THE ARMY TIMES ON RUMMY!!!!

(AP via AOL)

The Military Times Media Group, a Gannett Co. subsidiary that publishes Army Times and other military-oriented periodicals, said Friday it was calling for Bush to fire Rumsfeld.

An editorial due to be published Monday says active-duty military leaders are beginning to voice misgivings about the war's planning and execution and dimming prospects for success. It declares that "Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large."

The editorial concludes by saying that regardless of which party wins in next week's election, the time has come "to face the hard bruising truth: Donald Rumsfeld must go."

RADIO TIDBITS

I caught the last 30 minutes or so of Fats and he wasn't his usual upbeat self. I think the reality of the "blue wave" had sunk in on him. He did have a riff against what the wingnuts call "junk science" but even that merely made him seem to be a fool.

Tammy "The Shrill" Bruce tried to peddle the WorldNut Daily article about how the terrorists want the Democrats to win.

MORE GOP CORRUPTION

Rep. Duncan Hunter wants to eliminate the special Inspector General for Iraq! The IG was finding too many problems with Bush's war.

From the NYT:

Collins pushed through the Senate a measure that would allow the agency to review more than $6 billion in additional funding aimed at stabilizing Iraq -- in effect keeping the IG office in business.

But that provision, added to a major defense bill, was stripped from the final legislation when it was negotiated with Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The termination language was inserted into the bill by Congressional staff members working for Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who is the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and who declared on Monday that he plans to run for president in 2008.

THE WSJ ON RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

(Via ThinkProgress)

Weighing Minimum Wage Hikes
Oregon's Boost Didn't Curb Growth,
But Did Squeeze Some Employers
By DEBORAH SOLOMON
November 3, 2006; Page A4

PORTLAND, Ore. -- If Democrats succeed in retaking one or both houses of Congress next week, a top priority will be increasing the minimum wage for the first time since 1997. That raises a persistent question: Does lifting the minimum wage destroy so many jobs that it hurts more than it helps?

In 2002, voters here raised the state's minimum wage -- and mandated automatic annual increases to keep up with inflation. Oregon's 100,000 or so minimum-wage workers are paid at least $7.50 an hour, a rate that will increase to $7.80 in January, well above the federal $5.15 minimum.

Four years later, though it is impossible to say what would have happened had the minimum not been raised, Oregon's experience suggests the most strident doomsayers were wrong. Private, nonfarm payrolls are up 8% over the past four years, nearly twice the national increase. Wages are up, too. Job growth is strong in industries employing many minimum-wage workers, such as restaurants and hotels. Oregon's estimated 5.4% unemployment rate for 2006, though higher than the national average, is down from 7.6% in 2002, when the state was emerging from a recession.

NEO-CONS ABANDON PRES. FREDO

(Via Atrios)

Neo Culpa

As Iraq slips further into chaos, the war's neoconservative boosters have turned sharply on the Bush administration, charging that their grand designs have been undermined by White House incompetence. In a series of exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the president himself.

by David Rose VF.COM November 3, 2006

(EXCERPTS)

According to [RICHARD] Perle, who left the Defense Policy Board in 2004, this unfolding catastrophe has a central cause: devastating dysfunction within the administration of President George W. Bush.

To David Frum, the former White House speechwriter who co-wrote Bush's 2002 State of the Union address that accused Iraq of being part of an "axis of evil,"..."the insurgency has proven it can kill anyone who cooperates, and the United States and its friends have failed to prove that it can protect them." This situation, he says, must ultimately be blamed on "failure at the center"—starting with President Bush.

Kenneth Adelman, a lifelong neocon activist and Pentagon insider who served on the Defense Policy Board until 2005..."I just presumed that what I considered to be the most competent national-security team since Truman was indeed going to be competent. They turned out to be among the most incompetent teams in the post-war era. Not only did each of them, individually, have enormous flaws, but together they were deadly, dysfunctional." "The most dispiriting and awful moment of the whole administration was the day that Bush gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to [former C.I.A. director] George Tenet, General Tommy Franks, and [Coalition Provisional Authority chief] Jerry [Paul] Bremer—three of the most incompetent people who've ever served in such key spots.

