Duty to Warn
Walden O'Dell wrote a letter the other day. He wrote a fund-raising letter to Ohio Republicans. And, in that letter O'Dell said that he was, "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to (President Bush) next year."
Walden O'Dell is the Chairman of the Board of Diebold Election Systems, the second largest company in America whose business it is - to count your vote.
Walden O'Dell is the Chairman of the Board of Diebold Election Systems, the second largest company in America whose business it is - to count your vote.
Before the age of computers, there were all kinds of ways for a local politico to "mess" with the voting apparatus. He could arrange for a mechanical machine to count wrong. Or, the names of people in cemeteries could be kept or put on the voter rolls.
But now, in the wondrous age of computers and the internet, it's possible, with a virtually undetectable line of software code that can make itself disappear after its done its dirty work, to wreak corruption on hundreds or thousands of computerized voting machines reflecting hundreds of thousands or millions of votes. A number of recent elections are suspected of being tainted by this voting corruption. We've opened a Pandora's box with computerized voting, not knowing what was going to come out.
But it looks like the Republicans like the way things are, in spite of clear proof of a multitude of errors and easily corruptible vote counting. US Congressman Russ Holt introduced a bill earlier in the year that would take many of the risks out of computerized voting, and it would add safeguards to prevent theft of elections or computerized tampering with the voting process.
But now, in the wondrous age of computers and the internet, it's possible, with a virtually undetectable line of software code that can make itself disappear after its done its dirty work, to wreak corruption on hundreds or thousands of computerized voting machines reflecting hundreds of thousands or millions of votes. A number of recent elections are suspected of being tainted by this voting corruption. We've opened a Pandora's box with computerized voting, not knowing what was going to come out.
But it looks like the Republicans like the way things are, in spite of clear proof of a multitude of errors and easily corruptible vote counting. US Congressman Russ Holt introduced a bill earlier in the year that would take many of the risks out of computerized voting, and it would add safeguards to prevent theft of elections or computerized tampering with the voting process.
I love the smell of quagmire in the morning. My, but it takes you back, doesn't it? The only thing left to say is that there is "light at the end of the tunnel." But everything else has already begun to play itself out. We have even seen the resurrection of that Orwellian mantra "winning the peace." If I had been just a few years older in the Vietnam era, the deja-vu might kill me.
As it is, I have to rely on crazy resources, like history, to feel the eerie similarities coming into focus. No real sense carpet-bombing the desert, so that's out-no trees to hide in. Napalm made a surprising rebound, though. They lied about it for months (gasp!) of course, but its comeback was all but assured given the recycled cast of characters. I'm beginning to think the only reason we haven't heard more about "Iraqization (Iraqicization... Iraqation...?) is that it's so much harder to spell than Vietnamization. The hubris of the Best and the Brightest is back with a vengeance, though-recast as The Most Dangerous Men on Earth.
As it is, I have to rely on crazy resources, like history, to feel the eerie similarities coming into focus. No real sense carpet-bombing the desert, so that's out-no trees to hide in. Napalm made a surprising rebound, though. They lied about it for months (gasp!) of course, but its comeback was all but assured given the recycled cast of characters. I'm beginning to think the only reason we haven't heard more about "Iraqization (Iraqicization... Iraqation...?) is that it's so much harder to spell than Vietnamization. The hubris of the Best and the Brightest is back with a vengeance, though-recast as The Most Dangerous Men on Earth.
It seems fitting that a president who was brought into office because of a scandalous election would enact a law to overhaul the electoral process to make it easier for people to choose their leaders the second time around.
But that's not what the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, signed into law by President Bush in October 2002, will do. Instead, the law will force most states to switch from paper balloting to a fully computerized system---one that is currently rife with programming flaws and is incapable of being audited-that could call into question the legitimacy of future local and national elections and put the wrong candidates into office.
The bill contains $1.515 billion to fund activities related to the Help America Vote Act, a federal election reform bill that provides money to states for the improvement of elections; including $15 million to the General Services Administration to reimburse states that purchased optical scan or electronic voting equipment prior to the November 2000 election.
