Republicans say that Kerry is a radical leftist. However, He was the most conservative Democratic Candidate save Joe Liberman. The Conservative Right would call Joe Liberman a Radical liberal if he were the nomination. It just doesn't matter, because that was their game plan regardless of the candidate.

Read what Ryan Lizza has to say about this:

[Line]

RUBINOMICS REDUX: One of the major storylines for Democrats over the last year and a half is the emergence of a much more robust and active liberal wing of the party. The rise of powerful 527s like MoveOn, the Dean campaign's success, and the Kerry campaign's record-breaking fundraising are all evidence that Bush has activated a potent backlash on the left. Yet there's almost no evidence in Boston this week of great ideological divisions among Democrats. Ironically, Bush has both strengthened the left and united the opposition party. Even stranger, it seems, in retrospect, that Democrats (or at least the Iowans who set the path for the nomination process) chose the most conservative candidate available, save Joe Lieberman. All of Kerry's other opponents--the anti-war Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, the big spending, pro-labor Richard Gephardt, and the populist, anti-NAFTA John Edwards (to say nothing of Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun, and Al Sharpton)--ran to the left of Kerry during the primaries.

[Line]

Here's the rest if you choose to read on:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/dnc?pid=1854" title="http://www.tnr.com/blog/dnc?pid=1854" target="_blank"http://www.tnr.com/blog/dnc?p...

Taxes as Punishment

I received a comment today from a Republican supporter who claims that the wealthy shouldn’t be punished for being wealthy. I suggest that they are not being punished by being over taxed. The wealthy receive benefit for the taxes that they pay. But, considering taxes as punishment would be the downfall of the US society if the idea becomes widespread.

Taxes pay for infrastructure that benefits the entire society. They benefit us by paying for education, roads, water (as in dams), and protection (as in fire, police, military...). The wealthy actually benefit more than the poor urban person. Because of the infrastructure of the country people can ship goods across the country more quickly and reliably. The wealthy ship more things than the poor. The wealthy have money and material possessions that need to be protected from the poor who would like to steal those things.

Imagine a country where no one pays taxes. You survive based on the money you earn. First of all, you need to use some other country’s currency, because you are not paying taxes to actually have a government, a treasury or a Federal Reserve. The roads you drive on are only paved if private citizens pave roads that go across their own land. Of course there are no police or military to protect you. You continuously need to guard your property to prevent squatters from living on your land, or looters from stealing your possessions. With taxes we can pay for these vital services that make our country civilized.

In third world countries the wealthy are taken hostage and held for ransom. The wealthy need to build fortresses to protect their possessions.

The wealthy want good roads to drive their expensive cars on. The wealthy want good colleges to send their children to. Of course they can buy better education, so they don't care so much for public education.

The wealthy are not really being punished for being wealthy, they are paying for infrastructure that they use to protect themselves and benefit their companies and themselves. Because of the benefits of taxes we live in a civilized country that that has an infrastructure that makes life more livable.

Low Taxes High Taxes

How do lower taxes on the middle class and higher taxes on the wealthy improve the economy?

Lower taxes on the middle class and raising taxes on the wealthy will put money into the pockets of people who will spend it instead of save it. This money will be spent and companies will need to increase production of the goods that are bought. In turn this will create jobs in these companies. When money is spent into the economy it first goes to the stores where the items are bought. The more that is sold the more profit these companies make. Then, these stores buy more inventory from different companies around the world. If those companies are American, Americans will need to manufacture more produce. In order to meet the demand more items are manufactured and more raw materials are bought to manufacture these products. These companies all need to produce more goods. At each step along the way the owners of all these companies skim money off the top and they get their money back. They just have to work a bit harder and employ more people to do it.

Spending money into the economy is more effective than putting more money into the stock market. Putting money into the stock market raises the cost of stocks, but not really the value of the stocks. Building bigger and more efficient companies will raise the value of the companies but not necessarily the price of the stock. They money will get into the stock market eventually anyway, through 401K programs and profits made by the companies selling the goods and services.

[LINE]

Something Completely Different

Someone out in Cyberspace probably knows this, but I’ve noticed a relationship between the production of quarters at the US mint and the economy. This makes some sense, because when money is available people typically want change. When money isn’t available then people don’t need change, and those who are running low on personal funds go around hunting for change and spend it, putting it back into the economy.

One of the side benefits of the US State Quarters program is that they announce the production of each type of quarter – therefore they have data five times a year, instead of the once a year data that they had before the program began. Also, the program started in 1999, therefore there is data for more than 4 years. This shows the end of the economic bubble, and it continues up to our present day.

Here is the US Mint website:

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/50sq_pr ogram/index.cfm?action=schedule" title="http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/50sq_pr ogram/index.cfm?action=schedule" target="_blank"http://www.usmint.gov/mint_pr...


And, here's the graph.

Americans Want the Libertarians Included in the Presidential Debates

I found this piece of information quite interesting:

“A separate survey found that 68% of Americans believe that Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik should be invited to participate in the Presidential Debates this year.”

This is from the Rasmussen Reports web site: http://www.rasmussenreports.c...

I wonder what the motivation is for such a high number of Americans wishing that they include Michael Badnarik. My optimistic side wants to say that Americans welcome different view points and they tend to be inclusive. However, my pessimistic side suggests that Americans see the inclusion of Michael Badnarik in the debate would draw away votes from the opposition side. Therefore, Kerry supporters would expect Bush fence sitters to be likely to change their vote from Bush to Badnarik. Similarly Bush supporters recognize the effect of Ralph Nader in the 2000 election, and they believe that the addition of Michael Badnarik to the debate would amplify to Nader effect.

No matter what the reason, it is clear that a large number of Americans would like to see more variation in their choices for president. If you never see a person speak in front a group you are not likely to vote for them. However, it is clear that a large number of Americans want to be able to listen to more than two points of view.

Bush Has Done Nothing About Sudan for the Last Three Months

Actually Kofi Annan suggested that there may be genocide happening in Sudan back on April 7, 2004. Bush’s reaction was that there wasn’t any need for us to do anything. I commented on this on April 15, 2004. Bush continued to do nothing. It has been over three months and nothing has changed, many people have died and Bush has done nothing.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/0 7/bush.un.sudan/" title="http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/0 7/bush.un.sudan/" target="_blank"http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPO...





http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=DrForbush&" title="http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=DrForbush&" target="_blank"http://www.tblog.com/template...;static=149644&search =sudan

Thursday 04.15.04 [12:15 pm] delete entry | edit entry

If Saddam Hussein was such a bad guy because he was killing everyone, then why aren't we going into the sudan to change that government. We could use a democracy in Africa as well.

posted by: DrForbush | 5 comments (view/add) StaticLink eSend



http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=DrForbush&" title="http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=DrForbush&" target="_blank"http://www.tblog.com/template...;static=187446&search =sudan

Wednesday 05.26.04 [11:49 am] delete entry | edit entry

Bad Guys � Remove Them or NOT?

The Iraq war as currently described by the Bush administration does not fit with Conservative values. Conservatives have pride in the fact that they believe in slow steady change. However, the Bush administration now believes in the policy of getting rid of bad guys and getting out. If this is true, then where is Bush on the Sudan issue. People are being starved to death. The government is keeping food away from a group in southern Sudan in order to commit a genocidal starvation plan. It wouldn�t take much for the Bush administration to break the blockade and drop food to these starving people. Why doesn�t Bush use his bad guy removal policy to fix Sudan? The truth is that he wanted to invade Iraq in January 2001 or before and nothing was going to stop him. He did it and now he no longer cares about removing bad guys.

posted by: DrForbush | 2 comments (view/add) StaticLink eSend

Sudan

President Bush’s argument to go into Iraq because Saddam Hussein was a bad guy could hold water if he actually applied the same argument around the world. However, today in Sudan we are faced with thousands of people being killed by their own government. Does the Bush administration even say anything about this atrocity? Well, they sent Collin Powell to Sudan so he could dance around a bit, but he did not save any lives. Do they have a plan? Do they even care? Is it because Sudan lacks the natural resources that Iraq had?

There are so many questions and very few answers.

Dividing America up into two Parties

In America the political power is shared between the Democrats and the Republicans. It would be very difficult for one to suggest that any third party has nearly as much power as either of these two parties. However, individual Americans have many more than just these two views of how the country should be governed.

In European Countries the government is slightly more complicated, but it actually represents a broader spectrum of the population’s views on how the counties should be governed. This can be dangerous when extreme parties have power, but if the people still have control to change the government on a regular basis then people still retain the final say.

In the United States people need to form coalitions in the voting both. They may not agree 100% with either candidate, but they pick the one that they agree with the most for the issues that are being discussed during the election. This means that if the two parties can agree not to discuss something then they can pass laws contrary to the voter’s wishes. This is because special interests can contribute to both parties and have laws passed in their favor no matter who wins. If more parties were part of the discussion the special interests would need to spend more to have their laws passed. Or, one party could be able to bring up a subject because the party had a moral principle involved.

In the European system parties are elected in proportional representation. This means that if a party gets 10% of the vote they get 10% of the representatives. This means that a small party like the Green Party in the US could have 36 representatives in Congress if they could get 10% of the vote. Also, large parties like the Republican Party may actually be split up into two different parties, a Social Conservative Party and a Fiscal Conservative Party. These two parties may choose to form a coalition, but they would also feel free to vote differently on social or fiscal issues.

