Dump Duhbya

‘extensive corporate involvement’ in our Judiciary

Bush’s Court Nominees

To the Editor:

Re “Mixed Results for Bush in Battles Over Judges” (“The Bush Record” series, front page, Oct. 22):

The president’s nominees to federal circuit courts have been judged conservative for their stands on hot-button issues like abortion. But a review of their financial disclosure forms and Senate questionnaires reveals that the nominees are more notable for their close ties to corporate and economic interests, especially the energy and mining industries.

Some of them were paid lobbyists for those same interests. Further, the nominees with industry ties were overwhelmingly appointed to circuit courts regarded as traditional battlegrounds over litigation affecting these industries. Independent observers we’ve talked to who follow the federal bench believe that the extensive corporate involvement among so many of the nominees is unprecedented.

Burton Glass
Executive Director
Center for Investigative Reporting
San Francisco, Oct. 22, 2004

Dump Duhbya

100,000+ Iraqis Dead

Times Online – World

Researchers claims that 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died in war
By Sam Lister, Health Correspondent and Michael Evans, Defence Editor
MORE than 100,000 civilians have died as a result of the allied invasion of Iraq in March last year, the first study of mortality in the country claims today.

The research, conducted in Iraq last month by a team of American and Iraqi researchers, will be published on the online edition of The Lancet, the medical journal.

It suggests that most civilian deaths have been due to military activity, with those caused by violence rising sharply in recent months.

The figures far exceed all previous estimates. Their publication just five days before the US presidential election are bound to cause controversy by reinforcing the impression that events are out of control. …

In coming to a total of 100,000 civilian deaths, the team excluded Fallujah, where two thirds of the violent deaths recorded have occurred.

Experts said that including this area, where collecting data remains highly dangerous, would push the total number of civilian deaths much higher.

Dump Duhbya

The End is Near

A few thoughts as we enter the last week:

Duhbya says Kerry doesn’t have the resolve for the “War On Terror”. Kerry has been campaigning hard for over a year. Kerry has shown is resolve. Bush, in turn, shows how isolated and insulated he is.

After the debates, fact-checkers and Right-wingers jumped on “$200 Billion” spent in Iraq, when the correct figure was closer to $120B. Today, we learn Bush will ask for $70B more just for 2005. $190B within a couple of weeks of the debates.

A few hundred tons of tremendously powerful explosives with potential as detonators of nuclear bombs are missing from Iraq. The location was well known before the invasion (unlike all the WMDs we can’t find). Now, these explosives are missing. Does Duhbya deserve the blame? He sure does.

In ads and speeches, BushCo say Kerry tried to gut Intelligence more than a decade ago. Conveniently, they ignore that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney sought similar cuts and the new CIA Director, Porter Goss, Republican, sought even deeper cuts.

Bush & Company are unworthy of their office. And they had 4 years they never deserved to prove that point. Vote the Rats Out. mjh

Would Kerry Throw Us To The Wolves?

A new Bush ad claims Kerry supported cuts in intelligence — so deep they would have weakened America’s defenses against terrorists, and shows a pack of hungry-looking wolves preparing to attack. Actually, the cut Kerry proposed in 1994 amounted to less than 4 percent, as part of a proposal to cut many programs to reduce the deficit.

And in 1995 Porter Goss, who is now Bush’s CIA Director, co-sponsored an even stronger deficit-elimination measure that would have cut CIA personnel by 20 percent over five years. When asked about that at his confirmation hearings he didn’t disavow it.

An Avalanche of Misinformation

Two misleading Bush ads accusing Kerry of supporting tax increases on gasoline and middle-class parents were running heavily last week. According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group of TNS Media Intelligence, which tracks TV ads in the top 100 markets, the two Bush ads accounted for nearly half of the estimated $16 million spent by Bush and the Republican National Committee during that week alone.

Both ads repeat claims we’ve repeatedly disputed here. They both attempt to portray Kerry as eager to raise taxes on middle-income taxpayers, which Kerry has said consistently he won’t do. One ad characterizes Kerry’s votes against proposed tax cuts as votes to “raise taxes,” an outright falsehood.

Theirs

Dark Sky Appreciation Night on Wednesday, 10/27/04

Star Search

New Mexico is observing Dark Sky Appreciation Night on Wednesday, 10/27/04. And this year, the event coincides with prime viewing conditions — a total lunar eclipse beginning around 8:23 p.m. …

In the United States, less than 10 percent of the population can see the Milky Way. …

At Chaco Culture National Historical Park 70 miles south of Farmington, park guide GB Cornucopia said the sky is almost as dark as when ancestors of the Pueblo Indians lived there a thousand years ago. “The constellations, the moon, the planets — it’s the same sky they saw, with few changes.”

But during his 18 years at the park, the glow from Crownpoint, 40 miles to the south has increased, and increasingly he sees light pollution emanating from as far as Rio Rancho and Albuquerque. …

While the night sky is the part of the environment that has changed the least over the years, most people no longer experience it in the same way as their ancestors.

“That saddens me,” Cornucopia said. “The more light pollution we create, the less we understand the nature of the world we live in. Keeping it accessible is real important.”

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams