There's Karma (too slow - it takes a life time)
There's Instant Karma (very American idea)
and then there's GOP Karma (it takes a little while, but it catches up to them eventually)

2002 N.H. Scandal Shadows GOP Anew

A three-year-old political scandal in New Hampshire -- where Republican operatives conspired to jam Democratic get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002 -- has suddenly become a national headache for GOP leaders, who are being pressed to explain why one author of the scheme was repeatedly calling the White House.
...
Ken Mehlman, former director of the White House political office and current chairman of the Republican National Committee is fighting Democratic efforts to force him to testify under oath in a civil suit about the New Hampshire scandal. Mehlman said the calls from James Tobin -- a consultant who in 2002 led the RNC's New England effort -- were for the White House to get the latest information about a close race, which would be unexceptional on election night. He said none of the calls to him or his staff involved the phone-jamming operation.

While under no legal obligation to do so, the RNC has paid more than $2.5 million in legal fees incurred by Tobin, who in 2004 was the New England director for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

If you donate to the RNC how do you feel about your money going to defend someone who actually tried to interfere in an election.

I think that would even the most Bush worshipping GOP fan pause.

- rob 5:16 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Imagine DeLay and Jack Abramoff with funny accents

Probe into UK honours

RICH businessmen who lent money to Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party have been warned they will be questioned by police as part of a probe into the "sale" of British peerages, The Times newspaper has reported.
The 12 businessmen, who Labour party revealed last month had loaned it nearly $A33.57 million, will be questioned after the Easter holiday, the paper said today.

Police, who would not comment on the paper's story, have been investigating all political parties in Britain after a row broke out in March over claims that peerages had been awarded to party donors.

A peerage gives membership in the House of Lords, the unelected upper house of Parliament.

Money corrupts politics - no matter what the party. (In America its been Republicans who've had the most money for so long that they are presently the most corrupt).

Western democracy is at risk from the money and power of multinationals.

I'm not being anti-business here - I'm being anti big big BIG business. These companies are not free enterprise capitalists. They are crony driven businesses feeding off the teat of government. They write the laws and regulations that they may complain about publicly but they enjoy privately because the regulations are geared to prevent incoming competition - incoming innovation - incoming up and comers.

capitalism generally does work. Innovation and competition are good. Multinationals stifle change, innovation, and competition and they use governments to do it. And they subsidize their inefficient and corpulent management via government giveaways, contracts, and tax give backs.

I can't speak for all of TCS - so if others here disagree please chime in - but here are the three biggest dangers facing the world, freedom, and family values.

1. Global Warming
2. religious extremists
3. the merging of big business, money, and politics.

And they are all very much connected.

The hold on government Big Biz (especially big oil) has prevented large out flows of cash into alternate fuel sources that could have changed the shape of global politics (and still could). Fossil fuel use could have been dramatically reduced. Economies would soar as fuel alternatives lead to an explosion of innovation even more then was experienced in the nineties. Expanding economies increase tax revenue which reduce deficits (i.e. under Clinton). The corrupt influence of big oil would be immediately negated and the loss of the financial influx would dramatically change the middle east. Governments would fall - money infusions to terrorist groups would be reduced. Western interest in the middle east would decline (save for Israel there would no longer by any interest at all - no bases in Saudi Arabia, no propping up of the monarchies, no interest in Iraq.) With less presence and less influence America and the western world becomes less of a target.

And everything would be coming up roses.

And the children would stop watching TV and go outside and play.

- rob 4:12 PM - [PermaLink] -

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An Inconvenient Truth - Trailer

I saw Al Gore speak a couple of weeks back. It was his standard Global Warming speech he has been giving around the country. It is scary, yes, but it is inspiring. This movie is that presentation (by the way he's using "Keynote" on a Mac - not "Powerpoint" as you'll read in "news"papers)

Hollywood being hollywood this trailer is big on the scare factor, but I'm sure the movie will be like his presentation - a church revival of the potential of man and politics to overcome such extreme challenges.

And this is the biggest challenge.

