DEAN WAS CORRECT

Bush stops in Ohio, sidesteps coin case

By CHRISTOPHER D. KIRKPATRICK
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Article published Friday, June 10, 2005
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050610/NEWS24/506100354


COLUMBUS - President Bush yesterday traveled to Ohio to talk about terrorism, but he arrived in the midst of the biggest statewide scandal in years and to a crowd of angry "Coingate" protesters. Mr. Bush's motorcade sped by as dozens of protesters held signs proclaiming their frustration over the unfolding scandal at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.

The President made the visit six days after Republican officials said Mr. Bush will return $4,000 in campaign contributions from Mr. Noe and his wife, Bernadette. The Republican National Committee will return $2,000 contributed by Mr. Noe, who faces state and federal investigations for allegedly misappropriating millions in state money and allegedly violating federal campaign finance laws for funneling money to the Bush-Cheney campaign through others.


Toni Brandon, 33, said she hadn't read or heard any news about Mr. Noe or the Bureau of Workers' Compensation scandal. She and her eight-year-old son waited on a small hill near I-70 to try to catch a glimpse of the President as he headed toward the event.

"We love the President. He's a Christian and these people are evil,'' said Ms. Brandon, referring to the protesters. "I have plenty of military background in my family and all of us love the President. I wish we had a flag to wave."

THE "I" WORD IS CATCHING ON IN TUCSON

From the 6/10/05 edition of the Tucson Daily Star:
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/opinion/79056.php

On May 16, syndicated conservative columnist Paul Craig Roberts wrote an opinion entitled "British War Memo Evidence Enough to Impeach Bush."
On May 31, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader, along with Kevin Zeese, wrote an opinion entitled "The 'I' Word" for the Boston Globe, also calling for impeachment based upon the British war memo.
It appears that people of good faith from both the left and right can come together and agree that the manipulation of intelligence to "fit" a policy of war with Iraq by lying to the American people to justify an unnecessary war, at great loss of life and expense, is grounds for impeachment.
Maybe George W. Bush has finally become a "uniter" - for his impeachment.
Roger A. White
Tucson

It appears the consensus is, as far as corporate owned media is concerned, the Downing Street Memo will not sell.
Unfortunately, for citizens of this country, the facts dealt with in that document should not be held to circulation.
The cornerstone of democracy is an informed populace.
Should the media choose to stand up and redeem the integral process to the operation of our Republic, they can wait no longer to inform the populace of documented and undeniable evidence that members of the current administration acted in a manner that is consistent with a call for a congressional impeachment inquiry.
The first step in this process is for a responsible press to inform the public of the nature of the facts that call the actions of the current administration into question.
The public will never be able to do their duty as citizens until the press chooses to do theirs.

Chris Vlitas
Tucson

THIS IS HILARIOUS

Why is Howard Dean FOX News so angry?
by John in DC - 6/9/2005 07:55:00 PM
AMERICAblog hears someone went batshit-crazy today at the Harry Reid/Howard Dean meeting, but it wasn't who the MSM would like to think.Our sources tell us that a photo-op took place today with Howard Dean and Senator Harry Reid in Reid’s private office (these are usually secreted away in the Capitol Building itself, near the Senate floor). FOX News's Brian Wilson reportedly spent the photo op angrily interrupting reporters and shouting questions out of turn. After an initial swarm, reporters squeezed out the door. FOX's Brian Wilson was apparently wearing no credential of any kind (that wasn’t a red flag to anyone) and behaving "bizarrely angry" so the Washington Post's Mark Leibovich asked who he was. We hear that Wilson "went nuts," responding to the Post reporter (whose credentials were clearly on display):"Who the fuck are you?"Gee, Brian, do you kiss Rupert with that mouth?The Post reporter then responded that he was from the Washington Post and didn’t see credentials on Wilson and because of his incredibly pointed questions wondered whether or not he was a rogue Republican staffer! As they raced down the hall outside the austere Senate chamber, we're told that Wilson displayed an impressive knowledge of four-letter words, and was incredulous that he would either not be recognized without proper ID or would be called out on being completely one-sided and working from GOP talking points.See, and folks thought things wouldn't be nearly as interesting now that Jeff Gannon is history.

