Single dubious source caused problems before Newsweek

"On the day before Bush's speech (State of the Union Address, January 2003), the CIA's Berlin station chief warned that the source for some of what Bush would say was untrustworthy. Bush said it anyway. He based part of his most important annual speech to the American people on a single, dubious, unnamed source. The source was later found to have fabricated his information."

-Editorial: Memorial Day/Praise bravery, seek forgiveness
May 30, 2005 ED Star Tribune Minneapolis, MN

Priscilla Owen - Worse Judge in Texas. Again Loyalty over Quality

Priscilla was voted one of the worse judges in Texas by the Houston Bar Associations biannual evaluations. Her overall rating had the highest "poor" rating on the entire Texas Supreme Court.
(http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/rssstory.mpl/metropolitan/3191921 Houston Chronicle, May 21 2005)

Paul Berka of the Texas Monthly wrote about her disregard for legal precedents. He is highly critical of her because of her rulings in several cases.

In Natural Gas Pipeline v. Pool she apparently re-wrote the Texas oil-and-gas law on behalf of producers when she ruled that an oil producer could restart producing on a landowners land even after the law says that they should lose possession once they stop drilling. . "She reflexively favors manufacturers over consumers, employers over workers, and insurers over sick people," said the New York Times in an editorial. "...the criticism of Owen comes from lawyers and law professors who have seen decades of precedents favoring landowners tossed aside to favor producers."

In HECI v. Neel Precedent favors royalty owner's rights. She decided that Neels should lose a suit against the oil driller HECI because the statue of limitations had run out, but there were legal precedents. "A Houston lawyer named Paul Simpson wrote a bluntly critical analysis of the case that began, "The Texas Supreme Court's 1999 opinion in HECI v. Neel was not supported by the record in that case, departed from established oil and gas law, and deviates from the mainstream of law in other major producing states."
(above 2 cases from Texas Monthly "Judging Priscilla" by Paul Burka)
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She is not the good lawyer she is being showcased as. But she is a good friend of the President and his Machiavellian advisor Karl Rove. Again, loyalty takes precedent over quality. And again, moderate Americans are ignored as the administration tilts the balance of power in favor of a monolithic few. Perhaps the press at some future time will report on the true character of these nominations. But by then, it may be too late.

History News Network Evaluates President - 81% Failure

415 Historians were asked in an unscientific poll to rate the president as a success or a failure, and 8 out of ten said failure.
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Quotes from historians contributing the History News Network poll:

“Although previous presidents have led the nation into ill-advised wars, no predecessor managed to turn America into an unprovoked aggressor. No predecessor so thoroughly managed to confirm the impressions of those who already hated America. No predecessor so effectively convinced such a wide range of world opinion that America is an imperialist threat to world peace. I don 't think that you can do much worse than that.”

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Unless you look at his fiscal legacy - worse deficit EVER.
Or, unless you look at his environmental policy - rated a "F" by almost every environmental group in the world.

Truth from the Village Voice - An Ally of Hell - With the Blessings of the Administration

It amazes me, how a person who says he is a man of God, can sleep at night knowing he is responsible for the torture and agonizing death of many many innocent people. And it is also ironic that these articles get prominent show in entertainment papers instead of main news papers....

An Ally From Hell
CIA's close relationship with Sudan's government enables genocide there to continue
by Nat Hentoff
May 20th, 2005 5:06 PM

...But now—thanks to a carefully documented report by Ken Silverstein in the April 29 Los Angeles Times, which has had far too little follow-up by the media—it is clear that the CIA, with the blessings of the Bush administration, is closely connected to the horrifying government of Lieutenant General Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, the head perpetrator of the ongoing genocide in Darfur: over 400,000 black Africans dead, with some 500 more dying every day, and more than two million, many in peril of starvation, turned into refugees as their homes and villages are destroyed.

By their deeds ye shall know them

Q: Mr. President, you're often speaking about freedom, and about the march to freedom, and about -- freedom. How do you define freedom?

THE PRESIDENT: Freedom, democracy?

Q: Freedom as such.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I view freedom as where government doesn't dictate.
Government is responsive to the needs of people.
I was asked by a Dutch journalist earlier, was I concerned about some of the social decisions the Dutch government made. And I said, no, the government reflects the will of the people.
That's what freedom -- government is of the people.
We say "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And a free society is one if the people don't like what is going on, they can get new leaders.

And my country had a chance to do so. Fortunately, they chose not to. But nevertheless -- (laughter.) But that's free society; society responsive to people.