Here's the quick blurb about the movie:

Eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Al Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change. A longtime advocate for the environment, Gore presents a wide array of facts and information in a thoughtful and compelling way. The film is not a story of despair but rather a rallying cry.

The trailer is scary though.

Just a note (not sure if I mentioned this): Al Gore is a good speaker. He gave an extremely jargon filled and science fact filled presentation and made it understandable and meaningful. He isn't as natural as Clinton (who I saw at the same venue last year), but not many are. At first his presentation style was as if someone was doing an impression of Al Gore, but 20minutess into it he was relaxed and free, and excellent. By the end he was a riled up passionate preacher. That guy America needs to see.

- rob 3:44 PM - [PermaLink] -

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A senseless destruction of life. Any value that seal pelts offered the old world traders is made completely obsolete by modern synthetics and fibers. (FYI, this is graphic and disturbing.)

Humane Society video of seal hunt in Canada

Sign the petition to try to stop this crap here

- king michael the second 6:00 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Testimony of Clinton Curtis regarding electronic voting fraud in the 2004 presidential election.

That pretty much sums up why THIS CENTURY SUCKS.

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Meet Mr. Republican: Jack Abramoff

To most Americans, Jack Abramoff is the bloodsucking bogeyman with a wad of bills in his teeth who came through the window in the middle of the night and stole their voice in government. But he was much more than that. Abramoff was as much of a symbol of his generation's Republican Party as Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater was of his.

He was an amazingly ubiquitous figure, a sort of Zelig of the political right -- you could find him somewhere, in the foreground or the background, in almost every Republican political scandal of the past twenty-five years. He carried water for the racist government of Pretoria during the apartheid days and whispered in the ear of those Republican congressmen who infamously voted against anti-apartheid resolutions. He organized rallies in support of the Grenada invasion, showed up in Ollie North's offices during Iran-Contra, palled around with Mobutu Sese Seko, Jonas Savimbi and the Afghan mujahedin.

All along, Abramoff was buying journalists, creating tax-exempt organizations to fund campaign activities and using charities to fund foreign conflicts. He spent the past twenty years doing business with everyone from James Dobson to the Gambino family, from Ralph Reed to Grover Norquist to Karl Rove to White House procurements chief David Safavian. He is even lurking in the background of the 2004 Ohio voting-irregularities scandal, having worked with the Diebold voting-machine company to defeat requirements for a paper trail in elections.

Emphasis mine.

Take the infamous Naftasib scheme of 1997-98. The short version of this story is that Abramoff and Tom DeLay met with a bunch of shady Russian oil executives in 1997; the Russians then sent $1 million to a British law firm called James and Sarch; James and Sarch then sent a million to the pompously named nonprofit "U.S. Family Network," which in turn sent money to numerous destinations. It went to a lobbyist agency called the Alexander Strategy Group that was run by DeLay's ex-chief of staff, Edwin Buckham; the agency would subsequently hire DeLay's wife at a salary of $3,200 a month. It went toward the purchase of a luxury D.C. town house that DeLay would use to raise money. And it went toward the purchase of a luxury box at FedExField, which Abramoff used to watch the Redskins. If you follow the loop all the way around, the quid pro quo probably involved DeLay's 1998 decision to support an IMF loan to Russia, whose economy collapsed that year and would rely on an IMF bailout to survive. A Maryland pastor named Christopher Geeslin, who briefly served as the U.S. Family Network's president, would later say that Buckham told him that the $1 million from the Russians was intended to influence DeLay's decision regarding funding for the IMF. DeLay ended up voting to replenish IMF funds in September of that year, right at the time of the bailout.

To learn more about Jack's amazing web of connections (from Dolph Lungren to 9/11 terrorists), read TCS's Six Degrees of Jack Abramoff.

- rob 2:59 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Plus you can see all the fun websites these guys bookmark.

Afghans selling stolen military data
Despite crackdown, computer drives found with names of alleged spies

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Following a newspaper’s discovery of stolen U.S. military computer drives showing up for sale at local bazaars outside the large base here, the military announced a crackdown but merchants were still selling the digital wares — including what appeared to be information about Afghan spies informing on al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the sales on Monday, said that it was still able to find computer drives two days later — the same day that five military investigators, surrounded by heavily armed plainclothes U.S. soldiers, searched many of the two-dozen rundown shops outside the sprawling base.

