Since Bush has gone on the offensive in defending his decision to go to war, I have been skeptical of what he has been saying. Here is a point-by-point rebuttal of many of the points he has been making (edited). For the complete article, go to: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13185357.htm
ASSERTION: In a Veterans Day speech last Friday, Bush said that Iraq war "critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs."
CONTEXT: Bush is correct in saying that a commission found no evidence of "politicization" of the intelligence. But neither that report nor others looked at how the White House characterized the intelligence. That's supposed to be the topic of a second phase of study by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
ASSERTION: In his speech, Bush noted that "more than a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate - who had access to the same intelligence - voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power."
CONTEXT: This isn't true. The Congress didn't have access to the President's Daily Brief. As for prewar intelligence on Iraq, senior administration officials had access to other information and sources that weren't available to lawmakers. Cheney and his aides visited the CIA and other intelligence agencies to view raw intelligence reports, received briefings and engaged in highly unusual give-and-take sessions with analysts. Moreover, officials in the White House and the Pentagon received information directly from the Iraqi National Congress (INC), circumventing U.S. intelligence agencies, which greatly distrusted the organization. All of the exiles' claims turned out to be bogus or remain unproven. War hawks at the Pentagon also created a special unit that produced a prewar report not shared with Congress. After the report was leaked in November 2003 to a conservative magazine, the Pentagon disowned it.
ASSERTION: In his Veterans Day address, Bush said that "intelligence agencies around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein."
CONTEXT: Bush is correct in saying that many intelligence agencies, particularly in Europe, believed that Saddam was hiding some weapons of mass destruction capabilities - not necessarily weapons. But they didn't agree with other U.S. assessments about Saddam. Few, with the exception of Great Britain, argued that Iraq was an imminent threat, or that it had any link to Islamic terrorism, much less the Sept. 11 attacks. France, backed by several other nations, argued that much more time and effort should have been given to weapons inspections in Iraq before war was launched.
ASSERTION: Stephen Hadley, the president's national security adviser, told reporters last Thursday that the Clinton administration and Congress perceived Saddam as a threat based on some of the same intelligence used by the Bush administration.
CONTEXT: Congress did pass the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, which stated U.S. support for regime change in Iraq and provided up to $97 million in overt military and humanitarian aid to opposition groups in Iraq. But it didn't authorize the use of U.S. force against Iraq.
Clinton said his bombing order was based on Iraq's refusal to comply with weapons inspections, a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that ended the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Friday, October 07, 2005
Has the veil been lifted from the eyes of the American people? Probably not, but there are more that are seeing the light. It turns out that George Bush isn't the person so many thought he would be. The events in New Orleans exposed many of the patterns of the Bush administration. Some of the patterns: appointing cronies to jobs for which they are not qualified. Reacting to problem situations with press releases and photo ops instead of fixing the problem. Denying that anything bad is happening or that anybody on his watch did anything wrong.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
From memory (except lines 3&4 of the second stanza)
The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68.
He told me that romantics all meet the same fate
Someday; cynical and drunk and boring someone in a dark cafe.
You laugh, he said. You think you're immune."
Go look in your eyes; they're full of moon.
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you all those pretty lies.
Pretty lies, when you going to realize they're only pretty lies?
Richard went up to the Wurlitzer
And pushed three buttons and the thing began to whirr.
And a barmaid came by in fishnet stockings and a bowtie
And said drink up now; it's getting on time to close.
Richard, you haven't really changed, I said.
It's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head.
You've got tombs in your eyes, but the songs you punched are dreaming.
Listen, they sing of love so sweet. When you going to get yourself back on you feet?
Love can be so sweet.
Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolater.
He drinks at home most nights with the TV on and all the house lights left up bright.
I'm going to blow this damned candle out; I got nothing to talk to anyone about.
All good dreamers pass this way someday. Hiding behind bottles in dark cafes.
When am I going to get my gorgeous wings and fly away?
Only a phase, these dark cafe days.
-Joni Mitchell
The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68.
He told me that romantics all meet the same fate
Someday; cynical and drunk and boring someone in a dark cafe.
You laugh, he said. You think you're immune."
Go look in your eyes; they're full of moon.
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you all those pretty lies.
Pretty lies, when you going to realize they're only pretty lies?
Richard went up to the Wurlitzer
And pushed three buttons and the thing began to whirr.
And a barmaid came by in fishnet stockings and a bowtie
And said drink up now; it's getting on time to close.
Richard, you haven't really changed, I said.
It's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head.
You've got tombs in your eyes, but the songs you punched are dreaming.
Listen, they sing of love so sweet. When you going to get yourself back on you feet?
