Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says - New York Times

Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says - New York Times

Just last week Mr Bush told Helen Thomas that it was "wrong to assume he wanted to go to war."

Now it is clear that he was lying.

This has been the core obsession of this administration from the earliest days.

In January of 2000, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice (then a National Security Advisor) wrote in Foreign Affairs -

“"Saddam Hussein's regime is isolated, his conventional military power has been severely weakened, his people live in poverty and terror, and he has no useful place in international politics. He is therefore determined to develop WMD. Nothing will change until Saddam is gone, so the United States must mobilize whatever resources it can, including support from his opposition, to remove him."

Does this sound like the cooing of doves?

SAN FRANCISCO / Voter group sues to ban touch-screen system / It's called vulnerable to hackers seeking to change results

SAN FRANCISCO / Voter group sues to ban touch-screen system.

Is it any wonder? The Diebold voting machines change long standing electoral traditon, and may be unconstitutional, in that they leave no verifiable paper trail of the vote. In many states it is illegal to use a voting system without a verifiable recount mechanism, yet Diebold machines have been deployed and used in these states anyway.

Computer consultants have extensively documented the "hackability" of these machines. In less than 10 minutes hackers paid to test the machines by the state of Maryland broke in and were able to change votes, leaving no traces or record of the changes.

I work with and computers on a daily basis. I relentlessly back up and print out my work. I am privy to a simple truth - computers fail, and a back up record is essential when they do. Why is Diebold, a Republican owned and backed company so resistant to building in a paper trail so votes can be properly counted?

Stalin said that "The people who cast the votes don't decide the election, the people who count the votes do."

I never thought I'd be saying this, but "Right on Stalin!"

House votes to dump state food safety laws

House votes to dump state food safety laws

Have they no shame dept. -

This is a truly stunning story. You'd think that in the wake of the Abramoff scandal there would be at least an attempt to camouflage the wholesale purchase of our legislators by industry, but as usual in Washington it's back to the status quo.

How can any sane person justify the idea that food manufacturers* should not have to let their customers know when the food contains potentially dangerous ingredients. This is insanity of the highest order.

For years the FDA has been an industry shill. The Bush administration has engaged in an full frontal assault aimed at weakening protection of consumers from the interests of mega-corporations.

Clearly Congress can't be trusted to keep their hands out of the (chemically laced) cookie jar.
This country need a COMPLETE ban on corporate donations of any kind to politicians - it seems to be the only way to stop the wholesale purchase of our elected officials.
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* I've always found the term "food manufacturers" to be inordinately creepy. There was a time when food was farmed or raised, not manufactured. It always amazes me when restaurant staff say something like "we serve coca cola products." As much as I like a Coke now and then, I always cringe at the idea of eating and drinking "products."