United States Prepares E-Ballot System Trial for 2004 Elections
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by symbolman

By Paul Eng - ABCNEWS.com

June 24 — For millions of people, the Internet has become the preferred way to buy and sell goods, retrieve news and communicate with others. So why not also use the Net to elect the leader of the free world?

That's what officials at the Department of Defense hope to help do by preparing to test the global computer network in the general and presidential elections of 2004.

Defense officials have unveiled a new project called the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, which is expected to simplify the absentee voting process for millions of American servicemen and women, as well as other citizens overseas.

But while the 2000 presidential elections showed traditional paper ballots are problematic, an electronic voting system could raise a whole new set of potential problems.>> More

It's a good thing that a neutral third party like the DOD, with no interest in the outcome of national elections, is spearheading this. Also, see downthread story on Saudis OWNING 51% of online Voting service for absentee military votes. If these stories are true then WHO is in charge of these votes - and why isn't it the American People and not MONEY or DOD?

All The President's Lies
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by symbolman

Drake Bennett is an American Prospect writing fellow. Heidi Pauken is an editorial assistant at the Prospect.

Other presidents have had problems with truth-telling. Lyndon Johnson was said, politely, to have suffered a "credibility gap" when it came to Vietnam. Richard Nixon, during Watergate, was reduced to protesting, "I am not a crook." Bill Clinton was relentlessly accused by both adversaries and allies of reversing solemn commitments, not to mention his sexual dissembling. But George W. Bush is in a class by himself when it comes to prevarication. It is no exaggeration to say that lying has become Bush's signature as president.

The pattern is now well established. Soothing rhetoric -- about compassionate conservatism, about how much money the "average" American worker will get through the White House tax program, about prescription-drug benefits -- is simply at odds with what Bush's policies actually do. Last month Bush promised to enhance Medicaid; his actual policy would effectively end it as a federal entitlement program.

More distressing even than the president's lies, though, is the public's apparent passivity. Bush just seems to get away with it. The post-9/11 effect and the Iraq war distract attention, but there's more to it. Are we finally paying the price for three decades of steadily eroding democracy? Is Bush benefiting from the echo chamber of a right-wing press that repeats the White House line until it starts sounding like the truth? Or does the complicity of the press help to lull the public and reinforce the president's lies?>> More

Embedded Reporter's Role In Army Unit's Actions Questioned by Military
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by vgdesign

By Howard Kurtz, Washington Post

New York Times reporter Judith Miller played a highly unusual role in an Army unit assigned to search for dangerous Iraqi weapons, according to U.S. military officials, prompting criticism that the unit was turned into what one official called a "rogue operation."

More than a half-dozen military officers said that Miller acted as a middleman between the Army unit with which she was embedded and Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi, on one occasion accompanying Army officers to Chalabi's headquarters, where they took custody of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law. She also sat in on the initial debriefing of the son-in-law, these sources say.

Since interrogating Iraqis was not the mission of the unit, these officials said, it became a "Judith Miller team," in the words of one officer close to the situation.

In April, Miller wrote a letter objecting to an Army commander's order to withdraw the unit, Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, from the field. She said this would be a "waste" of time and suggested that she would write about it unfavorably in the Times. After Miller took up the matter with a two-star general, the pullback order was dropped. >>More

Saudi Link to LI Start-Up - Unnamed investors take over voting Web site
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by symbolman

By Mark Harrington - Staff Writer - February 27, 2003

Election.com, a struggling Garden City start-up scheduled to provide online absentee ballots for U.S. military personnel in the 2004 federal election, has quietly sold controlling power to an investment group with ties to unnamed Saudi nationals, according to company correspondence.

In a letter sent to a select group of well-heeled Election.com investors Jan. 21, the online voting and voter registration company disclosed that the investment group Osan Ltd. paid $1.2 million to acquire 20 million preferred shares to control 51.6 percent of the voting power.

In a Newsday interview in October, Charles Smith, a representative of Osan who sits on Election.com's board, declined to name the Saudi Arabian investors with a stake in the company, other than to say they were "passive" and part of a larger group that included Americans and Europeans. Smith didn't return phone calls yesterday.

