[Am-info] Peace offering and my quiet thoughts

[Gene Gaines]

A peace offering after all the off-topic stuff here.

Great gateway-to-the Internet start page for browsers.
Sorry, US-centric.

This is page maintained for New York Times editorial and
research staff. You'll have to register with the New York Times
(free), and then the Cybetimes Navigator page will be available
to you without ads or graphics. At:

http://tech.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/cybertimesnavigator/index.html

I use this page often.

I am always interested in reading, and thinking, about facts
concerning our world.

Perhaps that is why I so much enjoy working at a volunteer tour
guide at the U.S. Capitol, greeting visitors from the U.S. and
abroad when they visit. The Capitol building, its artwork,
statues, and decorations in its rooms presents a compelling
story of our country, our great experiment in democracy.

I have lived my life thinking our country has contributed much
in a positive way to the world, to the environment around us.

We seem to be turning away from that way of thinking. I see
evidence after evidence of the growing thinking of "get them
before they get us", "you can't be neutral - you either agree
with my actions or you are against me", and "USA USA USA"
thinking.

I don't like this trend.  I consider it not moral, not fair to
the world around us, and also (not inconsequential) will do
great harm to our country, and probably in process doing harm
to the world.

How have we sunk so low? I think, in one sense, our media, the
outlets by which we obtain our information, have betrayed us.

It is now common thinking that the acts of our government can be
hidden from our citizens. It is common thinking that attacking
a person, even if that attack is not based in fact, is more
beneficial for the group making the attack than it would be to
talk about the facts of the situation or possible courses of
action.

It is evident, once again, for the little experiment conducted
on this list, that many people have adopted facts and beliefs
that are simply untrue.  Am I guilty of this also?  Why should
be different?  Because I am the only one that is right?  I don't
think so!

Very few Americans are in a position to directly touch what is
happening in the Middle East, in Israel, in Washington DC, in
our government agencies, and directly observe, and reach their
own conclusions. And it is clear that if the political parties
in power keep enough high-emotion accusations, high-emotion
alarms, and "never say your are sorry" words and images flowing,
then they will win.

Do I shame the people who accept such rant as fact? No. I do
blame our media, and our government (I don't give a damn what
party) for stripping away the controls that maintained a
relatively level playing for field for individuals.

Here is the kind of this that truly concerns me:

A stunning study concerning the beliefs of Bush supporters
across the country was published in July.  A summary:

* 75% believe Iraq was providing substantial support
         to al Qaeda.
* 74% believe Bush favors including labor and environmental
         standards in agreements on trade.
* 72% believe Iraq had WMD or a program to develop them.
* 72% believe Bush supports the treaty banning landmines.
* 69% believe Bush supports the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
* 61% believe if Bush knew there were no WMD he would not
         have gone to war.
* 60% believe most experts believe Iraq was providing
         substantial support to al Qaeda.
* 58% believe the Duelfer report concluded that Iraq had
         either WMD or a major program to develop them.
* 57% believe that the majority of people in the world
         would prefer to see Bush reelected.
* 56% believe most experts think Iraq had WMD.
* 55% believe the 9/11 report concluded Iraq was
         providing substantial support to al Qaeda.
* 51% believe Bush supports the Kyoto treaty.
* 20% believe Iraq was directly involved in 9/11.

The study is by two ethical, respected groups, full report here:
http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/Report10_21_04.pdf

How can I test whether the above study is correct, or perhaps
flawed, or perhaps an outright falsehood?

If anyone has information to the contrary, please let me know.

Perhaps here is a better test of what is true and what is
untrue. Below are 100 statements presented as facts.  At the
end is a link to the web site with links to the sources of all
these supposed facts.

Are these 100 statement true? False? Please, if you have
evidence to refute any of these 100 statements, please let me
know.


100 Facts and 1 Opinion
The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration
by Judd Legum

Click here to download, circulate and distribute a PDF version of this arti=
cle.

IRAQ

1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion
   on a war of choice in Iraq.

