TODAY'S TOPICS: Empire Strikes Barack, Hagel/Chafee, Scheer, Rall, Waxman, Conyers v. Rove

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”

-- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

McCain's Own Are Turning on Him...

There’s one that was my colleague in the Senate that was good on the environment, that voted with me, the only other Republican to vote against the tax cuts, and had the Gang of 14. And now there’s the senator McCain that’s running for the Republican nomination. It’s almost like two people, kow-towing to the Republican base. It’s a different John McCain, hearing the rhetoric I hear now. Make the tax cuts permanent and distancing himself from his environmental record. And being a different candidate, and talking as he is now about how we need to not engage anybody on the world. …

-- former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee (the only one to vote against the war)

And another Republican (that apparently still has remnants of his soul intact), Chuck Hagel, speaks out on McCain “at a small gathering at the residence of the Italian ambassador Tuesday, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel took serious issue with some of the things John McCain has been saying lately about “appeasement,” urging him to elevate the level of discourse in the campaign:

“We know from past campaigns that presidential candidates will say many things. But once they have the responsibility to govern the country and lead the world, that difference between what they said and what responsibilities they have to fulfill are vastly different. I’m very upset with John with some of the things he’s been saying. And I can’t get into the psychoanalysis of it. But I believe that John is smarter than some of the things he is saying.”

Hagel also warned that he would not hesitate to seek the impeachment of President Bush if he unilaterally attacked Iran.

“You’ve got the power of impeachment, now that is a very defined measure if you are willing to bring charges against the president at all. You can’t just say I disagree with him, let’s impeach him,” said Hagel. An attack on Iran without Congress’ consent, he added, “would bring with it… outstanding political consequences, including for the Republican Party.”

END

VIDEO SECTION

This is classic...the same people that made that hilarious Rocky parody of Obama versus the Hillary have done it again. This time to the Empire Strikes Back…I suspect its unnecessary to note who is the evil lord Vader…J

http://youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY

Oh man have I been waiting for Obama to jump on the McCain/lobbyist love affair issue…and now he has! This is a winner too. In case you didn’t watch the entire speech from Iowa in Wednesday's post (brilliant), check out a clip of Obama from it on the lobbyist issue:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/21/obama-slams-mccain-in-iowa-the-lobbyists-who-ruled-george-bush%e2%80%99s-washington-are-now-running-john-mccain%e2%80%99s-campaign/

Henry Waxman, is investigating the EPA’s crimes against the environment (as in their attempt to overturn California attempts to regulate emissions even though documents show EVERYONE knew that they had no right to do it)…yes, that’s how low we’ve gone. Watch him get “into a heated exchange with Administrator Stephen Johnson over his evasive non-answers to simple, straightforward questions about whether or not he had certain discussions with the White House about key environmental issues. It got so tense at one point that a frantically gavel-slamming Waxman threatened to have Rep Darrell Issa “physically removed” from the hearing if he continued to obstruct Waxman’s line of inquiry. Classic.”

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/20/henry-waxman-to-rep-issa-i-will-have-you-physically-removed-if-you-dont-stop/

Every time I hear McCain speak I just know Homer Simpson is somewhere near about to scream out “DOH!!!!”. I mean, this guy is either senile, a serial liar, totally lacking in integrity or ethics, or really, really ignorant of what’s going on in this country and the world. Most likely, he’s a little bit of all of those things…

Watch him butcher some more facts about Iran…such as one of the most obvious: Ahmadinejad is NOT THE LEADER of Iran (Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is)! He’s much more a ceremonial one. Not only do the media perpetuate the myth that he is, but McCain does so ALL THE TIME. And watch him as he continues to laugh and interrupt uncontrollably, all the while demonstrating profound ignorance. I can safely say he scares me…

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/21/mccain-gaffe-watch-gets-another-basic-iran-fact-wrong/

Ellen DeGeneres nails McCain on gay marriage…to his face…classic:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/22/ellen-degeneres-confronts-mccain-on-gay-marriage-it-just-feels-like-theres-this-old-way-of-thinking-that-we-are-not-all-the-same-we-are-all-the-same-people-all-of-us-you-are-no-different-than/

