The Guild 9-30-2004 I'm a real man too, I just don't have pictures to prove it...

RUSH: So Diane Sawyer says, "Okay, so tomorrow night the dual for a man who says he's tired of the Bush campaign defining him." She's holding up pictures of him wind surfing, by the way. She's holding up pictures of Kerry wind surfing and Bush chopping trees and clearing brush down there in Texas, and she says, "So tomorrow night, the dual for a man who says he's tired of the Bush campaign defining him, and that even his infamous wind surfing was an act of image rebellion, is there something about a candidate who wind surfs and snowboards up against these images? So is there a symbolism here you think people are responding to?"

KERRY: You know I do those things, too; I just didn't have those photographs taken, and I love doing everything --

RUSH: Stop the tape. Now, the question here didn't even make sense to me as I read it, but here's what he's answering to. She's holding up pictures of Bush clearing brush and Kerry wind surfing and says is this a bad image for you? And what he's saying is, "Oh, I clear brush, too. I clear brush, too. I do those things, too; I just don't have those photographs taken. I just didn't have those photographs." Just like there are no photographs when you fell down the ski slope, huh? He says he's got photos. [program observer interruption] No, he doesn't have any photographs. That's it. He's cleared brush at... I don't know if he means at Bush's ranch or not, that's a good question. Where has he cleared brush? Has he cleared brush up in Idaho at the ski chalet? Has he cleared brush up at Nantucket? Has he cleared brush in Beacon Hill to move the fire hydrant? Maybe he helps the gardeners. Maybe that's what he does, I don't know, but he says he's never taken pictures of it. So here's the rest of the bite.

KERRY: -- person. I'm going to be myself, Diane. That's what's important. You know, these pictures appear because I'm not trying to appear to be somebody different. I'm not trying to fake it. I'm going out and being who I am.

KERRY: They've got to go talk to a lot of the guys who enjoy doing wind surfing and the guys I go with are, you know, regular, folks. They're carpenters and electricians, guys who work on the island. If they want to have fun with it, that's fine. What matters here are the American people, not what I do in a couple of hours when I have some free time to go get some exercise.

From Russia, with love:

If you’ve ever seen a rubber woman, you know it must take a lot of imagination to, er, handle her the way you’re supposed to. Some Russian men and women apparently have even more imagination to spare — 126 of them used inflatable sex dolls as flotation devices to raft down rapids in the vicinity of St. Petersburg.

The second Bubble Baba Challenge (in Russian, baba stands for “woman,” only unlike the other word for woman, zhenschina, conveys not a shred of respect) was held on the Vuoksa river that runs in northwestern Russia a year after the first contest. Dmitry Bulawinov, the mastermind and organizer behind the unusual sporting event, says the idea of floating down the river in the embraces of a rubber woman was conceived as a joke at a party where the men got drunk and the women didn’t show up. While considering the possible uses for a rubber woman on a camping trip, someone voiced the thought that a sex doll would make a handy flotation device.

It’s far from the strangest idea that has ever come into the heads of imbibing camping aficionados, but unlike many other concepts of equal genius, this one was realized in life. Bulawinov set about advertising the sex doll rafting adventure opportunity online, and, ten months later, in August 2003, Bubble Baba Challenge 1 participants were eagerly hurling themselves through roaring rapids, buoyed by pneumatic breasts and hips.

“I went to the first race thinking it was going to be a celebration of idiocy,” says Victor Kuryashkin, a 31-year-old programmer and old-time camper who came in third in this year’s race and won last year’s sex doll design contest. “I think the potential sponsors had the same attitude toward the event. But Dmitry’s [Bulawinov] crew managed to create a good contest.” He used the same “flotation device” both times, which, he underscores, he doesn’t think of as a woman — he even painted “her” in camouflage colors and named her “The Nimble Missile Breast-Carrier.”

Alexander Korolyov, a 45-year-old owner of an active recreation tour company and a life-long swimmer, came in first last year, second this year, and plans to participate in future contests, as well as refer his clients for joining in, says that the event is essentially a swimming race. He doesn’t really think of it as much of a match, though — “It’s just fun, I don’t treat it as a contest. It’s just a reason to go out of town for a weekend, to fool around.” Still, this year he brought home an inflatable mattress as a trophy, while last year’s award “was very immodest” and “too awkward to talk about.”

Although vastly outnumbered by men excited about floating down the river atop a rubber chick, women did compete in the contest, finding nothing odd about using such unusual “lifesavers.” Bulawinov and other organizers try to be fair and leave open the option of floating down on rubber men dolls, but unfortunately, they can’t rent them out like they do the rubber women. “The men are too expensive, we can’t afford them,” he complains. The lack of manly lifesavers did not deter Olga Alexandrova, a third category swimmer. The 23-year-old photographer and designer finds “nothing strange” whatsoever about the event and will “certainly” participate next year — “I want to win!” she says.

Next year, however, might not happen if Bulawinov does not sort out his troubles with the local mafia, who demand rent money for the use of the river. In a truly Russian twist on event, the local toughs, sure that the rafting enthusiasts are making money off the weird race, called Bulawinov with threats the next day after he put up flyers about the contest. “They called and said, what are you setting up, why weren’t we informed, you owe us money, if you don’t give us money, we’ll screw it all up.”