But that's not what the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, signed into law by President Bush in October 2002, will do. Instead, the law will force most states to switch from paper balloting to a fully computerized system---one that is currently rife with programming flaws and is incapable of being audited-that could call into question the legitimacy of future local and national elections and put the wrong candidates into office.
The bill contains $1.515 billion to fund activities related to the Help America Vote Act, a federal election reform bill that provides money to states for the improvement of elections; including $15 million to the General Services Administration to reimburse states that purchased optical scan or electronic voting equipment prior to the November 2000 election.
In a depressingly symbolic year for climate change, energy policy and
public health, just a week after GM recalled the last cars its entire
California fleet of 1000 Zero Emission electric vehicles to be destroyed
(citing a "lack of demand"), and during the same year by which California
air regulators had since 1990 required that 10% of all new cars be
pollution free had not Governor Davis lifted the requirement upon taking
office - state air regulators have come out with a new standard for rating
new cars that instead re-classifies gasoline-burning engines as "clean."
Say hello to the "Partial Zero Emission Vehicle," ("P-ZEV") a characteristically Moderate Democratic nomenclature to which the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Detroit automakers have agreed - a watered down version of the "Zero Emmission Vehicles" classification following Governor Davis' post-election decision to eliminate a 1990 requirement that, starting in 2003, 10% of all cars sold in California should have been Zero Emission Vehicles ("ZEV").
Say hello to the "Partial Zero Emission Vehicle," ("P-ZEV") a characteristically Moderate Democratic nomenclature to which the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Detroit automakers have agreed - a watered down version of the "Zero Emmission Vehicles" classification following Governor Davis' post-election decision to eliminate a 1990 requirement that, starting in 2003, 10% of all cars sold in California should have been Zero Emission Vehicles ("ZEV").
I had an epiphany last night.
What began as a nightmare transformed itself into a vision of hope. I dreamt I was plodding my way through a horrific sandstorm. This ill wind was so dense I was incapable of seeing my own hand before my face. Yet farther into the distance I could discern an incessant incandescent glimmering of light; a solitary beacon in this all-encompassing velvet darkness.
A rivalry existed between every breath and step I took both possessing the inherent uncertainty of its predecessor and its sequel. Finally, after what seemed an endless journey there before me at my feet, tempest tossed, was a flame whose life force could not be denied.
I dropped to my knees, the blanket that served to give me shelter in this perilous storm, now as I hovered above and slowly descended upon the flame it availed itself as a tent. Using my hands and feet I anchored the blanket into the sand. Shrouded below it, I and this magnificent flame, both of us existing amidst nature's will and storm.
What began as a nightmare transformed itself into a vision of hope. I dreamt I was plodding my way through a horrific sandstorm. This ill wind was so dense I was incapable of seeing my own hand before my face. Yet farther into the distance I could discern an incessant incandescent glimmering of light; a solitary beacon in this all-encompassing velvet darkness.
A rivalry existed between every breath and step I took both possessing the inherent uncertainty of its predecessor and its sequel. Finally, after what seemed an endless journey there before me at my feet, tempest tossed, was a flame whose life force could not be denied.
I dropped to my knees, the blanket that served to give me shelter in this perilous storm, now as I hovered above and slowly descended upon the flame it availed itself as a tent. Using my hands and feet I anchored the blanket into the sand. Shrouded below it, I and this magnificent flame, both of us existing amidst nature's will and storm.
There's been, and still exists, a concerted and systematic effort to disregard and eliminate our civil liberties in the name of terrorism. We are witnessing an assault upon our heritage, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Liberty is not a partisan issue - and once given up we will once again have to take up arms and battle to regain them. As Benjamin Franklin so eloquently pronounced, "Those who would give up essential liberties for a measure of security, deserve neither liberty nor security."
Fear has replaced reason and logic. As Americans, when discussing the issue of preserving liberty while providing security, our foremost concern should be human rights, civil rights and civil liberties.
