Politics on The Truth Imperative

Comparing Obama Vs Clinton

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:43:00 -0700

There are significant differences. Here are some key ones that made me a supporter (and precinct delegate) of Obama:

On civil liberties. I was incensed that Clinton not only missed the vote on the FISA reauthorization bill that passed the senate, but that she made no attempt to lead against it at all beforehand. Obama, OTOH, did not vote but spoke out against it.

LCV ranks Obama higher on the environment I do wish that he would be more aggressive in some positions, such as pushing for doubling fuel economy standards far sooner than within 18 years as he has pledged. But I know this has been a big issue for the big auto lobbyists, which is why fuel standards haven’t changed since the 90s so this is probably a starting point at least for negotiations.

Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:00:00 -0800

This is so rich. A group is trying an argument from absurdity tactic to show how ridiculous the claim that Washington State’s Andersen v. King County decision is that declared a “legitimate state interest” for the state to restrict same-sex couples from legal marriage.

Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance

If passed by Washington voters, the Defense of Marriage Initiative would:

* add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage; * require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled; * require that couples married out of state file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as “unrecognized;” * establish a process for filing proof of procreation; and * make it a criminal act for people in an unrecognized marriage to receive marriage benefits.

Nist Blasts Paperless Electronic Voting

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 15:58:00 -0800

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently published a paper condemning paperless electronic voting machines as insecurable. I’ll have to read the paper in-depth to see how they came to that strong of a conclusion, but I do know that there is no research showing that a purely electronic system can be completely trustworthy.

It’s amazing how far this subject has come in just a few years, yet how far it still needs to go as evidenced by the irregularities in the recent 2006 midterm election.

Department Of Homeland Pork

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 16:41:00 -0800

Get this: The list of top terrorist targets from the Department of Homeland Security is seriously braindead. It includes 1,305 casinos, 234 restaurants, an ice cream parlor, a tackle shop, a flea market, and an Amish popcorn factory 3,650 sites total. What’s going on? Pork-barrel politics is what’s going on. We’re never going to get security right if we continue to make it a parody of itself.

The worst part is that DHS didn’t even try to hide the pork-barreling by making the inclusions and omissions clear and blatant. Oy. I reluctantly file this in the security category…

Airport Security Oversights From The Onion

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 16:35:00 -0800

This was the most troubling one:

Airport Security Oversights | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source

Sept. 3, London to New York: A few Muslim people may have slipped through with their dignity

Dmca Still Stands But Now With Some Exemptions

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:19:00 -0800

It’s still a shitty law though. Something else I will happily ignore to avoid my fair use rights being infringed. Again, how could I watch DVDs (legally rented/owned) on my Linux box without doing so?

Boing Boing: Copyright Office creates 6 DMCA exemptions

the office refused to grant exemptions that would benefit the general public – space- and format-shifting, backing up your DVDs – and they took back an earlier exemption that let people reverse-engineer the blacklists maintained by censorware companies to bring some transparency to their process.

Ballot Design Not Dre Issues At Play In Fl Undervote Anomalies

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 06:52:00 -0800

It is hard to believe that such a blatant undervote error could be attributable solely to the DRE itself not properly recording them. But user interface designs can certainly be abused maliciously, or likely unintentionally, to create these situations. How ironic is it that the DREs that were touted to Help America Vote are actually helping them to undervote, due to poor design/implementation of the ballots?

Proper UI is just as important as sound underlying technology in ensuring proper understanding and usability of a system. Recall Why Can’t Johnny Encrypt? A Usability Evaluation of PGP 5.0 and the more recent Why Johnny Still Can’t Encrypt: Evaluating the Usability of Email Encryption Software for how even known secure software can result in insecure and unintended actions by the user. The infamous Butterfly ballots were not DRE-based but certainly were flawed UI that caused voting errors in previous elections so this is not a new issue to software or to voting by far.

Some Good News on the McCain Front: Attacking NOAA for delays in global warming report

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 14:43:00 -0800

Ugh.

TPMmuckraker November 17, 2006 01:35 PM

“You know,” McCain said a few moments later, “you are really one of the more astonishing witnesses that I have [faced] – in the 19 years I’ve been a member of this [Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation] Committee.”

Lautenberger explained that his staff was working on “pieces” of the report, and conceded the November 2004 deadline had been a “difficult requirement to meet.”

Great Moments In Sarcasm

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 14:36:00 -0800

Eschaton

In the early 1990s I built a workable time machine. All it lacked was the flux capacitor and 1.21 gigawatts of electricity.

Searing Discount Of Liebermann Win

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 07:11:00 -0800

The Insignificance of Lieberman - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime

What Big Tent Democrat says.

Bush Amp Reichert Get Issaquah Bus Driver Fired

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 05:03:00 -0800

The Royal Fingerer Can Dish it Out But Can’t Take it"

Bus driver allegedly flips off Bush so Bush and Reichert complain and the bus driver gets fired. Where is the compassion in that conservative again?

More Constitution Shredding By Bush Administration

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:52:00 -0800

Boing Boing: Bush legalizes martial law – what Constitution?

Congressman Oops Results In Legal And Civil Liberties Violation Of Student

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:45:00 -0800

Something tells me that the government has too much power…

Boing Boing: Congressman on Boarding Pass Generator guy: Uh… oops?

Last Friday, Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) called for the arrest of Christopher Soghoian, and the takedown of his “Boarding Pass Generator” website which illustrated an airline security hole documented on the web for several years. Hours after the congressman’s statement, Soghoian says FBI agents visited his home, then returned a second time after he’d left – in the middle of the night – with a search warrant signed at 2AM, and seized Soghoian’s computer(s) and other belongings.

Repeat After Me Quot Gay Quot And Quot Pedophile Quot Are Not Remotely Related Quot-

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:50:00 -0700

quot-

MotherJones.com | MoJo Blog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: Repeat After Me: “Gay” and “Pedophile” Are Not Remotely Related

I just heard Limbaugh today repeating the crap talking point about the Foley issue being about the existence of a “gay” republican. That is bullshit. This is about exploitation and preying on innocent children. Wanker.

Olbermann'S Blistering Retort Of Bush Vile Attacks On Democrats

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:31:00 -0700

Crooks and Liars: Olbermann’s Special Comment: It is not the Democrats whose inaction in the face of the enemy you fear

Incompetence To Breed More Incompetence In Bush Administration

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 16:19:00 -0700

Think Progress: Bush Asserts Constitutional Right To Hire Incompetent People At FEMA

More News Media Lameness Abuse Of The Question Mark

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 11:16:00 -0700

-mark

Crooks and Liars: Jon Stewart’s Hilarious Look at the Use of the Question Mark

Note to news media: Report the FACTS on the NEWS and lose the question mark.