The two main benefits of a multiparty proportional representation system are:

1) People who currently don’t vote may feel represented if they were able to elect someone with their point of view. (For example an Green Party candidate) This means greater democracy for our country.
2) Parties can form coalitions for specific issues as they come up for discussion, and they can form new coalitions for new issues. Therefore, the views of the American people are actually better represented. And, this also means greater democracy for our country.

However, can multiparty politics ever come into reality? Maybe. San Francisco will be the first city in the country to enable third parties by having instant runoff elections. This means that third parties have a greater chance to acquire votes. This is because people can rank their first, second and third choices. Because of this people can choose a Libertarian Party candidate first and a Democratic candidate second without any fear of electing a Republican by accident. Because if their candidate doesn’t get 50% of the vote and no other candidate gets 50% of the vote then the lowest candidates first choice goes to the second choice and so on until one candidates gets 50% of the vote.

It still isn’t proportional representation, but it is going in the right direction.

What’s the Matter with Kansas?

I was listening to Tomas Frank being interviewed today. Thomas Frank is an author that has a book out called: “What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America”

He is a quite interesting thinker and describes how the Republicans changed the debate in the Midwest in order to gain control of the country. After all, how could the evolution debate come back to life after 100 years in Kansas?

He makes the point that the old populist argument between the Democrats and the Republicans was a class warfare issue. It was a war between the rich and the poor. However, the new Republican strategy is still class warfare but it has become a conflict between the intellectuals and the common man. Their ideas hinge on the argument that intellectuals are somehow controlling the culture industry. Of course, the truth is that the culture industry is completely controlled by economics. People buy the DVDs, Games, CDs, and Movie Tickets. As Republicans would say, let the market dictate what we get! However, the hypnotized working class Republicans can’t see this.

It’s just another insight into the strange way that the people on the right have been convinced to think.

Bush the Untier

Apparently during the 2000 election when George W Bush told the electorate that he was a uniter he really meant that he was and untier i.e. a person that separates two strings from each other. In Bushes case he separated two half of the US from each other. When we look back on 9/11 one thing that everyone agrees on is that the event united everyone in a moment of grief and the promise of a common future goal of overcoming it. There was patriotism and 90% of Americans were united in a common belief that America would triumph. In three short years George the Untier has been able to bring the two polls of American culture further apart than they had been since the 1960s Cultural Revolution. The 1960s separated the generations. George W. Bush has done more than that, he has separated those who want to improve the life of everyone from those who want to improve the life of the Christian Fundamentalists and Wealthy Corporation owners. George W. Bush wants to impose religious laws on everyone. He wants to remove environmental laws from Corporations. He wants to deny scientific conclusions in favor of religious mythology. Logic and reason are put at the wayside in favor of faith in mythology. George w Bush separates those who think from those who accept mythology on faith. What’s worse is that it is a mythology that deny the destruction of our very environment. Unfortunately with the poor state of the US education system half of the US population doesn’t find it important enough to cast a vote. And, half of those who do cast a vote don’t find it important to actually think about the selections that they are voting for.

Lack of Imagination

I don’t know any more about the 9/11-commission report than what I have heard on the radio. Since it is quite a long report I assume the radio reports are only a small piece of the entire report, but the important parts will most likely dribble out over the next few days.

Of course, the panel vehemently stresses that Bush, Clinton, and the congress are equally responsible for the lack of defense against al Qaeda. They claim that a “lack of imagination” is the main problem responsible for 9/11.

Then, you look at Clinton and Bush and it is clear that George W. Bush is the poster child for “lack of imagination.” And you look at congress and you see the Republican Party is the Poster Party for “Lack of Imagination.” Hopefully the American People will see that the Democratic Party is the Progressive Party. And, of course progressives use imagination to come up with new and imaginative ideas.

Actually I doubt it, because the American people are not educated enough to be able to draw that conclusion. It’s to bad, but it’s true.

What To Do About Education

The current state of the public education system in the US is very patchwork and confusing.

I am not sure exactly how the New Jersey public education system works, and it seems unfair the way you describe it.

The ideal system in my view is to offer the same education to every student in the country. This can not be done exactly in reality, as you point out. This is because there are several inequalities that are introduced by virtue of the students parent income levels.

Suppose all students had exactly an equal amount of cash spent on them. The system would still be unequal because some parent value education to a higher degree than other parents. This means that schools with a higher proportion of parents that value education will volunteer more at the school, or make personal contributions to the school to increase the ability of the school to provide for the students. Schools with a majority of wealthy parents will find it easier to acquire books, paper, pencils, computers, lighting, special science equipment etc... In fact, I have personally run a science fair workshop at our school several years in a row now and I can proudly say that people that attended these workshops did very well at the county wide science fair.

So, the question becomes: How do we fix this inequality?

a) by funding students to enable them to attend private schools

b) by giving additional money to schools that lack the resources

c) by distributing students from all economic backgrounds through out the school system

Here's an e-mail I Got From Barbara Boxer

========================= ========================= =

Dear Friend:

Few Californians today doubt that our state was victimized by artificial electricity shortages, market manipulation and consumer ripoffs during the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001. If anyone had doubts, the recently released tape recorded conversations between employees should have provided sufficient evidence, not just of illegalities, but of malice and intent to harm Californians, including our most vulnerable elderly residents.

I have long called for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, to take decisive action against those who manipulated California markets, including Enron. FERC’s mandate is to assure “just and reasonable” rates. It is clearly intended to be the last line of protection against such wrongdoing, and I have continued to push for it to act to make sure that California consumers receive refunds they rightfully deserve. I am sorry to say that FERC has virtually turned a blind eye to this scandal.

After the last round of tape recordings were released, I wrote to President George W. Bush to ask that he take action to stand with California consumers. In part, my letter asked that he “instruct FERC to agree that California should receive the entire $8.9 billion in refunds that the Attorney General is asking for and to settle the court suit on that matter immediately. I also ask that you instruct FERC to settle the California Public Utilities Commission lawsuit demanding renegotiation of long-term contracts.” I also asked that President Bush seek the resignation of any Commissioner who does not agree to these steps to provide justice for Californians.

Clearly, Californians were cheated during the energy “crisis.” Clearly, the contracts that were signed during the duress of this time should be renegotiated, and the money that was stolen should be refunded. That is my goal, and I continue to work to see it realized. If you have any questions or comments about this or any other matter, I encourage you to contact me at http://boxer.senate.gov/conta...

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

=

FCC Local Media Hearings

Last nigh the FCC held a public discourse in the San Francisco Bay area. The discussion was broadcast live over the radio on several stations, and was being re-broadcast this morning by at least of the radio stations. The topic of discussion was the loss of local broadcasting because of the consolidation of national radio and TV networks stations.

The people in attendance were there for many different reasons and they made public comments well into the night.

There were panels of people involved in the media who made presentations and discussed changes that have already happened in the climate of consolidation. To give you an idea of the types of things that were being discussed I’ll use some examples of some of the highlights:

1) One person was concerned with obscenity being forced on local stations. He said that local stations no longer had the option to stop broadcasting at a radio station, because there weren’t any qualified DJs to substitute when something objectionable is being broadcast.

2) Another person was concerned with emergency response. There was no way to contact people broadcasting from 1000 miles away when emergency situations like flooding and weather situations occurred. Apparently a town in North Dakota could not be directed when a train carrying dangerous chemicals crashed and the only radio station was being controlled from Atlanta, Georgia.

3) Many fans of local musical acts complained that the local bands in the area were not being broadcast.

4) People also complained of political censorship during the build up to the Iraq war. Radio stations in the area were not covering protests in San Francisco.

5) The Dixie Chicks music was withheld from Clear Channel Country Stations. This amounts to a type of punishment by a few individuals at the head of a huge corporation.

6) The loudest cheers came from people in the audience complaining about the lack of coverage of political debate. This is local and national political debate. The argument is that local stations have a more vested interest in the responsibility to the local area. Nationally run corporations only care about the bottom line.

It was a very interesting discussion, and people were very excited about getting their views heard. At one point the chair of the meeting tried to take a 5-minute break, but the audience jeered her and encouraged her to continue without the break. Of course they understood that every break would cut into their speaking time.

Problems with Public education

The public education system is terrible. However, everyone wants his or her taxes cut, so it isn't going to get any better. People can opt out of the system and put their kids in private schools, but people who can't afford it are stuck with the system provided to them.

I believe the parents should be allowed to choose the public school they want to send their kids to. This action by the parents will emphasize making the schools better. In the short run better schools will be over run by parents wanting a better education for their kids. The poorer schools will have fewer students to deal with and they will be able to improve over time. As they get better more students will go back to these schools and things will even out. Schools should be allotted a certain amount of money based on the number of students attending school. The staff salary should be based on the number of students attracted to the school and the number of students that can be housed at the school. The number of students in each class room should be flexible, so that good schools can accept more students, but poorer school can have smaller class size. Economics will get all the schools on the same page in a few years.

In addition, school should be considered a privilege. If rowdy students act up should be dismissed from the school. Parents who care will correct the problem and they can be re-admitted. Parents who don't care will have misfit kids that end up in jail. But that happens anyway. This way these kids don't stop the other students from being productive.