WHERE ARE ALL THE BUSH PATRIOTS?, II

Army raises age limit to 42 for junior officer candidates
By Tom Bowman Tribune Newspapers: The Baltimore Sun
21 minutes ago
6/8/05
http://news.yahoo.com/s/chitribts/20050609/ts_chicagotrib/armyraisesagelimitto42forjuniorofficercandidates;_ylt=AqeS5utDorRMCYY1wuUzl6rpbr8F;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl


Faced with a need to expand the Army and ease recruitment problems, Army officials have decided to loosen the requirements for junior officer candidates--accepting prospects who exceed the current age limit by more than a decade, and permitting more flexibility to waive minor criminal or civil offenses, according to a memo obtained by The Baltimore Sun.

The May 25 memo, sent to division commanders and other generals, said the Army hopes to attract 300 soldiers up to age 42 to attend Officer Candidate School and become second lieutenants. Using the same age criteria, they also hope to attract an additional 300 civilians with college degrees as officer candidates. The Army National Guard and Army Reserve are working on similar programs, according to the memo.

The new criteria establish a clear departure from current rules, which state an applicant should not reach "your 29th birthday prior to training" and be in "good moral standing." The average age for an Officer Candidate School graduate is 27, Army officials said.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales Jr., former commandant of the Army War College, said the "seemingly endless" U.S.-led military mission in Iraq may be having an impact on the officer corps.

IS BUSINESS WEEK GETTING SHRILL?

Is It Time to Bag Baghdad?
Business Week Online
6/8/05
By Stan Crock

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20050609/bs_bw/nf20050689924db056;_ylt=And4G9PrP_OsCpYzr3ME6Pis0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2amdibDI5BHNlYwNicw--


The best way for the occupation force in Iraq to establish legitimacy would have been to get a reputation for delivering everything from water and electricity to education and health care. U.S. troops needed to show Iraqis some benefit arising from Uncle Sam's presence in their country.

Phebe Marr just returned from a visit to Iraq -- or more precisely to the Green Zone, the only place safe enough to venture in. She is a retired professor who specialized in modern Iraq history and who now is a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute for Peace.

Marr sees a few glimmers of hope in a dismal situation, and she has some ideas about what should be done as we move ahead. The focal point of efforts in Iraq, Marr says, should be on the provinces rather than Baghdad. Because of the insurgency, Marr says, Baghdad is cut off from much of the rest of the country, so the capital can provide only limited assistance to other parts of the nation.

The good news is that a real and independent politics is taking hold as policymakers gear up to write a new constitution. Even the Sunnis are rethinking their boycott of Iraqi politics. The bad news is that all of this is time-consuming, and Iraq doesn't have the luxury of time before it starts to satisfy basic needs. "People aren't concerned about the constitution. They want electricity," Marr says.

DISMAL NUMBERS. Take a look at some of the data. Oil production of 2.1 million barrels a day remains below the prewar level of 2.9 million barrels, according to Brookings Institution data. Exports of oil, a critical revenue source, currently are 1.3 million a day, a sharp drop from the prewar level of 2.1 million barrels, Brookings says.

Average electricity production in May was 3,700 megawatts, well below the prewar level of 4,400 megawatts, partly because capacity is turned off so frequently. The U.S. and Iraqi officials "need to put more emphasis on capacity and services," stresses Marr. "The garbage has got to be collected."

Meanwhile, the number of Iraqi civilians killed per month has skyrocketed. In May, 2003, it was 25. Two years later, the figure had reached 600, according to Brookings. And the number of insurgent attacks has jumped from an average of 10 a day in May, 2003, to 70 a day last month, Brookings says. Marr is dubious Baghdad can provide answers. "I don't think they're going to be able to turn it around, period," Marr declares.

"It's going to be a long, hard slog," Marr says. Talk of a pullout starting in 2006 may be just that -- talk. Don't expect GIs to start coming home in large numbers until electric service is dependable.

For that to happen, there has to be a well-oiled, functioning government, either in Baghdad or the provinces. Don't hold your breath.

KNIGHT-RIDDER COMES THROUGH AGAIN!