Right Wing Pundit Wankers More Good Use Of Free Speech

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:08:00 -0700

scootmandubious: GOP’s Revealing Response To Foley Scandal

Step right up! Join your fellow Right-wingers and go on record as a child predator apologist! Downplay the crime of statutory rape! Justify the coverup as necessary for political reasons!

White house withholding report linking Global Warming to Increase in Hurricanes

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 11:36:00 -0700

Crooks and Liars: White House Bars Hurricane Report

More in the front on the War on Science. Ugh.

Faux News Wishes No News Of Clinton Smackdown Of Wallace

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:30:00 -0700

Fox and the Clinton Interview: Hanlon’s Razor

This was a long-overdue smackdown by Clinton after being sandbagged on Fox. They forced YouTube to take down the video clip–trying to rewrite history. Stephanie Miller played the audio this morning–are they going to go after her too? Oh no, people will know that Fox is slanted to the right and giving people on the right a pass!

O'Reilly Peddling Lies Again

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 10:23:00 -0700

Media Matters - Bill O’Reilly’s enemies list, available in hardback for $26

Media Matters got an advance copy of O’Reilly’s new book and dissects the “errors, unsubstantiated claims, and baseless attacks that run through Culture Warrior”.

Educate Yourself And Help Defend The Constitution

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:36:00 -0700

Atheist Ethicist: Defending the Constitution

take some time, come up with a couple of sharp arguments, and spread those arguments among the people. We can complain about how well or how poorly legislators defend the Constitution. However, ultimately, it is our job to defend the Constitution, and this is one of the greatest assaults the Constitution has ever been subjected to.

Do you care enough to help defend it?

Quot God Doesn'T Do Well In The Free Market Quot-

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:20:00 -0700

The struggle to find the downside ended in failure at Pandagon

There are laws that prevent some businesses from being open on Sundays??? I thought it was “christian” pandering by businesses. It is really annoying that so many businesses are closed Sundays and if the government is the reason why, then that is appalling.

I like the quote about “God doesn’t do well in the free market.”

Iran Iraq Part 2

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:16:00 -0700

Crooks and Liars: IAEA calls US Report on Iran—a lie

Cooking the books to lead us into war with Iran now? Where have we seen this before…

Statistics show more stupidity of "terror alert levels"

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 14:35:00 -0700

Boing Boing: Flu, hernia, or police more to kill you than Al Qaeda

This is great. People tend to make decisions using the emotional, fear-driven parts of their brain. Even in the face of raw data about risks it is very hard for people to feel comfortable turning away from those hard-wired instincts for self-preservation and making decisions that conflict with those feelings. A look at this chart shows how irrational spending and decisions are in this country. And how trading security for a little perceived freedom is a bad tradeoff–especially when you are far more at risk from plenty of other factors. The incidence of government taking advantage of its citizenry is likely to be higher than terrorist attacks against America.

Diebold Voting Systems Hacked Again

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 15:31:00 -0700

The BRAD BLOG : HACKED: VIRUS IMPLANTED, SPREAD ON DIEBOLD TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING MACHINE!

Researchers at Princeton, including Ed Felton, have been able to implant malicious code on Diebold touch screen voting machines that was demonstrated to be able to flip election results. They have a video of them doing this as well.

The company response is typically clueless (as is their security). I wonder if the nice Diebold ATMs in use at banks such as USBank are anywhere near as vulnerable?

Bush Sets Record Straight Iraq Had 'Nothing' To Do With 911

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:51:00 -0700

Think Progress: Bush Now Says What He Wouldn’t Say Before War: Iraq Had ‘Nothing’ To Do With 9/11

I saw this first on The Daily Show. I can’t believe this hasn’t gotten more press despite the large percentage of the country who have been made to accept the opposite as true because of the lapdog press and liars in this administration.

The new 9/11

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:41:00 -0700

Legal Fiction: THE TWO 9/11s

the second 9/11 is the political prop — a mangled, grotesque doppelganger of the first one that has been whored out on the political street for over four years now. The second 9/11 is the source of policies that have made the world far worse, and have killed many times the number of people who died in the Towers. And so, what’s truly tragic about the second 9/11 is that it threatens to forever stain the legacy of the first 9/11

Abc'S Of Abc'S Hypocrisy

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 16:46:00 -0700

Media Matters - “Media Matters”; by Jamison Foser

ABC and Disney, for starters, still plan to broadcast an account of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that they know to be false.

This despite Disney’s 2004 refusal to distribute Fahrenheit 9/11, which was highly critical of President Bush, even though it was produced by a Disney subsidiary, Miramax Films. Then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner explained that the company “did not want a film in the middle of the political process where we’re such a nonpartisan company and our guests, that participate in all of our attractions, do not look for us to take sides.”

Opposition To Nominated Us Chief Privacy Officer

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:07:00 -0700

I’m so tired of seeing privacy officers and council members who are lawyers first. They may understand the law, but they often don’t understand privacy. And lawyers tend to not consider risks outside of the legal/liability context. I’ve experienced privacy lawyers say that it was okay to not encrypt data anywhere internally because we only said “via our website” in our privacy policy. That may be true in a strict legal sense, but from an overall customer privacy and privacy threat model perspective, it doesn’t adequately ensure either adequate protection for customer privacy (the intent of the policy and assurances to customers) nor does it ensure an adequate privacy environment or mindset in a company (which itself often leads to more lax treatment of sensitive information and therefore breaches).

Diebold A Danger To America

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:19:00 -0700

The Open Voting Foundation

“This may be the worst security flaw we have seen in touch screen voting machines,” says Open Voting Foundation president, Alan Dechert. Upon examining the inner workings of one of the most popular paperless touch screen voting machines used in public elections in the United States, it has been determined that with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version.

Mccain List Of Reversals

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 18:50:00 -0700

The Carpetbagger Report : Blog Archive : Moving forward with McCain-Feingold — without McCain

You know, there was a time when I thought McCain was a straight-shooter. Now, he’s no different than any other politician it seems. Will someone in politics ever be able to maintain rational, principled stands on something?? They are few and far between.

Anti Science Inhofe Quot Gore Is Full Of Crap Quot-

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 16:07:00 -0700

Think Progress: Sen. Inhofe: ‘Gore Is Full of Crap,’ ‘All Recent Science…Confirms This Thing Is A Hoax’

Wanker.

Excellent Posts On The Stem Cell Veto

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 16:00:00 -0700

Legal Fiction: THE STEM CELL SILVER LINING

Atheist Ethicist: The Stem Cell Veto

Independent Online Edition: Stephen Hawking to EU on Stem Cell Research

“Europe should not follow the reactionary lead of President Bush, who recently vetoed a bill passed by Congress and supported by a majority of the American people that would have allowed federal funding for stem cell research,” he said in a statement to The Independent. “Stem cell research is the key to developing cures for degenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease from which I and many others suffer,” he said.

