Development of Democracy

"On average, nearly 80 Iraqis were killed or wounded every day from mid-February through mid-May, up from the previous quarter's 60 per day. At least 92 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Al Anbar since the start of the year" the LA Times reports.

"Democracy is on the march in Iraq." George W. Bush.

Taking A Stand

Brave Move by FoxNews's John Gibson!

Credibility

FoxNews analyst, Jonathan Hoenig asserts, "Theres no scientific proof that global warming even exists. To be honest, its a bogus consensus dreamed up by Greens because they hate industry. They hate advancement. They hate technologyGreens will lead us back to the stone ages."

ThinkProgress.org properly points out that "A big part of the solution to global warming, of course, is technology more efficient cars, renewable energy, cleaner production methods."

To Hoenig, Global Warming is nothing more than a vast left wing conspiracy. Does this strengthen FoxNews's credibility in your minds?

The Argument Against Global Warming

The right wing rebuttal to Gore's film on Global Warming: "An Inconvenient Truth"

1) Sterling Burnett a senior fellow at the Exxon-backed National Center for Policy Analysis, argued against the film with this comparison of Gore to a Nazi propagandist: "You dont go see Joseph Goebbels films to see the truth about Nazi Germany. You dont go see Al Gores films to see the truth about global warming."

2) Now, Bill Gray from the Washington Post magazine states: "Gore believed in global warming almost as much as Hitler believed there was something wrong with the Jews."

How about a scientific rebuttal to the points made in Gore's movie, if those points are so far off base?

Remember Republican responses to comparisons of Bush and his policies to Nazi Germany? Republicans have declared that any comparisons made to Nazis are "hateful, vitriolic rhetoric," "despicable,"and "deplorable, desparate tactics."

The Most Important Issues Facing America?

When asked what the most important issues this country faces right now Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist says flag burning and gay marriage.

Is this political pandering and manipulation by Frist and his fellow republicans attempting to dictate what the election year issues will be? It seems clear to me.

Incidentally, the only countries that now ban flag burning are Cuba, Iran, and China.
Would an anti-flag burning Constitutional Amendment ban only burning the American flag?

Should it be criminal if Americans are insulted but acceptible for Americans to impart precisely the same insult against others, even to foreigners who live in America - is that consitent with the principles of the founding fathers? Or, would it be illegal to burn any country's flag? Is the activity so inherently dangerous that peace cannot be maintained without imposing criminal sanctions against all who perform it?

These two Constitutional Amendments are improper, in my view, because the Constitution is a document that 1) limits the power of government and 2) elaborates the rights of the people that cannot be infringed by the government. Both of these Proposed Amendments seek to place limitations of the rights of the people.

Gov't Interest in Your Internet Habits

Imagine if the entire history of your internet viewing on your computer were retained and turned over to the government? Does that seem, to you, like a "Big Brother" scenario?

Not to the Bush administration who hopes to see it become business as usual.

"U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller on Friday urged telecommunications officials to record their customers' Internet activities."

"The Bush administration had generally opposed laws requiring data retention, saying it had 'serious reservations' about them. But after the European Parliament last December approved such a requirement for Internet, telephone and voice over Internet Protocol providers, top administration officials began talking about the practice more favorably."

When did the Bush Administration decided to begin adopting policies favored by Europe? Clearly the US is inherently behind the times with regard to restricting the freedoms of its own citizens.

Why Bush Environmental Policy is So Far Off

I honestly believe that many, maybe most, Americans suffer from a fundamental misunderstanding as to many scientific issues, including global warming (along with Stem Cell Research and Evolution). Among the misinformed is the President.

Yesterday Bush stated, "New technologies will change how we live and how we drive our cars, which all will have the beneficial effect of improving the environment."

What he fails to understand is that no current technology purports an ability to improve the environment. How could it? The issue is not whether our activities are helping the environment or hurting it, the issue is how badly are our activities hurting the environment. Shouldn't we always seek to do as little harm as possible. Besides, if Bush honestly believes that industry can create technologies that will improve the environment, why isn't he demanding (even if only informally) that such technologies be more aggressively pursued?