One flash memory drive, the Times reported Thursday, holds the names, photos and phone numbers of people described as Afghan spies working for the military. The data indicates payments of $50 bounties for each Taliban or al-Qaida fighter caught based on the source’s intelligence.

- rob 2:40 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Real Americans ask real questions.

Daily Kos: Grandma to McCain: "You have no excuse"

"I'm not getting anything I really need and my grandchildren are getting saddled with $9 trillion in debt," said Diamond, a Keene retiree. "Why should I vote Republican?"
...
Because, McCain replied, Democrats have also voted to increase federal spending. "Maybe," the Arizona Republican suggested, "you should vote for the vegetarians."
...
"Republicans are in charge of three Houses," she snapped back. "You have no excuse."

McCain's grand reply to the best summation of the disaster that has become America's government?

"I knew we should have cut this thing off."

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Holden over at First Draft has a strong stomach and always reads and comments on the latest Bush appearence.

And as know surprise Bush comes off like a jerk:

THE PRESIDENT: Now, Qien He is with us. Qien, where were you born -- yes, I know where you are. Where were you born?

DR. HE: I was born in China.

THE PRESIDENT: Isn't that interesting. Now he is a part of making sure that people realize the opportunities of Medicare. Born whereabouts in China?

DR. HE: Okay. First of all, on behalf of Asian --

THE PRESIDENT: No, where were you born in China?

DR. HE: In China, in Beijing.

THE PRESIDENT Beijing. See, I'm asking the questions.

An ingorant arrogant jerk:

And what he's really saying is, his job is to convince a neighbor to help a neighbor. That's called grassroots. That's what -- it's kind of an odd word, maybe, for some to understand. It means at the local level, that people are willing to help somebody who needs help.

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In the military speaking out against the commander in chief is a no no.

But once you are out of the military suddenly you are allowed to speak - and many a general is speaking about how Rumsfeld is bad for our military and bad for America.

But Bush is Tammy Wynette and will stand by his man.

Retired US Iraq general demands Rumsfeld resign?|?Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A recently retired two-star general who just a year ago commanded a U.S. Army division in Iraq on Wednesday joined a small but growing list of former senior officers to call on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign.
...
In recent weeks, retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton and Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni all spoke out against Rumsfeld. This comes as opinion polls show eroding public support for the 3-year-old war in which about 2,360 U.S. troops have died.

"You know, it speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense," Batiste said.

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We are doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again.

Why?

Rather than learn from history - we've decided to classify it as top secret.

Archives OK'd Removing Records, Kept Quiet

WASHINGTON - Previously public intelligence documents, some more than 50 years old, have been sealed under a secret agreement between the National Archives and three federal agencies, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The 2002 agreement, obtained by The Associated Press and released by archivists this week, shows the agency agreed to keep quiet about U.S. intelligence's role in the deal that shut off access to thousands of previously unclassified CIA and Pentagon documents.

The agreement, which the AP requested three years ago, shows archivists were concerned about reclassifying previously available documents but still agreed to keep mum about the arrangement.

The deal said the archives "will not acknowledge the role of (intelligence agencies) in the review of these documents or the withholding of any documents determined to need continued protection from unauthorized disclosure."

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Wow - they really want war - and they want it before November, 2006.

And they're using the same liars and lies as last time. And the press seems to happy to return to they're role of stenographers and forget about this whole "journalism" crap.

They are at it again

Here's a gem just out from Bloomberg, courtesy of TPM Reader TB.

Headline: "Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says"

And the first couple grafs ...

Iran, which is defying United Nations Security Council demands to cease its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days if it goes ahead with plans to install thousands of centrifuges at its Natanz plant, a U.S. State Department official said.
"Natanz was constructed to house 50,000 centrifuges,'' Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow. "Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days."