John Kerry seems to be picking up states left and right. Hopefully he can hold on to them until November. Here's the link to this new poll:

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/30752 .php" title="http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/30752 .php" target="_blank"http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/h...

I saw Bill Maher on Jay Leno last night. Jay asked him a very intyeresting question:

"If Bush is doing so poorly why isn't John Kerry way out in front instead of the neck and neck race the polls show?"

Bill Maher answered, "Its because Kerry ripped a page out of the Al Gore playbook. Bush is such an idiot that Kerry believes that he doesn't have to do anything and people will vote for him. Unfortunately we saw how that worked out for Al Gore."

O'Reilly keeps going on about the ratings of Al Franken's Air America. He even brought it up this morning. So, it kind of funny when he gets beat in any market at all. Obviously, Franken has quite a way to go, but he is making some gains. Maybe signs of life like this will help encourage other stations to carry his show. In retrospect it is quite funny to recall O'Reilly saying that a comedian doesn't have what it takes to be a talk show host. Or was that Michael Savage?

Also, Michael Savage wasn't broadcast today on his Santa Cruz radio station. I wonder what's going on there?

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&s toryID=5724047" title="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&s toryID=5724047" target="_blank"http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...

The Peace President

Read this Reuters news article which reports on George W Bush’s latest speech. It is insincere at best and out right lie to say the least.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml" title="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml" target="_blank"http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...;jsessionid=J1L2IZRCGP4TO CRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&s toryID=5722238

George W. Bush says that he wants to be the “peace’ president. Since when? I say actions speak louder than words! I can agree that the attack on Afghanistan was in response to the al Qeada attack on 9/11. However, the far costlier conflict in Iraq was not needed. Saddam was not working with al Qeada, the al Qeada philosophy was religious while the Iraqi government was secular. The Europeans refused to go along with us because we did not have enough proof of WMD to convince them that we needed to attack. Not only that, but George W Bush attacked sooner rather than later. UN inspectors were admitted back into Iraq and the Bush administration refused to allow them to continue their inspections. All the reports that have come out show that we did not have our national interests at stake, and therefore the conflict was not necessary.

Republicans and the Environment

Who says that Republicans don’t care about the environment? Many hunters are Republicans because they want to preserve the right to hunt with their AK-47 or M-16. :-) But, they also want to preserve the forest that they are hunting in so they can bag the really big game. :-)

Unfortunately President Bush doesn’t see it this way. He doesn’t care about the environment and a former EPA second in command, Russell Train, says President Bush has a very poor record on the environment. Well, there are quite a few Democratic EPA executives that have already said this, but Russell Train is a Republican. He served under both the Nixon and the Ford administrations.

People should realize that standing up for what you believe in the Republican Party is much more difficult than doing the same thing in the Democratic Party. This is because of a basic difference in philosophy between the two Parties. Republicans believe that you should support the leader no matter what you believe personally, because it’s not about you. It’s about the common good of the Party. Democrats on the other hand have a reputation for being disorganized because they have a collection of common views as well as a number of different perspectives. So, when Republicans say what Russell Train said people should sit up and take notice.

This is what he said: "It’s almost as if the motto of the administration in power today in Washington is not environmental protection, but polluter protection," he said. "I find this deeply disturbing." He went on to say that he was voting for John Kerry in November.


http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040720/to pstories/101137.shtml" title="http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040720/to pstories/101137.shtml" target="_blank"http://www.theolympian.com/ho...

I Hate Viruses

On Saturday our home computer contracted a virus. I don’t know what it was and I didn’t need to. Fortunately I have a product that fixed the computer in a few minutes. The product is called GoBack. This product enabled me to go back to a time when the computer was working. Basically it just restored every file to the pre-virus state. I installed this product initially after the installation of some new digital camera software. It turned out that the digital camera drivers over wrote the scanner drivers that were already installed on the computer. It was a nightmare trying to figure out why the scanner wouldn’t work anymore. So, when I saw GoBack I thought it would be a good safety measure. In the last six months I didn’t need to use it, but today it paid off.

Hopefully the computer is back to normal.

Linda Linda Linda

Linda Ronstadt made a dedication to Michael Moore at a Las Vegas show this weekend. It turned out that a few people at the Aladdin Hotel complained to the owner, and Linda in no longer employed at the Aladdin. Apparently free speech is no longer allowed in America. Since corporations control almost everything you can do, corporations now control your speech.

In the 1960s concerts were one of the main venues for getting your opinions out into the public forum. Today we have the Internet, but it isn’t the same as 20,000 people listening to your concert. Those who support the Bush administration realize this, and they are there to control whatever aspects they can so people will be exposed to more Bush rhetoric than the opposition rhetoric. The majority of Americans don’t think for themselves. Instead, they decide to form an opinion based on what they hear more often. This is why both Kerry and Bush are buying so many ads. If the volume of ads could not influence the American voter, then neither political party would care about advertising. So, the proof of how easily people are swayed is in the number of dollars each party is willing to spend.

So, when big name celebrities like Linda Ronstadt choose to voice their opinion in a public forum, it effects the people in the audience. When the owner restricts her from voicing it he is restricting her free speech – and that is anti-American. If people don’t like her opinion they can get up and leave. I believe they already knew her opinion from the 1960s, so they shouldn’t have been surprised in the first place. If you want to hear right wing rhetoric go to a country music concert. (As long as it’s not the Dixie Chicks.)

Some History

Some people have been asking me about an earlier blog I posted related to a secret video tape that the Bush administration doesn’t want released.

Well, to tell you this story I have to go back about 18 years. I was a graduate student at Texas A&M University. My advisor thought it would be a good idea to go to the annual APS conference held in Washington DC. While I was there I thought that I should try to figure out how to voice my opinion to my Senators and representatives. I had never done it before, but I thought that it couldn’t hurt to walk around the Senate office building and at least see how things worked. I grabbed one of my friends in the High Energy Physics community and we decided that we would lobby for the Superconducting Supercollider. This was a huge project to be built in Texas. I’m not sure if the site had been decided at the time, but we were pushing for a particular Texas site.

I knew some people from Fermilab in Chicago and I was originally from Ohio. So, we thought that we should hit the Illinois, Ohio and Texas Senators offices. That would be six different offices, and maybe we would try a few more once we found out how things worked.

While we were navigating the office building I suddenly heard someone call out my name. At first I thought I was hearing things, then I thought that someone I knew was on vacation or something. But, it turned out that my roommate from undergrad school’s girlfriend was working in the senate office building for Senator Bob Packwood. Well, I didn’t know how someone from Ohio could work for a senator from Oregon, but she told me that Bob Packwood had a hard time hiring people from his own state because no one wanted to more to Washington DC.

So, to make a long interesting story short and to the point we ended up going out that evening to see some of the Washington nightlife. She brought a couple of friends along and we exchanged e-mail addresses. We don’t communicate that often, but when they hear something interesting they send me an e-mail.

And that’s how I found out about this videotape. I know, the source isn’t great, so you can believe me if you want – but I trust that its pretty good information.

Current Electoral Votes: Bush 211 Kerry 327

This is a very comprehensive web site that tracks the various states polls and updates the total electoral vote counts every Monday. This survey takes into account multiple polls instead of just one, although the averaging of polls with different errors may be questionable.

http://www.electionprojection.com/elections2004.html" title="http://www.electionprojection.com/elections2004.html" target="_blank"http://www.electionprojection...

I think the main point here isn’t that John Kerry is leading Bush, but instead it illustrates the sensitivity of one single event. Before John Edwards was selected as John Kerry’s running mate Bush and Kerry were neck and neck with about the same distribution of electoral votes as the 2000 election.

Mystery Videotape

The Bush administration is apparently trying to keep a videotape under raps that shows the president orchestrating political attack plans. Someone apparently shot the video with a home movie camera while they were testing it out. The administration claims that the president was just acting in front of the camera. The news media is afraid to touch the film because they don’t have proof of the authenticity of the videotape. The videotape apparently shows the president in an Enronesque moment where the president is telling his advisors to find some more dirt on Kerry and Edwards. Of course he doesn’t use that language exactly. Most people realize that President Bush has a public face and a private face. The administration is worried that this tape shows a little too much of the president’s private face. President Bush has spent time and energy creating his public character of being a dolt and not understanding the details of the operation. This tape reveals the true Bush persona being a bit more calculating and ruthless than the public is used to. Karl Rove has said that if this tape surfaces the campaign is lost, because the president’s whole public character would be challenged from both the left and the right. President Bush would loose whatever thread of credibility he had.

Stage One

Lord Butler’s report on the British run-up to the war has shed light on the truth behind this action. We may not know everything now, but we will as time goes on. Read this interesting take on the report:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0" title="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0" target="_blank"http://politics.guardian.co.u...,12956,1263944,00.html

Battleground States Give Kerry the Edge

Nearly all the battleground states are giving Kerry the edge in the current polls (July 12) by the Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/docu ments/info-battleground04 -0712print.html" title="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/docu ments/info-battleground04 -0712print.html" target="_blank"http://online.wsj.com/public/...

The New Liberal Bush

Suddenly, and I mean suddenly, George W Bush has become way to liberal. And, how do I know this? I know this because I have been told this by conservative talk radio.