(Via DKos)

Bush has decided to overthrow Hussein
By Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott
Posted on Wed, Feb. 13, 2002
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/11809605.htm

WASHINGTON - President Bush has decided to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power and ordered the CIA, the Pentagon and other agencies to devise a combination of military, diplomatic and covert steps to achieve that goal, senior U.S. officials said Tuesday.
No military strike is imminent, but Bush has concluded that Saddam and his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs are such a threat to U.S. security that the Iraqi dictator must be removed, even if U.S. allies do not help, said the officials, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.
"This is not an argument about whether to get rid of Saddam Hussein. That debate is over. This is ... how you do it," a senior administration official said in an interview with Knight Ridder.
Bush also is dispatching Vice President Cheney next month on a tour of 11 Middle East nations, including many of Iraq's neighbors, whose leaders are leery of a U.S. attack on Baghdad.
While the mission's purpose has been portrayed publicly as sounding out Middle Eastern leaders on Iraq policy, Cheney in fact will tell them that the United States intends to get rid of Saddam and his regime, several top Bush aides said.
"He's not going to beg for support. He's going to inform them that the president's decision has been made and will be carried out, and if they want some input into how and when it's carried out, now's the time for them to speak up," one senior official said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell signaled Bush's new approach last Thursday, telling a House of Representatives committee that "regime change" in Iraq "is something the United States might have to do alone."

BOOK FACTOID

I got Gordon H. Nash's The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America: Since 1945 from the library and I was surprised by the number of names I didn't recognize. I knew some of the big names (Hayek, von Mises, Buckley, Friedman) but there are a whole slew of folks that are new to me, such as Russell Kirk, William Henry Chamberlain, Alfred Jay Nock, and Frank Chodorov.

Nash recognizes many strands in the rope called "Conservatism," such as classical liberalism, neo-liberalism, traditionalists, and so-called New Conservatives. Considering the rabid whines of David Horowittz today about liberal bias in the academy, there seems to have been plenty of room for conservatives at a time when liberalism, as we understand it today, was by far the dominant ideology.

Here's a short list of conservatives and the schools they taught at:

John Hallowell - Duke University
Ludwig von Mises - NYU Graduate School of Business Administration
Wilmoore Kendall - Yale University
Leo Strauss - New School for Social Research, University of Chicago
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn - Georgetown University, Fordham University
Frank H. Knight - University of Chicago

ANOTHER COST OF THE IRAQ WAR

There are no comparable statistics for other wars but we can feel confidant that the stop-loss orders and repeated deployments have made the situation worse.

Soldiers' divorce rates up sharply
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
Wed Jun 8, 7:03 AM ET


The number of active-duty soldiers getting divorced has been rising sharply with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The trend is severest among officers. Last year, 3,325 Army officers' marriages ended in divorce - up 78% from 2003, the year of the Iraq invasion, and more than 3 1/2 times the number in 2000, before the Afghan operation, Army figures show. For enlisted personnel, the 7,152 divorces last year were 28% more than in 2003 and up 53% from 2000. During that time, the number of soldiers has changed little.

Dennis Orthner, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has studied military families for 28 years, says he isn't surprised by the rise in divorces. "If the numbers are right, then we have more to worry about than just fighting a war," he says. "We're trying to fight a war with families that are struggling, and that's a real challenge."

I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE THINK BUSH IS DOING A GREAT JOB MAKING US SAFER

Former Sept. 11 Commission 'Taken Aback' by Personnel, Technology Problems
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff WriterTuesday, June 7, 2005; Page A04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060600964.html?referrer=email


The FBI has stumbled badly in its attempts to remake itself since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and is plagued by high turnover, poor training and its continued inability to build a modern computer system, according to a panel convened yesterday by the members of the commission that investigated the terror strikes.
John Gannon, a former veteran CIA official, said the FBI "has not made an adequate investment" in creating a cadre of experienced intelligence analysts with status equal to FBI special agents.
"If you are not an agent, you are furniture," Gannon said, echoing the findings of one recent report that found FBI analysts handling the phones and other menial tasks. "As long as that ethos is there . . . you will continue to have this problem."
Former attorney general Richard Thornburgh, who also appeared at the hearing and led an outside investigation of the FBI's counterterrorism efforts, said the bureau's "shortcoming in this area is notorious and well known." He also said the FBI's inability to implement a new computerized system for managing cases was "an unmitigated failure."

MORE DSM SUPPORT

A Partner in Shaping an Assertive Foreign Policy
Elisabeth Bumiller. New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Jan 7, 2004. pg. A.1

Ms. Rice was in similar lock step with Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, on going to war with Iraq, senior advisers to the president said, and served as an implementer of the president's wishes. Richard Haass, the former director of policy planning at the State Department who is now the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, recalls going to see Ms. Rice in July 2002, well before the president began making a public case for ousting Mr. Hussein, to discuss with Ms. Rice ''the pros and cons'' of making Iraq a priority.
''Basically she cut me off and said, 'Save your breath -- the president has already decided what he's going to do on this,' '' Mr. Haass said.