Again, I'll repeat to you, my vision of free governments does not reflect -- I recognize they're not going to reflect what America looks like. We're different. But so is each country here different. And the governments will reflect the taste, the culture, the history of the country. But all democracies will reflect the will of the people. And that's how I define it.

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From Roundtable Interview of the President by Foreign Print Media - The White House May 5, 2005
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Why can't our press ask real questions?

Where is there freedom in imprisoning people without trials? Where is there freedom when the press is controlled by the government and corporations? Where is there freedom when presidents are appointed by judges instead of by fair counting of the votes. Where is there Freeedom when votes are rigged? Where is there freedom when government is only responsive to loyal followers and oblivious to concerns and desires of others. Where is freedom shown in the Patriot Act? What does rendition have to do with Freedom? And who is responsible for these actions?

Lasting Damage to Our Image

"There is lasting damage to our image because of this report," the chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said at a news briefing. "And we would encourage Newsweek to do all that they can to help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region."

Scotty, fer God's sake, the reason for the "lasting damage to our image" is not Newsweek, it is US policies of torturing people without a trial - a pubic and speedy trial is guaranteed by our own Constitution, for everyone, including terrorists. Our founding father's did this because they were tired of King George arbitrarily imprisoning people without a trial or any recourse. And also, our image is not helped by the $8.8 billion that we siphoned off from the Iraqi people. If you want to repair some of the damage, find out where this money went, and give it back to the Iraqi people. If you want to repair the damage, stop breaking into people's homes due to a rumor and wisking people away in the dead of night to Abu Ghraib torture chambers. If you want to repair the damage, figure out how to get their sewage and water systems working again.

Journalistic Standards

"I think there's a certain journalistic standard that should be met and in this instance it was not," said Bush spokesman Scott McClellan today in reference to the Newsweek comment on the desecration of the Koran. "The report has had serious consequences," he said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."

Scott is right that there are "certain journalistic standard"s that should be met. Like at all the major news outlets - Fox, CNN, NY Times, etc. Unfortunatley, Scott apparently didn't attend the National Conference on Media Reform in St. Louis this weekend. If he did, he would see that there are a lot of people who are genuinely concerned about "journalistic standards" and the impact of government and corporate control over the media, especially the portion of the media seen by a majority of US citizens. Bill Moyer said while addressing this conference "The story I’ve come to share with you goes to the core of our belief that the quality of democracy and the quality of journalism are deeply entwined."

And clearly to everyone but the Fox audience, the quality today is very low.

And if Scott was really concerned about the image of the US abroad, maybe he would let the President know that "renditioning" people to other countries for torture without being accused or without a fair and open trial is also damaging. And, unfortunately, there's more - Abu Ghraib, Guantamano, Kyoto, Environmental Policies, Condoning Whale Killings with low frequency sonar, fiscal irresponsibility, election fraud, John Bolton as an ambassador ... and the list goes on...

Scandal Predictions: Voting Fraud and FBI Blackmail

I, along with thousands of other concerned citizens, believe that the next Washington scandal will be bigger than Watergate, and will be more embarrassing to the Republicans. This, of course, is the voting fraud scandal from the last Presidential election. There is strong evidence that vote counts were changed. And if the President and his White House strategist Karl Rove were involved, this will be another example of how our president has utterly failed to uphold the oath of office.

My second prediction is a scandal involving the FBI where, using unchecked access, Karl Rove has illegally (at least before the patriot act) used the FBI to gain information to either use against opponents or to "persuade" congressmen to vote a certain way.

....and once these are out, our sleeping main stream media will have a feeding frenzy .... NOT!

Judges Play Role in Protecting the Administration

The appointment of Judges is important, and the Republican's attempt to dismantle the filibuster shows there lack of appreciation for the rights of the minority. Karl Rove, the White House strategist, is a political genius and he knows political history, but when it comes to the important tenants of our founding fathers, he is woefully ignorant. Our government was not founded on the absolute right of the majority, but rather the protection of the minority. This is one of the major ideas underlying the Great Compromise.

Which brings me to an interesting, if not disturbing headline from Buzzflash (09-May-2005) that read something like this:

"Sibel Edmonds to Pursue Her Appeal Against government Incompetency to Supreme Court.
Judge David Sentelle Stepped in to Save Bush Again.
He Saved Ollie North and Poindexter.
He Appointed Ken Starr.
He Ruled Cheney Didn't Have to Turn Over Secret Energy Papers.

Bush Doesn't Want Federal Judges on Merit; He Wants a Protection Racket."