Yesterday I took my tour through the conservative talk show circuit and I found out that George W. Bush is way to liberal. I heard this on five different conservative talk shows. Rush Limbaugh was the first to tell me how George W Bush didn’t come down hard enough on George Tenent at the CIA. This is because he is too wimpy. If only we had the choice of a conservative running for president we were told, because a conservative would have their heads. Then I went over to O’Reilly where I was told that George W. Bush was hated by the left because of his social issues policy. If only liberals would look at the whole package they would see that he is liberal on everything else. I then listened to two local conservative talk show hosts tell me the same thing. Finally, on the way home in the evening I was told by Michael Savage that there was no one to vote for. He couldn’t vote for Kerry, because his wife is a loon and he couldn’t vote for George W. Bush because he couldn’t get the Republicans to pass the Defense of Marriage Amendment.

So, we are now being told that we need to make the choice for president between a liberal and another liberal. I assume the goal here is to win back the people who are no longer supporting Bush by saying he isn’t really what we would like, but he’s all we have. It is quite noticeable that the conservatives are allowing more dissenters to call in. In this way they are allowing the audience to identify with the caller’s frustration with the president. However, the conservative talk show host always uses the caller, as an example to the audience showing them how the conservative way is superior to any of these crazy ideas like having the UN working with us in Iraq or other such non-sense.

I hate when the stock market goes down and you lose $15,000 and when it goes up and you get it back you feel relieved.

Then I hate when you make $15,000 you feel excited and when it goes back down you feel upset.

In both cases you are back to the same point, but one is much worse than the other emotionally...

Making the Grades

Finally, I have an issue that I will differ with at least some Liberals on. This is because this issue doesn’t have anything to do with the presidential election.

In general grades for high school and college classes have been going up. You may think that this is a good thing, but it is like the economy when we have inflation the value of money goes down. So, when we have grade inflation the value of those grades goes down. Unfortunately how much you learn can not be tied directly to the grade you deserve for a class. If a professor gives the same exact tests year after years, then more and more students will have access to the tests from their brothers and sisters in fraternities or sororities or families. So, the same test will no longer measure the same understanding of the material.

Also, professors know which concepts are easy and which concepts are more difficult. Therefore they can design a test with a given mean for the students in any given class. As a physics professor I am able to design a test that mean score is 80% or 50%. When I design a test with a mean of 50% there will always be a student that gets 90% and there will always be a student that gets 20%. This is a good measure of how well a student understands the material.

When I taught physics in the University of California (UC) System I was told that 80% of my students should receive a grade of a B or better. This was the department policy. So, no matter how well or how poorly the students understood the material the students grade distribution would always be the same. This was a different grade distribution than what I had known before, but the argument was that in the UC system the top 12.5% of California students were admitted to the system. This means that these students expect higher grades and we should give them what they expect.

When one school raises the grading scale other schools around the country do the same, because grade point averages are what medical, law and graduate schools use to admit students. Your students may be passed over because another school has a higher average grade point ratio.

Well, this idea caught on in High Schools as well. At first private High Schools wanted to assure their graduate’s placement into the best colleges. Then Public Schools wanted parity with the elite schools. And soon there is grade inflation to such a degree that 20% of the students in the UC system qualify for the 12.5% slots. So, the UC system used various methods to control which students are admitted, but last week they finally said that the grade point ratio required for admission to the UC system needed to be raised from 2.8 to 3.1. This means that the value of a 2.8 grade point ratio has been readjusted to not being good enough for admission to the UC system. And, I say this is a good thing.

The UC system only has so much money to spend on so many students. One option is to raise taxes to pay for more students to be admitted, but this would lead to weaker students being admitted. They would perhaps require remedial services that are not provided by the UC system. They could require extracurricular activities for admission, but that would effect minority students who usually can’t afford 12 hours of dance a week, and the weight training. It would also limit shy students who don’t go in for student government. And it would limit students that are doing all they can just to make the grades alone.

But my surprise in all this was when minority groups started saying that raising the grade point average was limiting minority students from being admitted to the UC system. Does this mean that minorities are racist? They believe that because of their race they are incapable of learning and doing well in school? What does your ethnicity have to do with how well you are capable of performing in school?

If anyone knows please let me know?

What can Kerry and Edwards do about Bush?

Well, I don't ussually like to cut'n'paste, but here's one worth taking a look at. It is posted by a Bush supporter who has been one until now. I don't know if he is changing his mind, but he is telling us what would be a strong argument for him to change his mind if Kerry and Edwards were to make it:

------------------------- ---------------------

So what argument can effectively be made against Bush?

If I were advising Kerry & Edwards this is what I'd say: Bush is most vulnerable to a charge of negligent leadership, not for deciding to invade Iraq or for managing the occupation since, but for failing to take swift and aggressive measures to hold people accountable for the fact our intelligence on Iraq was faulty.

If what is in Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack is true, I'd make the exchange between President Bush and George Tenet on Iraq's WMD's the centerpiece of the campaign:

"George, how confident are you?" the president asked Tenet.

"Don't worry, it's a slam-dunk," Tenet said.

The fact that George Bush chose not to fire Tenet, instead letting him stay on as DCI for more than two more years and then praising him in June of this year as having "done a superb job on behalf of the American people" is, to my mind, a rather devastating argument.

I don't care how nice of a guy Tenet is and I don't care how much the President liked him or valued his loyalty. Given what the public has learned about the quality of the intelligence information coming out of the CIA it's almost indefensible to have left Tenet in charge.

It's patently obvious that Bush isn't responsible for the CIA producing information that turned out to be sketchy in some cases and bogus in others. What he is responsible for, however, is kicking ass, taking names, and making sure it doesn't happen again. Americans understand that that's how it works. Even more importantly, it's what they want and what they expect in a leader.

Financial guru Jim Cramer made a similar point earlier this week explaining why he has decided to vote for Kerry over Bush:

He [Bush] had terrible intelligence and bad homework, stuff I fire people for regularly and always have.

The fact that not a single person has lost their job in the aftermath of both the worst terrorist attack and the worst intelligence failure in our country's history is where John Kerry and John Edwards could really hurt Bush. And they could do it by sounding like they wanted to be tougher and more competent in protecting the country from future attacks.

So that's what I would do if I were advising the Kerry campaign. I'd have signs made up that said "Slam-Dunk Bush in '04" and I'd have John Edwards saying at every possible opportunity that Bush is lucky Edwards wasn't still a practicing attorney because he'd take him to court and sue him for negligence for not firing Tenet - and he'd win.

I don't know if this strategy would lead to a Kerry victory or not, but it would certainly ring a lot more true with those in the middle and it would probably be a lot easier and more productive than what Kerry and Edwards are currently doing: trying to convince voters that night is day and black is white.

------------------------- ------------------------- -----------

The whole post can be found at:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/commentary.html" title="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/commentary.html" target="_blank"http://www.realclearpolitics....

Fox News Polls

I recently found an interesting web site that posts compilations of poll from different news sources. Here you can compare polls taken in different states by different groups and come to conclusions about how the election may turn out.

Well, like all news organizations Fox took a poll of the four most contentious battleground states: Ohio, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Why they didn’t poll all of the battleground states and present their data is a mystery, but it could have been resource limitations, or it could be that they took the polls and they didn’t like the results so they didn’t publish them. Either way, there is a 10 percentage point diference in the results of the Fox poll compared to the other polls. This is very odd, and may lead one to believe that Fox may actually not only be biased toward George W Bush, but also trying to stack the deck in his favor. Hoping that telling the people that he is leading in the polls would make his supporters want to support a winner and turn out at the polls.

But, don’t take my word for it, look at the polls yourself:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/bush_vs_kerry_sbys.html" title="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/bush_vs_kerry_sbys.html" target="_blank"http://www.realclearpolitics....

Florida Election Issues

Last night during Jay Leno’s monologue he made a joke about Florida allowing felons to vote. The sad thing about this is that ex-cons are allowed to vote in most states after they have served their time and parole. Jay Leno is giving the impression that criminals will be voting from their prison cell, which would be completely incorrect. I don’t know who this misinformation favors, but either way it is misinformation that gives the public the wrong idea about the Florida elections.

More Republican Censorship

The effort to silence any dissent from the opposition continues on. Whoppi Goldberg spoke her mind at a Democratic fundraiser and she lost one of her gigs. This is as un-American as you can get, and it send shivers down the spines of anyone else who may be speaking at a public event. How many people will hold their tongue now rather than speak their mind because of this action? The Republicans will claim that she was able to speak her mind, and that the Slim Fast company had every right to fire who ever they want, but isn’t economic sanctions what the US government uses on nations that it dislikes? Don’t we place economic sanctions on Cuba because some of the rich landowners lost their property in the Cuban Revolution? So, when Republicans organize a letter writing campaign to Slim Fast to get rid of a spokesperson isn't that a form of economic sanctions? These Republicans are stooping to the lowest forms of control they can muster in order to stave off what would be a landslide vote against them if they would play by the rules.

Secret Effort to Destroy the Alaskan Wilderness

The Bush administration continues to act against the environment. This time they are trying to open up the Western Arctic Reserve of Alaska to oil drilling. Over the next thirty days there is a very little know public comment period. The Bush administration has tried to keep this activity as quiet as possible in the hopes that no one will find out about it. The cover story is that there is an oil crisis and we need more oil. So, what are they going to do when it’s all gone in 20 years? Or, is twenty years after Christ comes back in the Apocalypse? What are these guys thinking?