Love can be so sweet.
Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolater.
He drinks at home most nights with the TV on and all the house lights left up bright.
I'm going to blow this damned candle out; I got nothing to talk to anyone about.
All good dreamers pass this way someday. Hiding behind bottles in dark cafes.
When am I going to get my gorgeous wings and fly away?
Only a phase, these dark cafe days.
-Joni Mitchell
From memory (except lines 3&4 of the second stanza)
The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68.
He told me that romantics all meet the same fate
Someday; cynical and drunk and boring someone in a dark cafe.
You laugh, he said. You think you're immune."
Go look in your eyes; they're full of moon.
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you all those pretty lies.
Pretty lies, when you going to realize they're only pretty lies?
Richard went up to the Wurlitzer
And pushed three buttons and the thing began to whirr.
And a barmaid came by in fishnet stockings and a bowtie
And said drink up now; it's getting on time to close.
Richard, you haven't really changed, I said.
It's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head.
You've got tombs in your eyes, but the songs you punched are dreaming.
Listen, they sing of love so sweet. When you going to get yourself back on you feet?
Love can be so sweet.
Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolater.
He drinks at home most nights with the TV on and all the house lights left up bright.
I'm going to blow this damned candle out; I got nothing to talk to anyone about.
All good dreamers pass this way someday. Hiding behind bottles in dark cafes.
When am I going to get my gorgeous wings and fly away?
Only a phase, these dark cafe days.
-Joni Mitchell
The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68.
He told me that romantics all meet the same fate
Someday; cynical and drunk and boring someone in a dark cafe.
You laugh, he said. You think you're immune."
Go look in your eyes; they're full of moon.
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you all those pretty lies.
Pretty lies, when you going to realize they're only pretty lies?
Richard went up to the Wurlitzer
And pushed three buttons and the thing began to whirr.
And a barmaid came by in fishnet stockings and a bowtie
And said drink up now; it's getting on time to close.
Richard, you haven't really changed, I said.
It's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head.
You've got tombs in your eyes, but the songs you punched are dreaming.
Listen, they sing of love so sweet. When you going to get yourself back on you feet?
Love can be so sweet.
Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolater.
He drinks at home most nights with the TV on and all the house lights left up bright.
I'm going to blow this damned candle out; I got nothing to talk to anyone about.
All good dreamers pass this way someday. Hiding behind bottles in dark cafes.
When am I going to get my gorgeous wings and fly away?
Only a phase, these dark cafe days.
-Joni Mitchell
Saturday, January 22, 2005
There are a few really big issues facing America these days with the new Bush administration. Iraq still looms large. The situation is still not settled there, even with elections coming up on January 30. The elections will bring a new government with legitimacy in at least the Shi'ite and Kurdish areas of Iraq, but the instability is really based in the Sunni areas. It is likely that the insurgency will continue for years to come, new government or no.
If Iraq remains unstable, it is possible that it can spiral out of control and a warlord could emerge there that will destabilize the entire region. Of course, the Bush administration is hoping for exactly the opposite, that elections will install a legitimate government in Iraq that provides an inspiration for democrats throughout the region. One can only hope that he is right. Even if this proves to be the case, the region will see instability for some time, though the instability will be more related to social change and upheaval rather than insurgent movements. And one should not assume that a democratic Arab state would be a pro-American Arab state.
Another big issue coming up is Social Security reform. I have not paid as close attention to this issue as I should have. It is very important. Democrats are accusing the Republicans of wanting to dismantle the most effective poverty-ending program in US history. Republicans want to allow workers more control over their Social Security taxes. In order to get some momentum behind the call for reform, the Bush administration is manufacturing a crisis in the same way it manufactured a crisis in the run-up to the Iraq war. It will repeatedly tell people the worst news, shouting down dissenters, avoiding the good news. They have said that the system is heading for bankruptcy and trillions in deficit. What they have not said is, but others have, is that the system is projected to remain solvent for the next 40 years (well into my retirement) and that the trillions projected are over a period of infinity. The solution they are putting forward is that we must allow people to take their contributions out of the system and invest it in the stock market. (Preferably in stocks of companies owned by Republicans.) Talk about counter-intuitive. We have to fix the system to prevent massive deficits by taking revenue out of the system?
One other issue that usually gets short shrift because it is less than glamorous is election reform. More and more, states and counties are moving to electronic voting systems because it is cheaper and faster to get elections processed. But is it safe? Many determined high-schoolers can hack into very secure computer systems. Many of the nation's election offices are run by small counties whose elections officers also run the computer systems. Do they all have the wherewithall to prevent security breaches, especially given the vulnerabilities built into the system? Here is an e-mail I received recently summarizing some of the problems with electronic voting:
Did you know....
