Friday, July 30, 2004
Florida GOP admits paperless voting a problem
Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has tried for months to persuade Florida voters touchscreen voting machines are reliable. His own party apparently hasn't gotten the message.
The state GOP paid for a flier critical of the new technology and sent it to some south Florida voters where a primary election is scheduled next month.
"The new electronic voting machines do not have a paper ballot to verify your vote in case of a recount," the message states. "Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee ballot today."
That's what Democrats and a coalition of civil rights groups have been saying in legal challenges, trying to force the state to provide a paper trail in case the touchscreen machines malfunction.
How many ways must we say it?? (via Body and Soul.)
posted by chris at 2:15 PM
Pakistan's July surprise
Remember this?
A third source, an official who works under ISI's director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis "have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before [the] election is [an] absolute must." What's more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: "The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq's] meetings in Washington." Says McCormack: "I'm aware of no such comment." But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Well, it wasn't Osama (maybe they're saving that one for the election), but Pakistan's off the hook:
Pakistan says it has arrested a senior al Qaeda figure wanted for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed hundreds of people.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat identified the man as Ahmed Khalfan Ghailini and said he was a Tanzanian national wanted for the synchronised bombings that killed more than 200 people at the U.S. embassy in Kenya and 11 at the embassy in Tanzania.
I'm not so sure it did the trick though. (More here.)
posted by chris at 10:08 AM
Team Bush's solution to job problems
A campaign worker for President Bush said on Thursday American workers unhappy with low-quality jobs should find new ones -- or pop a Prozac to make themselves feel better.
"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?" said Susan Sheybani, an assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt.
The comment was apparently directed to a colleague who was transferring a phone call from a reporter asking about job quality, and who overheard the remark.
When told the Prozac comment had been overheard, Sheybani said: "Oh, I was just kidding."
Riiiight. Cause it's not Bush's policies or anything, it's just that these workers in low-paying jobs should suck it up, pop a pill and relax, already. And how is someone with a low paying job going to be able to afford a Prozac prescription anyway, especially considering the fact that Bush doesn't want to help them out with decent health care? And I'm not saying that this is actually Bush's view of things, but it seems indicative of the types of people he surrounds himself with. People that are concerned with helping themselves, not the rest of us.
(Thanks be to Atrios.)
posted by chris at 9:49 AM
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Wednesday, July 28, 2004
War profiteering
In the months and years leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, they marched together in the vanguard of those who advocated war.
As lobbyists, public relations counselors and confidential advisors to senior federal officials, they warned against Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, praised exiled leader Ahmad Chalabi, and argued that toppling Saddam Hussein was a matter of national security and moral duty.
Now, as fighting continues in Iraq, they are collecting tens of thousands of dollars in fees for helping business clients pursue federal contracts and other financial opportunities in Iraq. For instance, a former Senate aide who helped get U.S. funds for anti-Hussein exiles who are now active in Iraqi affairs has a $175,000 deal to advise Romania on winning business in Iraq and other matters.
-clip-
Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey is a prominent example of the phenomenon, mixing his business interests with what he contends are the country's strategic interests. He left the CIA in 1995, but he remains a senior government advisor on intelligence and national security issues, including Iraq. Meanwhile, he works for two private companies that do business in Iraq and is a partner in a company that invests in firms that provide security and anti-terrorism services.
Woolsey said in an interview that he was not directly involved with the companies' Iraq-related ventures. But as a vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm, he was a featured speaker in May 2003 at a conference co-sponsored by the company at which about 80 corporate executives and others paid up to $1,100 to hear about the economic outlook and business opportunities in Iraq.
Before the war, Woolsey was a founding member of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, an organization set up in 2002 at the request of the White House to help build public backing for war in Iraq. He also wrote about a need for regime change and sat on the CIA advisory board and the Defense Policy Board, whose unpaid members have provided advice on Iraq and other matters to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Woolsey is part of a small group that shows with unusual clarity the interlocking nature of the way the insider system can work. Moving in the same social circles, often sitting together on government panels and working with like-minded think tanks and advocacy groups, they wrote letters to the White House urging military action in Iraq, formed organizations that pressed for invasion and pushed legislation that authorized aid to exile groups.
The conflict-of-interest argument is a red herring. The key thing to note is that profit motives often led various people to advocate for war. Not high-minded ideals of freeing the Iraqi people or making the world a safer place. But making Iraq a safer place to do business.
(Thanks, Jason, for the link)
posted by chris at 4:04 PM
This doesn't bode well
Two computer crashes last year destroyed most of the electronic records from recent Miami-Dade County elections, raising fears about the touch-screen technology the county bought to prevent a debacle similar to the 2000 presidential election.
Elections officials say they that have since fixed the problem, and that the crashes occurred long after any potential call for a recount passed. For at least 10 days after an election, they say, the votes are kept in a memory device called a ``flash card.''
''Immediately after the elections, the flash cards still exist,'' said Seth Kaplan, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Department of Elections. ``They could have done a recount.''
Still, the department has no idea what caused the server to crash in May and November 2003 and erase nearly all of the electronic data from the previous year's gubernatorial primary and general election.
Remind me again why we don't need a paper trail?
posted by chris at 3:46 PM
The deficit monster continues to grow
The White House will project soon that this year's federal deficit will exceed $420 billion, congressional aides said, a record figure certain to ignite partisan warfare over President Bush's handling of the economy.
The annual summertime analysis is expected out this Friday, said several congressional aides speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday. That would be well after the frequently ignored legal deadline of July 15.
White House budget office spokesman Chad Kolton said the report will be issued when it is ready, and offered no date. Friday will be a day after the Democratic National Convention ends — a release date that would prevent presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, and others at the gathering from citing its figures to criticize Bush.
And they've already got the spin down.
Either way, the White House was ready to emphasize that the figure is well below the $521 billion it projected for this year last February, and tie it to improvements in the economy.
"It is hard to disregard the strong progress made on the economy and our fiscal situation," Kolton said Tuesday.
Listen for that statement echoed across the networks.
posted by chris at 3:35 PM
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Monday, July 26, 2004
Two worlds
Business as usual or is another world possible?
posted by chris at 4:44 PM
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