Is this what they meant what they told us they had a secret government in place?


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/08/opinion/08 BABB.html?ex=1089950400&en=796 ae660f4379f1f&ei=5062&par tner=GOOGLE" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/08/opinion/08 BABB.html?ex=1089950400&en=796 ae660f4379f1f&ei=5062&par tner=GOOGLE" target="_blank"http://www.nytimes.com/2004/0...

Here's a place to go to voice your outrage:

http://www.savebiogems.org/westernarctic/takeact ion.asp?RR0407" title="http://www.savebiogems.org/westernarctic/takeact ion.asp?RR0407" target="_blank"http://www.savebiogems.org/we...

Jack Idema in Prison

Jack Idema is a real life action hero. He has little regard for modern law and that’s why he is living in Afghanistan looking for bounty. He is one of American bounty hunters looking for Osama bin Laden. The Afghani authorities discovered him with three Afghanis hung by their feet from the ceiling. He and two of his buddies were torturing these men in the hopes of discovering the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. Although he was former military, the US military is distancing themselves from him today. This is especially true in the light of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. When will Americans who think that they are fighting for American liberty stop and think about what they are doing? Taking liberty away from people like these innocent Afghanis is no way to show the middle East what American values are.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=539995" title="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=539995" target="_blank"http://news.independent.co.uk...

Some Senators Have a Backbone

Republicans in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Colorado, and Arizona should be proud of their Senators that have the guts to stand up against the divisive Bush administration. Finally, some of the Republican Senators are standing up with John McCain to oppose the fundamentalist Christians who have taken the Republican Party away from the American people.

In a 48 to 50 vote the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage went down to defeat. Republicans who voted to block the amendment were Susan M. Collins (Maine), Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), John E. Sununu (N.H.), Lincoln D. Chafee (R-I.), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.) and John McCain (Ariz.). Be proud of these brave American Senators, because the Bush administration will attempt to take revenge on them somehow.

DOMA is DOA

The Defense of Marriage Amendment is Dead on Arrival

Why would a party that claims to be for states rights be so anxious to vote to take them away? Because its an election year and they value being in power higher than their ideology. Republicans need the religious right to vote in a unified way for them to have any hope of retaining a majority in congress and the presidency. So, the Senate wanted to get the Democrats on record voting for Gay Rights.

Republicans intended to use the DOMA bill as a wedge issue. This is an issue that Republicans can go around mocking people that might support a Senator by saying, “Your going to vote for that idiot, he wants homos to marry each other.” By the use of peer pressure people will be forced to agree with their homophobic peers and vote for a Republican who wants to restrict the civil rights of homosexuals.

Passing such an amendment to the constitution couldn’t be more un-American. The American philosophy is to keep religion and government separate. The issue of whether gays should be allowed to marry each other is clearly a religious issue. If you are a fundamentalist Christian or Muslim you may agree that people of the same sex should not marry each other. And, you have the right to require that same-sex members of your religion don’t marry each other. However, some religions have already agreed on religious unions of same-sex partners, and you should not be able to prevent these people from this union. The government has no right to use one religious ideology to determine whether a union is valid or not. That’s what separation of church and state means. The federal government should have a minimal number of laws restricting our freedoms. Additional laws should be added in layers from the states, then the municipalities and finally additional restrictions by churches on their own congregations. Placing a global federal law on people takes away state’s right, a principle the Republicans have a long history of supporting.

This is another example of how the Bush administration has allowed the Christian Fundamentalists to take over the Republican Party and co-opt it for their own benefit. These Christian Fundamentalists are able to influence Republican lawmakers to impose fundamentalist religious laws on non-religious and non-fundamentalist Americans. This is just another reason why we should kick this guy out of office, and kick the Fundamentalist Republicans out of office as well.

Arkansas: Kerry 46% Bush 45%

Arkansas is the first southern state to go for Kerry this year. Excluding Florida which may or may not be considered a southern state. Maybe some more will follow. I wonder if the selection of John Edwards as VP had anything to do with this.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Arkansas" title="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Arkansas" target="_blank"http://www.rasmussenreports.c...%20July%2012.htm

Why Preemptive Attacks Are a Bad Thing

You may be sitting at home watching the news and cheering for the US victory over Iraq. However, you may not realize that this was a very dangerous action on the part of the US. This is because the US preemptively attacked another country and this sets a precedent. You may be thinking, “Hey this is great, we got rid of a bad bad man. And, right now that’s a good thing. But, this also gave the green light to countries who may choose to preemptively attack another country.

I think that won’t happen any time soon. You may think that it will never happen. But the Nazis happened. The Soviets happened. So, you never know what will happen in the future. And, it isn't what I think or even what you think that matters. It is what the people who choose to attack us think.

If China wanted to preemptively attack us based on our possession of WMDs they could justify it. They couldn’t last year, because we had an international law against such things. This year things are different. You could say that they wouldn't attack us, because we are the only superpower, and you would be right. However, you need to consider 30 years down the road when China becomes the new superpower, or the co-superpower. History isn't stagnant. In thirty years China may view us as a threat, especially if we have a string of right wing Fundamentalists presidents in the White House. Heck, even Europe will see us as a threat.

Rush Limbaugh Faux Pas or Pox

Today, Rush told his audience that Iran was harboring al Qaeda operatives. As it turns out, this makes perfect sense because Iran is an Islamic Fundamentalist state. This is unlike Iraq, which was a secular Dictatorial State. So, it would have made more sense last year for Bush to attack Iran as an accomplice of al Qaeda. He may have been able to win UN support, because this actually makes some sense.

Now, Rush tells his audience that they have proof that Iran was harboring al Qaeda. Then he says that this is like Iraq. Are the liberals going to say that there aren’t any al Qaeda there either like they did in Iraq. He is trying to say that the decision to go to war in Iraq is just as justified as the current situation with Iran harboring a terrorist.

This may sound complicated, but the two countries may have similar sounding names, but the two countries are not the same. A dictator ran one and one is run by a fundamentalist religious government like the US. This is a very important distinction that our intelligence agencies should understand and hopefully the president. But, based on the unnecessary conflict in Iraq it seems that our government doesn’t understand this distinction.

Bill O’Reilly’s Greed

Bill made a remark today that really started my blood to boil. This happens quite often when I listen to his show, but this just has to do with Bill O’Reilly’s greed.

He made the comment today that the liberal monitors out there were not going to quote him exactly. He said that they would conveniently leave this or that part out of the report. I hate to break this to Bill, but there is a simple solution to this problem. He could stream his show on the web and keep an archive of his shows. Then the exact quote could be found at any time. But, O’Reilly will tell you that he could do that because he would loose money by letting people listen to him without paying to join his club. So, he would loose a few bucks, but the exact quote would be out in Cyber-Space.

Actually I think the truth is that Bill doesn’t want the exact program out in Cyber-Space, because then people could use the stuff he spouts against him. If NPR and other public radio can broadcast stuff over the web you know that a big time radio show that makes a profit can afford to stream their show.

George’s Imagination

George W Bush somehow has imagined that he has made America safer. http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...;jsessionid=5ARHMAILHMKVI CRBAEKSFFA?type=topNews&s toryID=5647771 Just like he has imagined that the economy is doing better, but those who have been hired back have jobs that pay less than the ones they once had. Somehow he believes if he keeps saying that things are good and we are safer then they will be that way. Is America this stupid?

This is philosophy of advertisers. Just keep telling people that they need something and they will go out and buy it. But that kind of advertising only effects those that are stupid enough to actually go and buy something. But, when the president of the United States makes this stuff up he demeans the credibility of the office he occupies. The American people want a president that they can believe. But when we have a guy that keeps telling us what he wants us to believe rather than what we are actually experiencing we all know that he is full of crap.

What I don’t understand is that those who have put their hopes and dreams into his presidency can’t see the lying. They don’t see how he has changed the story over and over again. If George W Bush hadn’t played dirty against John McCain in south Carolina 4 years ago we may have still had a Republican in the White House, but at least we would have had an honest one. And I could be telling you how great he is. But this time around conservatives need to actually listen to the president before they decide to vote for him.

Florida 2000 Election Problems Live On

Isn’t it interesting that Florida has been fighting for nearly four years to keep the actual felon list out of the media’s hands? Why would they fight so hard if they were doing everything right? On Friday July 2, 2004 a Florida State court finally ruled that the list had to be released to the public. The state agreed with the ruling and released the list. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPO...

And, a week later the media has been able to examine the list of “potential felons.” This could have been done right away, and the state could have examined the list right away as well. The results showed that Blacks and Democrats were dis-proportionally represented on the list. Now that the truth is out the State has decided that it can no longer defend using this list to prevent these people from voting. http://www.news-journalonline...

The main issue is that the Republicans who control the government used all of their resources to keep this information out of the public eye. And, after falling to do this they conceded that they used this list to unfairly prevent Democrats from voting

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

My kids, who are great Monty Python fans found this movie at the library. Thinking that I knew about all the successful Monty Python related movies I figured that this movie must have been a sleeper. I was greatly surprised by the movie.