Source: American Progress

2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without
   adequate body armor or armored Humvees.

Sources: Fox News, The Boston Globe

3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric
   Shinseki that several hundred thousand troops would be
   required to secure Iraq.

Source: PBS

4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be
   greeted as liberators" in Iraq.

Source: The Washington Post

5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than
   1,000 US troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000
   have been injured.

Source: globalsecurity.org

6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier
   in a flight suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission
   Accomplished," and triumphantly announced that major combat
   operations were over in Iraq. Asked if he had any regrets
   about the stunt, Bush said he would do it all over again.

Source: Yahoo News

7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic
   base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for
   many years, but most especially on 9/11." The bipartisan
   9/11 Commission found that Iraq had no involvement in the
   9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship
   with Al Qaeda.

Source: MSNBC , 9-11 Commission

8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that
   high-strength aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only
   really suited for nuclear weapons programs," warning "we
   don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." The
   government's top nuclear scientists had told the Administration
   the tubes were "too narrow, too heavy, too long" to be of use
   in developing nuclear weapons and could be used for other
   purposes.

Source: New York Times

9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the
   $18.4 billion Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.

Source: USA Today

10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's
    inspector, Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that
    Hussein had passed illicit weapons material to al Qaeda
    or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to do
    so." After the release of the report, Bush continued to
    insist, "There was a risk--a real risk--that Saddam Hussein
    would pass weapons, or materials, or information to
    terrorist networks."

Sources: New York Times, White House news release

11. According to Duelfer, the UN inspections regime put an
    "economic strangle hold" on Hussein that prevented him
    from developing a WMD program for more than twelve years.

Source: Los Angeles Times

TERRORISM

12. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled
    "Bin Laden Determined to Attack America," President Bush
    continued his monthlong vacation.

Source: CNN.com

13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to
    capture Osama bin Laden when US forces had him cornered
    in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in November 2001.
    Instead, they relied on local warlords.

Source: csmonitor.com

14. The Bush Administration secured less nuclear material from
    sites around the world vulnerable to terrorists in the two
    years after 9/11 than were secured in the two years before
    9/11.

Source: nti.org

15. The Bush Administration underfunded Nunn-Lugar--the program
    intended to keep the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy
    out of the hands of terrorists and rogue states--by $45.5
    million.

Source: armscontrol.org

16. The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many
    agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has
    to track Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money.

Source: Associated Press

17. According to Congressional Research Service data, the Bush
    Administration has underfunded security at the nation's
    ports by more than $1 billion for fiscal year 2005.

Source: American Progress

18. The Bush Administration did not devote the resources
    necessary to prevent a resurgence in the production of
    poppies, the raw material used to create heroin, in
    Afghanistan--creating a potent new source of financing
    for terrorists.

Source: Pakistan Tribune

19. Vice President Cheney told voters that unless they elect
    George Bush in November, "we'll get hit again" by
    terrorists.

Source: Washington Post

20. Even though an Al Qaeda training manual suggests
    terrorists come to the United States and buy assault
    weapons, the Bush Administration did nothing to prevent
    the expiration of the ban.

Source: sfgate.com

21. Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are
    fewer experienced CIA agents assigned to the unit
    dealing with Osama bin Laden now than there were
    before 9/11.

Source: New York Times

22. Before 9/11, John Ashcroft proposed slashing
    counterterrorism funding by 23 percent.

Source: americanprogress.org

23. Between January 20, 2001, and September 10, 2001,
    the Bush Administration publicly mentioned Al Qaeda
    one time.

Source: commondreams.org

24. The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission
    $3 million to investigate the September 11 attacks
    and $50 million to the commission that investigated
    the Columbia space shuttle crash.

Source: commondreams.org

25. More than three years after 9/11, just 5 percent of
    all cargo--including cargo transported on passenger
    planes--is screened.