POLL PUZZLE


To my untutored eye, I would assume that Bush's overall approval rating would be close to 40% but I would be wrong. In the same Washington Post/ABC poll, 48% approve how Bush is doing his job. Bush has his best approval rating on the war on terror but the same poll shows that only 12% feel that is a top priority; the economy, Iraq, health care and Social Security all are ranked ahead of the WOT.

So, where is Bush getting that extra 8%?

WHAT 1441 REALLY SAID

In Wingnut World, there is the belief that U.N. Resolution 1441 authorized the US to invade Iraq. As is so often the case, this is a false belief. The relevant part of 1441 is paragraph 12, which called for the convening of the Security Council if Saddam did not abide by the current agreement:

12. Decides to convene immediately upon receipt of a report in accordance with paragraphs 4 or 11 above, in order to consider the situation and the need for full compliance with all of the relevant Council resolutions in order to secure international peace and security;

This explains why Bush tried to get explicit authorization from the U.N.:

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is now headed for war -- and is going there without broad international backing, and without many of the traditional alliances and that anchored it in the world for half a century.
President Bush last night ordered Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq or face certain attack, clearing the path for a U.S. invasion within days. The ultimatum came hours after the U.S., Britain and Spain withdrew a Security Council resolution authorizing military action, rather than watch it go down to certain defeat.

Endgame: Ceasing Diplomacy, U.S. Nears War --- American Move Jettisons Cooperative Strategies, Weakens Old Alliances --- A New Policy of Pre-Emption
By Carla Anne Robbins. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Mar 18, 2003. pg. A.1

TIME BACKS UP DOWNING STREET MEMO

"We're taking him out"
Daniel Eisenberg. Time. New York: May 13, 2002.Vol.159, Iss. 19; pg. 36, 3 pgs

TWO MONTHS AGO, A group of Republican and Democratic Senators went to the White House to meet with Condoleezza Rice, the President's National Security Adviser. Bush was not scheduled to attend but poked his head in anyway-and soon turned the discussion to Iraq. The President has strong feelings about Saddam Hussein (you might too if the man had tried to assassinate your father, which Saddam attempted to do when former President George Bush visited Kuwait in 1993) and did not try to hide them. He showed little interest in debating what to do about Saddam. Instead, he became notably animated, according to one person in the room, used a vulgar epithet to refer to Saddam and concluded with four words that left no one in doubt about Bush's intentions: "We're taking him out."
Dick Cheney carried the same message to Capitol Hill in late March. The Vice President dropped by a Senate Republican policy lunch soon after his 10-day tour of the Middle East-the one meant to drum up support for a U.S. military strike against Iraq. As everyone in the room well knew, his mission had been thrown off course by the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. But Cheney hadn't lost focus. Before he spoke, he said no one should repeat what he said, and Senators and staff members promptly put down their pens and pencils. Then he gave them some surprising news. The question was no longer if the U.S. would attack Iraq, he said. The only question was when.

SBVT - YES, THEY ARE LIARS

Kerry allows Navy release of military, medical records
Show numerous commendations
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff June 7, 2005
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/07/kerry_allows_navy_release_of_military_medical_records/


WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry, ending at least two years of refusal, has waived privacy restrictions and authorized the release of his full military and medical records.
The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe, are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president, including numerous commendations from commanding officers who later criticized Kerry's Vietnam service.
Asked why he delayed signing the form for so long, Kerry said in a written response: ''The call for me to sign a 180 form came from the same partisan operatives who were lying about my record on a daily basis on the Web and in the right-wing media. Even though the media was discrediting them, they continued to lie. I felt strongly that we shouldn't kowtow to them and their attempts to drag their lies out."
The file does not provide new documents about various combat actions. It contains mostly a repetition of Kerry's citations for the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. For example, it does not include the combat ''after action reports" that detail what happened in some of the firefights in which Kerry participated. Those reports are available for public inspection at the Navy historical center in Washington and have already been widely disseminated.
John O'Neill, the leader of the Swift Boat veterans group and coauthor of the book ''Unfit for Command," said yesterday that he would be disappointed if Kerry's files do not contain new information. ''I would still have the same beliefs expressed in my book," he said.

GREAT DAILY KOs POST!!!!!