In my opinion this movie was much better than “Time Bandits” was. Time Bandits was weak mainly because of the weak (or non-existent) ending. This movie had a much better conclusion. Plus, this movie also had a very strong thread running through the movie, without hitting you over the head with it.

I also enjoyed the literary references and Robin Williams as the king of the Moon. My favorite reference was when Venus came out of the giant clam. It reminded me of Kilgore Trout's "Venus on the Half Shell." (Kurt Vonegut). That was a very nice touch.

Advertising

I lived in Europe for three years, and when I came back I found the most annoying thing about the US was the commercials. In Europe there are two ways to pay for TV and Radio. There are TV and Radio licenses and there are commercials. However, the commercials are only broadcast between the TV shows and on the hour or half hour on the radio. So, when we came back to the US and started watching TV the commercial advertising just stood out like a sore thumb. The segments of between commercial programming were so short that I completely understood why Americans have such a short attention span. Americans can take in their 10 minutes of program and then be interrupted with a commercial break of 6 30-second spots and then 10 more minutes of program.

Of course, then you need to consider what the commercials are for. For example, Rush Limbaugh advertises weight loss pills, real estate seminars, and investing in Gold. I guess these borderline scams are matched to the audience that listens to his stuff. People who fall for his garbage will also fall for these scams.

So, I found the miracle of public radio and public Television. Even after the government has cut the funding to about 20% of their operating budget they put out quality programming. I am still annoyed by commercial broadcasting and I don’t understand how the American public puts up with it.

Values

I went to the pool today. Teaching the kids to swim was today’s major goal, but letting them just have a little fun and relax was good too. After three hours at the pool my youngest claimed exhaustion. She didn’t want to leave, but she sat out of the pool and watched the others for another half hour until finally she wanted to go. The rule was that we would stay until one of them wanted to leave. We could come back after we dropped off the ones who wanted to stay home, but everyone had to leave. The pool has a rule about leaving children unattended.

After getting home none of the children wanted to go back to the pool. This was my opportunity to go back to the club by myself. I having been thinking about going up to the pool and sit in the Jacuzzi to loosen up my muscles. One of my kids wanted to go to a neighbor’s house and can fruit. Another wanted to send e-mail. The other two wanted to watch videos they had checked out from the library.

I quickly jumped back into the car and headed for the Jacuzzi. I got into the Jacuzzi and relaxed. About 5 minutes later three high school aged kids came into the locker room. They began talking about their latest adventures. One said, “ You should have seen the gun show.” Another one said, “You went to that gun show?”

“Yes, it was great. I got a new AK and another…”

That sounded interesting to me, so I kept my ears open. I didn’t know if they were just showing off to each other, or if they were another Dillon and Kliebold about to shoot the place up. But, as it turned out he had bought paintball guns. The AK was an automatic model that they were all excited about trying out. The other gun was a powerful gun just like one he already owned. They started recounting a previous paintball adventure where they had been pretending to commit suicide. The one kid said that he didn’t want to do that again. The other two reminded him about how much fun it was. He said, “Hey I wouldn’t have done it, but you were going to shoot me if I didn’t, so I didn’t have any choice.”

Of course, this was a strange conversation, and I didn’t really know if they were just doing this to put on a show for me, or if they really did this type of thing. It could have been a little of both.

After talking about the paintball suicides they got back to talking about the gun show. “I got a hood,” he said.

“A hood?”

“Yeah, it’s so cool. I am going to hang it in my window and when the construction workers look at it they are going to think that a racist sleeps in that room.”

I really don’t know for sure if they were putting this on for me. If they wanted to put a KKK hood in the window to give the impression that a racist lived in the room they may have thought it was funny to talk like this in front of the guy in the Jacuzzi. But, then again they probably wouldn’t have been talking about making an impression on someone while they were trying to make an impression on someone.

Based on the physical appearance of these guys, I would have guessed that they were teased in school. They were at the gym lifting weights and trying to get in shape. They also talked about a German Homeland web site that they logged on to to purchase German medals. The kid who went to the gun show said that he could purchase German and American medals at the gun show. He said he could buy medals that were illegal to wear. I am guessing that these guys got into the whole fascist ideology because they wanted a way to feel that they were more important than the respect that they were getting at school. They wanted the paintball weapons to demonstrate their power. The Supremist and Racist ideology makes them feel powerful. The weight training is done to make them stronger physically to fend off the bullying they are sure to undergo at school.

My question is: Are these the values we are teaching our kids? Or, should be teaching our kids?

I am a Libertarian

In several posts I have been told that I am a Liberal, and I have been lumped in with the anti-Bush crowd. Well, that’s fine, lump me in with the anti-Bush crowd. I can’t stand George W Bush because of his position on social issues. I also can’t stand his position on science issues. AND, I can’t stand him because of his position on the Iraq and the War on Terror. Since fiscal issues haven’t come up much I have been labeled a Liberal. In the past people with a Libertarian ideology could join either party and vote against the party on social issues if you joined the Republicans, or fiscal issues if you joined the Democrats. Since there has never been enough support for a full fledged Libertarian Party the power in politics was found in joining one of the other two parties.

In politics this has only recently become a problem. In the past most politicians used to work together for the greater good of the community. When Newt Gingrich swept into power he told this constitutes that he wasn't going to compromise any more. This led to many problems in government. Issues could no longer be debated because no one was listening anyway. Most votes are now along party lines and Republicans control two branches of government. Libertarian Republicans were forced to change their votes yesterday in the vote to pass a bill restricting the USA Patriot Act. This is because Libertarian Republicans initially wanted to reduce the unlawful restriction of American’s liberties. But Party Politics took over and 9 Republicans were persuaded to change their votes. Obviously they won’t admit to this coercion and remain in the Republican Party. Politicians need the party support to win elections. It takes someone as strong as Jim Jeffers to stand up against a political party and survive. But, the American people will slowly learn about these tactics and they will vote these wimps out of office.

However, I fear that when the Democrats come to power the whole thing will reverse and many policy decisions will be jerked around. This is the worst possible situation. The economy does best when there is very little interference. If policy is changed radically the economy will have tremendous problems.

Senate Intelligence Committee Report

Rush Limbaugh says that the Senate Intelligence Committee Report is just CYA (Cover Your Ass). He claims that the Senate Intelligence Committee is an oversight committee and therefore was responsible to know what was going on. The Senate is laying blame on the CIA. This is convenient because George Tenent has resigned and the administration and Senate can place the blame and claim they dealt with the problem.

The O’Reilly factor had a substitute host today, so we don’t know what Bill thinks about this, but Bill’s substitute says that the report clears the administration of any blame. He claims that the administration got bad intelligence and they acted correctly with the information that they had.

The Democrats that have been interviewed today are saying that the Senate would never have voted to go to Iraq with what we know now. This is political cover for the lack of investigation into the Iraqi threat. I still think that these Senators jumped on the War Wagon much to quickly and now they have a black mark on their record to show for it. Unfortunately, there isn’t much choice left if you want to vote these guys out of office. The choice is a Democrat who has been lead to the trough or a Republican who is already there.

Hopefully when we stem the Bush regime’s aggression the US will be able to cultivate a new generation of politician. I truly doubt it , but one can always dream can’t they.

Republicans Disregard Scientific Thought

The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report that tells us that Politics is affecting science policy. This should send chills down every American’s back. Nazi Germany also politicized science. They told us such fake science as the supremacy of the white race and they used Jews as Guinea Pigs in horrible experiments based on these notions. Science should be transparent to politics. Science is the search for truth and non-scientists should not be telling us where to look. If politics is allowed to dictate where the truth is, it supposes that the politicians must know where the truth is. This is obviously not true. Politicians who want to control scientific policy must have an ulterior motive – be it business interest or religious interest. Either way, it is not the way science should be done. This is how Western Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&st oryID=5625949" title="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&st oryID=5625949" target="_blank"http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...

Go F--- Yourself T-shirts

Cheney has created a couple more jobs by his use of profanity. Of course they are low wage T-shirt boutique jobs, but that's par for the course.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&s toryID=5632943" title="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&s toryID=5632943" target="_blank"http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...

Blue Blogs and Red Blogs

I’ve decided to color my blog blue until November. Since the media continues to color the map of the USA in Blue States and Red states I thought that I would color my blog blue to coincide with the “Blue” Democrat states. Not only that, I like the color blue.

Bush's National Guard Records Destroyed

If the mainstream media is so liberal, then why isn't this story being covered. Only the New York Times has this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/politics/c ampaign/09records.html" title="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/politics/c ampaign/09records.html" target="_blank"http://www.nytimes.com/2004/0...

Apparently Rumsfeld has managed to destroy Bush's records, if there were any. They managed to destroy the records over the time period where George supposedly served with the National Guard in Alabama.

Doesn't this sound just a bit strange? How is microfiche destroyed? Isn't data stored on these tapes because of its durability? Why can't the administration just admit the truth? Since Bush was an admitted drunkard at the time, he was most likely unfit to fly. That seems to be the obvious scenario for the facts at hand. No one remembers him at the National Guard post in Alabama, and no records exist to confirm that he was there. He most likely wasn't there.

Republicans Deny Democracy Again

Republicans keep cheating the system. 1 hour ago they did it again. On a bill to limit the USA Patriot Act the house of Representatives left the vote open an additional 20 minutes to twist the arms of 10 Republicans and make them change their votes. This is what we saw in Germany in 1939. These tactics are getting more and more common in the Republican Party ranks. The damage to our democracy mounts, as we do nothing.