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S. http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886
5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be Chairman of ES&S. He became Senator in a surprise upset, with votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/
6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php
7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html
8. Kenneth Blackwell co-chaired George Bush's Ohio election campaign. As Ohio's Secretary of State, he left no stone unturned to surpress the democratic vote.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/113004Y.shtml#1
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/894
http://67.15.90.110/article.pl?sid=04/10/29/1414219
9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html
10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm
11. Exit polls are usually excellent predictors of election results. Reputable analyses could not find an explanation of the discrepancy between exit polls and results of the 2004 presidential election.
http://ucdata.berkeley.edu/
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/04/11/Unexplained_exit_poll_discrep_v00l.pdf http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/international/europe/23ukraine.html?ex=1102245800&ei=1&en=3a3c24b7e64fe49
12. A Diebold subsidiary employed five convicted felons as senior managers and developers. These people helped write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml
13. Jeff Dean, senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf
14. Jeff Dean served jail time for planting back doors in his client's accounting software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of two years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf
15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html
16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, hacking was easily accomplished. (See the movie here with the chimp <http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov .)
http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190
17. ALL -- not some -- but ALL of the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm
18. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush– have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.htmlhttp://uscountvotes.org/
Based on a list compiled by Angry Girl - http://nightweed.com/usavotefacts.html
If Iraq remains unstable, it is possible that it can spiral out of control and a warlord could emerge there that will destabilize the entire region. Of course, the Bush administration is hoping for exactly the opposite, that elections will install a legitimate government in Iraq that provides an inspiration for democrats throughout the region. One can only hope that he is right. Even if this proves to be the case, the region will see instability for some time, though the instability will be more related to social change and upheaval rather than insurgent movements. And one should not assume that a democratic Arab state would be a pro-American Arab state.
Another big issue coming up is Social Security reform. I have not paid as close attention to this issue as I should have. It is very important. Democrats are accusing the Republicans of wanting to dismantle the most effective poverty-ending program in US history. Republicans want to allow workers more control over their Social Security taxes. In order to get some momentum behind the call for reform, the Bush administration is manufacturing a crisis in the same way it manufactured a crisis in the run-up to the Iraq war. It will repeatedly tell people the worst news, shouting down dissenters, avoiding the good news. They have said that the system is heading for bankruptcy and trillions in deficit. What they have not said is, but others have, is that the system is projected to remain solvent for the next 40 years (well into my retirement) and that the trillions projected are over a period of infinity. The solution they are putting forward is that we must allow people to take their contributions out of the system and invest it in the stock market. (Preferably in stocks of companies owned by Republicans.) Talk about counter-intuitive. We have to fix the system to prevent massive deficits by taking revenue out of the system?
One other issue that usually gets short shrift because it is less than glamorous is election reform. More and more, states and counties are moving to electronic voting systems because it is cheaper and faster to get elections processed. But is it safe? Many determined high-schoolers can hack into very secure computer systems. Many of the nation's election offices are run by small counties whose elections officers also run the computer systems. Do they all have the wherewithall to prevent security breaches, especially given the vulnerabilities built into the system? Here is an e-mail I received recently summarizing some of the problems with electronic voting:
Did you know....
1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S. http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold
http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html
4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886
5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be Chairman of ES&S. He became Senator in a surprise upset, with votes counted by ES&S machines.
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/
6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php
7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html
8. Kenneth Blackwell co-chaired George Bush's Ohio election campaign. As Ohio's Secretary of State, he left no stone unturned to surpress the democratic vote.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/113004Y.shtml#1
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/894
http://67.15.90.110/article.pl?sid=04/10/29/1414219
9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html
10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm
11. Exit polls are usually excellent predictors of election results. Reputable analyses could not find an explanation of the discrepancy between exit polls and results of the 2004 presidential election.
http://ucdata.berkeley.edu/
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/04/11/Unexplained_exit_poll_discrep_v00l.pdf http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/international/europe/23ukraine.html?ex=1102245800&ei=1&en=3a3c24b7e64fe49
12. A Diebold subsidiary employed five convicted felons as senior managers and developers. These people helped write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml
13. Jeff Dean, senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf
14. Jeff Dean served jail time for planting back doors in his client's accounting software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of two years.
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf
15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.
http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html
16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, hacking was easily accomplished. (See the movie here with the chimp <http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov .)
http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190
17. ALL -- not some -- but ALL of the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm
http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm
18. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush– have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.
http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.htmlhttp://uscountvotes.org/
Based on a list compiled by Angry Girl - http://nightweed.com/usavotefacts.html
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