BUSH THREATENS VETO OF MILITARY SPENDING BILL BECAUSE OF…

What's sad about this is it's bad enough Democrats will go along with a bill to continue to fund the war, but then, when they at least add in some really good and important stuff that will HELP people, Bush says he'll veto it. So let's recap: spending money on killing people is okay to Bush, and in fact, critical to our survival. But, if you try and help people with a fraction of the cost, its EVEN MORE important to stop, then it is to keep killing. Wow...

the Dems added these atrocities:

-- billions of dollars in other domestic funds such as heating subsidies for the poor and money for fighting wildfires to funding for military operations overseas.

-- $15.6 billion over two years to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks and more than $50 billion over the coming decade to provide sharply increased college aid for returning Iraq war veterans.

-- Domestic programs included money for Louisiana and Mississippi for projects including levees and coastal restoration.

-- There's also $850 million for international food aid

END

Conyers Subpoenas Karl Rove

(Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued a subpoena to former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove for testimony about the politicization of the Department of Justice (DOJ), including former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman’s case. Yesterday, Rove’s attorney, Robert Luskin, sent a letter to the Committee expressing that Rove would not agree to testify voluntarily, per the Committee’s previous requests.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests,” Conyers said. “Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters.”

Separately, Chairman Conyers recently received a letter from DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) indicating that the office has opened an investigation into allegations of selective prosecution of Siegelman and others.

ARTICLE SECTION

Scheer on McCain's fear strategy...

McCain’s strategy is clearly that of distracting attention from the calamitous economy by sounding the demagogue’s alarm about enemies at the gate. This week, McCain again blasted Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on the grounds that he underestimated the threat from Iran while ignoring the vast increase in Iran’s power — an increase actually resulting from Bush eliminating Iran’s only effective enemy, Saddam Hussein. The other winners in this folly have been the oil kingdoms that Hussein periodically threatened, led by the Saudi royal family. Seizing upon the opportunity presented by the 9/11 attacks, Bush knocked off not the Saudis, who had produced Osama bin Laden and 15 of his hijacker minions, but rather the royal family’s sworn enemy in Iraq, who had absolutely nothing do with 9/11.

SNIP

At least when Bush first hyped his Iraq invasion plan, he had Paul Wolfowitz telling Congress that Iraqi oil would more than pay for it all. Not so McCain, who is so charged with imperial hubris that he is willing to commit to a 100-year lease on Iraq without expecting a penny in oil revenue in return.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/21/9106/

Ted Rall on the now accepted media "reality" that their first priority is to get in line with the needs of government...particularly when an election or a war is around the corner. Sadly, as we now know, this was even true in the case of the story broken by the NY times regarding wiretapping.

A few clips:

Should the news media be patriotic? When a journalist uncovers a government secret, which comes first–national security or the public’s right to know?

In the United States, reporters consider themselves Americans first, journalists second. That means consulting the government before going public with a state secret. “When I was at ABC,” James Bamford told Time in 2006, “we always checked with the Administration in power when we thought we had something of concern, and there was usually some way to work it out.”
In a new book about the Bush Administration’s efforts to expand the president’s powers at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches, the assumption that the press shouldn’t publish security-sensitive stories is so hard-wired that New York Times reporter Eric Lichtblau accepts it as a given. But it’s a very American concept, and one that relies on the presumption that the U.S. government may make mistakes, but is largely a force for good. In other countries, the relationship between rulers and the press is strictly adversarial.

SNIP

Remember, this was late 2004. The U.S. had invaded Iraq in March 2003, a year and a half earlier, but the WMDs had never turned up. The paper’s own editorial page had been ranting on and on about the Administration’s perfidy. Credibility? What credibility? Besides, it wasn’t as if Bush was the first First Fibber. All presidents are serial liars. So are their subordinates. Why would the Times, or anyone else, believe them about anything?