Bush continued: "in my judgment we need to set aside whether or not greenhouse gases have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects and focus on the technologies that will enable us to live better lives and at the same time protect the environment."

Again, he severely misses the crucial point. If mankind is causing harm to the environment, those harmful activities can and should be resticted to the greatest degree practicable.

Why is that such an unreasonable proposition?

More Bad Policy

Great article on the unspoken Anti-Terrorism/Iraq policy - Containment.

This policy approach, it appears, has developed merely by default. Whatever the policy was before (if there was one) had not been working and now the Administration is searching for a way to minimize the damage and keep it away from the US, if even that is possible.

Remember when the Republicans were saying that they were the only ones who could win the war on terror? I still believe that it is a war that we can win, but containment is not a strategy for victory.

Check out the article. If you are interested in politics, it is worth reading.

I just read two news stories about politics.

The first one discusses how the Republicans have termed a class loyal voters for the right as "values voters." After the last election, the Republican party excitedly proclaimed themselves the stewards or morality. Clearly, in light of all of the corruption scandals, lies and misrepresentations, their eagerness to use torture, their eagerness to go to war, and their disregard of the consumer in favor of multibillion dollar industries, this was not true.

The next story I read sealed the deal. It's all about self interest.

Bill Conrad (R) is running for the CA state Assembly. In the upcoming primary, he is running against fellow Republican Tom Berryhill. Berryhill had a heart transplant six years ago. Conrad has concluded that this is an important election issue and below is the mailing he has used to pursuade voters to support him over the obviously unqualified Berryhill.

Which candidate is the one who lacks the heart? This, from the party with the monopoly on morality. There is no integrity here.

What Gives the Press the Right to Investigate?

It seems that the only constitutional Amendment the President is interested in is the Second. He certainly isn't much concerned by the Fourth Amendment, as we know from his domestic wiretapping and phone records collection activities.

Apparently he doesn't care much for the First either, at least not any protections for the Press.

"The FBI acknowledged late Monday that it is increasingly seeking reporters' phone records in leak investigations.

"'It used to be very hard and complicated to do this, but it no longer is in the Bush administration,' said a senior federal official."

The USA PATRIOT Act includes a new provision which allows federal agents to seek information with what are called National Security Letters (NSL). This is a type of subpoena that orders records be turned over to the investigative agency. This subpoena need not be signed by a judge. As you can imagine, the FBI has been making extensive use of this provision.

Let's be clear on this: the FBI admits to monitoring reporters' phone calls.

Further, "under the law, a phone company receiving a NSL for phone records must provide them and may not divulge to the customer that the records have been given to the government."

Respecting the Constitution will not lead to the destruction of this country by terrorism (or the press).

For our form of government to operate effectively it need not constantly operate at, and often beyong, the limits of the Constitution.

Great Moments in History

Bush was asked what was the greatest moment in his presidency.

His reply: "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound perch in my lake."

Does George W. Bush understand that he is the President?

George Washington

According to George W. Bush, "The interesting thing about [George Washington] is that I read three -- three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?"

Is he retarded?

Bush's Agenda

In an interview with President Bush, the questioner asked about the movie "Flight 93." President Bush responded that he had not yet seen it but said: "I believe that it was the first counter-attack to World War III," referring to the actions of the passengers of that flight.

World War III?

Buy Now: Jesus Soap on a Rope

Not for use on your "Bad Places."

The is No Debate on Global Warming!

"Politicians, economists, journalists, and others may have the impression of confusion, disagreement, or discord among climate scientists, but that impression is incorrect."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sought to determine what the general consensus among climatologists was as to whether human activity is responsible for climate change. To do so, they analyzed every article published including the key words "Climate Change," which consisted of 928 scientific articles published between 1993 and 2003 in peer reviewed journals.

Of the 928 papers "none of these papers argued that" human activity is not repsonsible.

The consensus view of the scientific community is clearly that, "most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations."
There is no controversy.

Flip Flop?

George W. Bush, 4.28.2006:

"I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."

During George W. Bush's 2000 Presidential campaign:

"When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Spanish, sometimes partying with a “Viva Bush” mariachi band flown in from Texas."

Clearly, singing the National Anthem in spanish indicates a pre-9/11 mentality, and Bush no longer supports it.