But there's good reason to be hopeful.

The signs are out there - from the polls that show an incumbent in a very precarious position, to the pictures from the Kerry rallies to the enthusiasm Kerry supporters show.

I was walking home tonight in San Francisco and as I was standing on a corner on Sutter Street, one of the guys picketing outside the hotels (there's a big strike/lock out in SF now) said he'd pay me five dollars for my Kerry-Edwards button.  I gave it to him for free, of course.  Then I decided to take a detour by the Democratic headquarters on Market street and pick up a couple more, because I realized I really liked having my button and damn it, I'll wear mine for the next four years if Bush gets another term.

But our ace in the whole, the thing that is constant source of reassurance to me - the Bushies are just damn incompetent.

The Text:

If your boyfriend lied to you, ignored you, spent all your money on his friends, and trashed your home, you'd cut him off like a bad perm! George Bush has done all that to us and more.  It's time to kiss him good-bye.

George Bush has been destroying our rights, our economy & our environment long enough.  John Kerry stands for women's equality, affordable healthcare, clean air and water, and our right to choose.

22 MILLION single women didn't vote in the 2000 election.  We have the power - let's use it.  After all 22 million heads are better than one!  For more info, and to connect with other concerned women, visit:

www.wakeup2004.com

Which is the real reason I'm writing.

Tuesday, October 19th is the day of the "Great Kiss-Off" where women across the country will be mailing in "dear George" letters from post offices at noon, kissing Bush "Good-bye."

Hopefully we will garner some media attention, which may in turn help us persuade undecided women voters that they need to take action and to vote for a change -- they need to help elect John Kerry.

Send George Bush a "Kiss-Off Letter."  Let him know you're kissing him good-bye and that you're just counting down the days until you can vote him out of office.

Just download the SWAK chain letter from our website, print out the third page, seal it with a kiss and then take it down to the nearest post office at noon, tommorrow.

Just image the White House being flooded with letters saying "Good-bye, George!"  Imagine the expression on George's face as he realizes the jig is up and he might as well pack his bags for Crawford.

We call it "The Great Kiss-Off" -- we're encouraging women around the country to send letters to George Bush "kissing him good-bye."

For more details, check out our web site at:

http://www.wakeup2004.com

We also have a GOTV chain letter project and posters for hanging in laundromats and beauty salons.

WAKEup's lofty goal is to get 2.2 million single women to register and vote for the Democratic ticket. The group distributes information about both candidates' positions on issues using the Internet and some old-fashioned communications techniques. WAKEup encourages women to distribute a chain letter it produced to at least five of their single friends to encourage them to register and vote.

WAKEUP volunteers kicked off the campaign by sending 500 letters to female friends across the country, with special emphasis on swing states. Halpern said WAKEUP is also putting up posters in laundromats and is organizing 500 social events in 25 days to increase awareness about the importance of voting. Halpern said that on Oct. 19, participants will gather at post offices to send letters to the White House with a lipstick kiss on the envelope "kissing the President goodbye."

"We are going to break the Bush jinx by having fun," Halpern said. "Getting involved can be very empowering."

Check out the entire article -- which is entitled "The Long Kiss Good-bye"

And come visit our site www.wakeup2004.com to get copies of our SWAK chain letter and laundromat poster -- or find out about hosting a WAKEup! Gathering.

WAKEup! (Women Advocate Kerry/Edwards) is a grassroots organization encouraging women, in particular single women, to vote for John Kerry and John Edwards.

The facts are plain: As President, George Bush has slashed funds for programs that protect women from violence and his administration has downgraded the importance of violence against women.

John Kerry has a record of fighting to protect women - from his days a prosecutor to his work in the Senate as an early supporter of the Violence Against Women Act, which helps protect women from domestic violence and is currently under attack from the Bush administration.

Read the entire document.

Also, a reminder - WAKE!up is having another gathering this evening at 7:00 in San Francisco at "Brainwash" to promote our chain letter and laundromat poster campaigns.  If you're in the Bay Area, we'd love to see you there.

When:  Wednesday, September 22, 7:00pm

Are you interested in reaching out to the 22,000,000(!) Single Women who did not vote in the 2000 Presidential Election? Do you live in the Bay Area, but want to make a difference in the Swing States?

For those of you who were not able to make the last WAKEup! event, come to our 2nd WAKEup! gathering and help us Kiss George Bush Goodbye some more! (for more info on WAKEup! go to www.wakeup2004.com)

To that end, today we've released two new issues pages on Retirement and Social Security as well as Childcare and Education.  

These documents contrast John Kerry's proactive leadership in education and childcare vs. George Bush's broken promises to American schools as well as why social security and retirement issues are especially important to women and why Bush's scheme to privatize social security would hurt women.

Please visit our site and help promote WAKEup!

We held our event at "Brainwash" in San Francisco -- a combination bar/eatery/laundromat in the SOMA district.

We had over a hundred people help us kick off our SWAK (Single Women Advocate Kerry) chain letter and Wash/Dry/Vote campaigns that are part of our grassroots GOTV effort for John Kerry.  We sent out 500 letters!

It was a fun and energizing event -- if you want help putting together your own WAKEup! Chain Letter party, contact us!

We had a launch party yesterday at a Laundromat/bar called "Brainwash" in San Francisco and it was tons of fun  

Lots of people showed up and worked on getting our SWAK chain letter (Single Women Advocate Kerry) and Wash/Dry/Vote campaign started by sending out individual letters and care packages of posters and copies of the letter.  It was great to see everyone lined up, using washing machines as writing tables, cell phones in hand, going through their contacts list and stuffing envelopes.

1. Send this letter to five or more single women - especially in swing states.

2. Register to vote as soon as possible! Instructions on how to register are on page 2 of
   the letter.

3. Now, break the Bush jinx! Put on your most vivid lipstick. Think of the single women you know and the good luck you want for them. Close your eyes, and as you Seal each envelope With A Kiss, think "Kiss George Bush goodbye!"

4. For extra good luck follow the secret bonus instructions on page 3 !

5. Vote for John Kerry on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. If getting to the polls is difficult, please get an absentee ballot and vote by mail.
   

Military equipment as well as seemingly brand-new parts for oil rigs and water plants may be leaving Iraq (news - web sites) by truck every day in what could be a massive looting operation, the New York Times warned.

"This is systematically plundering the country," John Hamre of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a non-partisan Washington research institute, told Friday's edition of the paper.

...

The newspaper revealed that one hundred semitrailers loaded with what is billed as scrap metal arrive in Jordan every day from Iraq bearing legitimate scrap metal, but also inestimable amounts of plundered material.

...

The head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency's verification office in Iraq, Jacques Baute, told the paper that satellite photographs the agency uses to monitor hundreds of military-industrial sites for the removal of sensitive material show "jarring" results.

Well, the good news couldn't keep coming unabated.

So, if its systematic, who's behind it?  More KBR/Halliburton monkey business?

Could it be that limited Congressional oversight and Bush administration secretiveness (not to mention a lack of police power because of insufficient troop levels and a lack of native force) has resulted in widespread corruption?

Hmmm... could be.