Downing Street Minutes is exhibit 23 of 43
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/5/184322/3073


Exhibit 1:1999: BUSH PLANS WAR IN '99, WELL BEFORE ELECTION
http://www.gnn.tv/articles/article.php?id=761

Exhibit 2: 9/2000: Bush plans Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President
http://www.sundayherald.com/27735

Exhibit 3: 1/2001: Bush plans Iraq invasion before 9/11
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/oneill.bush/

Exhibit 4: 3/2001: Cheney Task Force Eyes Iraq Oil
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/072003C.shtml

Exhibit 5:9/12/2001: Rumsfeld considers Iraq bombings one day after terror attacks
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/03/20/national0310EST0431.DTL

Exhibit 6:12/2001: Bush Begins to Plan Iraq War Three Months After 9/11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17347-2004Apr16.html

Exhibit 7:2002-2003: Cheney Pressures CIA on Iraq
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A15019-2003Jun4&notFound =true

Exhibit 8:Spring/2002: A high-ranking military officer reveals how Defense Department extremists suppressed information and twisted the truth to drive the country to war.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/03/10/osp/index_np.html

Exhibit 9:4/7/2002: The Crawford Deal: Blair signs up for war at Bush's Texas ranch in April 2002
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8165.htm

Exhibit 10:5/9/2002: U.S. war hawks oust Bustani from UN because he was attempting to get Iraq to allow chemical weapons inspectors in the country, which would have deprived Washington of a quasi-legal justification for military action against Baghdad.
http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/26/14/feature1.shtml

Exhibt 11:5/20/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE AIRCRAFT DETECTION SITE IN IRAQ
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020520-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 12:5/22/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE TWO IRAQI ANTI-AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020522-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 13:5/24/2002: COALITION AIRCRAFT STRIKE INTEGRATED AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020524-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 14:5/30/2002: COALITION AIRCRAFT STRIKE INTEGRATED AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020530-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 15:6/14/2002: COALITION STRIKES IRAQI OFFENSIVE AIR SITE
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020614-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 16:6/20/2002: COALITION STRIKES IRAQI OFFENSIVE MILITARY AIR DEFENSE SITE
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020620-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 17:6/28/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE AIR-DEFENSE FACILITIES
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020628-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 18:7/2002 President Bush diverts $700 million into Iraq invasion planning without informing Congress.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=46962

Exhibit 19:7/13/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE AIR-DEFENSE FACILITIES
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020713-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 20:7/15/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE MOBILE RADAR UNIT
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020715-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 21:7/18/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI COMMUNICATION FACILITIES
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020718-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 22:7/23/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI COMMUNICATION FACILITIES
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020723-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 23:7/23/2002: Downing Street Minutes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html

Exhibit 24:7/28/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI COMMUNICATION BUNKER
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020728-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 25:8/5/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI AIR DEFENSE COMMAND AND CONTROL FACILITY
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020805-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 26:8/14/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020814-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 27:8/15/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE SITE
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020830-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 28:8/17/2002: Coalition Air Forces Strike Iraqi Mobile Radar Unit August 17
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020817-usia01.htm

Exhibit 29:8/20/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI MILITARY COMMAND AND CONTROL FACILITY
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020820-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 30:8/25/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE AIR DEFENSE RADAR SYSTEMS
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/mil-020825-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 31:8/27/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE IRAQI MILITARY COMMAND AND CONTROL FACILITY
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020827-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 32:8/29/2002: COALITION FORCES STRIKE MILITARY RADAR SYSTEM
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020829-centcom01.htm

Exhibit 33:8/29/2002: Boucher Says Regime Change Is Only Way to Solve Iraq Problem
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2002/iraq-020829-usia02.htm

Exhibit 34:9/2002: White House Silences Experts Who Question Iraq Intel Six Months Before War
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/leopold6.html

Exhibit 35:9/27/2002: Bush calls Saddam 'the guy who tried to kill my dad'
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/27/bush.war.talk/

Exhibit 36:10/2002: White House kills Pentagon plans to strike Zarqawi's camp in Northern Iraq in order to maintain the White House's claim that Iraq has ties to terrorists
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4431601

Exhibit 37:10/2002: National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq WMD stripped of dissenting opinions http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/special_packages/iraq/7917626.htm

Exhibit 38:*1/2003: Britain, U.S. spy on UN allies over war vote
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=5526&fcategory_desc=Under+Reported

Exhibit 39:1/2003: 'We're Going to Have to Go to War,' Bush Says to Rice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19691-2004Apr17.html

Exhibit 40:1/6/2003: It is revealed that special forces have been operating on missions inside Iraq since August of 2002
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/05/1041566310159.html?oneclick=true