Bushit Stem Cell Veto

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:44:00 -0700

Scott Rosenberg’s Links & Comment

Here is why Bush’s position is a joke: Thousands and thousands of embryos are destroyed every year in fertility clinics. They are created in petri dishes as part of fertility treatments like IVF; then they are discarded.

Exactly. It’s half-assed ridiculous pandering to anti-science, life-regardless-of-the-quality-of-life religious zealots.

US Election System Still Frought with Systemic Problems

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 10:46:00 -0700

USNews.com: The road to reform in election corrections has been slow going

That messy 2000 election was supposed to be the jolt America needed. After chronic flaws in the country’s voting process became painfully public, an ambitious reform effort was supposed to make hanging chads and butterfly ballots relics of election nightmares gone by.

But nearly six years later, it hasn’t turned out that way. In the state of Washington, the 2004 governor’s election took more than six months to resolve–again before a court. And some liberal activists still believe that vote tampering and dirty tricks handed Ohio to the GOP, enabling President Bush to win re-election. Now, heading into the midterm congressional elections, despite the expenditure of billions of dollars, a litany of problems remains.

Cartoon The Revised Revised Story About Nsa Wiretapping

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:42:00 -0700

WorkingForChange-This Modern World: The revised revised story

Nsa'S Math Problem

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:36:00 -0700

https://www.liveammo.com Security News Blog

legal or not, this sort of spying program probably isn’t worth infringing our civil liberties for — because it’s very unlikely that the type of information one can glean from it will help us win the war on terrorism.

Interesting mathematical analysis of how effective the NSA domestic call-tracking spy program could possibly be.

Getting God Out Of Government

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:26:00 -0700

Several articles on the topic of the government pushing religion.

Drum-beating about the 9th circuit decision about “Under God” in the pledge:

AMERICAN ATHEISTS LEGAL UPDATE

Public prayer fanatics borrow page from enemy’s script

The Bush administration has been dealt a setback in its campaign to allow prayer in our public schools. The full 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has voted 15-9 to back the 2-1 vote by its earlier panel finding the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because of the words ‘‘under God.’’

Airline Lt Strike Gt Security Lt Strike Gt-

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:09:00 -0700

A Dangerous Loophole in Airport Security - If Slate could discover it, the terrorists will too. By Andy Bowers

More security window-dressing… More reason that ID checks and the watch list are BS security.

Michael Dell Calls Bs On Companies Using Threat Of War As A Scapegoat

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 07:05:00 -0700

Marketplace 4-Mar-2003, interview with Michael Dell

It’s the current fashion for companies to blame the threat of war in Iraq for business being bad. But one company that’s not using the war to explain its performance is Dell Computer. Marketplace host David Brancaccio talks with founder Michael Dell about how a company can succeed even in times of economic insecurity.

Michael talks about companies who are blaming poor results on the Iraq situation, etc. He says “Sadaam ate my homework” is not a good excuse. There will always be uncertainty in world events. Companies need to learn to succeed when times are good, but also when times are bad. Very sage advice indeed.

Judge Prevents Divorce Due To Pregnancy

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:41:00 -0700

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Judge won’t let woman divorce while she’s pregnant

In comments submitted to Bastine, Hughes said: “If this court vacates my divorce and requires me to stay married to a man I have no desire ever to have a relationship with and who has brought significant physical harm to me over the years, I would be emotionally devastated. If the court vacates my divorce and stays it until the birth of my child, it will prevent me from marrying the father of my child prior to her birth.”

Worst Tech Moments of 2005; Predictions for 2006

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:04:00 -0700

07:00

Wired News: Worst Tech Moments 2005

Not sure I entirely agree with all of these. Looks like Bush will make the 2006 list several more times given the additional illegal spying uncovered so far. A summary of the list:

TiVo boxes betray their owners
Commerce Department blocks .xxx domain
PayPal blocks Katrina aid
Space shuttle Discovery
Bush corrupts the NSA

Here are some items that I predict for the 2006 list:

Bush'S Economic Policy Failure

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:21:00 -0700

Think Progress: President Bush’s Job Record Since August 2003: Nothing To Brag About

What Judd says. Even on the economy Bush can’t claim any victory.

I believe it was Randi Rhodes who suggested that Bush should have been asked on Larry King something about how he was the first president to push for tax cuts during a “time of war”. How’s that working for ya?

Adam Corolla Hangs Up On Coultergeist

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:15:00 -0700

Jesus’ General: Insulting Mr. Coulter

This is hilarious. Adam Corolla is a god.

And I particularly love the graphic of the Psycho Sally stabbing doll to represent Coultergeist.

Mccain Sells Out To The Religious Right

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 15:20:00 -0700

Daily Kos: McCain Embraces Falwell In All His Wingnut Glory

I thought that McCain was one of the good guys but when he can’t even be true to his own assertion that Falwell is one of the “agents of intolerance”, what kind of integrity does he really have? Disappointing. I’m glad that John Stewart pushed him about this on The Daily Show. The “real” news media certainly did not point this out.

Hitler V Coulter

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 15:04:00 -0700

Give Up Blog: The Hitler vs. Coulter Quiz

She is such a despicable human being.

Coulter The Plagiarist

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 05:47:00 -0700

‘NY Post’ Cites Evidence That Ann Coulter Plagiarized Parts of Book, Columns

Well, she has god on her side though so she must have gotten an okay.

It’s not news that she offers misleading references in her books either. I believe that Al Franken called her out on several items from her previous books in Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

The Tyranny of the Executive

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 14:19:00 -0700

Atheist Ethicist

My concern is that the Bush Administration may be spying only on suspected terrorists the way that it invades only countries supporting those who attacked the United States on 9/11. My concern is with the possibility that Bush Administration officials might have an agenda, with an ulterior motive, that would involve invading a country so they rationalize a way of thinking about this country that makes it seem to them to be worthy of attack.

What's the catch?

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:52:00 -0700

Executive Order: Protecting the Property Rights of the American People

I think this is a very cool move. Too bad Congress couldn’t do something like this and too bad the courts had to side too much with corporations. This may restore some balance for the little guy against the Wal-Marts of the world…while it lasts.

But, what is the catch? Bush has been so pro-business I’m not seeing where this fits in…

More Black Marks For Dhs

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 15:18:00 -0700

Think Progress: Homeland Insecurity.

Iraq Withdrawl Timetable Is What America Wants

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:35:00 -0700

David Brooks: Completely out of touch

Look at the statistics from three separate polls on how many Americans want a timetable and a withdrawl/draw down soon from Iraq. It’s at least half if not a majority of Americans. Yet pundits like Brooks are misrepresenting them.