Bulawinov tries to not pass his concerns to the race participants, though — everyone went home happy. “The participants wore life vests — if you lose the girl, which is against the rules, you won’t drown, even if you can’t swim. But the woman, she helped many people, the rapids are so bad that sometimes you don’t see the swimmer for five seconds, and then all of a sudden out he comes straddling the chick, happy and spewing water.”

FYI:

1 Oct 2004 | Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army, now mobilizing 5,600 former soldiers from a rarely used personnel pool to go to Iraq and Afghanistan, plans to summon a similar number next year for duty in those war zones, a senior official said on Friday.

The Army also said it plans to step up recruitment efforts to try to meet goals to sign up 80,000 new soldiers for the regular Army and 22,000 for the Army Reserve in the fiscal year that began on Friday. The Army recruiting command's chief acknowledged the wars were deterring some potential recruits.

To plug shortfalls in certain skills in units being deployed, the Army has tapped the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), made up of 111,000 people who have completed voluntary military commitments and have returned to civilian life but remain eligible to be mobilized in a national emergency.

The Army said about 3,900 of the 5,600 IRR soldiers scheduled to be summoned to active duty already have received orders to report. The mobilization, which began in July, is intended to yield about 4,400 soldiers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming weeks and months after the Army provides service exemptions for medical problems and other hardships.

Robert Smiley, a senior Army official involved in personnel mobilization, said the Army also expected in mid-2005 to begin mobilizing about another 5,600 from the IRR.

"It will be a one-for-one swap, essentially," Smiley told reporters, with the 5,600 IRR soldiers being mobilized next year, replacing the current IRR soldiers after they complete 12-month combat tours.

"It will be a one-for-one swap, essentially," for the IRR soldiers currently being mobilized after they complete 12-month combat tours, Smiley told reporters.

Critics have cited the Army's reliance on the IRR as evidence that it has too few soldiers to sustain force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'A NATION AT WAR'

"We're a nation at war. And we need these people to come on active duty," said Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Army's director of personnel policy.

Of the IRR members whose date to report for duty has already arrived, roughly one-third have not shown up on time, with most of those requesting service exemptions or a delay in reporting, Byrne said.

Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, an Army spokeswoman at the Pentagon, said the Army has identified six IRR members who have not reported by the date ordered, and have not requested an exemption from service or a delay in reporting.

These six people potentially could face future criminal charges if deemed absent without leave, or AWOL, although Hart said charges were unlikely and noted that commanders have a great deal of discretion in how to handle these cases.

A spokeswoman for the Army Human Resources Command had said on Tuesday that eight IRR members had been listed as AWOL.

Byrne said the Human Resources Command was mistaken, adding, "No one is considered in an AWOL status right now."

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, head of the Army Recruiting Command, said the Army is adding 1,000 recruiters and $12 million in advertising money to boost efforts to sign up fresh soldiers. In the fiscal year that ended Thursday, the regular Army and Army Reserve met recruiting goals, while the Army National Guard fell short.

"Obviously there's a war going on. No one would deny that. And for some people, for some of our prospects for our target age, young men and women, that is in fact a drawback. And it will deter some of them," Rochelle told reporters.

"Many of them, once presented with the facts, can be convinced otherwise."

This excellent letter was published in my local paper this morning and, no, I cannot take credit. I don't know the author personally, but thought his letter was a good model for any of us interested in submitting letters to the editors:

There are four major candidates running for president in 2004. The first is Sen. John Kerry. This candidate's 20-year career in the U.S. Senate has produced so little in terms of accomplishment that even Kerry spends very little time talking about his Senate career. He is the candidate who has consistently voted for higher taxes against all wage earners; he is the candidate who has remained tight with the radical environmentalists who seek to destroy our state's coal industry; furthermore, he is the candidate with a long history of voting to cut defense spending. He wants your vote.

The second candidate running for president is John Kerry. This candidate voted for the Patriot Act, voted for the President's "No Child Left Behind" Act, and he voted to give President Bush the power to go to war against Iraq if necessary. He clearly seems to have agreed with our current president quite a bit the last three years. He wants your vote.

The third candidate running for president is John Kerry. This version of Sen. Kerry opposes tax increases while at the same time proposes $3 trillion of new spending measures. This time Kerry now opposes the Patriot Act, opposes the "No Child Left Behind" Act, and after seemingly positioning himself as the anti-war candidate in the democratic primaries, he is now committed to the war in Iraq, provided it only takes six months to win the war. He, too, wants your vote!

The fourth candidate is President George W. Bush. This candidate has cut taxes for all Americans twice in just over three years. This candidate listened to the steel industry by providing help and as a result has done more to help our local steelworkers than Bill Clinton did in eight years. This president has liberated two countries from ruthless, freedom-hating regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. This candidate has not flinched or wavered while consistently showing the leadership ability to make the tough decisions to protect our country. He is our president, and he wants our vote.

I will vote for President Bush on Nov. 2 because it's obvious that he's the only true leader running for president of our splendid nation.

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