Now, I'm pretty new to this issue. But even I can spot that Stephen Rademaker works for Robert Joseph. And that's the same Bob Joseph who was charged with muscling the CIA into letting President Bush use the Niger bamboozle in the 2003 State of the Union address. And he actually managed to get it done, even after the Alan Foley and others at the CIA told him repeatedly they didn't think it was true. So he certainly speaks with a lot of credibility on this issue.

My apologies to Talking Points Memo for cutting and pasting so much of that post, why not just go visit the TPM site. We'll be here if you come back.

- rob 4:22 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Members of the House take the concept of "representative democracy" to heart.

They are indeed "Representatives" and they respect the interests of those they represent.

Most Americans assume that means the voters, and there they would be wrong. See the Congressman represent the interests of their campaign donors.

It is perfect combination of Representation and Capitalism.

E-mails show Abramoff's donation leverage

WASHINGTON -- When Jack Abramoff's lobbying team wanted to press Republican leaders for help with a tribal client, they minced no words. The help was deserved because Abramoff's clients overwhelmingly donated to Republicans.

E-mails that have become important evidence in the Abramoff corruption probe state the lobbyist's team bluntly discussed with a Republican Party official using large political donations as a way to pressure lawmakers and the administration into securing federal money for the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan.

'For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.'
- Timothy 6:10

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It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

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Another Lie

Part of being "of the people and for the people" is having an informed electorate.

A President who knowingly lies about the reasons and results of war is sacrificing our long term security.

Freedom requires vigilance. The vigilance actually is required more on internal then external forces. The founders knew that. They distrusted government, and distrusted men in power using war as a political tool even more.

Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.



U.S. officials asserted that Iraq had biological weapons factories in trailers, even after a Pentagon mission found them unsuited for that role. (By Pfc. Joshua Hutcheson Via Associated Press)

Graphic
From 'Biological Laboratories'
Two Iraqi trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops became a center-piece of U.S. claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. But shortly after the fall of Baghdad, an internal report showed the trailers had nothing to do with banned weapons.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons.

- rob 10:50 AM - [PermaLink] -

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The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

- rob 8:12 AM - [PermaLink] -

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President for over 5 years and he's still finding it funny that Americans are suckers.

President Participates in Conversation on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit

THE PRESIDENT: I'm here to kind of cut through all the politics and cut through all the rhetoric and help people understand what's available. No better place to come than the state of Missouri, kind of the "show me" state. (Applause.) So we're about to show you. And I'm going to start with Dr. Mark McClellan, fellow Texan. McClellan is an unusual fellow; he's got a lot of degrees.

What are your degrees, McClellan?

DR. McCLELLAN: Mr. President, I have a medical degree, also a Ph.D.

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. One of the things I like to remind people of is this fact: He's a Ph.D. -- and I was an okay student -- (laughter.) Look who the advisor is and look who the President is. (Applause.) I've used it before with him. He's a good sport. His job is -- what?

DR. McCLELLAN: I'm the head of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and we are working with groups all over the country to help people find out about the most important new benefit in Medicare in 40 years -- that's the drug coverage that you're talking about, sir.

Tee hee I'm presenit and I'm durn dumb - ain't that just knee slappin' funny?

Bush laughs at every advisor who comes into his office; he laughs "haa haa I'm dumb and you work for me." He is the ultimate Dilbert Manager.

- rob 6:23 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.

"What could he do?
Should have been a rock star."
But he didn't have the money for a guitar.
"What could he do?
Should have been a politician."
But he never had a proper education.
"What could he do?
Should have been a father."
But he never even made it to his twenties.
What a waste --
Army dreamers.
Ooh, what a waste of
Army dreamers.
- Kate Bush

As we learn more and more about the Bush administration's manipulation of pre-war intelligence, and his desire to go into Iraq long before 9/11 happened, lets talk about the cost:

2,360 American soldiers
103 British soldiers
and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians

Can you think of a larger crime for a US President then to want to go into war? A war that is not necessary? Even if we "won" right away there would be a human loss.

The loss to America's international standing is immeasurable.