I also just heard on Air America this weekend in passing that 72% of US military wants a drawdown/timetable defined. So the Democrats have been on the right side of the issue as viewed by the American people. Oh, and even “Iraq’s national security advisor, Mowaffak Rubaie, has publicly embraced a similar timetable.” See https://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-withdrawal25jun25,1,4367170.story?coll=la-news-a_section

Quot Values Quot Votes In The 2004 Election

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:23:00 -0700

Editor’s Cut: Stand and Fight

Catching up on ancient blog entries. This article was talking about the 2004 election upset and brought up the issues of why Republicans and the so-called religious right think that their divisive issues are the only “moral” issues at stake.

What about fighting poverty and affordable health care? What about the issues of quality of life instead of “life at any cost” (well, at least after overlooking the pro death penalty thing)? What about enjoying sexuality instead of repressing it as sinful? Why shouldn’t the FCC be regulating Violence on the airwaves instead of nipples? More nipples should be a core value! Spin the anti-nipple crowd as pro-violence on TV! What about honesty over deceit and lies? What about the character to admit you are wrong? What about a fair working wage for every American? What about not breaking the law to uphold the law? What about love and tolerance instead of hatred and intolerance?

Bush Considered Bombing Al Jazeera Hq

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:49:00 -0700

NPR : Report: Bush Considered Bombing Al Jazeera

I never would have thought I would say, “Thank heavens for Tony Blair”.

Nsa Surveillance Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 10:18:00 -0700

A gaggle of links about the illegal NSA domestic spying program. More apropos in light of even more spying by the Bush Administration – this time on international wire transfers

Think Progress: NSA Whistleblower To Expose More Unlawful Activity: ‘People…Are Going To Be Shocked’

Media Matters - Myths and falsehoods on the NSA domestic call-tracking program

Fake Journalism Trumps Quot Real Quot Journalists Again

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 15:17:00 -0700

Boing Boing: Colbert White House video on DVD at CSPAN

This was the most scathing satirical commentary on the lapdog media and the president himself – and right in front of both subjects!

If you have not seen this, it is worth it. It’s about an hour into the correspondent’s dinner. I downloaded the whole show via bittorrent. I would be willing to reseed the 300+ meg show, or follow the links and you can get the segment with just Colbert’s piece from many sources.

The Unbalanced Mainsteam Media

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 18:07:00 -0700

Poynter Online - Forums: Coulter and Moore aren’t the same

Coulter is simply a brash, bigoted, bullheaded, insane, insensitive liar wack-job. There is no comparison to Moore.

US Senate Bigot Roll Call

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:16:00 -0700

U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote

From the results of the Gay Marriage Ban cloture vote (read: write discrimination into the constitution), we get a nice list of the bigots in the US Senate that should be defeated, especially the two Democrats who joined the 47 Republicans.

Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Burr (R-NC) Byrd (D-WV) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) DeWine (R-OH) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-NE) Roberts (R-KS) Santorum (R-PA) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Stevens (R-AK) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA)

Death Tax Dead

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:05:00 -0700

U.S. Senate blocks permanent estate tax repeal|Reuters.com

This was a stunning setback: 57-41 against. Awesome. I’m not happy about the additional tax cuts but at least our federal coffers won’t be further depleted and the super-super rich won’t get another out, causing the lower classes to pick up the tax burden.

Olbermann Rips Coulter A New One

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:01:00 -0700

Olbermann slams Coulter: Shameless

Coulter’s hate and hypocrisy are f*ing sickening. Olbermann uses her own words and positions to destroy her and adds some choice ones of his own.

Worst President EVER -- more proof

Fri, 12 May 2006 09:53:00 -0700

Daily Kos: 29 Percent

A new low for Bush, and this country.

Compiling A List Of All Of The Stupid Stuff Bush Has Done

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:41:00 -0800

-done

AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth

“Let’s create a list of every idiotic thing George Bush has done in the past five years”

This is a great idea. I’ve wanted to at least put together a list of the biggest scandals.

Great timing for this kind of fun. On the heels of a new set of (dis)approval rating results that show that Bush’s popularity has fallen AGAIN, to its lowest level. So, I’ll add his claim that he was given a “mandate” to the list of stupid shit he has said or done.

Dhs Adds Another Quot F Quot To Chertoff'S Record

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 01:25:00 -0800

DHS Gets Another F in Computer Security

Is anyone surprised? They can’t even manage a disaster in the physical world (Katrina), what makes you think they can manage the disaster that DHS is? Another black mark for Chertoff and the Bush administration.

Why does the public still think that the Bush administration is strong on defending America?

Most federal agencies that play key roles in the war on terror are doing a dismal job of protecting their computers and information networks from hackers and viruses, according to portions of a report to be released by a key congressional oversight committee Thursday.

Another Bush Administration Inconsistency Dubai But No Israel

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:39:00 -0800

Well, at least they’re committed to national security consistent conservative… I give up.

“The same Bush administration review panel that approved a ports deal involving the United Arab Emirates has notified a leading Israeli software company that it faces a rare, full-blown investigation over its plans to buy a smaller rival.

The objections by the FBI and Pentagon were partly over specialized intrusion detection software known as “Snort,” which guards some classified U.S. military and intelligence computers.”

Can You Actually Fly Without Providing Id

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:25:00 -0800

ng-id

IDP : Investigation

Help us help you determine whether the TSA told the 9th Circuit the truth. Can you fly without ID? According to what the government told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Gilmore case, you can – you need only submit to secondary screening in order to fly anonymously.

I am just reading a Lee Child book from 1999 (pre 9/11) where the main character flew under president’s names. Would be fun if you could get away with this. Might try it on my next flight…

Bush Worst President Ever

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 14:08:00 -0800

-ever

Fucking…incompetent…liar…

Bush-Katrina Early warning Video

New video shows Bush was warned levees could breach BEFORE Katrina hit - Bush lied when he said no one could imagine levees breaching

Doj Staffers Trumped By Political Arm

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 15:04:00 -0800

l-arm

Daily Kos: Justice Determined DeLay Redistricting Illegal, Overruled By Political Hacks

More ugliness from the repugnicans made public.

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

Possible Investigation Of Oil Ceo Lying

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 14:45:00 -0800

Lautenberg wants criminal investigation of Oil CEOs

Unbelievable to watch the CEOs lie on CSPAN and unfortunate that it took The Daily Show to point out that the prick who runs the committee prevented the Oil execs from being sworn in. Else they would be guilty of perjury.

I’m glad that my senator from the great state of Washington, Maria Cantwell, was the one who tried to get Ted Stevens (the aforementioned prick) to swear them in.