By then, of course, Bush had won a second term. To some extent, he owed his victory to the “liberal” New York Times more than to Karl Rove. The Times, Extra! Magazine reported later, had also sat on another late-breaking “October Surprise” story that might have caused enough voters to change their minds to vote for Democrat John Kerry in 2004. That suspicious rectangular bulge in Bush’s jacket during his debate with Kerry, a NASA scientist who is an expert on such things had told the Times, was indeed an electronic transmitter that allowed Bush to receive remote coaching from Rove or someone else.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/21/9094/

TODAY'S TOPICS: Obama v. Hillary, Military Budget, Media Narratives, Moyers, Saunders, Voter ID Defeated, The Speech (Obama)

Note on Kennedy: I don't need to reiterate all the praise and prayers you'll hear Ted Kennedy get over the next few days. Let me just say he has been the most effective liberal fighter in the Senate over the past 46 years. There are few aspects of our daily lives that he has not DIRECTLY helped improve. And more to his character, he accomplished all this after seeing both of his brothers gun downed for trying to create the very same kind of change in this country that he has year after year. Gunned down by forces (obviously they weren't lone gunmen) with power and influence beyond our comprehension.

To know this, yet to continue on, day after day, fighting in the halls of the Senate to improve the lives of the less fortunate, is a testament to the man. I only hope I make one millionth the difference he has while I live...and I only hope that the remaining days of his life are as pain free, and full of love as possible. He deserves that, and so much more.

My Quick Post Primary Analysis:

A couple things struck me about yesterday’s results (and watch perhaps Obama's BEST speech yet below!!!):

First, and most concerning, is the staggering number (20%) - and even admittance by – white voters in Kentucky that said they voted on the basis of race. And, 90% of those voted for Hillary. So yes, racism is very alive and well, particularly in states like West Virginia and Kentucky. And yes, Clinton’s initial (this has changed for the better now, adopting a populist message...more on that tomorrow) race baiting strategies of fear and division have worked on that particular voting block: white, racist (or even slightly prejudice), and uneducated voters.

I suppose it’s a bit worrisome too, that only about four in 10 of those working-class whites that voted for Clinton said they would vote for Obama in a matchup with John McCain (this number will go down though). Once again, Clinton’s initial slash and burn strategy has succeeded in weakening Obama for the General Election.

Second, I am always amused (and outraged) by the way the corporate media and their Forrest Gump like pundits seize a “narrative” and run with it…facts be damned. In the case of last night, they have grabbed on to the figures I have described above and taken them to an outlandishly exaggerated conclusion. Essentially they are saying that Kentucky shows that Obama can’t win white working class votes AT ALL, and this shows he is dangerously weak as the nominee.

This of course ignores the fact that Obama just one the nearly all white state of Oregon, as well as Idaho, Iowa, Utah, Wisconsin, and many others. Worse, in explaining away his big win in Oregon, I heard various “pundits” say that it was only because Oregon is some liberal elitist state of affluent whites, not regular people. Some facts on that: Oregon is a working class state, with a slightly BELOW average income level for families, and is in fact a swing state, with Democrats barely winning the past two elections.

So, let’s be really, really clear. Obama is having SOME trouble getting white, lower income, uneducated, and slightly racist voters, particularly in states in the Appalachian region. And while he won’t get a lot of those in the General, I assure you even some of THOSE voters will come back to him once Hillary gets on board, and he has 5 months to distinguish his policies from those of John W. McBush.

Finally, for those racist whites that won’t vote for him he will more than make up for with the largest turnout of black and young voters this nation has seen in decades. So, while it is disturbing to see the kinds of numbers in Kentucky and West Virginia, and its sad to see the number of voters that even admit they voted ON RACE, don’t believe for a second the ludicrous narrative the media has concocted about Obama’s inability to win white working class voters – because the fact is he already has won them, and will continue to win a decent portion of them.

I suspect Montana and South Dakota will prove this point AGAIN in the next couple weeks.

