems and expenses.

It has become less Catholic and more Christian, listens to more country music than rock, and suburban white men dress like they're gangstas. They may not own a gun but they want to know they CAN. They want the right to an abortion, but expect to go to church and repent about it afterwards.
...

It seems right yet, but feels so wrong. At the very least, you only have to look at MyDD's Partisan Index to see that Ohio, though red this year, was still more blue than the country as a whole. Think long and hard about that.

Alan Keyes is a nutjob

Republican Alan Keyes blamed the media and ''Republicans in name only'' Thursday for his lopsided loss to Democrat Barack Obama in Illinois' U.S. Senate race.

Keyes also said he didn't congratulate Obama after the race was called, a tradition among politicians, because doing so would have been a ''false gesture'' because he believes Obama's views on issues like abortion are wicked.
...

Keyes noted that 1.3 million people voted for him.

He said he was disappointed in what he called the number of ''Republicans in name only'' in Illinois. An Associated Press exit poll showed that four in 10 Republicans voted for Obama, a liberal state senator from Chicago.

''I had counted on the fact that Republicans would come back home on Election Day rather than vote a socialist into office who stands against everything they profess to believe as Republicans,'' Keyes said.

(via The Gadflyer)