Stem cell research breakthrough -- in Korea

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:31:00 -0800

WorldNetDaily: Paraplegic breakthrough using adult stem cells

This is truly great news and will be even better if it holds up to peer review and brings about additional breakthroughs. It is proof positive of a couple of things:

The critical importance of stem cell research of all kinds for treating serious afflictions and diseases. The research here was done using adult stem cells, but embryonic stem cell research may hold even more promise for finding cures in general.

Quot Cybercrime Quot Treaty Is Criminal

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 13:39:00 -0800

Fuzzy logic behind Bush’s cybercrime treaty | Perspectives | CNET News.com

the Convention on Cybercrime will endanger Americans’ privacy and civil liberties–and place the FBI’s massive surveillance apparatus at the disposal of nations with much less respect for individual liberties.

Well, it has “cyber” in its name so it must be good… This legislation sounds like a really bad idea without the fix to ensure that requests are only allowed under “dual criminality” situations.

Quot Deep Thoughts Quot On Topics Of The Day

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 04:08:00 -0800

Daily Kos: Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!

Last weekend we picked up three of Jack Handy’s Deep Thoughts books. While he avoids the political (after all, the thoughts are deep), we found some striking parallels to certain people and issues of the day…

Alito Response To Vanguard Conflict Of Interest Shows True Character

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 01:11:00 -0800

Eschaton

Alito: “he’s an I’m gonna do what I want and fuck you if you think otherwise kind of guy” Nice.

Congress May Curtail Some Patriot Act Powers

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:01:00 -0800

Congress May Curb Some Patriot Act Powers - Yahoo! News

Now that congress has apparently taken the time to read the PATRIOT Act, they are more likely to do the right thing before voting for it a second time:

WASHINGTON - Congress is moving to curb some of the police powers it gave the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including imposing new restrictions on the FBI’s access to private phone and financial records. ADVERTISEMENT

Primer On Root Causes Of The Violence In France

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:51:00 -0800

TomPaine.com - Why Paris Is Burning

Attend Or Host A Walmart Movie Screening

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:48:00 -0800

WAL-MART Movie Screenings

Attend or host a movie screening of the new film Wal*Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. I’ll be attending one in Seattle next Wednesday. Hope to see you there!

Another Fema And Bush Administration Snafu

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:46:00 -0800

Think Progress � Another Titanic Mistake

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has given the defense contracting agency Titan more than a half million dollars in brand-new contracts for Hurricane Katrina. Here are the top five reasons this was a very bad idea

Read the article for the sickening details about Titan. If Republicans want to do something about the moral climate of America, forget the annoying shit that the FCC is doing and clean house in your own party. Ahh, the ones who throw stones should not live in glass houses…

Democrats Now Press Find Their Cajones

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:30:00 -0800

Pandagon: Another painful Scott McClellan ass-whooping

White House press briefings are fun again!

Especially when the White House attempts to revise history again.

The press is starting to do its job for once, but it is often discounting and ignoring their role in marketing misinformation about the Iraq war

The complete toll of the Iraq War

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:11:00 -0800

It really miffs me to hear media focus entirely on the number of death-specific casualties of the Iraq war but completely ignore the other horrible casualties. From the McLaughlin Group, 11/4/05:

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Okay, the human toll: The U.S. military dead in Iraq, including suicides, 2,035; U.S. military amputeed, wounded, injured, mentally ill, 48,100; Iraqi civilians dead, 117,700.

Note to the media: Why don’t you ask yourselves why it is only the number of _dead_ servicemen who you choose to highlight? Isn’t 48,100 WOUNDED US CITIZENS an even more horrific number? Yes, 2035 dead US Citizens is tragic, but death is not the only tragic consequence for the soldiers.

Preventing Future Threats Not With A Quot Lack Of Protective Imagination Quot-

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 13:53:00 -0800

And, after hurricane Katrina, I would add that on top of a “lack of protective imagination”, government continues to suffer as well from “pork barrel security projects” and “visible-but-ineffective security projects” that divert precious resources away from the real or more likely threats.

An unfortunate example of this is how “The federal government will pay the overtime of cops and emergency medical workers if the drill involves an act of terrorism, but it won’t if locals rehearse for a natural disaster.” So, the government is still making it difficult for localities, such as Seattle, to prepare for _likely threats_ and instead they have to fake it by running drills for the more unlikely terrorism-related scenarios instead. See Is Seattle Really Ready?

Does Voting Machine Technology Affect The Outcome Of Elections

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 12:30:00 -0800

Some interesting results found in a study of 2000-2004 election data.

We first show that there is a positive correlation between use of touch-screen voting and the level of electoral support for George Bush. This is true in models that compare the 2000-2004 changes in vote shares between adopting and nonadopting counties within a state, after controlling for income, demographic composition, and other factors. Although small, the effect could have been large enough to influence the final results in some closely contested states.

Keeping Eyes On The Prize

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 09:48:00 -0700

Daily Kos: Rove’s Lawyer Confirms Rove Remains Under Investigation

Hunter is right on. The investigation is still ongoing and ultimately, this country needs to get to the bottom of the core issue of the Valerie Plame leak, which compromised her safety and national security apparently for political purposes.

And a big “FU” in advance to any in the punditocracy who are preparing to write these charges off as something insignificant. It wan’t insignificant during Watergate.

Can We Pleeeze Get Some Real Journalists Out There

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 09:35:00 -0700

The Stakeholder: Cute, But No Cigar

The Washington Times takes cruft out of Tom DeLay’s mouth and prints it without investigating whether what he was claiming was true or not. Of course it was an outright dissembling on DeLay’s part. But what do you expect (both from WaPo and DeLay)?

Wanker of the day: William Bennett

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 05:35:00 -0700

CNN.com - Bennett under fire for remarks on blacks, crime - Sep 30, 2005

Bennett, who held prominent posts in the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, told a caller to his syndicated radio talk show Wednesday: “If you wanted to reduce crime, you could – if that were your sole purpose – you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down.

Most Apropos Juxtaposition

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:24:00 -0700

Doj Puts Porn Over Terrorism

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:59:00 -0700

[infowarrior] - Top DoJ Priority Isn’t Terrorism, it’s Adult Entertainment

This is disgusting. I’m glad it is getting such a negative public reaction.

Bush Then Vs Now

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 11:29:00 -0700

Then:

A large majority of voters express confidence that Bush will protect the country from a terrorist attack if he is re-elected in November

Now:

the public now shows diminished confidence in his abilities to handle a crisis or provide leadership, as well as in the government’s ability to protect the country.

Several stories that prove the world is going crazy

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:52:00 -0700

First out of the gate:

Fedex sued a loyal customer for posting photos of furniture he made for himself out of Fedex boxes on the web. Get this, they used many…er…novel…legal arguments to try to scare him. Welcome to the doghouse FedEx. You’ve got great company, such as Cisco and Oracle.