END

VIDEO SECTION

Now watch one of the best speeches you will ever see!!! Obama goes back to Iowa - where it all began - to point out he has the majority of elected delegates...and much more:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BcIRsLRBdgU

And another Special Comment by Olbermann…forced by the ignorant hordes of right wing ditto heads attacking him for something he said in his last comment…only, as usual, they got it all wrong. Classic!

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/20/special-comment-keith-asks-levin-and-ingraham-why-do-you-hate-our-troops/

FINALLY!!! John “the disgrace” McBush’s hypocrisy and lies are getting a little coverage! Granted, this is Olbermann, but it was also on the front page of the Washington Post: “A Fifth Top Aide To McCain Resigns; Finance Co-Chairman’s Lobbying Ties Are Cited.”

That’s right, Mr. Maverick not only has over 100 lobbyists running his campaign, but lobbyists that represent such global good citizens as Somalia, Burma, Saudia Arabia (just after 9/11 too), and the energy industry (and no, not the renewable kind). So if there’s a ruthless junta or authoritarian regime out there, its likely McCain’s people work for them…nice…

Oh, and Obama’s on it:

“It appears that John McCain is very much a creature of Washington and one of the things that we’ve said from the outset of this campaign is that if we’re gonna change policies, if we’re gonna deliver on universal health care or have an energy policy that over the long term can bring down gas prices that we were gonna have to change how Washington works. We can’t have special interests dictating what’s happening there and that’s why I said at the beginning I wouldn’t take PAC money and I wouldn’t take money from federal lobbyists. And it does appear that over the last several weeks John McCain keeps on having problems with his top advisers being lobbyists, in some cases for foreign governments or other big interests that are doing business in Washington that I don’t think represents the kind of change that the American people are looking for.”

Watch:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/20/mccain-lobbyist-controversy-intensifies-obama-piles-on/

I knew this would be the dirtiest campaign in our nation’s modern history, so I guess its not a shock the GOP has started running ads attacking Obama’s wife (which I have not seen in my lifetime). Barack isn’t taking their shit though…see him here:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/20/obama-to-gop-lay-off-my-wife-with-low-class-attacks/

A classic Worst Persons…a must see if you remember Oliver North’s crimes. This is the kind of hypocrisy that sends ripples throughout the cosmos…the kind that Jedi’s on the other side of the Galaxy would “sense”…the kind that Spock would tell Kirk that he felt a great disturbance…okay, you get the gist…

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/20/worst-persons-bill-kristol-rush-limbaugh-and-oliver-north/

Well this is good to see! I am so sick of the term “Pro-Israel” being defined as blind support for the murder and degradation of the Palestinian people. Here’s a newsflash: the vast majority of American and Israeli Jews SUPPORT a two state solution, and welcome talks with Hamas. Yet, forces like AIPAC, the GOP, and others have framed the dialogue on this issue for so long, and so well, it’s been so sickly warped that if you oppose the Israeli GOVERNMENT’S policies of apartheid and terrorism (just as you might say oppose the Bush Administration) and support peace for both sides then you are an Anti-Semite.

If you support anything and everything their government does to the Palestinian people (which may some day be considered genocide) then you’re “pro-Israel” (just like “Pro America”). HA! There's nothing more dangerous and destructive to the state of Israel than the current policies they are carrying out.

This video exposes these myths:

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/85777/

Check out Jews Against the War too - a group I have done some writing and press for...also trying to dispel the “Big Lie”: http://jewsagainstthewar.org/

Let us remember too…

“One who is able to protest against a wrong that is being donein his family, his city, his nation or the world and does not do sois held accountable for that wrong being done.”

–Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 54b

“In a democracy some are guilty but all are responsible. The opposite of good is not evil; the opposite of good is indifference.”

–Abraham Joshua Heschel

ARTICLE SECTION: Moyers, Saunders

Check out the article by the great Bill Moyers…straight from his new book "Moyers on Democracy.” As you may surmise, he doesn’t think our “democracy” is doing too hot.