Since the first strike on the twin towers in 1993, the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing in 1995, as well as the events of September 11th, 2001 and the Anthrax scare, collectively we've had to grapple with the devastating scope and scale of these attacks. It has forced each of us to re-assess our understanding of believable and unbelievable - of what's thinkable and unthinkable. Our reality makes the best Hollywood script pale in comparison.
Fear has replaced reason and logic. As Americans, when discussing the issue of preserving liberty while providing security, our foremost concern should be human rights, civil rights and civil liberties.
Since the first strike on the twin towers in 1993, the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing in 1995, as well as the events of September 11th, 2001 and the Anthrax scare, collectively we've had to grapple with the devastating scope and scale of these attacks. It has forced each of us to re-assess our understanding of believable and unbelievable - of what's thinkable and unthinkable. Our reality makes the best Hollywood script pale in comparison.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) is the means by which mental health disorders are classified in the United States. This standardized approach is used by mental health professionals, insurance companies and the legal system. Clinicians use the manual to assist in diagnosis by reading the general description and checking off the different criteria. Those mildly impacted by a syndrome will meet the minimum number of criteria, the seriously impaired will meet all of the qualitative and behavioral conditions. Prognosis usually depends on the severity of the disorder. Differential diagnosis is made by ruling out other diagnoses with similar symptomatology.
DSM-IV - new category 333.333 Politician Syndrome
DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Politician Syndrome
DSM-IV - new category 333.333 Politician Syndrome
DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Politician Syndrome
Bush recruits religious youth groups as ground troops for the 'drug wars'
What do advocating "religious hiring rights," a $4 billion workplace retraining bill, and the war on drugs have in common? The short answer: Bring on the faith-based organizations!
Although more than 30 months have passed since President Bush announced the centerpiece of his domestic agenda -- his faith-based initiative -- and no significant broader efforts to fund his initiative has emerged from Congress, the administration continues to move ahead on a number of fronts.
Bush's latest faith-based proposal involves enlisting religious youth groups in the war on drugs. According to the Washington Times, the administration recently printed 75,000 copies of a guidebook to the drug wars called "Pathways to Prevention: Guiding Youth to Wise Decisions." The 100-page pamphlet "seeks to teach youth leaders how to handle questions and concerns about substance abuse." In addition to the publication, there's a new Web site and an e-mail newsletter.
The new anti-drug project is built around three premises which are spelled out in a fact sheet titled "Marijuana and Kids: Faith":
Although more than 30 months have passed since President Bush announced the centerpiece of his domestic agenda -- his faith-based initiative -- and no significant broader efforts to fund his initiative has emerged from Congress, the administration continues to move ahead on a number of fronts.
Bush's latest faith-based proposal involves enlisting religious youth groups in the war on drugs. According to the Washington Times, the administration recently printed 75,000 copies of a guidebook to the drug wars called "Pathways to Prevention: Guiding Youth to Wise Decisions." The 100-page pamphlet "seeks to teach youth leaders how to handle questions and concerns about substance abuse." In addition to the publication, there's a new Web site and an e-mail newsletter.
The new anti-drug project is built around three premises which are spelled out in a fact sheet titled "Marijuana and Kids: Faith":
Even the national press has sounded the alarm about the "Straussians." The Bush administration, particularly its foreign policy team, has been and is still heavily influenced by neoconservative "intellectuals" who are themselves under the influence of the teachings of Leo Strauss. These include Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz; Abram Shulsky of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, Richard Perle of the Pentagon advisory board, and Elliott Abrams of the National Security Council.
Strauss, a refugee from Nazi Germany, came to America in the late 1930s and was particularly interested in political philosophy and the study of tyranny. He taught at the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s during the Cold War, when capitalism went on a global manic binge and liberalism died a silent death with its conversion to "liberal" capitalism (an oxymoran) and away from socialism (Death of the American Politic, BushWatch, August, 2003).
Strauss, a refugee from Nazi Germany, came to America in the late 1930s and was particularly interested in political philosophy and the study of tyranny. He taught at the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s during the Cold War, when capitalism went on a global manic binge and liberalism died a silent death with its conversion to "liberal" capitalism (an oxymoran) and away from socialism (Death of the American Politic, BushWatch, August, 2003).