Frank Gaffney, an assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan and founder of the Center for Security Policy: "[Bush] doesn't in fact seem to be a man of principle who's steadfastly pursuing what he thinks is the right course. He talks about it, but the policy doesn't track with the rhetoric, and that's what creates the incoherence that causes us problems around the world and at home. It also creates the sense that you can take him on with impunity."

Michael Rubin, former Pentagon Office of Special Plans and Coalition Provisional Authority staffer....Bush has betrayed Iraqi reformers in a way that is "not much different from what his father did on February 15, 1991, when he called the Iraqi people to rise up, and then had second thoughts and didn't do anything once they did."

SOME ENCOURAGING NEWS

Pederson narrows Kyl lead, poll says

Survey of 400 shows Demo has slight Pima County lead

By Josh Brodesky

arizona daily star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.03.2006

With the election less than a week away, Democrat Jim Pederson continues to close on Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, pulling within 4.5 points, according to a poll released Thursday.

A survey of 400 likely voters from across the state, showed Pederson trailing Kyl 45.8 percent to 41.3 percent with 9 percent of voters still undecided. Libertarian Richard Mack received 3.7 percent.

The difference is within the poll's 4.9 point margin of error. The survey by Zimmerman and Associates and Marketing Intelligence was conducted Oct. 25-30.

I didn't get to see the Big Dog, but I'm sure his visit will help:

Clinton energizes Reid Park crowd
By Josh Brodesky
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.03.2006

Four years ago former President Bill Clinton visited Tucson, energizing its Democratic base and paving the way to Gov. Janet Napolitano's election.

Thursday night, Clinton made his return to the Old Pueblo in a visit that Democrats hope will prove the same for Senate candidate Jim Pederson, who is running against Republican incumbent Jon Kyl.

Clinton at times electrified and silenced the crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 at Reid Park, characterizing the Democratic Party as a force that can bring the nation back to the political center.

FREDO SPILLS THE NUKE BEANS

(Hat-tip to lokiloki at Dkos)

From The New York Times:

U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Guide

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: November 3, 2006

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”

FUN WITH BUSHBOTS

The troops aren't ignorant but the BushBots on AOL sure are. Here's a winner from just one message board:

Matolchip

KERRY DID RELEASE IT...AFTER HE LOST THE ELECTION! HE DEIDNT WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT BUSH HAD A 1% BETTER GRADE POINT AVERAGE AT HARVARD!

BOTH KERRY AND BUSH WENT TO YALE! BOTH COLLEGES WERE IN MASSACHUSETTS

FREDO STICKS WITH FAILURES

From the WaPo:

Bush said he wanted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the top architect of the war, and Vice President Dick Cheney to remain with him until the end of his presidency.

"Both those men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them," Bush said.

So, the two men most responsible (after Fredo) for the screw-up in Iraq have been doing just great! Anyone recall what Fredo said about his former head of FEMA, Michael Brown?

MY E-MAIL TO SENATOR KERRY

Dear Sen. Kerry,

I have been canvassing for the Democratic Party in Tucson, AZ for the last three weeks.
In a mere 5 seconds, YOU have nullified all the walking and talking I have done.

Do me a favor - STFU!!!

VERY Sincerely yours,

80% AREN'T FOOLED BY FREDO

Iraq War Frames ‘06 Vote in Last Poll Before Election
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MEGAN THEE
Published: November 1, 2006


...the final New York Times/CBS News poll before the midterm election.

The poll found that just 29 percent of Americans approve of the way President Bush is managing the war in Iraq, matching the lowest mark of his presidency. Nearly 70 percent of Americans said Mr. Bush did not have a plan to end the war, and an overwhelming 80 percent said Mr. Bush’s latest effort to rally public support for the conflict amounted to a change in language but not policy.