Exhibit 41:Spring/2003: Blix suspects U.S. spying on him
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1158353,00.html

Exhibit 42:3/17/2003: Ex-CIA Accuse Bush of Manipulating Iraq Evidence
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81148,00.html

Exhibit 43:9/2004: President Bush has Saddam's Pistol
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3623/is_200409/ai_n9421009?cm_ven=YPI

ANOTHER MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Nearly three weeks after U.S. forces reached Iraq's most important nuclear facility, the Bush administration has yet to begin an assessment of whether tons of radioactive material there remain intact, according to military officials here and in Washington.
Before the war began last month, the vast Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center held 3,896 pounds of partially enriched uranium, more than 94 tons of natural uranium and smaller quantities of cesium, cobalt and strontium, according to reports compiled through the 1990s by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Defense officials acknowledge that the U.S. government has no idea whether any of Tuwaitha's potentially deadly contents have been stolen, because it has not dispatched investigators to appraise the site. What it does know, according to officials at the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command, is that the sprawling campus, 11 miles south of Baghdad, lay unguarded for days and that looters made their way inside.
The Marines reported that some of the buildings showed evident signs of looting. Until receiving reinforcements, the small unit was unable to prevent further intrusions by Iraqis who cut through barbed wire fencing and stole inside.

U.S. Has Not Inspected Iraqi Nuclear Facility; Site That Contained Uranium Was Looted After War; [FINAL Edition]
Barton Gellman. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Apr 25, 2003. pg. A.14

DEBUNKING ID

There's a nice little piece by a biologist in the New Yorker. Here are some highlights:

MASTER PLANNED
by H. ALLEN ORR
Why intelligent design isn’t.
Issue of 2005-05-30
Posted 2005-05-23


But biologists have shown that direct paths to irreducible complexity are possible, too. Suppose a part gets added to a system merely because the part improves the system’s performance; the part is not, at this stage, essential for function. But, because subsequent evolution builds on this addition, a part that was at first just advantageous might become essential. As this process is repeated through evolutionary time, more and more parts that were once merely beneficial become necessary. This idea was first set forth by H. J. Muller, the Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, in 1939, but it’s a familiar process in the development of human technologies. We add new parts like global-positioning systems to cars not because they’re necessary but because they’re nice. But no one would be surprised if, in fifty years, computers that rely on G.P.S. actually drove our cars. At that point, G.P.S. would no longer be an attractive option; it would be an essential piece of automotive technology. It’s important to see that this process is thoroughly Darwinian: each change might well be small and each represents an improvement.

Each gene in an organism’s genome encodes a particular protein. Occasionally, the stretch of DNA that makes up a particular gene will get accidentally copied, yielding a genome that includes two versions of the gene. Over many generations, one version of the gene will often keep its original function while the other one slowly changes by mutation and natural selection, picking up a new, though usually related, function. This process of “gene duplication” has given rise to entire families of proteins that have similar functions; they often act in the same biochemical pathway or sit in the same cellular structure. There’s no doubt that gene duplication plays an extremely important role in the evolution of biological complexity.


It’s true that when you confront biologists with a particular complex structure like the flagellum they sometimes have a hard time saying which part appeared before which other parts. But then it can be hard, with any complex historical process, to reconstruct the exact order in which events occurred, especially when, as in evolution, the addition of new parts encourages the modification of old ones. When you’re looking at a bustling urban street, for example, you probably can’t tell which shop went into business first. This is partly because many businesses now depend on each other and partly because new shops trigger changes in old ones (the new sushi place draws twenty-somethings who demand wireless Internet at the café next door). But it would be a little rash to conclude that all the shops must have begun business on the same day or that some Unseen Urban Planner had carefully determined just which business went where.
The most serious problem in Dembski’s account involves specified complexity. Organisms aren’t trying to match any “independently given pattern”: evolution has no goal, and the history of life isn’t trying to get anywhere. If building a sophisticated structure like an eye increases the number of children produced, evolution may well build an eye. But if destroying a sophisticated structure like the eye increases the number of children produced, evolution will just as happily destroy the eye. Species of fish and crustaceans that have moved into the total darkness of caves, where eyes are both unnecessary and costly, often have degenerate eyes, or eyes that begin to form only to be covered by skin—crazy contraptions that no intelligent agent would design. Despite all the loose talk about design and machines, organisms aren’t striving to realize some engineer’s blueprint; they’re striving (if they can be said to strive at all) only to have more offspring than the next fellow.
Another problem with Dembski’s arguments concerns the N.F.L. theorems. Recent work shows that these theorems don’t hold in the case of co-evolution, when two or more species evolve in response to one another. And most evolution is surely co-evolution. Organisms do not spend most of their time adapting to rocks; they are perpetually challenged by, and adapting to, a rapidly changing suite of viruses, parasites, predators, and prey. A theorem that doesn’t apply to these situations is a theorem whose relevance to biology is unclear. As it happens, David Wolpert, one of the authors of the N.F.L. theorems, recently denounced Dembski’s use of those theorems as “fatally informal and imprecise.” Dembski’s apparent response has been a tactical retreat. In 2002, Dembski triumphantly proclaimed, “The No Free Lunch theorems dash any hope of generating specified complexity via evolutionary algorithms.” Now he says, “I certainly never argued that the N.F.L. theorems provide a direct refutation of Darwinism.”

