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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (39894)	3/19/2004 6:08:45 AM
From: zonkie	Respond to of 89467

More from Molly. I like the way this Texan thinks. _______________ March 2004 Issue Small Favors Molly Ivins Not Bright Enough Gosh, it was good to hear from President Bush's alternative universe in the State of the Union address. "Jobs are on the rise." As we say in Texas, "No shit?" At the December rate of 1,000 new jobs a month, it would take 166 years just to replace the two million jobs lost since Bush became President, and that, of course, would be 166 years of not creating enough jobs for new workers. Or as John Kerry puts it, that leaves us only 249,000 jobs a month short of where we need to be and where, incidentally, the President promised we would be by now. But then Bush also promised to cut the deficit in half. Instead, it grew by 100 percent from his prediction of last year. The guy is not exactly on target. And didn't you love the weasel-wording of "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities"? I also liked Bush urging Congress to make his tax cuts permanent "for the sake of job growth." Excuse me, but hasn't Bush just spent three years conclusively demonstrating that giving tax cuts to the rich doesn't do a thing for job creation? Three times now Bush has given huge, lopsided tax cuts, and all that happened is that jobs keep disappearing. And the jobs that are disappearing are no longer limited to Rust Belt manufacturing jobs: Computer-related jobs of all kinds are being moved to India. Outsourcing and off-shoring are the new corporate rage, along with, of course, the popular post-box-in-the-Bahamas tax dodge. The fiscal irresponsibility of the Bushies is astonishing, but their cluelessness about the economy is even worse. When Bush was handed the U.S. government, it was a going operation. We had a huge surplus and a chance to fix some longstanding structural problems in both Social Security and health care. Now all we've got is a mess. Bush brought with him the First Principle of Texas Government, which is that government exists to create a "healthy bidness climate." While Bush has certainly been helpful to the major polluting and extractive industries, unfortunately they are all very "old economy," as they say in Silicon Valley. The free traders have been blithely assuring us all these years that "brain industry" jobs will replace manufacturing jobs. So what did Bush decide to cut from the federal budget? Research. One assumes that solar power, wind power, and other alternative energy sources will be the new high-tech economy. But this Administration--run by two oilmen--is not putting any money into those fields. It is, however, heavily subsidizing extractive industries with massive tax breaks. Biotechnology is another promising field the Administration is hindering rather than supporting. As Richard Florida points out in The Washington Monthly, the Bush Administration's contempt for science is all too evident. Whenever they don't like a scientific conclusion, they either ignore it or just flat change it. Global warming is but one example, and their policy on stem cell research is already causing a brain drain to other countries. Being curious, taking an interest in other cultures, and enjoying travel were all characteristics of Bill Clinton, Florida notes. Bush pretty much embodies the reverse. Paul O'Neill's memoirs via Ron Suskind rudely committed the crime of lèse majesté, leaving Washington chattering classes agog and atwitter. The media made O'Neill's not very new tale that this Administration meant to invade Iraq from the git-go the big item, but the real story in O'Neill's recollections is both simpler and more depressing. It is what has bothered people about Bush from the beginning: He's not bright enough to be President. For a long time, anyone who questioned Bush's ability to think was pointed to the opinion polls and told that discussing whether or not the President is borderline stupid was bad manners and counterproductive. Actually, that is the main problem with Bush: He neither reads, nor writes, nor speaks well. It turns out that a C average is not good enough for the Presidency. --------------------------------------------- Molly Ivins, co-author of "Bushwhacked," writes in this space every month. progressive.org