Only 20 percent said they thought the United States was winning in Iraq, down from a high of 36 percent in January.

BROOKS BABBLES ABOUT THE 80S

(From LexisNexis)

David Brooks, one of the resident conservative columnists at the NY Times, recently repeated a half-wit view of history:

HEADLINE: The Era of What's Next

BYLINE: By DAVID BROOKS
October 26, 2006 Thursday
Late Edition - Final

Between 1980 and 2006, conservatism was dominant. The big accomplishments were conservative accomplishments -- the defeat of communism

The defeat of communism was a bi-partisan effort, starting with Harry Truman. Wingnuts typically claim that Raygun defeated the USSR but as someone else put it so very well, Raygun had as much to do with the fall of the USSR as Nixon had to do with putting a man on the moon. In both cases, they were at the end of a very long chain of events.

WOW! ONLY 37%....

From the latest NBC News/WSJ poll:

...just 37 percent believe that removing Saddam Hussein from power was worth the U.S. casualties and financial cost of the war.

RADIO TIDBITS

Fats and Shammity are making a LOT of Kerry's comment:

According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the senator took the stage to roaring applause before regaling the crowd with one-liners, Bush barbs and tales of surfing at nearby Mission Beach.

He then said: "You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well.

"If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Apparently, Kerry mangled the joke he was supposed to say:

A Kerry aide told CNN that the prepared statement, which had been designed to criticize President Bush, "was mangled in delivery."

Kerry was supposed to say, "I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq."


The crowd he was addressing got the point but the right-wing gasbags will never even try to be accurate.

FOX WINS, FATS LOSES!!!

(Via Crooks & Liars)

The sad part of this is that 26% have a favorable opinion of Fatso.

PROPOSITION 2

The gasbags have been claiming that Missouri's Proposition 2 is about cloning and abortion. Of course, they are lying again. Here's the entire proposition:

2006 Ballot MeasureConstitutional Amendment 2
Stem Cell Initiative
Submitted October 11, 2005
NOTICE: You are advised that the proposed constitutional amendment may change, repeal, or modify by implication or may be construed by some persons to change, repeal or modify by implication, the following provisions of the Constitution of Missouri – Sections 2, 10, 14, and 32 of Article I; Section 1 of Article II; Sections 1, 21, 22, 23, 28, 36, 39, 40, 41, and 42 of Article III; Sections 1, 14, 36(a), 37, 37(a), 39, and 52 of Article IV; Sections 5, 14, 17, 18, and 23, and subsection 17 of Section 27 of Article V; Sections 18(b), 18(c), 18(d), 18(k), 18(m), 19(a), 20, 31, 32(a), and 32(b) of Article VI; Section 9(a) of Article IX; Sections 1, 6, 11(a), 11(d), and 11(f) of Article X; and Section 3 or Article XI.
THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT
Be it resolved by the people of the state of Missouri that the Constitution be amended:
One new section is adopted by adding one new section to be known as section 38(d) of Article III to read as follows:
Section 38(d). 1. This section shall be known as the “ Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative.”
2. To ensure that Missouri patients have access to stem cell therapies and cures, that Missouri researchers can conduct stem cell research in the state, and that all such research is conducted safely and ethically, any stem cell research permitted under federal law may be conducted in Missouri, and any stem cell therapies and cures permitted under federal law may be provided to patients in Missouri, subject to the requirements of federal law and only the following additional limitations and requirements:
(1) No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.
(2) No human blastocyst may be produced by fertilization solely for the purpose of stem cell research.
(3) No stem cells may be taken from a human blastocyst more than fourteen days after cell division begins; provided, however, that time during which a blastocyst is frozen does not count against the fourteen-day limit.
(4) No person may, for valuable consideration, purchase or sell human blastocysts or eggs for stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures.
(5) Human blastocysts and eggs obtained for stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures must have been donated with voluntary and informed consent, documented in writing.
(6) Human embryonic stem cell research may be conducted only by persons that, within 180 days of the effective date of this section or otherwise prior to commencement of such research, whichever is later, have
(a) provided oversight responsibility and approval authority for such research to an embryonic stem cell research oversight committee whose membership includes representatives of the public and medical and scientific experts;
(b) adopted ethical standards for such research that comply with the requirements of this section; and
(c) obtained a determination from an Institutional Review Board that the research complies with all applicable federal statutes and regulations that the Institutional Review Board is responsible for administering.
(7) All stem cell research and all stem cell therapies and cures must be conducted and provided in accordance with state and local laws of general applicability, including but not limited to laws concerning scientific and medical practices and patient safety and privacy, to the extent that any such laws do not (i) prevent, restrict, obstruct, or discourage any stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures that are permitted by the provisions of this section other than this subdivision (7) to be conducted or provided, or (ii) create disincentives for any person to engage in or otherwise associate with such research or therapies and cures.
3. Any person who knowingly and willfully violates in this state subdivision (1) of subsection 2 of this section commits a crime and shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of up to fifteen years or by the imposition of a fine of up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars, or by both. Any person who knowingly and willfully violates in this state subdivisions (2) or (3) of subsection 2 of this section commits a crime and shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of up to ten years or by the imposition of a fine of up to one hundred thousand dollars, or by both. A civil action may be brought against any person who knowingly and willfully violates in this state any of subdivisions (1) through (6) of subsection 2 of this section, and the state in such action shall be entitled to a judgment recovering a civil penalty of up to fifty thousand dollars per violation, requiring disgorgement of any financial profit derived from such violation, and/or enjoining any further such violation. The attorney general shall have the exclusive right to bring a civil action for such violation. Venue for such action shall be the county in which the alleged violation occurred.
4. Each institution, hospital, other entity, or other person conducting human embryonic stem cell research in the state shall (i) prepare an annual report stating the nature of the human embryonic stem cells used in, and the purpose of, the research conducted during the prior calendar year, and certifying compliance with subdivision (6) of subsection 2 of this section; and (ii) no later than June 30 of the subsequent year, make such report available to the public and inform the Secretary of State how the public may obtain copies of or otherwise gain access to the report. The report shall not contain private or confidential medical, scientific, or other information. Individuals conducting research at an institution, hospital, or other entity that prepares and makes available a report pursuant to this subsection 4 concerning such research are not required to prepare and make available a separate report concerning that same research. A civil action may be brought against any institution, hospital, other entity, or other person that fails to prepare or make available the report or inform the Secretary of State how the public may obtain copies of or otherwise gain access to the report, and the state in such action shall be entitled as its sole remedy to an affirmative injunction requiring such institution, hospital, other entity, or other person to prepare and make available the report or inform the Secretary of State how the public may obtain or otherwise gain access to the report. The attorney general shall have the exclusive right to bring a civil action for such violation.