A few clips:

Now all bets are off. We have fallen under the spell of money, faction, and fear, and the great American experience in creating a different future together has been subjugated to individual cunning in the pursuit of wealth and power -and to the claims of empire, with its ravenous demands and stuporous distractions. A sense of political impotence pervades the country - a mass resignation defined by Goodwyn as "believing the dogma of 'democracy' on a superficial public level but not believing it privately." We hold elections, knowing they are unlikely to bring the corporate state under popular control. There is considerable vigor at local levels, but it has not been translated into new vistas of social possibility or the political will to address our most intractable challenges. Hope no longer seems the operative dynamic of America, and without hope we lose the talent and drive to cooperate in the shaping of our destiny.

SNIP

As conglomerates swallow up newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and networks, and profit rather than product becomes the focus of corporate effort, news organizations--particularly in television--are folded into entertainment divisions. The "news hole" in the print media shrinks to make room for advertisements, and stories needed by informed citizens working together are pulled in favor of the latest celebrity scandals because the media moguls have decided that uncovering the inner workings of public and private power is boring and will drive viewers and readers away to greener pastures of pabulum. Good reporters and editors confront walls of resistance in trying to place serious and informative reports over which they have long labored. Media owners who should be sounding the trumpets of alarm on the battlements of democracy instead blow popular ditties through tin horns, undercutting the basis for their existence and their First Amendment rights.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051908J.shtml

Bernie Saunders writes on the exploding military budget that we can’t afford. If you want to know the simplest and quickest way we can solve this nation’s entrenched problems, like health care, education, transportation, energy, and so on, look no further than our bloated and immoral military spending. Cut that by 15-20% and we would see a virtual sea change in the quality of life of our people…but of course, that’s never been the goal of our corporate overlords or the politicians that do their bidding.

A few clips from one of my two favorite Senators (the other being Russ Feingold):

Today, Bush’s military budget is $515 billion, more than half of all discretionary spending. This is in addition to the $200 billion a year being spent on the war in Iraq, and another $16 billion spent on nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, as military spending explodes, the middle class in America is shrinking, poverty is increasing and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider. While we now spend $94 billion more on defense than three years ago, poverty and hunger are increasing, 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and an entire generation of young people wonders how to afford college.

SNIP

At a time when this country has a $9.3 trillion national debt, a declining economy, and enormous unmet needs, the time is long overdue for Congress to stop rubber-stamping White House requests for military spending and to address the Pentagon’s needs within the context of our overall national priorities.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/20/9076/

GOOD NEWS…

Kansas Gov. Sebelius Vetoes Voter ID Law

The always-impressive KS Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill that would disenfranchise untold numbers of voters by requiring them to show photo identification before casting their ballots. Expect more states to attempt to implement these draconian laws now that the Supreme Court paved the way.

The Governor’s statement:

“Additionally, no elected official should support enacting new laws discouraging or disenfranchising any American who has been legally voting for years….HB 2019 seeks to solve a problem of voter fraud which does not exist in our state due to the tireless efforts of our local election officials.”

TODAY'S POST: Arrest Rove?, Olbermann v. O'Reilly, New GI Bill, Moyers, Real McCain, E-Voting

"[T]he most important job of the federal government is to support the troops."

-- President Bush, 10/26/06

VERSUS

"No president in history has vetoed a benefits bill for those who served."

-- Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), 5/18/08, on Bush's threatened veto of the 21st Century GI Bill

This is too good: The on-air feud between MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Fox News's Bill O'Reilly "has triggered back-channel discussions" involving Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, NBC chief executive Jeff Zucker, and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt. Ailes warned that if Olbermann didn't halt attacks against Fox, "he would unleash O'Reilly against NBC." The appeals failed, and O'Reilly has escalated his criticism of GE in recent weeks.

VIDEO SECTION

FROM ROBERT GREENWALD: There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!

Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain's record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media's love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2.