Imagine the billions spent in Iraq, just a portion of that money if been spent on alternative fuels could have dramatically reduced our dependence on foreign oil. Imagine a world where the middle east has no strategic importance. Imagine a world where the funding for terrorism dries up.

Well Bush couldn't imagine that, all he could imagine were bombs dropping in shock and awe. The President with a child's understanding of morality decided to play a video game with human lives.

Iraq Coalition Casualties

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For some reason this little tune that was popular in 1979 comes to my head:

Bomb, bomb, bomb! Bomb, bomb Iran!
(Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran...)
Go bomb Ira-a-an!
(Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran...)
Because I ca-a-an!
(Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran...)
Bomb Ira-a-an!
(Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran...)
- bad Beach Boy parody

THE IRAN PLANS

One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ”

Americans may have figured out he is an incompetent liar, but that hasn't made Bush any less dangerous, rather like a wounded animal he may lash out in hopes of making himself a popular "war time" President again. Meanwhile lives are in the balance.

- rob 5:06 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Blogalexia - an insecure perception of the future that manifests itself via frequent misspelled posts to a blog fretting about the current state of affairs.

This condition may be life threatening (we said "may") and can be treated with high doses of anti-depressives, anti-seizure pills, and ambien. Or it can be treated with cans of coke, but that has been shown to often accelerate the spread of the disease.

Drugs companies 'inventing diseases to boost their profits'

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This story has been bigger news in New Hampshire, but it should get national attention.

Why? Because the national Republican Party is spending millions defending a guy who purposefully jammed local Democratic Party efforts to get out the vote, basically worked to stop people from voting (Get Out The Vote efforts often include arranging car pools for elderly and others who otherwise may not get to the polls).

The Republican Party itself was involved in an effort to interfere with the Democratic process. That isn't a party that believes in "Freedom on the March." Interfering with elections is more the act of a party that believes in a different type of marching.

And now it isn't just the Republican Party that is involved, but Bush's White House.

Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House

WASHINGTON - Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 — as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

Preposterous.

Like saying the President would be involved in the outing of a CIA agent? An agent working undercover to locate weapons of mass destruction?

Preposterous like saying the President wanted war with Iraq while saying he was trying to give "diplomacy one last chance"?

Preposterous ain't as preposterous as it used to be.

The White House is looking more and more like a criminal enterprise, and the roaches are starting to scurry because the lights are coming on.

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If All the President's Men were written today it would praise Nixon for his valiant raid on the freedom hating Democratic party headquarters.

The Washington Post would rather lose its reputation then lose invites to GOP Christmas parties.

'The Washington Post': At War With Itself

(April 09, 2006) -- It’s no secret that the Washington Post’s editorial position and its news reporting often are not on the same page--in more ways than one. But rarely has that gulf seemed wider than in the Post’s Sunday edition this week.

The editorial page, a co-producer and then staunch defender of the war in Iraq, declared in a headline on Sunday that the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) info “Scooter” Libby gave to reporters in 2003 was in reality “A Good Leak.” The White House was not out to punish Ambassador Joe Wilson for raising doubts about pre-war intelligence; in fact, Wilson is the bad guy in this story for making false claims. Bush, in a sense, is the hero, for instantly declassifying the key NIE document--he was only out to inform the public. Now the poor guy, the Post complains, is the target of “hyperbolic charges of misconduct and hypocrisy” from the Democrats.
...
The Post editorial concludes, “It’s unfortunate that those who seek to prove” that grounds for the war were bogus “now claim that Mr. Bush did something wrong by releasing for public review some of the intelligence he used in making his most momentous decision.”

As often the case in Post editorials related to Iraq, reporting in the newspaper proves that much of the above is pure hogwash. This reality checking usually doesn’t happen the very same day, however.

On page one on Sunday, Post reporters Bart Gellman and Dafna Linzer observed that Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald this week in his latest court filing had for the first time described a "concerted action" by "multiple people in the White House" using classified information to "discredit, punish or seek revenge against" Wilson. “Bluntly and repeatedly, Fitzgerald placed Cheney at the center of that campaign,” they write.