5. To ensure that no governmental body or official arbitrarily restricts funds designated for purposes other than stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures as a means of inhibiting lawful stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures, no state or local governmental body or official shall eliminate, reduce, deny, or withhold any public funds provided or eligible to be provided to a person that (i) lawfully conducts stem cell research or provides stem cell therapies and cures, allows for such research or therapies and cures to be conducted or provided on its premises, or is otherwise associated with such research or therapies and cures, but (ii) receives or is eligible to receive such public funds for purposes other than such stem cell-related activities, on account of, or otherwise for the purpose of creating disincentives for any person to engage in or otherwise associate with, or preventing, restricting, obstructing, or discouraging, such stem cell-related activities.
6. As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Blastocyst” means a small mass of cells that results from cell division, caused either by fertilization or somatic cell nuclear transfer, that has not been implanted in a uterus.
(2) “Clone or attempt to clone a human being” means to implant in a uterus or attempt to implant in a uterus anything other than the product of fertilization of an egg of a human female by a sperm of a human male for the purpose of initiating a pregnancy that could result in the creation of a human fetus, or the birth of a human being.
(3) “Donated” means donated for use in connection either with scientific or medical research or with medical treatment.
(4) “Fertilization” means the process whereby an egg of a human female and the sperm of a human male form a zygote (i.e., fertilized egg).
(5) “Human embryonic stem cell research,” also referred to as “early stem cell research,” means any scientific or medical research involving human stem cells derived from in vitro fertilization blastocysts or from somatic cell nuclear transfer. For purposes of this section, human embryonic stem cell research does not include stem cell clinical trials.
(6) “In vitro fertilization” means fertilization of an egg with a sperm outside the body.
(7) “Institutional Review Board” means a specially constituted review board established and operating in accordance with federal law as set forth in 42 U.S.C. 289, 45 C.F.R. Part 46, and any other applicable federal statutes and regulations, as amended from time to time.
(8) “Permitted under federal law” means, as it relates to stem cell research and stem cell therapies and cures, any such research, therapies, and cures that are not prohibited under federal law from being conducted or provided, regardless of whether federal funds are made available for such activities.
(9) “Person” means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, public or private institution, or other legal entity.
(10) “Private or confidential medical, scientific, or other information” means any private or confidential patient, medical, or personnel records or matters, intellectual property or work product, whether patentable or not and including but not limited to any scientific or technological innovations in which an entity or person involved in the research has a proprietary interest, prepublication scientific working papers, research, or data, and any other matter excepted from disclosure under Chapter 610, RSMo, as amended from time to time.
(11) “Solely for the purpose of stem cell research” means producing human blastocysts using in vitro fertilization exclusively for stem cell research, but does not include producing any number of human blastocysts for the purpose of treating human infertility.
(12) “Sperm” means mature spermatozoa or precursor cells such as spermatids and spermatocytes.
(13) “Stem cell” means a cell that can divide multiple times and give rise to specialized cells in the body, and includes but is not limited to the stem cells generally referred to as (i) adult stem cells that are found in some body tissues (including but not limited to adult stem cells derived from adult body tissues and from discarded umbilical cords and placentas), and (ii) embryonic stem cells (including but not limited to stem cells derived from in vitro fertilization blastocysts and from cell reprogramming techniques such as somatic cell nuclear transfer).
(14) “Stem cell clinical trials” means federally regulated clinical trials involving stem cells and human subjects designed to develop, or assess or test the efficacy or safety of, medical treatments.
(15) “Stem cell research” means any scientific or medical research involving stem cells. For purposes of this section, stem cell research does not include stem cell clinical trials.
(16) “Stem cell therapies and cures” means any medical treatment that involves or otherwise derives from the use of stem cells, and that is used to treat or cure any disease or injury. For purposes of this section, stem cell therapies and cures does include stem cell clinical trials.
(17) “Valuable consideration” means financial gain or advantage, but does not include reimbursement for reasonable costs incurred in connection with the removal, processing, disposal, preservation, quality control, storage, transfer, or donation of human eggs, sperm, or blastocysts, including lost wages of the donor. Valuable consideration also does not include the consideration paid to a donor of human eggs or sperm by a fertilization clinic or sperm bank, as well as any other consideration expressly allowed by federal law.
7. The provisions of this section and of all state and local laws, regulations, rules, charters, ordinances, and other governmental actions shall be construed in favor of the conduct of stem cell research and the provision of stem cell therapies and cures. No state or local law, regulation, rule, charter, ordinance, or other governmental action shall (i) prevent, restrict, obstruct, or discourage any stem cell research or stem cell therapies and cures that are permitted by this section to be conducted or provided, or (ii) create disincentives for any person to engage in or otherwise associate with such research or therapies and cures.
8. The provisions of this section are self-executing. All of the provisions of this section are severable. If any provision of this section is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional or unconstitutionally enacted, the remaining provisions of this section shall be and remain valid. -->