A federal law enforcement official who follows election issues said he was surprised to hear about the ownership of Election.com, which is one of several contractors working on the online Federal Voting Assistance Program, primarily for overseas military personnel.>> More

What the hell is going on here?! Saudis (in case you don't know BUSH once received a Fifty Thousand Dollar Investment by the Bin Laden Family in his Arbusto Oil Company) are holding 51% of an Online Voting Program for Overseas Military Votes?! Anyone recall the CHEATING that occurred with Absentee Military Ballots in 2000? WE sure do. THIS STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN and should be formally investigated by CONGRESS. NOW.

The Road to Coverup Is the Road to Ruin
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by symbolman

US Senator Robert Byrd - US Senate Floor Remarks - June 24, 2003

On January 28, 2003, President Bush said in his State of the Union Address: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." [State of the Union, 1/28/03, pg. 7] Yet, according to news reports, the CIA knew that this claim was false as early as March 2002. In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency has since discredited this allegation.

On February 5, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations Security Council: "Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets." [Remarks to UN Security Council, 2/5/03, pg. 12] The truth is, to date we have not found any of this material, nor those thousands of rockets loaded with chemical weapons.

On February 8, President Bush told the nation: "We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons – the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have." [Radio Address, 2/8/03]

Mr. President, we are all relieved that such weapons were not used, but it has not yet been explained why the Iraqi army did not use them. Did the Iraqi army flee their positions before chemical weapons could be used? If so, why were the weapons not left behind? Or is it that the army was never issued chemical weapons? We need answers.>> More

We, the People DEMAND the Impeachment of this MisLeader for the senseless slaughter of our American troops who were put in Harms Way with His obvious and premeditated LIES. This is Treasonous behaviour by the entire MisAdministration. Mr Byrd is absolutely correct - the American People are waiting, and voting.

Denial and Deception - By PAUL KRUGMAN
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by symbolman

Politics is full of ironies. On the White House Web site, George W. Bush's speech from Oct. 7, 2002 — in which he made the case for war with Iraq — bears the headline "Denial and Deception." Indeed.

There is no longer any serious doubt that Bush administration officials deceived us into war. The key question now is why so many influential people are in denial, unwilling to admit the obvious.

About the deception: Leaks from professional intelligence analysts, who are furious over the way their work was abused, have given us a far more complete picture of how America went to war. Thanks to reporting by my colleague Nicholas Kristof, other reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and a magisterial article by John Judis and Spencer Ackerman in The New Republic, we now know that top officials, including Mr. Bush, sought to convey an impression about the Iraqi threat that was not supported by actual intelligence reports.

In particular, there was never any evidence linking Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda; yet administration officials repeatedly suggested the existence of a link. Supposed evidence of an active Iraqi nuclear program was thoroughly debunked by the administration's own experts; yet administration officials continued to cite that evidence and warn of Iraq's nuclear threat.

And yet the political and media establishment is in denial, finding excuses for the administration's efforts to mislead both Congress and the public.>> More

Way to go PAUL! Once again you have hit the nail on the head. How much longer will America allow our sons and daughters to be slaughtered by Bush and the Media's LIES. They are culpable and should be held accountable for every single American soldier that dies daily in the Middle east. Is THIS how the Media support our Troops?

Evil GOP Bastards web site
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2003 by symbolman

If the GOP is Evil - then what does that make BUSH and his merry band of Oil Robber Barons? Would a true Republican even call Bush a Conservative?

Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights, civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance reform, the environment and tax fairness. No political party could remain so consistently wrong by accident.

The only rational conclusion is that, despite their cynical "family values" propaganda, the Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to betray the interests of the American people in favor of plutocratic and corporate interests, and absolutist religious groups.>> More

Don't forget to check out Karl Rove's Secret Playbook!

The Invisible Protesters: How the Media Campaigns for Bush
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by vgdesign

By Andrea West, NYC - TvNewsLies.org

Thousands of us came to protest George Bush’s presence in New York City yesterday. We stood ten-deep in “pens” set up by the city’s finest, and filled four long city blocks near the Sheraton Hotel. Organized groups had come from Planned Parenthood and Brooklyn Parents for Peace. Others had been mobilized by International A.N.S.W.E.R. and United for Peace. And thousands of others had come on their own carrying home-made signs reading, “Jail to the Chief,” and “Where are the WMD’S?” or waving yellow flyers that simply said, “LIAR!” It’s difficult to believe, but all of us were about to become invisible.