To: stockman_scott who wrote (39894)	3/19/2004 7:59:48 AM
From: Kip518	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Death of a Patriot: No More 'Blind Faith Voting' by Bob Fitrakis The subject line on yesterday's email read: "Another mysterious accident solves a Bush problem. Athan Gibbs dead, Diebold lives." The attached news story briefly described the untimely Friday, March 12th death of perhaps America's most influential advocate of a verified voting paper trail in the era of touch screen computer voting. Gibbs, an accountant for more than 30 years and the inventor of the TruVote system, died when his vehicle collided with an 18-wheeled truck which rolled his Chevy Blazer several times and forced it over the highway retaining wall where it came to rest on its roof. Coincidence theorists will simply dismiss the death of Gibbs as a tragic accident - the same conclusion these coincidence theorists came to when anti-nuclear activist Karen Silkwood died in November 1974 when her car struck a concrete embankment en route to a meeting with New York Times reporter David Burnham. Prominent independent investigators concluded that Silkwood's car was hit from behind and forced off the road. Silkwood was reportedly carrying documents that would expose illegal activities at the Kerr-McGee nuclear fuel plant. The FBI report found that she fell asleep at the wheel after overdosing on Quaaludes and that there never were any such files. A journalist secretly employed by the FBI, and a veteran of the Bureau's COINTELPRO operation against political activists, provided testimony for the FBI report. Gibbs' death bears heightened scrutiny because of the way he lived his life after the 2000 Florida election debacle. I interviewed Athan Gibbs in January of this year. "I've been an accountant, an auditor, for more than thirty years. Electronic voting machines that don't supply a paper trail go against every principle of accounting and auditing that's being taught in American business schools," he insisted. "These machines are set up to provide paper trails. No business in America would buy a machine that didn't provide a paper trail to audit and verify its transaction. Now, they want the people to purchase machines that you can't audit? It's absurd." Gibbs was in Columbus, Ohio proudly displaying his TruVote machine that offered a "VVPAT, that's a voter verified paper audit trail" he noted. Gibbs also suggested that I look into the "people behind the other machines." He offered that "Diebold and ES& S are real interesting and all Republicans. If you're an investigative reporter go ahead and investigate. You'll find some interesting material." Gibbs' TruVote machine is a marvel. After voters touch the screen, a paper ballot prints out under plexiglass and once the voter compares it to his actual vote and approves it, the ballot drops into a lockbox and is issued a numbered receipt. The voter's receipt allows the track his particular vote to make sure that it was transferred from the polling place to the election tabulation center. My encounter with Gibbs led to a cover story in the Columbus Free Press March-April issue, entitled, "Diebold, electronic voting and the vast right-wing conspiracy." The thesis I advanced in the Free Press article is that some of the same right-wing individuals who backed the CIA's covert actions and overthrowing of democratic elections in the Third World in the 1980s are now involved in privatized touch screen voting. Additionally I co-wrote an article with Harvey Wasserman that was posted at MotherJones.com on March 5, 2004. Both articles outlined ties between far right elements of the Republican Party and Diebold and ES&S, which count the majority of the nation's electronic votes. As I wrote in the Free Press article, "Proponents of a paper trail were emboldened when Athan Gibbs, President and CEO of TruVote International, demonstrated a voting machine at a vendor's fair in Columbus that provides two separate voting receipts." In an interview on WVKO radio, Gibbs calmly and methodically explained the dangers of "black box" touch screen voting. "It absolutely makes no sense to buy electronic voting machines that can't produce a paper trail. Inevitably, computers mess up. How are you going to have a recount, or correct malfunctions without a paper trail? Now, the man asking the obvious question, and demonstrating an obvious tangible solution is dead in another tragic accident, a week after both articles were in circulation. When I called TruVote International to verify Gibbs' death, I reached Chief Financial Officer Adrenne Brandon who assured me "We're going on in his memory. We're going to make this happen." Every American concerned with democracy should pledge to make this happen. To beat back the rush for state governments to purchase privatized, partisan and unreliable electronic voting machines without verified paper trails. Gibbs' last words to me were "How do explain what happened to Senator Max Cleland in Georgia. How do you explain that? The Maryland study and the Johns Hopkins scientists have warned us against 'blind faith voting.' These systems can be hacked into. They found patches in Georgia and the people servicing the machine had entered the machines during the voting process. How can we the people accept this? No more blind faith voting." commondreams.org

To: stockman_scott who wrote (39894)	3/19/2004 10:32:58 AM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Endorses Kerry By Michael Illions In a week where the press and Republicans have speculated where support for Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) from foreign leaders is coming from, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has endorsed Kerry for president of the United States. "I think Kerry would be much more willing to listen to the voices of people and of the rest of the world," Mahathir said in an interview. "But in the U.S., the Jewish lobby is very strong, and any American who wants to become president cannot change the policy toward Palestine radically," he added. In October 2003 at the Islamic Summit Conference, Mohamad gave a speech where he said that Muslims will "forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews." He also called on Muslims to unite against Jews towards a "final victory" and further added that "the Jews rule the world by proxy." Just days after these statements, President Bush, during a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Group, told Mohamad that his remarks were "wrong and divisive" and stood "squarely against what I believe." John Kerry, who wouldn't name any of the foreign leaders who he claims want him to be the next president by defeating President Bush in November, quickly denounced the endorsement. Rand Beers, a Kerry foreign policy advisor, said John Kerry "rejects any association" with Mohamad, "an avowed anti-Semite whose views are totally deplorable." "This election will be decided by the American people, and the American people alone. It is simply not appropriate for any foreign leader to endorse a candidate in America's presidential election. John Kerry does not seek, and will not accept, any such endorsements," Beers said. mensnewsdaily.com lurqer