Some highlights:

They tried to use the DMCA in their claims. But were complaining about trademark issues. Copyright law does not cover trademarks. Next!

Homeland Security Getting Smarter Or Staying Stupid

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 09:53:00 -0700

Getting smarter:

Chertoff is a good guy. When I heard this NPR interview I remember thinking, holy crap, someone who gets it. Security is about tradeoffs and with limited resources, making the most cost effective and rational decisions based on risk and threat analysis.

TSA may move to reallow knives, etc. back on aircraft. Threats Reassessed To Make Travel Easier for Public

The stay-seated the first and last 30-minutes of a flight rule is also going away, due to reasoned analysis: https://www.mail-archive.com/infowarrior@g2-forward.org/msg01084.html

Rick Santorum Blame The Victims Of Clergy Sex Abuse

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 10:58:00 -0700

SANTORUM ALSO BLAMES THE VICTIMS OF CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE - Santorum Exposed: The Blog

This is an utterly disgusting rationalization.

Bush Administration May Be Responsible For Botching Effort To Thwart London Bombing

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 05:33:00 -0700

AMERICAblog: Bush admin may be responsible for botching effort to thwart London bombing

Seems as if the Bush Administration has a habit of leaking confidential information.

ABC News just reported that the British authorities say they have evidence that the London attacks last week were an operation planned by Al Qaeda for the last two years. This was an operation the Brits thought they caught and stopped in time, but they were wrong. The piece of the puzzle ABC missed is that this is an operation the Bush administration helped botch last year.

UN inspector "god told him" where the weapons in iraq were

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 10:45:00 -0700

Eschaton:
Sybil the Soothsayer

Good Grief.

So, where’s your God now? Perhaps where the WMDs are?

I wonder if he still believes that his God is omniscient?

Musings On The Horrible Bombings In The Uk

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 05:12:00 -0700

I hope we have better reason to suspect Al-Qaida than this. And can’t the press do better than push a ridiculous assertion such as this below with a weak justification by an anonymous source? Why the need for an anonymouse source anyhow? It almost seems as if the reporter was trying to squeeze in a link to Al-Qaida no matter the questionable “logic” being used to make that assertion. But, perhaps it came off this way due to too much pruning by the editor.

The Rise of the American Taliban

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 17:03:00 -0700

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

I was just talking last week about the rise of the American Taliban and how hypocritical some brands of “christian” are about who gets to have freedom of religion in this country. This article is very apropos.

Funny how the wingers try to claim American liberals are in league with crazy fundamentalist Muslims.

Reality is, we hate everything Islamic fundamentalism stands for. On the other hand, the Dobson’s of the Republican Party – you know, the people running the show – have far more in common with the enemy than they’d ever like to admit.

TSA abuse of power comes to a city near me

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:23:00 -0700

This story from my hometown of Seattle is further proof that the current airport security procedures are nothing more than window dressing and are leading to the loss of civil rights for innocent people.

When was the last time you heard about these security procedures actually catching a terrorist?

komo news | ‘This Is Not Right’

DES MOINES - Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a principal at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, and as of Sunday is also a suspected terrorist.

Suspected Steganography lead to raising the terror alert in 2003

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 11:45:00 -0700

07:00

Bogus analysis led to terror alert in Dec. 2003 - Lisa Myers & the NBC Investigative Unit - MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - Christmas 2003 became a season of terror after the federal government raised the terror alert level from yellow to orange, grimly citing credible intelligence of another assault on the United States.

Washington State Governor's Election Upheld!

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 11:39:00 -0700

The Seattle Times: Local News: Election trial dispatches

Some highlights:

Bridges: Overturning election would have meant “judicial egotism” Judge Bridges said Republicans did not meet the burden of showing “clear and convincing” proof.
“There is no evidence in this record that Ms. Gregoire received any illegal votes,” he said.
There is no evidence that the problems in King County had anything to do with “intentional misconduct or someone’s desire to manipulate the election” or “partisan bias,” the phrase Republicans used to allege wrongdoing.

Irrational Incompetence

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 09:27:00 -0800

White House has bigger credibility problem than CBS

“What happens when you base a big project on questionable information?

Well, if you work for CBS News, you get a pink slip. If you work for George W. Bush, you get a promotion or a medal.”

Makes me sick.

-J

Welcome to Jesusland

Sun, 07 Nov 2004 05:51:00 -0800

Interesting talk on The McLaughlin Group this week about the division between the “Jesusland” parts of the country (who mostly receive more Federal $$ than they pay in, BTW) and the other “non-Jesusland” states that could give rise to a revolt over the next four years, especially if fundamentalist judge appointments appear during this second term.

The Blogging of the President: 2004: Jesusland

Cspan Presidential Election Returns Map

Tue, 02 Nov 2004 09:36:00 -0800

Very cool map shows progress at-a-glance.

C-SPAN: 2004 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS

One Thing I Agree With The President On

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 13:10:00 -0800

nt-on

The Daily Show pointed out that in a recent speech on the campaign trail, the president laid out this gem about the recent missing 380 tons of explosives in Iraq:

“The investigation is important and it’s ongoing. And a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts, is not a person you want as your Commander-in-Chief.”

Indeed. At least I can agree with the president on this statement. It does not apply in this context, but there is this debacle going on in Iraq…

Be Prepared On Election Day Find Your Polling Place

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 11:49:00 -0800

A great site that will tell you where you should go vote and other information about your polling place. You can even get text message reminders on voting day.

MyPollingPlace.com

Be Prepared And Know Your Rights For Election Day 2004

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 01:45:00 -0800

The Rittenhouse Review: LET NO KERRY VOTER LEAVE LINE

some interesting thoughts about Election Day that are worth keeping in mind heading toward – and on – Tuesday.

Also, check out the similar information in the Voter bill of rights

Pathetic Gop Deception Tactics In Florida

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 00:34:00 -0800

Just pathetic. Amazing how the GOP will stoop to any level to try to re-elect W. From deception to outright lies on the campaign trail, to continued distortion. But I guess their end justifies the means? What kind of an America is it that you stand for again, Mr. President?

Joshuah Bearman: How They Do, Part III

The ruse, apparently, was supposed to target this church-going Democratic crowd by misrepresenting Kerry�s politics. It was a little surprising at first; but then again, that�s the only way Republicans can win: by misleading people.

Know Your Rights State Voter Leave Law Summary

Sat, 30 Oct 2004 07:37:00 -0700

Many states allow voters to take time off of work to vote. In Washington state, this allows up to 2 hours off in certain cases.

