IT'S TEN TIME!

Bush's Job Projections v. Reality

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Texas Cage Match Bush Truths vs. Bush Lies in a Winner Take All!

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Orcinus provided earlier color to Bush's 'bipartisan' intelligence panel. You know, the gang that is going to ferret out any wrongdoing by the White House and other parties concerning Iraqi intelligence?

Well, we can add a bit more.

From K-R's Washington Bureau comes the following:

Critics charged that the commission was unlikely to tackle some of the most politically sensitive areas of inquiry, including allegations that administration officials pressured intelligence analysts and distorted intelligence findings to boost the case for war. Administration critics also would like to see an investigation into the administration's prewar claims about an as-yet-to-be-proved link between Iraq and al-Qaida terrorists.

"If (Saddam) Hussein and al-Qaida were not allied, then Iraq was not a direct threat to the United States ... regardless of its WMD capabilities," said Charles Pena, the director of defense policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research center.

"The commission has been told to ignore the elephant in the middle of the room, which is how the intelligence was used and misused by President Bush, Vice President (Dick) Cheney and other senior administration officials," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Pena of Cato said the commission appeared to be "an effort to scapegoat" the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

"The commission is bipartisan, but that doesn't tell you anything," Pena said. "This is not a commission that is going to be extremely critical of the administration."

Silberman is known as a tough-minded conservative who never shies from a dispute. He was appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan and had been considered a top contender for Supreme Court slots that Reagan and the first President Bush filled.

In 1991, Silberman denied reports that he'd threatened to punch Judge Abner Mikva during a dispute over an affirmative action case.

In a letter published in Legal Times, Silberman said he told Mikva, "If you were 10 years younger I would be tempted to punch you in the nose." Silberman added that Mikva "did not become 10 years younger," and said the two never came to blows.

Robb, a son-in-law of former President Lyndon Johnson through his wife, Lynda, long has advocated a tough policy toward Saddam.

As a member of the Senate in 1998, Robb advocated lifting an executive order banning political assassinations, as a warning to Saddam. At the time, he said he considered Iraq "far more dangerous than I think the American people fully appreciate."

Robb, who lost a 2000 re-election campaign to Republican Sen. George Allen, is now a professor at George Mason University in Virginia.

Read more. Learn stuff

So, it appears at this early hour that bipartisan ain't likely to equate to impartial. Impartiality is what this country deserves. This needs much closer scrutiny. Bush should not be able to hand pick the members of a panel that could very well investigate him. In fact, it should. The Iraq war redux was, by and large, a Bush war.

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Oh, the irony. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush asked Congress to eliminate an $8.2 million research program on how to decontaminate buildings attacked by toxins - the same day a poison-laced letter shuttered Senate offices.

Now that's a link! All kidding aside, please read the full article. I meant to post it from a U.S. source yesterday, but it slipped through the deep crevasses that scar the landscape of my grey matter. I like the British press better anyway.

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Too much political bs today. I need SCIENCE!

Before I post the next link, I need to ask a rhetorical question. Am I the only one that feels like they've been hit squarely in the forehead with a large wooden mallet any time 'Bush' and 'intelligence' are incorporated in same sentence? I hope not. Onward.

Spirit and Opportunity are gettin' down! You can get yours by clicking that link.

I have always regarded RealPlayer to be a virus. I have a special loathing for it in its current version. I'll tell you why. I do some site development. Not a great deal, but some. If I write a script, or a series of scripts that won't execute on a Pentium II 233Mhz machine because of the processor load, I won't sell it. I'm sure you're thinking, "what the hell does this have to do with RealPlayer?" Good question. In RealPlayer's current versions, it won't play streaming video with the old processor. Boy, do I feel better. Oh, and the point of this post, that POS media player has security flaws to go along with CPU cycle intensive coding.

You know that you're bright, but did you know reading bs can be good for the ole noggin? In light of this evidence I'll use more of wide range of verbs to illustrate my points floridly. Heh.

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This piece demonstrates the nexus between politics, hard science, and engineering; to any engineers that think this a slight, I am an MSEE, and I assure you it is not. Those irrepressible macaps at the NAS are questioning Bush's timelines regarding commercially available hydrogen powered transportation. Sure it's an NYT piece, but the author raises questions that geeks like me deal with on a daily basis. Check it!

This is chore tonight. Either I missed much today, or was transfixed by Bush's utter contempt for the truth.

Aha! Another one I missed. I meant to post an entry about the Hubble's future some days ago, but it's that whole mental porosity issue again.

Engineer's Papers Dispute Hubble Decision so reads the headline. The short version is that the Hubble will most likely die in orbit within three years unless we send a manned mission up to conduct maintenance. Read and learn.

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It looks like The Times is going to get the gold star today. As if you haven't heard enough about Iraq today. Well, I'm ending with another Iraq piece. This one is more of a summation of the Administration's lack of a coherent message towards weeks end than anything. It is short. A couple of minutes of your time is all it will take. I promise.

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Well, that was a struggle. I'll try and come up with a better mix tomorrow. To be frank, I can't see how I can fail in that.