The media also came: huge mobile units spewed out dozens of reporters with their press tags with cameramen in tow. They came to photograph and to interview. They came to report to the public. They came to share the event with their readers and viewers. And they knew exactly why they had been sent to midtown Manhattan as they rushed to snap the Bush supporters in their evening finery, waiting on line with their precious $2000 admission tickets. And all the while, they refused to see any of us. They did not hear our chants or see our signs. We were invisible. >>More

>>Photos of June 23rd 2003 NYC Protest

Sign this Petition at RushLimbaughOnline.com
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by symbolman

Call for Open Investigation of Pre-War Claims

The Bush administration expended a huge amount of effort to gain the support of the American people to wage war in Iraq. We were told Sadam supports Al-Queda, Sadam has specific quantities of chemical and biologic weapons, Sadam tried to acquire nuclear material..... It was said to the American people Sadam represents an urgent threat.

It appears we were manipulated as there has been no evidence to support these claims. The public is owed an explanation, not a whitewash. It is the duty of congress to act on our behalf and get answers. This is clearly a case where the public should get an explanation, not another closed door approach such as that being taken by Sen. Roberts. We deserve an open investigation. That will only happen if congress hears you. Tell congress that you want an open investigation and answers. It is their duty to democracy and you.>> More

Sign the Petition - it's nice and simple - while you're at it lark about on the site, it's hilarious!

Can Bush Be Both Ignorant and a Liar?
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by symbolman

Yes. There's no reason for Bush-bashers to choose between the two. By Timothy Noah - Posted Monday, June 23, 2003, at 2:31 PM PT

Saying that Bush lacks much on the ball does not mean that he never lies the way clever people do. Surely, for instance, Bush is aware on some level that it has yet to be proved that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons stashed away prior to the war. In addressing this question, Rosenbaum let Bush off the hook by focusing on what he said before the war began, e.g., "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."

Like Rosenbaum, Chatterbox is eager to cut Bush some slack on this, if only because Chatterbox, too, was convinced prior to the war that the presence of biological and chemical weapons had been proved. But Rosenbaum never considered what Bush said on Polish television after the war ended:

"We've found the weapons of mass destruction. You know, we found biological laboratories. You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world and he said Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons. They're illegal. They're against the United Nations' resolutions and we've so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on.">> More

Washington Lied
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by symbolman

An Interview with Ray McGovern - By MARC PRITZKE

Editors' Note: Former CIA official, Ray McGovern, has leveled serious accusations at the Bush administration in connection with the war in Iraq. McGovern served as a CIA analyst for almost 30 years. From 1981 to 1985 he conducted daily briefings for Ronald Reagan's vice president, George Bush, the father of the incumbent president. The following interview originally appeared in Die Tagesspiegel, one of Berlin's largest daily papers. Imagine this appearing in the Sunday edition of the New York Times.

The US Senate Intelligence Committee this week began hearings on the dispute over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. What do you expect will come of this?

Nothing. The committee chairman, Republican Pat Roberts, has already refused to ask the FBI to investigate allegations that Iraq has tried to obtain uranium from Niger. This, despite the fact that in making these allegations, administration officials knowingly relied on crudely forged documents.>> More

Radiation fears grow in Iraq (TROOPS EXPOSED)
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by symbolman

MOVEON.ORG PRIMARY TODAY - VOTE!!
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by symbolman

This a day that may make History.

Please remember to VOTE in the MoveOn.org Primary today!>> VOTE NOW!

ALSO - Tour the Flash Presentation created by Take Back the Media for the MoveOn.org Petition on the Distortion of Facts by this MisAdministration RE: the Alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction that are yet to be found.

Pass the URL around so that everyone can get behind this Petition! Let Congress know WE ARE WATCHING and WE ARE VOTING!>> WMD DISTORTION FACTS

FREE RIDE (Embedded "journalists" were paid by the military)
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by symbolman

Who paid for this media training, transportation and equipment? Unwittingly, American taxpayers picked up the tab for these and many other expenses in the military's embedded media program.

"That's one way of looking at it," concedes Maj. Tim Blair, Pentagon officer in charge of the program. Another way of looking at it is the embedded media, by accepting military handouts at taxpayer expense, betrayed the public's trust and venerable journalism policies against freebies.

These hidden costs of the program have gone curiously unreported, perhaps because the top news organizations accepted this bargain for their own embedded employees. Or maybe it's because the Pentagon didn't disclose any media expenses in its $60 billion war budget. Either way, taxpayers had no reason to suspect they would foot the bill when the Pentagon recruited 775 embedded journalists to tell the military's story. For critics who already feared embeds were too beholden to report objectively, this sweetheart deal will likely cast further doubt. The bottom line is that Pentagon officials, to attract as many journalists as possible, offered free training, transportation, food, shelter, medical care, protection, gas masks and chemical suits, Blair tells Milwaukee Magazine.

"The military is paying for these guys," says Blair. "We went into this program saying we weren't going to have reimbursement." In effect, the Pentagon offered free trips to Baghdad and hundreds of journalists jumped on board without packing their ethics codes.

Almost every major news organization has a strict policy against journalists accepting anything free from people they cover. Freebies undercut the public's perception of their independence and objectivity.>> More

Where are all the journalists now that American troops are being slaughtered at the minimum rate of one a day? All this while the MisLeader flys around collecting seed money from Corporations so he can pay them back with lucrative deals later.

Justice In July: Protest George W. Bush July 4, In Philadelphia
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by vgdesign

The National Constitution Center opens in Philadelphia on July 4, and George W. Bush has been invited to celebrate. We're inviting thousands of people from Philadelphia and around the country to protest against Bush and the unconstitutional policies of his administration. Bush himself seems too embarrassed to appear.

Why are we protesting? Because Bush has violated the Constitution by invading Iraq illegally and eroding Americans' civil rights. We believe the government's priorities should be social justice and peace, but Bush enriches a few at the expense of the public and wages war on the rest of the world. This country's founders started a revolution against a tyrant named George; the least we can do is exercise our First Amendment right to protest his policies. >>More

Harley Sorensen: What You Can Do About Bush
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by vgdesign

From our 1776 Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government ..."

And, also from the Declaration of Independence:
"... when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce [the people] under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."

And, finally:
"The History of the present King of Great Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States."

Take out "King of Great Britain" in the last paragraph above and substitute "President George W. Bush," and you have a perfect beginning for a modern American Declaration of Independence. >>More

Protests Hit Bush on War, Taxes, Education
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by vgdesign

The Associated Press

Inside the hotel on Monday, President Bush extolled his record on a number of topics -- the war in Iraq, tax cuts, education policy.

Outside, protesters lined the streets to demonstrate against his administration on those issues and more.

Bush came to New York as part of a nationwide effort to raise funds for this re-election campaign. And raise them he did, putting a record $4 million in the coffers from the city event at the Sheraton New York. About 1,000 people stood in the hotel ballroom to hear him speak, cheering, "Four more years!"

Bush also brought out those against his policies in droves. Protest pens were set up on the blocks leading away from hotel, filled with people carrying signs like "Bush lies, People die" and "Bush leaves no millionaire behind." >>More

FCC fight helps energize Common Cause
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by vgdesign

By Thomas Oliphant, Boston Globe

THIS SPRING the new president of Common Cause took a quick trip to Chicago to participate in a discussion about the media business - a hot topic given the pending brazen effort by corporate colossuses to get even more huge at the public interest's expense.

The experience convinced Chellie Pingree (a state senator, chronic reformer, and activist as well as last year's Democratic challenger of Senator Susan Collins of Maine) to make joining the crusade against the Federal Communications Commission a Common Cause issue.

Back in Washington she began speaking out, joining other groups that were already trying to stop the FCC from helping Big Media get bigger. Together, they sponsored a series of full-page newspaper advertisements calling attention to the issue.

Then the most amazing thing happened. >>More

Following Ari's Footsteps
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2003 by vgdesign

By Richard Blow, TomPaine.com

It won't be long now before Ari Fleischer departs his post of White House press secretary, and the press corps at 1600 Pennsylvania isn't exactly begging him to stay.

Long-squelched grumblings about Fleischer are finally surfacing. Reporters complain about his propaganda-pushing, his relentless spin and his dogged refusal to say anything substantive. Asking Fleischer a follow-up question is about as useful as punching a wall.

Consequently, some reporters wonder if the White House higher-ups ever actually tell Fleischer anything important, and they marvel at his loyalty under humiliation. In one mortifying pre-war moment, Fleischer proclaimed that it was deeply offensive to suggest that the administration would try to buy the cooperation of foreign countries, and the press corps responded with derisive laughter. An embarrassed Fleischer mumbled "thank you" and stalked away from the podium.

All these complaints may be legitimate, but they're not Fleischer's fault; he's just doing what he's told to do, probably by Karl Rove.

And there's a simple solution: The newspapers and networks should pull their reporters from the White House. >>More