Source: commondreams.org

NATIONAL SECURITY

26. During the Bush Administration, North Korea quadrupled
    its suspected nuclear arsenal from two to eight weapons.

Source: New York Times

27. The Bush Administration has openly opposed the
    Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, undermining nuclear
    nonproliferation efforts.

Source: commondreams.org

28. The Bush Administration has spent $7 billion this year
    --and plans to spend $10 billion next year--for a missile
    defense system that has never worked in a test that
    wasn't rigged.

Sources: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf, Los Angeles Times

29. The Bush Administration underfunded the needs of the
    nation's first responders by $98 billion, according to
    a Council on Foreign Relations study.

Source: nationaldefensemagazine.org

CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION

30. The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar
    no-bid contract to Halliburton--a company that still
    pays Vice President Cheney hundreds of thousands of
    dollars in deferred compensation each year (Cheney
    also has Halliburton stock options). The company then
    repeatedly overcharged the military for services,
    accepted kickbacks from subcontractors and served
    troops dirty food.

Sources: The Washington Post, The Tapei Times, BBC News

31. The Bush Administration told Saudi Prince Bandar bin
    Sultan about plans to go to war with Iraq before
    telling Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Source: detnews.com

32. The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill
    containing $23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of
    which would have benefited major campaign contributors.

taxpayer.net, Washington Post

33. The Bush Administration paid Iraqi-exile and neocon
    darling Ahmad Chalabi $400,000 a month for intelligence,
    including fabricated claims about Iraqi WMD. It continued
    to pay him for months after discovering that he was
    providing inaccurate information.

Source: MSNBC

34. The Bush Administration installed as top officials more
    than 100 former lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for
    the industries they oversee.

Source: Source: commondreams.org

35. The Bush Administration let disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay
    --a close friend of President Bush--help write its
    energy policy.

Source: MSNBC

36. Top Bush Administration officials accepted $127,600 in
    jewelry and other presents from the Saudi royal family
    in 2003, including diamond-and-sapphire jewelry valued
    at $95,500 for First Lady Laura Bush.

Source: Seattle Times

37. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge awarded
    lucrative contracts to several companies in which he
    is an investor, including Microsoft, GE, Sprint, Pfizer
    and Oracle.

Source: cq.com

38. President Bush used images of firefighters carrying
    flag-draped coffins through the rubble of the World
    Trade Center to score political points in a campaign
    advertisement.

Source: The Washington Post

THE ECONOMY

39. President Bush's top economic adviser, Greg Mankiw,
    said the outsourcing of American jobs abroad was
    "a plus for the economy in the long run."

Source: CBS News

40. The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus
    into a $422 billion deficit.

Sources: Fortune, dfw.com

41. The Bush Administration implemented regulations that
    made millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay.

Source: epinet.org

42. The Bush Administration has crippled state budgets by
    underfunding federal mandates by $175 billion.

Source: cbpp.org

43. President Bush is the first President since Herbert
    Hoover to have a net loss of jobs--around 800,000--
    over a four-year term.

Source: The Guardian

44. The Bush Administration gave Accenture a
    multibillion-dollar border control contract even
    though the company moved its operations to Bermuda
    to avoid paying taxes.

Sources: The New York Times, cantonrep.com

45. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said "the vast
    majority of my tax cuts go to the bottom end of
    the spectrum." He passed the tax cuts, but the top
    20 percent of earners received 68 percent of the
    benefits.

Sources: cbpp.org, vote-smart.org

46. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to pay
    down the national debt to a historically low level.
    As of September 30, the national debt stood at
    $7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high.

Sources: www.georgewbush.com , Bureau of the Public Debt

47. As major corporate scandals rocked the nation's
    economy, the Bush Administration reduced the
    enforcement of corporate tax law--conducting fewer
    audits, imposing fewer penalties, pursuing fewer
    prosecutions and making virtually no effort to
    prosecute corporate tax crimes.

Source: iht.com

48. The Bush Administration increased tax audits for
    the working poor.

Source: theolympian.com

49. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to
    protect the Social Security surplus. As
    President, he spent all of it.