Of the five founding fathers of twentieth-century evolutionary biology—Ronald Fisher, Sewall Wright, J. B. S. Haldane, Ernst Mayr, and Theodosius Dobzhansky—one was a devout Anglican who preached sermons and published articles in church magazines, one a practicing Unitarian, one a dabbler in Eastern mysticism, one an apparent atheist, and one a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and the author of a book on religion and science. Pope John Paul II himself acknowledged, in a 1996 address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, that new research “leads to the recognition of the theory of evolution as more than a hypothesis.”

FALAFEL DON'T FLOAT

Via Atrios, Sweet Jesus I hate Bill O'Reilly has a scoop:


June 6, 2005 - EXCLUSIVE REPORT
S.S. O'Reilly Sinks Before Leaving Port

The Thomas More Law Center’s “The Battle For American Values” cruise with Bill O’Reilly has been canceled.
An automated message at Corporate Travel Service, Inc. didn’t try to hide the fact that there was little interest in spending eight nights on boat with FOX News Channel’s top personality:

“Hello and thank you for your interest in the Thomas More Law Center Cruise with Bill O’Reilly. Unfortunately, the cruise did not have the participation that all parties anticipated. Although the guest appearance by Mr. O’Reilly and the other speakershave been canceled, the ship will still sail...”

Corporate Travel Service told Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly, Intl. that the goal was to get 800 people onboard for a Caribbean fantasy week with O’Reilly. Even though the cruise was promoted heavily on The O'Reilly Factor television program, the Radio Factor, and O'Reilly's Web site, they sold only a fraction of the tickets available. According to the Thomas More Law Center, the response was surprisingly poor. The organization ultimately renegotiated with Holland America Cruise Line in an attempt to pare down the expected guest list but maintain the event as scheduled. Sales continued to trickle in and finally, after two more negotiations with Holland America to reduce the group size, the event was finally scrapped. Sadly, “The Battle for American Values" will be hard for Mr. O'Reilly to win if he can't manage to launch a single ship.

SOME FACTS ABOUT THE CLASS WAR

David Cay Johnston's book Perfectly Legal covers this much more extensively but he had a shorter version on Sunday:


Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
Published: June 5, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/class/HYPER-FINAL.html?ei=5090&en=f1af44c9cec8c79e&ex=1275624000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

The average income for the top 0.1 percent was $3 million in 2002, the latest year for which averages are available. That number is two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980. No other income group rose nearly as fast. The share of the nation's income earned by those in this uppermost category has more than doubled since 1980, to 7.4 percent in 2002. The share of income earned by the rest of the top 10 percent rose far less, and the share earned by the bottom 90 percent fell.

Next, examine the net worth of American households. The group with homes, investments and other assets worth more than $10 million comprised 338,400 households in 2001, the last year for which data are available. The number has grown more than 400 percent since 1980, after adjusting for inflation, while the total number of households has grown only 27 percent.

President Bush said during the third election debate last October that most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans. In fact, most - 53 percent - will go to people with incomes in the top 10 percent over the first 15 years of the cuts, which began in 2001 and would have to be reauthorized in 2010. And more than 15 percent will go just to the top 0.1 percent, those 145,000 taxpayers.

¶Under the Bush tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes - a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data - now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000.
¶Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000.
¶The alternative minimum tax, created 36 years ago to make sure the very richest paid taxes, takes back a growing share of the tax cuts over time from the majority of families earning $75,000 to $1 million - thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars annually. Far fewer of the very wealthiest will be affected by this tax.