MORE ON GLOBAL WARMING

Fats Limbaugh and other gasbags routinely describe the threat of global warming as "junk science." They try to argue that this is just another velied attack on capitalism. I wonder what they will say about this?

Global Warming Will Devastate World Economy, Report Says
Associated Press
Monday, October 30, 2006; 8:01 AM

LONDON -- Unchecked global warming will devastate the world economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression, a major British report said Monday.

Introducing the report, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said unabated climate change would eventually cost the world between 5 percent and 20 percent of global gross domestic product each year.

The author of the British report, Sir Nicholas Stern, a senior government economist, said that acting now to cut greenhouse gas emissions would cost about 1 percent of global GDP each year.

"The evidence shows that ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth," said Stern's 700-page report, an effort to quantify the economic cost of climate change.

MORE ON ROVE

It seems like the media is settling in on the idea that this election is also a test for Karl 'The Architect" Rove. This is from the WaPo:

Midterm Vote May Define Rove's Legacy
Big Losses Could Dim Aura of Bush Adviser
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 30, 2006; Page A01

...Rove is just eight days from having his genius designation revoked -- or upgraded to platinum status.

WOOHOO! EVEN IDAHO IS UP FOR GRABS!

Poll: Bush support waning in reliably Republican Idaho
By DAN POPKEY
McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Sat, Oct. 28, 2006

BOISE, Idaho — Reflecting discontent with incumbents, the war in Iraq and with President Bush, Idaho voters have become restive in the waning days before the election and are turning toward Democratic candidates for the first time since the early 1990s, a new poll suggests.

The poll by the Idaho Statesman and by the Boise ABC television affiliate shows that races for congress, the governor and school superintendent are essentially tied.

Now, the state with the nation's highest proportion of GOP legislators has a nail-biter election that will turn on last-minute advertising, debates and get-out-the-vote organization.

WORRISOME

Rove may be bluffing to help avoid a landslide for the Dems but I'm still worried.

Rove can cement his fame as a political maestro
By Ken Herman
Cox News Service
Tucson, Arizona Published: 10.29.2006

(Excerpts)

Armed with massive polling data and inside knowledge of how the GOP plans to mobilize its voter base, Rove is characteristically confident about how the day will go for his side.

Q: When Congress reconvenes in January, how many Democrats will be in the House and how many Democrats will be in the Senate?

Rove: A minority in each body. I expect Republican majorities in both houses.

Q: How can you be so sure of that?

Rove: Because I'm looking at it not only at the macro level but at individual races on a race-by-race level. I see the quality of the candidates and the issues on the table. I see the activity they have in place and I see the grassroots activity being generated around the country by the campaigns in conjunction with the Republican National Committee's 72-hour (voter turnout) task force. And I'm being inundated with data from all the individual races. It points strongly to a Republican Senate and to a Republican House.


Rove didn't say anything about gerrymandered House districts.

More on the GOP get out the vote machine:

Bush thinks GOP's voter mobilization will pay off again
By Julie Mason
Houston Chronicle
Tucson, Arizona Published: 10.26.2006

"In a country where in our best elections half the people don't vote, the party that can actually turn out their voters with discipline and effectiveness is going to be a successful party," Richard Gephardt, former Democratic House leader and 2004 presidential candidate, said during a forum this week.

Democrats have been working to match Republican strategies and organization, Gephardt said. "But I still don't believe it's up to par with where the Republicans are."

The GOP developed a program that started three days before the election. It was aimed at identifying Republicans and likely Republican voters and getting them to the polls.

The tactic was fine-tuned in 2004 and will be even more effective this year, Republicans said.