Sources: georgewbush.com, Congressional Budget Office

50. The Bush Administration proposed slashing funding for
    the largest federal public housing program, putting 2
    million families in danger of losing their housing.

Source: San Francisco Examiner

51. The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the
    minimum wage from falling to an inflation-adjusted
    fifty-year low.

Source: Los Angeles Times

EDUCATION

52. The Bush Administration underfunded the No Child
    Left Behind Act by $9.4 billion.

Source: nwitimes.com

53. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to
    increase the maximum federal scholarship, or
    Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead, each year he
    has been in office he has frozen or cut the
    maximum scholarship amount.

Source: Source: edworkforce.house.gov x

54. The Bush Administration's Secretary of Education,
    Rod Paige, called the National Education
    Association--a union of teachers--a "terrorist
    organization."

Sources: CNN.com

HEALTHCARE

55. The Bush Administration, in violation of the law,
    refused to allow Medicare actuary Richard Foster
    to tell members of Congress the actual cost of
    their Medicare bill. Instead, they repeated a
    figure they knew was $100 billion too low.

Source: Washington Post, realcities.com

56. The nonpartisan GAO concluded the Bush Administration
    created illegal, covert propaganda--in the form of fake
    news reports--to promote its industry-backed Medicare bill.

Source: General Accounting Office

57. The Bush Administration stunted research that could
    lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,
    iabetes, spinal injuries, heart disease and muscular
    dystrophy by placing severe restrictions on the use of
    federal dollars for embryonic stem-cell research.

Source: CBS News

58. The Bush Administration reinstated the "global gag
    rule," which requires foreign NGOs to withhold
    information about legal abortion services or lose
    US funds for family planning.

Source: healthsciences.columbia.edu

59. The Bush Administration authorized twenty companies
    that have been charged with fraud at the federal or
    state level to offer Medicare prescription drug cards
    to seniors.

Source: American Progress

60. The Bush Administration created a prescription drug
    card for Medicare that locks seniors into one card
    for up to a year but allows the corporations offering
    the cards to change their prices once a week.

Source: Washington Post

61. The Bush Administration blocked efforts to allow
    Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drug
    prices for seniors.

Source: American Progress

62. At the behest of the french fry industry, the Bush
    Administration USDA changed their definition of
    fresh vegetables to include frozen french fries.

Source: commondreams.org

63. In a case before the Supreme Court, the Bush
    Administrations sided with HMOs--arguing that patients
    shouldn't be allowed to sue HMOs when they are improperly
    denied treatment. With the Administration's help, the
    HMOs won.

Source: ABC News

64. The Bush Administration went to court to block
    lawsuits by patients who were injured by defective
    prescription drugs and medical devices.

Source: Washington Post

65. President Bush signed a Medicare law that allows
    companies that reduce healthcare benefits for retirees
    to receive substantial subsidies from the government.

Source: Bloomberg News

66. Since President Bush took office, more than 5 million
    people have lost their health insurance.

Source: CNN.com

67. The Bush Administration blocked a proposal to ban
    the use of arsenic-treated lumber in playground
    equipment, even though it conceded it posed a danger
    to children.

Source: Miami Herald

68. One day after President Bush bragged about his
    efforts to help seniors afford healthcare, the
    Administration announced the largest dollar increase
    of Medicare premiums in history.

Source: iht.com

69. The Bush Administration--at the behest of the tobacco
    industry--tried to water down a global treaty that
    aimed to help curb smoking.

Source: tobaccofreekids.org

70. The Bush Administration has spent $270 million on
    abstinence-only education programs even though there
    is no scientific evidence demonstrating that they
    are effective in dissuading teenagers from having
    sex or reducing the transmission of sexually
    transmitted diseases.

Source: salon.com

71. The Bush Administration slashed funding for programs
    that suggested ways, other than abstinence, to avoid
    sexually transmitted diseases.