Will November be too late to get our Democracy back?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004- 07-08-pat-act_x.htm" title="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004- 07-08-pat-act_x.htm" target="_blank"http://www.usatoday.com/news/...

Republicans Are Just Mean When it Comes to Health Care

Maybe having the shoe on the other foot will help get this health care bill through congress. Some Republicans have used a secret block on this bill preventing it to come to a vote. But the fact is that insurance companies are not required to pay for mental health care. So, people with mental illness never get help, because they can’t afford it. So, when Oregon Republican Gordon Smith’s son kill’s himself the reality may break the gridlock in the US Senate. However, with Republicans with the majority in the House we will not likely see anything come of this bill either.

How can these people be so mean?

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&s toryID=5624332" title="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&s toryID=5624332" target="_blank"http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...

Clinton on the News Hour

Yesterday Jim Lehrer interviewed Bill Clinton on the NewsHour. The interview was one of the best of the Clinton book tour. There weren’t many questions about Monica or the any of the scandals. Instead the interview concentrated on the current state of America and approaches to the problems we face today. Clinton had a masterful handle on the information involved in the discussion. It makes one pine for the days when we had an intellectual in the White House.

When Bill Clinton was asked to contrast the difference between the Bush foreign policy and the Clinton foreign policy he made a very clear and concise statement:

The Clinton foreign policy worked hard to foster relationships with other nations and used those relationships to develop American interests. When working with other nations didn’t work then we went on alone on an issue as needed.

The Bush foreign policy instead is to go it alone to foster America’s interests, and when that didn’t work then they try to work with other nations for American interests.

So, when people say that if Al Gore were elected we would be in the same situation one needs to think about this comparison. I believe that Al Gore would have continued the Clinton foreign policy, rather than striking out with a new policy of Unilateralism like the Bush administration.

The text of the interview is here:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_hou se/july-dec04/clinton_7-0 7.html" title="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_hou se/july-dec04/clinton_7-0 7.html" target="_blank"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/b...

Great One - George!

George W Bush brings up the fact that Edwards doesn't have the same stellar experience that George himself had when he took office. Oh, by the way yes he does. Edwards actually made money in his business before going into politics. Not like George who lost money on every business he ever tried before running for Governor.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml" title="http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml" target="_blank"http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...;jsessionid=1QF5LKGVGFRCM CRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&s toryID=5612713

American Values

Finally someone I can vote for. John Kerry and John Edwards will restore American values to the White House.

http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=2001615&nav=LQlCOU3 f" title="http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=2001615&nav=LQlCOU3 f" target="_blank"http://www.onnnews.com/Global...

Talk Radio

Another wide spread discussion on talk radio is the fact that Kerry will get a big bounce out of the selection of Edwards for the VP place on the ticket. They are discounting the bounce before it happens. I guess that this works for them whether the bounce happens or not. If it happens, then they can just say it was the VP announcement that caused the bounce. If it doesn’t happen, then they can say that the ticket must be pretty weak not to get the expected bounce. They are saying this about the Democratic Convention as well. They are really playing this up. I assume that this is also to help alleviate despair when Bush falls behind in the polls. They are saying that the bounce could be 15%. I am sure that they are over exaggerating the bounce so that when it happens they can say that they expected it, and Bush will recover. Hopefully this will not be the case, but it is interesting how all of the talk shows are talking about the same thing.

VP Debates

I was listing to conservative talk radio yesterday, but I forget exactly which pundit it was. They were all excited that John Edwards was selected for the Vice President position on the Democrat’s ticket. Why were they so excited? They were excited because they thought that Dick Cheney was going to wipe the floor with him.

First of all I doubt that that would happen with all the preparation that these two people will undergo before the debate. Even Dan Quail and George W. Bush debated and it didn’t effect them very much. Instead I believe that the debate will be along the line of the Nixon - Kennedy debates. Cheney is the old frumpy Nixon character and Edwards is the young energetic Kennedy type character. Nixon could have claimed that he knew a bunch of details, but the debate proved that debates are not about the details. Debates establish your attitude. That’s why the Kerry – Bush debates are also going to go for Kerry.

If the election is to come down to the VP debates, which I don’t believe it will, then Kerry/Edwards will beat Cheney/Bush. (We need to remember to put the authority figure first!)

Excellent News

Florida is breaking for Kerry in the latest polls. This confirms the post I made yesterday that Florida was going for Kerry by 2%. Now in the latest Florida poll Florida is going for Kerry by 5%.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/index.htm" title="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/index.htm" target="_blank"http://www.rasmussenreports.c...

I wonder if Fahrenhiet 9/11 had any effect.

Optimism and Pessimism

The Republican media machinery is churning away on creating new evil images of the Democratic candidates Kerry and Edwards. They have decided on painting a picture of the Democrats being a party of pessimists. This was obviously provoked by the memory of Ronald Reagan the Optimist. But, instead of becoming optimistic, the Republicans have decided to go negative and paint the Democrats as being pessimistic. This is easier than putting the energy into becoming optimistic yourself.

So, how do the Republicans claim that the Democrats are pessimistic? Easy they say that the Democrats are pointing out all the things that are wrong with the country. Isn’t this the first step in fixing a problem? Identify the problem and proceed to fix it. Democrats say that industries are polluting the environment. Now the Democrats say we need to put effort into this problem so we can have a clean planet. The goal of having a clean planet is optimistic. What is the Republican’s optimistic solution? Their solution is - there is no problem, don’t worry about it. Ignore it and it will go away. Is this really an optimistic attitude? Yes, if you are a Republican advertising planner.

Let’s look at another example. The Democrats are pessimistic because they point out that there are poor people suffering because they don’t have health care. The Republicans say that if those people were more optimistic they wouldn’t feel so sick. The Democrats are pointing out the problem so it can be fixed. The Republicans want the issue put in a dark place, because it may cost them higher taxes. The Democrats want to expose the suffering of these people because there is hope that this problem can be resolved. So, who are the optimists? The optimists are the group that believes that this problem can be fixed.

One more example is the terrorist problem. The Republicans are telling us that there are terrorists everywhere. We can never know for sure if they are hiding behind a curtain or in a subway. Democrats acknowledge this problem and want to work with the international community to solve it. The Republicans are unsure that they can trust France, German and Russia, so they decided to go into a war with a few countries sending token support. They moved out of paranoia into an optional conflict. Is the motivation out of paranoia an optimistic motivation?

Now who is the optimist and who is the pessimist?

Text of Calvin Trillin Poems


The only King We Have is Jesus
(A Previously unearthed Gospel Song accredited to John Ashcroft)

As I told the Bob Jones students seated white and black apart
This nation is unique not like the rest
As I faced those Godly Youngsters I told them from the heart
Just why this land will always be the best
The only King We Have is Jesus and I feel blessed to bring that News.
The only King we have is Jesus I can't explain why we have Jews

The homosexual lifestyle could make our Jesus weep
He loathed their jokes about which cheek to turn
Yes Jesus came to teach with whom we are to sleep
Ignore that and you'll go to hell and burn

(Final chorus sung in tongues)

Tron schlect God dreeb nah hope alouf nock
Trest fag narst fag meduna greeb
Tron schlect God dreeb nah hope alouf nock
Dar Popish flarj jar darky heeb


The Effect on his Campaign of the Release of George W Bush's College Transcripts

Obliviously On he sails
With marks not as good as Quails

Calvin Trillin Poems

Here are three more poems. If you are having trouble listening to them let me know. If you like them, let me know. If they aren't popular I won't post any more.

These are mp3 audio files, right click on the link and download the target. Then listen in your favorite player.

http://www.geocities.com/mforbush/TheOnlyKingW eHaveIsJesus.mp3" title="http://www.geocities.com/mforbush/TheOnlyKingW eHaveIsJesus.mp3" target="_blank"http://www.geocities.com/mfor...

The only King We Have is Jesus (A Previously unearthed Gospel Song accredited to John Ashcroft)

As I told the Bob Jones students seated white and black apart
This nation is unique not like the rest
As I faced those Godly Youngsters I told them from the heart
Just why this land will always be the best
The only King We Have is Jesus and I feel blessed to bring that News.
The only King we have is Jesus I can't explain why we have Jews

The homosexual lifestyle could make our Jesus weep
He loathed their jokes about which cheek to turn
Yes Jesus came to teach with whom we are to sleep
Ignore that and you'll go to hell and burn

(Final chorus sung in tongues)

Tron schlect God dreeb nah hope alouf nock
Trest fag narst fag meduna greeb
Tron schlect God dreeb nah hope alouf nock
Dar Popish flarj jar darky heeb



http://www.geocities.com/mforbush/Effect.mp3" title="http://www.geocities.com/mforbush/Effect.mp3" target="_blank"http://www.geocities.com/mfor...

http://www.geocities.com/mforbush/CheneysHead.mp3" title="http://www.geocities.com/mforbush/CheneysHead.mp3" target="_blank"http://www.geocities.com/mfor...