Time To Vote | Voter Leave Laws

My Award For Quot Best Adaptation Quot Goes To

Thu, 28 Oct 2004 12:59:00 -0700

Of course

is hilarious and knowing that this was the original makes the image all the more humorous.

Motherly Reasons For Opposing Bush

Wed, 27 Oct 2004 11:26:00 -0700

-bush

Yes, it makes me want to swear too.

“Seriously” 30-second ad

Missing Wmds An Impeachable Offense

Wed, 27 Oct 2004 05:08:00 -0700

Another one intended to be posted long ago, and even more interesting with the election a week away.

FindLaw’s Writ - Dean: Missing Weapons Of Mass Destruction

President George W. Bush has got a very serious problem. Before asking Congress for a Joint Resolution authorizing the use of American military forces in Iraq, he made a number of unequivocal statements about the reason the United States needed to pursue the most radical actions any nation can undertake - acts of war against another nation.

The high price of bad diplomacy

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:51:00 -0700

Written almost 2 years ago, very poignant today.

But what about Poland? Ugh.

BW Online | March 24, 2003 | Commentary: The High Price of Bad Diplomacy

The U.S. has already lost the prewar battle over Iraq, whatever the outcome of a further U.N. vote. Even if it wins a fig-leaf majority vote in the Security Council, America will be entering its first preemptive war faced with opposition from nearly all of its allies and much of the rest of the planet. A world that rallied to America’s side in unprecedented demonstrations of support after September 11 increasingly perceives the U.S. itself as a great danger to peace. How did things come to this? The failure of the Bush Administration to manage its diplomacy is staggering, and the price paid, even if the war ends quickly, could be higher than anyone now anticipates.

Find Your Elected Officials By Zip

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:42:00 -0700

This is a great site that will show you who your legislators are by submitting your 9 digit zip + 4.

Project Vote Smart

Quot Votergate Quot Film Premiers Today Online

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:07:00 -0700

If you have fond memories of recounts from the 2000 election–I know I do!–then you need to see this film. The 2004 election is going to be _worse_ because of the explosion of electronic voting machines that do not produce a Voter Verifiable Paper Ballot. Without a non-electronic storage mechanism for recording official vote tallies, there will be NO WAY TO HAVE A MEANINGFUL VOTE RECOUNT.

Votergate is the investigative documentary feature film uncovering the truth about new computer voting systems, which allow a few powerful corporations to record our votes in secret. But Votergate is not just a warning. The film strongly concludes that elections are harder to defraud when voters turn out in big numbers.

Danger And Absurdity Of The Tsa No Fly List

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:53:00 -0700

John Gilmore points out how to have fun with bomb scanners by using hand lotion with Glycerine, or at least points out how easily such expensive equipment can be rendered useless. If equipment has any significant number of false-positives, be sure that it, or procedures, will tune out any hope of finding a real needle in the haystack.

Also, if you notice an “S” on your boarding pass, prepare for extra scrutiny at the airport. The TSA believes, based on often erroneous matching, that you are a member of its “Selectee” list of people who need additional security measures.

Is The Price Right For Your Freedom

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 15:41:00 -0700

How do you measure a cost-benefit for the new security measures or of your liberty? It is hard to even come up with a causal link from the “increased” security measures (ask me about the absurd experience I had in LAX…) to increased safety, let alone quantifying such a benefit.

There is also a discussion at https://www.plastic.com/article.html;sid=03/03/12/06265215;cmt=42

NYTimes.com Abstract

In an unusual twist on cost-benefit analysis, an economic tool that conservatives have often used to attack environmental regulation, top advisers to President Bush want to weigh the benefits of tighter domestic security against the ‘‘costs’’ of lost privacy and freedom.

Hussein Can Hide Wmd But Not His Money

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 11:15:00 -0700

William Raspberry from the Washington post asks a great question:

“Why would Hussein, facing annihilation, take the bother to hide his chemical and biological weapons so carefully that we still haven’t found them, while leaving his millions of American dollars right where we could find them?”

If WMD are there for defense purposes, they have to be readily-available to provide a benefit to the holder. Accounts indicate thousands of tons of WMD and production capabilities should be all over the place but – nothing. However, we find his stash of cash fairly easily.

Mci To Build New Gsm Network In Iraq

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 11:08:00 -0700

MCI gets $500 million to build a new GSM network in Iraq. There are a couple of interesting aspects to this:

a. The sensible GSM network was chosen amid staunch lobbying by Qualcomm junkies to build an “American” CDMA network. Hooray!

b. MCI is not a wireless telephone company. Why are they getting to build a wireless network from scratch instead of other wireless carriers? They were actually a reseller of AT&T Wireless before their accounting scandals.

Quot Politicians Lie New Study Shows Quot-

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 11:02:00 -0700

quot-

Well, we definitely agree on the point, �Politicians need to be more honest about lying� Perhaps they should go for more of the honest and less on the lying at the same time.

Politicians lie, new study shows

IN A STUDY described in Britain�s Observer newspaper, Glen Newey, a political scientist at Britain�s University of Strathclyde, concluded that lying is an important part of politics in the modern democracy.

Another Ill Conceived Set Of Tax Refunds

Thu, 29 May 2003 14:51:00 -0700

1. Companies fraudulently overstate earnings 2. Companies pay tax on those fake earnings 3. Companies get caught, restate earnings 4. Companies want refunds of taxes paid on those earnings 5. Unbelievably, they get the refunds!

Firms Want Refunds Of Tax on Fake Profit (TechNews.com)

Quot If You Want To Win An Election Just Control The Voting Machines Quot-

Fri, 23 May 2003 11:06:00 -0700

quot-

A couple more sites working against all-electronic voting machines:

https://www.blackboxvoting.com/ https://www.ecotalk.org/VotingSecurity.htm

Also, an article discussing a situation that, if true, is truly egregious:

The senator who won the election in Nebraska allegedly “was the head of, and continues to own part interest in, the company that owns the company that installed, programmed, and largely ran the voting machines that were used by most of the citizens of Nebraska.”

The bigger issue, in my opinion, is not whether the senator had rigged his election but the fact that we are entirely unable to verify whether this occurred or not. With a voter verifiable and recountable audit trail, we could.

Acm Testimony To Congress Against Dmca'S Chilling Effect

Fri, 23 May 2003 01:19:00 -0700

USACM co-chair Barbara Simons spoke out against sections of the DMCA during recent Congressional review of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions.

ACM MemberNet

You can also read the transcript of Simons’ testimony

“During a time when our nation is devoting unprecedented resources to homeland security, we should be eliminating laws such as the DMCA that encourage insecurity,”

Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act

Fri, 23 May 2003 00:48:00 -0700

Voter Verification Newsletter – Vol 1, Number 3

“Federal Legislation Introduced!

Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey has introduced a bill requiring a voter-verifiable paper trail.

https://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=5996

The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003.

“We cannot afford nor can we permit another major assault on the integrity of the American electoral process,” said Rep. Rush Holt. “Imagine it’s Election Day 2004. You enter your local polling place and go to cast your vote on a brand new ’touch screen’ voting machine. The screen says your vote has been counted. As you exit the voting booth, however, you begin to wonder. How do I know if the machine actually recorded my vote? The fact is, you don’t.”

Logic Error In Texas Dps Record Destruction Quot Rationale Quot-

Thu, 22 May 2003 15:11:00 -0700

quot-

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall

“The DPS [Department of Public Safety] appears to have violated Texas state law by destroying the records. To justify this, they point to a federal regulation which a legal expert says is plainly inapplicable. And the very regulation they’re trying to hang their hat on seems to bar the original conduct itself.”

This whole story is unbelievable. I’m still waiting for what assistance they requested and perhaps received from the department of Homeland Security… There is a possible criminal investigation ensuing.

Taxed logic...

Thu, 22 May 2003 15:06:00 -0700

Warren Buffet writes:

Dividend Voodoo (washingtonpost.com)

Putting $1,000 in the pockets of 310,000 families with urgent needs is going to provide far more stimulus to the economy than putting the same $310 million in my pockets.

When you listen to tax-cut rhetoric, remember that giving one class of taxpayer a “break” requires – now or down the line – that an equivalent burden be imposed on other parties. In other words, if I get a break, someone else pays. Government can’t deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can, however, determine who pays for lunch. And last week the Senate handed the bill to the wrong party.

Questions Of Mass Distruction

Thu, 22 May 2003 14:41:00 -0700

“Look, if there are no WMDs in Iraq, it means either our government lied us to us in order to get us into an unnecessary war, or the government itself was disastrously misinformed by an incompetent intelligence apparatus. In either case, it’s a terribly serious situation.”

TOMPAINE.com - Questions Of Mass Destruction

E Voting Banter Between Scientists

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 10:20:00 -0800

There was voluminous and heated discussion on the cryptography mailing list about the dangers of the paper audit trail for e-voting that is being pushed by the e-voting academic experts. The instigator and perpetuator of the discussion was Ed Gerck.

His main criticism was that the paper audit trail does not address the problems of massive external vote tampering by extortion (vote this way and prove you voted this way or I’ll kill you) or vote selling (vote republican, prove it to me, and I’ll pay you $$). He is afraid that the paper audit trail will be just the thing that can be photographed as proof of your vote to enable these system.

In Happier Times

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 09:43:00 -0800

This is hilarious. It must be making its rounds on the Internet today. Thought it would bring a bit of levity to the current world situation.

[

TSA inspector rebukes passenger in a note

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 14:40:00 -0800

07:00

I hope that somebody is guarding the constitution. People seem to be lining up to shred it with war on the horizon.

The Seattle Times: Local News: Suitcase surprise: Rebuke written on inspection notice

Top Inspectors Criticize CIA Data on Iraqi Sites

Sun, 09 Mar 2003 15:13:00 -0800

[IP] Top Inspectors Criticize CIA Data on Iraqi Sites

Iraq Nuclear Program Evidence To The Un Faked

Sun, 09 Mar 2003 15:05:00 -0800

[IP] Some Evidence on Iraq Called Fake U.N. Nuclear Inspector SaysDocum

Big Brother Is All Around You

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 08:59:00 -0800

ABCNews is reporting that several police agencies are under fire for domestic spying. Those of you who think that the government can have all the power it thinks it wants without checks and balances should take heed that this certainly breeds abuses. Read this article. See the trend toward more domestic spying. Be afraid.

I hope that Seattle maintains their current ban on this practice.

ABCNEWS.com : Is Police Spying Back in Fashion?

Copa Ruled Unconstitutional-

Fri, 07 Mar 2003 08:11:00 -0800

The Washington Post has a story about the victory for free speech handed down by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday. They upheld a lower court injunction blocking the law (COPA) as being too squishy to withstand constitutional muster.

“Previously, the 3rd Circuit had ruled the law unconstitutional on grounds that it allowed the legality of Internet content to be judged by “contemporary community standards.”

Also see discussion at Slashdot | Appeals Court Rejects Child Online Protection Act, Again

Debate On Copyright Vs Innovation At Stanford

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 05:13:00 -0800

[IP] Pondering Value of Copyright vs. Innovation

“Technology scholars, business leaders and policy makers gathered at California conferences this weekend to argue whether a mismatch between two different technologies and the legal policies that govern them could inhibit free expression and innovation. "

““We have ceded too much power to copyright owners,” said Ms. Lofgren, who plans on Tuesday to reintroduce a bill that would amend the 1998 law. “People are afraid to proceed on innovative measures.””

Outlawing Encryption Under Patriot Ii

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 05:10:00 -0800

ot-ii

Among other nasty things, the US government is trying to make the use of encryption while committing a crime over a computer a new crime that would add 5 years onto your sentence, if convicted.

“If you order a book from Amazon.com and fail to pay state tax, the SSL session with Amazon supports a five year felony. [RFF - I’d also include using GSM cell phones with the built-in encryption….]”

Ari Gets Laughed Out Of Wh Briefing Room

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 00:55:00 -0800

[IP] Must Read and See: Ari Gets Laughed Out of WH Briefing Room]

Join in laughing Ari Fleischer out of the briefing room. Start at about 30 minutes into the tape when Ari is being repeatedly questioned about US diplomat quotes that some aid packages are being offered to Mexico and Columbia relating to their upcoming UN Security Council votes.

Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:33:00 -0800

Senator Robert Byrd made this excellent speech on the negative consequences of the Bush Administrations actions and policies.

Some gems:

“To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent – ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing. "

Patriot 2 Encryption An Aggravating Circumstance

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 15:23:00 -0800

Declan McCullagh asks a good question on the cryptography list:

When encryption is omnipresent in everything from wireless networks to hard drives to SSH clients, might the basic effect of such a law [Patriot 2] be to boost potential maximum prison terms by five years?

It is a terrible idea to presume that using encryption is an aggravating circumstance. “Why are you using encryption? You must have something to hide…”

E Voting In Washington Say Goodbye To Election Integrity

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 14:07:00 -0800

“The most important question to ask is this:

With respect to this year’s all-electronic voting machines, is there any meaningful evidence that the vote you cast was correctly recorded – that is, evidence that there were no misconfigured systems, accidents, internal fraud, etc.? For almost all of the existing systems (with the exception of one that actually incorporates the Mercuri Mechanism, namely, Avante), the answer is an UNEQUIVOCAL NO. This is an untenable situation if you believe in election integrity, IRRESPECTIVE of your party affiliations.”