From 1950 to 1970, for example, for every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent, those in the top 0.01 percent earned an additional $162, according to the Times analysis. From 1990 to 2002, for every extra dollar earned by those in the bottom 90 percent, each taxpayer at the top brought in an extra $18,000.

Speaking of the increasing concentration of incomes, Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, warned in Congressional testimony a year ago: "For the democratic society, that is not a very desirable thing to allow it to happen."

FLAT TAX/CLASS WARFARE 

WHERE ARE ALL THE BUSH PATRIOTS?

You may have noticed that recruiting is down and our Army is nearing the breaking point. So far, I haven't heard any of the radio liars, such as Ingaham and Hannity, urging their listeners to enlist. Via Atrios, I came across this from Jesus' General:

(excerpt)

Many, if not most, of the warriors in the Inland Empire Chapter are either students or unemployed. "Perhaps," I thought, "we could all go to the recruitment center in Spokane and sign up to serve in the military." I quickly put my thoughts into an email to all fifty-one members of the chapter.

From: "Gen. JC Christian, Patriot"
Subject: Re: HQ chapter broadcast: Protest Warriors
JJ, I agree that we need to get a successful mission under our belt. We've all heard about how the military is not meeting its recruitment goals. We're facing a manpower crisis. When I look at our membership, I see a lot of able-bodied men and women of military age. I say we hold a rally at the recruiting station. Then, after a few speeches, we all go in and sign up. Heck, we can always fight the liberals later. It's time to take the Protest Warrior flag to Iraq.

I received two emails in response. The first came from reader Kent's sweetheart, Risawn, who's serving in Kosovo, and the second from Commander JJ, who noted that he did his service during peace time.Other than that, nothing. None of the other forty-eight warriors responded. That includes: Ben Lange, an unemployed student; Daniel Brutocao, President of the Gonzaga College Republicans and member of the school's golfing team; Steven Himes, whose PW profile lists his hobby as "heroics;" Bill Benson, who claims to be an expert in "terrorism threat assessment, physical security;" Jane Provinsal of the Gonzaga College Republicans; and Cody Clary who claims to be a ninja.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE & LIES FROM THE RIGHT

Months ago, I heard Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission since 1988, claim that the legalization of same-sex marriages in the Scandinavian countries had led to a decline in marriage rates and thus must be opposed. I looked around to get the facts about this but I was unable to find any. Fortunately, MediaMatters has come up with some real research about this issue: http://mediamatters.org/items/200506030007

You can find the research paper MM's article is based on here:
http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pdf/scandinaviaBEPressArticle.pdf

Here is a key excerpt from the paper:

The long-term trend in Scandinavia has been lower marriage rates, higher divorce rates, and higher rates of nonmarital births. This has been a trend lasting at least two generations -- long predating registered partnership laws adopted in 1989 (Denmark) and 1994 (Sweden). The trend has mainly been cultural and social. To the extent that law has made a difference, one would expect the liberalization of alternatives (cohabitation) and exit (no-fault divorce) to be the key legal developments contributing to these changes in marriage and divorce rates. In both Denmark and Sweden, these legal changes occurred between 1969 and 1980, and the data in Tables D-1 and S-1 reveal a close correlation between these particular legal changes and lower marriage rates and higher divorce rates. Less dramatic legal changes, such as state support for working women with children, have also contributed to rising births of non-marital children.
Can Kurtz convincingly show that registered partnerships accelerated the pace of change in marriage that had been going on for most of the twentieth century, and that had been dramatic since 1970? Because registered partnership laws have been in effect for almost 15 years in Denmark and almost 9 years in Sweden, these countries might offer laboratories for testing his hypothesis. If state-recognized same-sex partnerships "contributed" to the decline of marriage and the rise of illegitimacy, even if indirectly by reinforcing an expanded-choice norm, we would expect to see (ceteris paribus) something more than falling marriage rates, rising divorce rates, and rising non-marital birth rates in Denmark after 1989 and in Sweden after 1994; those were the trends before 1989 and 1994. Rather, we should expect to see marriage rates falling faster, divorce rates accelerating upward, and a surge in non-marital birth rates. The data reveal no such trend. Not only do the registered partnership laws in Denmark and Sweden not correlate to super-normal plunges in marriage rates and super-elevated divorce rates, but some of the trends move in the other direction. The 1990s see no stake through the heart of marriage--indeed, the institution shows renewed signs of life in the new millennium. It is Kurtz's hypothesis that dies, according to the data.