] There was Bush looking under furniture in a fruitless,
] frustrating search. "Those weapons of mass destruction
] have got to be somewhere," he said.

ah ha! AH HA HA! Thats right - since there apparently never WERE any, just move the goal posts and make the whole WMD thing out to be one big joke! Guess those 600 (and rising) BODY BAGS of US soldiers that have been coming home in a steady stream for the last 12 months are a joke too?

B.A.S.T.A.R.D. -LB

Bush pokes fun at himself at dinner

Humble pie anyone??? -LB

Rumsfeld gets nailed.

] Texas Safe Voting reviewed the videotapes of the January
] 2004 closed meetings used to review voting systems for
] certification (the videos were acquired by open records
] requests).
]
] What we saw may shock you. Here's a two minute clip, in
] Windows and Quicktime format. The clips show how the
] state of Texas examines voting machines for
] certification.
]
] A group of examiners reviews voting systems, and makes
] certification recommendations to the Secretary of State.
] You might think that these examiners would conduct a
] comprehensive testing process, assessing the voting
] machines against a set of detailed critieria and
] discussing the underlying code.
]
] But there was nothing on the videotapes that resembled a
] testing process. The examiners didn't start with a set of
] criteria to test against. They didn't even start with a
] comparison the new machines to the older versions.
] Instead, the Diebold representatives gave a demo.
] Reviewers voted on the machines and looked at the final
] output. A few of the committee members watched closely,
] while others chatted together.

This is a _must_ see.

Texas Safe Voting - Leaked Video of Texas Certification of Diebold Machines

] After many postponements, the trial for DragonCon founder
] and science fiction writer Ed Kramer, accused of
] molesting three teenage boys, is scheduled to begin in
] May.
]
] A trial date has been deferred several times since Kramer
] was arrested in almost four years ago. Most recently, the
] case was postponed in November after a third boy came
] forward with accusations of sexual abuse and
] Kramer's attorneys asked for a continuance. A new
] date has been set for May 3, prosecutors said Wednesday.

I look forward to seeing this resolved.

DragonCon founder's trial to start in May

] NEW DELHI, India. Secretary of State Colin Powell
] said here Tuesday that outsourcing U.S. companies
] hiring workers abroad to take the place of U.S. employees
] is "a reality of the 21st century," but that India
] should do more to offset the loss of U.S. jobs by opening
] its market to American goods.

TRANSLATION - "Its an election year and I'm just anoteer stooge trying to drum up the black vote for the GOP - just like I did back in 2000. This is a desperate plea to refrain from taking more votes from my boss till after November." -LB

Powell prods India on outsourcing

] The Justice Department investigation that criticized FBI
] agents for taking items from the World Trade Center site
] also found that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and a
] high-ranking FBI official kept items from the Sept. 11
] attack scenes.
]
] The final investigatory report said the Justice
] Department inspector general confirmed that Rumsfeld
] ''has a piece of the airplane that flew into the
] Pentagon.'' The Associated Press obtained a copy of the
] report Friday.

Thats smart Rummy. Really. -LB

Rumsfeld kept plane piece from 9/11

] The government's top expert on Medicare costs was told
] not to tell key lawmakers about cost estimates that could
] have torpedoed the White House-backed Medicare
] prescription-drug plan.
]
] Richard Foster, the chief actuary for the Centers for
] Medicare and Medicaid Services, told colleagues last June
] that he would be fired if he revealed a number higher
] than some lawmakers said they would approve.
]
] When the House of Representatives passed the
] controversial benefit by five votes in November, the
] White House was embracing an estimate by the
] Congressional Budget Office that it would cost $395
] billion in the first 10 years.
]
] But for months the administration's analysts in the
] Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had concluded
] that the drug benefit could cost upward of $100 billion
] more than that.

[ So, they lied. Again. And not in a pseudo-mistruth, beating-around-the-bush kind of way. In an outright, unprincipled, we-need-this-political-victory-at-all-costs kind of way. The bill passed by 5 votes. More than 5 people would have jumped ship had they known the number was closer to $500 B than $400 B. It's stunning how much total bullshit this administration is willing to shovel.
Also, on the heels of all this indignation over Kerry calling them a bunch of liars, this couldn't be better timing. See, dammit, you *are* liars. Bush's people lied, conspired to get a bill passed under false cost estimates, all while the main administrator was interviewing for private sector jobs (which he eventually got, jumping the HHS ship). Completely outrageous. -k]

Charlotte Observer | 03/12/2004 | Medicare cost expert muzzled

QUOTE: On April 24, 2003, President Bush traveled to Timken Company’s Canton plant to promote his tax plan. In a speech to workers, he promised that the tax cut plan “means more money for investments, more money for growth and more money for jobs.”

Numerous studies have refuted that claim, showing that while the President's tax cuts rewarded wealthy Americans with tens of thousands of dollars in tax windfalls, the rest of America actually received relatively little. The average Bush tax cut for the wealthiest one percent of Americans is $938,000, reports Citizens for Tax Justice.

According to Reuters, the Chairman of Timken Company, W.R. Timken, made $2.62 million in 2003, clearly placing him in the wealthiest one percent of Americans.

Two months later, W.R. Timken co-hosted a fundraiser for Bush’s campaign in Akron which raised $600,000, and earned Timken ‘Ranger’ status (for those who raise more than $200,000 for the campaign).

Then, in September last year, Timken Company announced it was laying off 700 workers, adding more pain to one of the jobless recovery's most hardest-hit states.

[ Dude, trickle down works. That $600,000 will support at least a dozen people in the dirty-campaign-ad industry. Um, maybe one or two of those 700 unemployed plant workers can get in on the action -- sweeping the studio floor, taking out the trash, etc.

Campaign Money Watch

] Attorney General John Ashcroft remained in intensive care
] Thursday, and aides said he was gradually recovering from
] gall bladder surgery performed two days ago.

/me prays for a blood clot. -LB

Ashcroft remains in intensive care

] Mexican President Vicente Fox said Saturday that
] President Bush had backed off a plan to require frequent
] Mexico-U.S. travelers to be fingerprinted and
] photographed before crossing the border.

Any semblance of this double standard by Shrub as a pathetic attempt to shore up the Latino vote in an election year is mere coincidence. –LB

Bush backs off fingerprinting plan for Mexican visitors