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onegoodmove: John Kasich Is Nuts

Former Ohio Congressman and the Fox News Host of Heartland John Kasich has made up his mind about the Gospel of Judas he says "I'm not very skeptical, I'm completely skeptical, I don't believe it." He ranks the Gospel of Judas it right along side the Da Vinci Code, all part of a conspiracy to destroy Christianity, and he's going to twitch and get red in the face until it goes away.

The right wing has now decided the Gnostic Gospels are part of a modern anti-Christian liberal conspiracy.

The Gnostic Gospels are just Christian teachings that fell out of favor. Which when you read them you can see why. They are very nutty crunchy pieces. Woman are equals. Jesus and Mary Magdalene were... close. Communing with God is done in nature not in buildings. The truth is the religion probably wouldn't have survived and certainly wouldn't have made it big time if it didn't edit the Gospels a bit to allow the church to become hierarchical.

The fact that early on their were different interpretations of Christ's live and teachings should not be negating to anyone's beliefs. Mr. Kasich's outrage at the existence of historical artifacts bespeaks more about the weakness of his own personal faith then of some attack at Christianity in America.

Belief is faith. If discussion of history and theology is enough to threaten or shake your personal beliefs then you need to take a long look in the mirror. It isn't an external attack you are facing but internal doubt.

Here's some facts about the Gnostic Gospels we wrote about back in 2004 here on TCS:

... the modern bible (well the new testament portion) is largely a list of accepted works and letters compiled around the year 170 and perhaps written with the influence of Pius 1 the bishop of Rome from 142 to 157. Even this though isn't the final list, what is now considered the new testament wasn't finalized until around 367 by St. Athanasius (bishop of Alexandria). The Catholic church has no problem with these facts. So to believe it is the exact word of God you must believe that Pius 1 was able to weed through all the gospels (and there were more back then) and determine which ones were legit. And then you have to believe that he made a few errors, but that somehow St. Athanasius was 100% right on.

Oh and thanks to the wikipedia for the exact dates and names... I only had a general sense of the history based on what I've read about the Gnostic Gospels.

Do watch OneGoodMove's Fox News clip. It is frightening that this is what passes as news coverage for much of the country.

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20% of dentists would recommend a sugared gum to their patient's who chew gum.

28% of Americans believe that the position of stars and planets affect their daily lives.

30% of America believes that some of the unidentified flying objects that have been reported are really space vehicles from other civilizations.

28% of America believes that people can hear or communicate mentally with someone who has died.

50% of Americans believe in ESP.

42% of Americans believe houses can be haunted.

38% percent of Americans believe ghosts or spirits of dead people can come back in certain places and situations.

Scarily enough that is the same precentage of Americans who believe Bush is doing a good job.

ABC News: Bush Approval Rating at New Career Low

April 10, 2006 — President Bush's job approval rating is at a career low in this latest ABC News/Washington Post poll amid continued broad public skepticism about the Iraq war.

Just 38 percent of Americans now approve of Bush's overall performance in office; it's the lowest mark of his presidency, albeit by a single point. Sixty percent disapprove of how he's handling his job, matching the highest disapproval of his tenure.

Most of the stats are from "Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding" except for the bit about dentists which I admit is an unscientific extrapolation of a Dentyne ad.

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And they aren't funny like Jon Stewart.

Fake TV news is a real-life problem

Last September, Channel 7, the ABC affiliate for Los Angeles, aired a story during the 5 p.m. Tuesday newscast about a blood test to find allergies in kids.
It looked like a legit news story, with interviews, graphics, cute kids and a voice-over by a Channel 7 news reporter.

It wasn't, though. The report was a canned video news release, or VNR, produced for and paid by Quest Diagnostics, a company that runs labs around the country that do this very sort of testing. There was no disclosure by the station that the piece was an advertorial.

Video News Releases - the genius of having an ad aired not only for free, but under the guise of news.