Nanny Dick

So, Dick Cheney’s assertion that there were links between al Qaeda and Saddam hold no water. The 9/11 commission says that the information given to Cheney was the same information given to the 9/11 commission. How can Cheney have any credibility left? Who can believe him at all. Bush’s only hope at re-election is to get rid of this guy. But, without him Bush wouldn’t know what to do. http://www.reuters.com/newsAr...;jsessionid=M3SB4BAM154E0 CRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&s toryID=5601658


Check out the following mp3 file: http://www.geocities.com/mfor...

This is a Calvin Trillin poem I believe most people will enjoy.

Long Weekend

I bought a family membership for a sports club on Friday. They have a pool at this club, so the kids wanted to go as soon as I got home. The kids could care less about lifting weights, Stairmasters, treadmills and all the rest, but they want to swim in the pool. Or, as it turns out at this sports club - pools.

So, the instant I got home from work the kids began begging. “Please, lets go swimming....” After dinner we went to the pool and swam. The two oldest learned how to swim long ago when we lived in a apartment complex where they had a pool. I taught them, and they hadn’t forgotten very much. The youngest had never taken a lesson, but she had been in pools from time to time for parties. As Charlie Chan says Daughter number two could swim around a bit, but was never taught at any regular basis.

So, when we got to the pool everyone screamed “Look at me.” And they took turns as I corrected their stroke. Just on that first day they got better and better before my eyes.

When Saturday came, my son woke me up at 5:00 AM asking if I could take them swimming yet. You see, the pool is open from 4:45 AM ‘til 10:00 PM. Unfortunately they know this. After telling him to go back to sleep I went back to sleep and we woke up at a more reasonable 8:00 AM. We went to the pool again and the kids continued to improve. But, the Dad was beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

All that day we worked in the garden, trying to spruce it up for next weekend’s party. We pulled weeds, pulled gopher eaten plants, planted new plants and watered them. It took much longer to do than it took for you to read that sentence. In fact we didn’t finish on the first day – we continued into July 4th and July 5th with intermissions to watch fireworks, drink some beers with friends, run in a 5 k race and go swimming some more.

When Tuesday morning arrived I hoped that I could go to the gym and swim for a short time before work. And, of course the kids all begged to go with me at 6:00 AM. And I took them for a 45-minute swim. Of course they complained that 45 minutes was too short.

Bush-Cheney Negativity

This morning, the Bush-Cheney campaign launched an ad attacking John Kerry's decision. This ad was produced before they even knew who had been selected. George Bush and Dick Cheney are showing once again that they are consumed by negativity and unable to defend their record.

Cumulative Poll Web Site

There may be more sites out there like this one, but this web site has a huge numbers of polls on the presidential race so that politophiles can have more data to look at.

According to this web site Kerry now has Florida by over 2%. And, he has the electoral votes as well.

http://www.electionprojection.com/elections2004.html" title="http://www.electionprojection.com/elections2004.html" target="_blank"http://www.electionprojection...

If you were living in Germany in 1939 would you have the strength to stand up against Adolph Hitler?

Well, it’s 2004:

Stand up against George W. Bush!

VOTE!

Republican Censorship

Why do Republicans care what is broadcast on the Radio, TV and Internet? They fight tooth and nail to limit what is being broadcast. The argument is always against sexual content and indecency. Unfortunately the definition of indecency is cultural. Late night TV in Europe always shows a few female breasts. In a Muslim country a woman’s face is only for her husband and family to see. There is no documented evidence of the exposure to the viewing of woman’s breasts to effect a child in a negative way. However, there are quite a few studies that show that the exposure to viewing violence effects children. Why then does the FCC allows the broadcast of content that effect children and prevents the broadcast of material that does not?

It comes down to Religious control of the Republican Party. Fundamentalist Christians have distorted views of sexuality and morality. They also have control of the Republican Party. Therefore they use this power to make laws to restrict the freedom of speech. Then they defend their assault by using an emotional argument about protecting children from pornography. The reality of the situation is that children can be protected from pornography by their parents.

Republicans continue to tell us that we don’t need the government to monitor industries destroying the environment. The Republicans continue to tell us that they don’t need government to regulate commerce. Republicans continue to tell us that they don’t need government to regulate the energy industry. But somehow we need the government to regulate what we listen to on the radio, watch on the TV or download on the Internet. What happened to the Republican ideal of personal responsibility?

I think Republicans are jealous of the non- Fundamentalist Christians who want to listen, view and download this stuff. This is like the child who didn’t win the game so he wants to take the ball home so the others can’t play the game. What other explanation can there be, because they can simply turn the channel, or turn off the media if they don’t like what is being broadcast?

I was listening to The O’Reilly radio show this morning. A caller called in about this subject. She said that she listened to Howard Stern. She told the host (O’Reilly’s substitute) that she was offended by his show. Why did she continue to listen after she was offended? Simple, she listened so that she could file complaints against Stern. What? This is another Nazi Brown Shirt tactic. They Nazis would go around complaining about the Jews in the neighborhood so that they could be removed from the neighborhood. It is really sad that our country has come to this.

The Bush Goon Squad Strikes Again

The Bush ad that portrays the Democrats as Hitler is a new low for the Republican Party. They have resorted to Nazi brown shirt tactics because they believe that what they are fighting for is worthy of fighting for by cheating. They are trying to make the Democrats look like the Nazi Party when in reality they are the Party of Racism and protectionist policy. They fought hard in California to keep immigrants from receiving health benefits. They are fighting hard to make gay and lesbians second class citizens. They believe that Christian Fundamentalism is the one true religion and they use the religion’s definition of morality to write the laws. They would like to censor books from our school’s libraries. And, they have little regard for true science and would rather make science up to benefit their cause. They use false science to argue that there isn’t any global warming even though most scientists agree that global warming coincides with the on set of the industrial revolution.

So, to have an ad that suggests that the Democratic Party is anything like the Nazi Party is disingenuous at best, but more likely sinister. They use the naivete of the general public to do these things and deny it out right knowing that the public will give them the benefit of the doubt. If not, then explain how the Republicans can do this.

First, in a MoveOn.org contest where several hundred random people could enter a contest to produce an anti-Bush ad, the Bush campaign jumped on one ad that was distasteful. MoveOn.org immediately pulled the ad, because they agreed with the Bush campaign. Remember that this was an ad from someone who logged onto a web page asking for contributions. The ads were displayed at random when you logged on to the site. Plus, you could only view 5 ads per day. So, how did the Bush administration learn of this one ad? Were they logging on from multiple computers trying to dig up dirt? Or, who's to say that a Republican member of the Bush Goon Squad didn't submit the ad for the purpose of causing the controversy. This way, they would know that the ad existed without digging for the dirt. Someone should talk to the person who submitted the ad.

Now, under the guise of trying to demonstrate how evil the Democrats are they use Nazi Brown shirt tactics to imply that Kerry and the Democrats are like Hitler. Their excuse is that the Democrats used Hitler in their ad. Well, they didn’t, because that ad did not win the contest. Second, that ad was taken off the web page when the controversy was announced.

This should send chills down the back of any American that values Democracy.

The Lessons We Learned From Iraq

Hopefully when people make mistakes they learn from them. Today, the majority of Americans agree that the Iraq conflict was a mistake. So, the question becomes: “What do we learn from this mistake?”

I would go back to the beginning of the war and look very closely at the events that happened and the choices made.

After 9/11 the US quickly discovered that al Qaeda was responsible for the attack. At that time there was a widely held belief that terrorists could not cause major damage without the aid of a nation state. In al Qaeda’s case Afghanistan and Sudan were harboring al Qaeda and allowing them to train terrorists. The US response was quick and fatal for the Afghani government, the Taliban, but al Qaeda escaped. The US believed that without a supportive nation state al Qaeda could not exist.

Lesson learned: Terrorists don’t need a nation state for support, but it makes one’s life easier.

But, where could the terrorists go next? Obviously another nation state willing to support their activities. So, the Bush administration concluded that one of the nations that hated us must be next on the list of harboring terrorists. Unfortunately the Bush administration either had no one informed about Middle East culture, or more likely they didn’t listen to people that opposed their plan. Most likely because of a grudge the Bush administration concluded that Iraq must be invaded. They somehow concluded that Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and a number of other third world countries would not be where al Qaeda would go.

Lesson learned: Don’t jump to conclusions. Many dangerous places exist and terrorists make due with what they have.

So, once the Bush administration had it’s mind made up it needed to gain support from the world for its plan to attack and overthrow a sovereign nation. This is a violation of the number one international law. One does not go into another sovereign nation uninvited, or it is considered a military aggression. Military aggression should be opposed by the world as a whole. This, of course, was the reason we used to oppose Iraq after they invaded Kuwait in 1990. In 1990 the US was able to find support in the UN and raise an international force to get Iraq out of Kuwait. Even the French, Germans and Russians agreed to this use of force. Since the Bush administration had no credible evidence of the danger of Saddam Hussein the UN was not enthusiastic about supporting the invasion of Iraq.

Lesson learned: If you can’t convince your friends with the evidence, reexamine the evidence. It may not be all you think it is.

Without being able to convince the UN security council of a need to attack Iraq the Bush administration took a group a former Eastern Block nations, the UK, and a couple of island nations and invaded Iraq. Unfortunately, after they got rid of the government they didn’t know what to do.

Lesson learned: Make plans.

When I started writing this I thought this would be short, but obviously there is much more. I’ll continue this in another blog.