Watch the video http://bravenewfilms.org/watch/27378970/39179

Bill Moyers discusses the parallels between the rhetoric ramping up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the aggressive posturing of the White House and their minions against Iran today:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/17/bill-moyers-journal-bombing-iran-everything-old-is-new-again/

One more clip from Bill Moyers…as he updates the segment offered last week on torture and detainees in the War on Terror™. Mohammed al-Qahtani–long held up as the 20th hijacker on 9/11–was released from Guantanamo without prejudice after more than six years of imprisonment and torture:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/17/bill-moyers-journal-detainee-063-update/

Just hearing talk of Rove being arrested for Contempt of Congress makes me want to pop a bottle of champagne…but until that day that he’s either imprisoned or at least forced to testify under oath, I’ll hold off. Nonetheless, Conyers and company are turning up the heat, as evidenced by the topic even being discussed in the corporate media (who still employ that war criminal!!):

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/18/verdict-frog-marching-rove/

And watch Jim Webb, author of the new GI Bill (that McCain opposes!!! Just like he supports torture now), discuss Bush’s likely veto…which would be the first veto in history by a President of a bill to give benefits to troops. Webb is also a possible VP candidate for Obama:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/18/jim-webb-no-president-in-history-has-vetoed-a-benefits-bill-for-those-who-have-served/

Though I’ve had a lot of problems with Chris Mathews at times, here he discusses his slapdown of that right wing talk show host who didn’t know what an “appeaser” really is, or what Neville chamberlain actually did. Maybe Mathews will be quicker to call out these spinners on the right, and focus more on substance and less on the horse race…we can only hope. Here he breaks it down with Rachelle Maddow:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/15/matthews-rips-right-wing-talkie-kevin-james-because-he-doesnt-know-neville-chamberlain/

I got to admit, I love it when the right wing pisses off Joe Biden…because he’s good when he’s mad…and this whole “appeaser” bullshit has lit a fire under a lot of Democrats…which is always a good thing:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/18/sen-joe-biden-the-president-had-me-negotiate-with-gaddafi-he-should-fire-gates-and-rice-as-appeasers/

NEWS CLIPS

STUDY CONCLUDES PENTAGON BENEFITED FROM U.S. MEDIA 'EMBED' PROGRAM IN IRAQ: The New York Times recently documented the Pentagon's domestic propaganda program using so-called "military analysts" in the media to garner support for the Iraq war and the Bush administration's war polices. A new study now shines light on another aspect of the Pentagon's use of the media during the war. Writing in the American Sociological Association's "Contexts" magazine, sociologist Andrew M. Lindner found that the program of embedding journalists with American troops during the invasion of Iraq "proved to be a Pentagon victory because it kept reporters focused on the horrors facing the troops, not the horrors of the civilian war experience." The end result, says Lindner, was "a communications victory for an administration that hoped to build support for the war by depicting it as a successful mission with limited cost." The report, "billed as the only sociological study to date of the substantive content of media coverage during the first six weeks of the Iraq war," is the result of a "content analysis of 742 news articles written by 156 English-language print reporters" embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq.

Good News

Federal courts have largely rejected the Bush administration's attempts to "significantly rewrite America's bedrock conservation laws, particularly the Clean Air Act." Of the "78 federal court rulings and settlements in species cases resolved since January 2001, the Bush administration won just one." Judges have also often scolded the administration for its "disregard for the law and science."

Google Earth launches a new project today, Climate Change in Our World, that will allow users "to see how climate change could affect the planet and its people over the next century, along with viewing the loss of Antarctic ice shelves over the last 50 years."

Bad News

E-Voting Machines Short Circuit Election Transparency, But the Danger is Even Worse Than You May Realize...

-- Guest Blogged by Michael Dean

The software most likely to steal elections is the BALLOT DEFINITION SOFTWARE loaded onto paper-based optical-scan and DRE (usually, touch-screen) voting machines in county elections offices across the U.S. just before the machines are sealed with security tape and transported to election polling locations.

And yet, the frightening reality is that there is little or no oversight of that software itself, nor of the people --- usually sub-contractors, who could be anyone from a non-U.S. citizen, to a criminal, to a political party operative --- who program that ballot definition software. Moreover, there is little or no testing of such software, despite the fact that it stores the ballot positions for all candidates and initiatives on every ballot, on every voting machine, and tallies the votes for all of them on election day.

Concerned yet? You should be. Read on...

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5971