Here's a bit I wrote about VNR's over a year ago on TCS:

They are called "video news releases." The name is an allusion towards the accepted and widely understood term: "press release." But press releases have a dark side. Often a news agency might read straight from a press release and call it news. A "video news release" eliminates that problem. It guarantees that it will be called news.

A fake news segment is made. In the news segment you'll learn of some wonderful thing a corporation is doing to make the world a better place. You know, like Walmart actually paying for someone's health issues or something. Sometimes the news report is made with a fake reporter. More often it is made with a separate script; this way the local news station will have one of its own reporters narrate the story. This gives the "news" story even more legitimacy as it is narrated by a reporter the viewers recognize, and it helps out the local station because it looks like it is their story (i.e. it looks like they did something). You see that is why stations run these "news" segments. Local TV stations don't have any budgets for their local news. TV stations by law have to some how serve the people of the area in which they broadcast. Since bad reality shows aren't considered enough of a "service," TV stations offer local news. Local news is the last remaining part of TV stations serving their broadcasting area. In the old days in meant prime time documentaries about local issues, detailed reports of local politics and events. Now it means an under funded sexed (literally) up "local news" hour. So what do the news directors of these shows do to fill up their hour? They don't have a budget. Heck sometimes they aren't even located in the area, producing a canned "local" news show off in some warehouse where their media corporate masters push out "local news" on a production line (very common in radio). The news directors take these video news releases they get in the mail (free) and run them. Look ma: News!

A corporation pays for the production of a "news" story, and gets stations around the country broadcasting it as news. The viewer never knows it is simply corporate propaganda. This has been going on for years. I interviewed with a division of ABC News that produced these pieces back in 1989 (yes ABC news had a division devoted to fake news). In the interview I said, "ethics aside this sounds like a very interesting position." I didn't get the job (was it something I said?).

But I wasn't writing at corporations yet again bending ethics to wring out more profit out of the American consumer - I was was talking about our government faking news to sway the American voter.

That moves the issue for a story about poor journalism ethics to the tactics of despots.

Here's a bit from elected President Al Gore (who, if he was as animated and passionate as he was when I saw him speak last week would have won with a margin so wide that there would have been now way to fudge) back in October.

Gore on the Threat to American Democracy

The news divisions - which used to be seen as serving a public interest and were subsidized by the rest of the network - are now seen as profit centers designed to generate revenue and, more importantly, to advance the larger agenda of the corporation of which they are a small part. They have fewer reporters, fewer stories, smaller budgets, less travel, fewer bureaus, less independent judgment, more vulnerability to influence by management, and more dependence on government sources and canned public relations hand-outs. This tragedy is compounded by the ironic fact that this generation of journalists is the best trained and most highly skilled in the history of their profession. But they are usually not allowed to do the job they have been trained to do.

The present executive branch has made it a practice to try and control and intimidate news organizations: from PBS to CBS to Newsweek. They placed a former male escort in the White House press pool to pose as a reporter - and then called upon him to give the president a hand at crucial moments. They paid actors to make make phony video press releases and paid cash to some reporters who were willing to take it in return for positive stories. And every day they unleash squadrons of digital brownshirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the President.

For these and other reasons, The US Press was recently found in a comprehensive international study to be only the 27th freest press in the world. And that too seems strange to me.

- rob 5:48 PM - [PermaLink] -

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Texas's constitution protects democracy.

I guess the same can't be said for Maryland (and Georgis, and Ohio, and ..... )

Paperless Voting to be Declared Unconstitutional

Texas has a suffrage amendment in it's constitution.

In all elections by the people, the vote shall be by ballot, and the Legislature shall provide for the numbering of tickets and make such other regulations as may be necessary to detect and punish fraud and preserve the purity of the ballot box; and the Legislature shall provide by law for the registration of all voters. (Amended Aug. 11, 1891, and Nov. 8, 1966.)

Paperless voting cannot fill these requirements. Where is the ballot, where is the numbering, where is the ballot box, and how does paperless voting fulfill these requirements?

I see the Diebold loophole here. It states "in all elections by the people." But if you use Diebold (and others) machines people aren't the ones voting - its the machines.

- rob 12:02 PM - [PermaLink] -

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