Kerry blames bin Laden for defeat From combined dispatches Sen. John Kerry believes the videotape of Osama bin Laden that appeared days before the Nov. 2 election cost him the presidency, Fox News reported yesterday. The Massachusetts Democrat told Fox News the tape first aired by Arab television network Al Jazeera may have scared the American electorate. Mr. Kerry said the tape was released too late for his camp to rebut and the Democratic campaign couldn't counteract it in time for the election. Fox's Geraldo Rivera spoke with Mr. Kerry on Thursday as the senator and a slew of other notables � including wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, actors Robin Williams and Morgan Freeman, and comedian Chris Tucker � were in a holding room prior to the processional leading up to the formal opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. from http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041119-110514-1240r.htm

beginning to wonder if it really matters, why he lost... enough that he did... part of me thinks that all the elements which made america great in the past have reached a kind of critical mass, the result being the death of it's greatness, the preeminence of stupidity as it's defining virtue (virtuous because it is intentional, a willful choice intended to be defining)... i used to laugh at those who said that america wasn't a force for good in the world... needless to say, i don't laugh anymore, and don't know that i even think of myself as american anymore... i feel no kinship with that majority outside the city limits of austin... no bond between us, no shared ideas, no common history or anything else... seems every time i get cut off on the freeway, everytime someone does something uncivil and/or dangerous that puts others at risk because of their selfishness, it is inevitably a truck or an suv, with one of those idiotic ribbons on back... maybe what i feel then is an inkling to how the rest of the world feels towards us... (if it is, god help us)...

(speaking of stupidity as defining national characteristic) First Amendment No Big Deal, Students Say 1 hour, 5 minutes ago U.S. National - AP By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer WASHINGTON - The way many high school students see it, government censorship of newspapers may not be a bad thing, and flag burning is hardly protected free speech. AP Photo It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released Monday. The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly. Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories. "These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous," said Hodding Carter III, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the $1 million study. "Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future." The students are even more restrictive in their views than their elders, the study says. When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did. The results reflected indifference, with almost three in four students saying they took the First Amendment for granted or didn't know how they felt about it. It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights. Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It's not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can't. "Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment. Students often don't know the rights it protects," Linda Puntney, executive director of the Journalism Education Association, said in the report. "This all comes at a time when there is decreasing passion for much of anything. And, you have to be passionate about the First Amendment." The partners in the project, including organizations of newspaper editors and radio and television news directors, share a clear advocacy for First Amendment issues. Federal and state officials, meanwhile, have bemoaned a lack of knowledge of U.S. civics and history among young people. Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., has even pushed through a mandate that schools must teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the date it was signed in 1787. The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut, is billed as the largest of its kind. More than 100,000 students, nearly 8,000 teachers and more than 500 administrators at 544 public and private high schools took part in early 2004.

Nick, sometimes it does get scary outside the Austin City Limits, I hope this trend in thinking amoung high schoolers doesn't keep up. High school students seem too willing and lay down and get their freedoms trampled.