Source: LA Weekly

ENVIRONMENT

72. The Bush Administration gutted clean-air standards
    for aging power plants, resulting in at least 20,000
    premature deaths each year.

Source: cta.policy.net

73. The Bush Administration eliminated protections on
    more than 200 million acres of public lands.

Source: calwild.org

74. President Bush broke his promise to place limits on
    carbon dioxide emissions, an essential step in
    combating global warming.

Source: Washington Post

75. Days after 9/11, the Bush Administration told people
    living near Ground Zero that the air was safe--even
    though they knew it wasn't--subjecting hundreds of
    people to unnecessary, debilitating ailments.

Source: Sierra Club , EPA

76. The Bush Administration created a massive tax loophole
    for SUVs--allowing, for example, the write-off of the
    entire cost of a new Hummer.

Source: Washington Post

77. The Bush Administration put former coal-industry big
    shots in the government and let them roll back safety
    regulations, putting miners at greater risk of black
    lung disease.

Source: New York Times

78. The Bush Administration said that even though the weed
    killer atrazine was seeping into water supplies--creating,
    among other bizarre creatures, hermaphroditic frogs--
    there was no reason to regulate it.

Source: Washington Post

79. The Bush Administration has proposed cutting the budget
    of the Environmental Protection Agency by $600 million
    next year.

Source: ems.org

80. President Bush broke his campaign promise to end the
    maintenance backlog at national parks. He has provided
    just 7 percent of the funds needed, according to National
    Park Service estimates.

Source: bushgreenwatch.org

RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES

81. Since 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft has detained
    5,000 foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps; none
    have been convicted of a terrorist crime.

Source: hrwatch.org

82. The Bush Administration ignored pleas from the
    International Committee of the Red Cross to stop the
    abuse of prisoners in US custody.

Source: Wall Street Journal

83. In violation of international law, the Bush
    Administration hid prisoners from the Red Cross so
    the organization couldn't monitor their treatment.

Source: hrwatch.org

84. The Bush Administration, without ever charging him
    with a crime, arrested US citizen Jos=E9 Padilla at an
    airport in Chicago, held him on a naval brig in
    South Carolina for two years, denied him access to a
    lawyer and prohibited any contact with his friends
    and family.

Source: news.findlaw.com

85. President Bush's top legal adviser wrote a memo to
    the President advising him that he can legally
    authorize torture.

Source: news.findlaw.com

86. At the direction of Bush Administration officials,
    the FBI went door to door questioning people planning
    on protesting at the 2004 political conventions.

Source: New York Times

87. The Bush Administration refuses to support the
    creation of an independent commission to investigate
    the abuse of foreign prisoners in American custody.
    Instead, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld selected
    the members of a commission to review the conduct of
    his own department.

Source: humanrightsfirst.org

FLIP FLOPS

88. President Bush opposed the creation of the 9/11
    Commission before he supported it, delaying an
    essential inquiry into one of the greatest
    intelligence failure in American history.

Source: americanprogressaction.org

89. President Bush said gay marriage was a state
    issue before he supported a constitutional
    amendment banning it.

Sources: CNN.com, White House

90. President Bush said he was committed to
    capturing Osama bin Laden "dead or alive"
    before he said, "I truly am not that concerned
    about him."

Source: americanprogressaction.org

91. President Bush said we had found weapons of mass
    destruction in Iraq, before he admitted we hadn't
    found them.

Sources: White House, americanprogress.org

92. President Bush said, "You can't distinguish
    between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about
    the war on terror," before he admitted Saddam
    had no role in 9/11.

Sources: White House, Washington Post

BIOGRAPHY

93. George Bush didn't come close to meeting his
    commitments to the National Guard. Records show he
    performed no service in a six-month period in 1972
    and a three-month period in 1973.

Source: boston.com

94. In June 1990 George Bush violated federal securities law
    when he failed to inform the SEC that he had sold 200,000
    shares of his company, Harken Energy. Two months later
    the company reported significant losses and by the end
    of that year the stock had dropped from $3 to $1.

Source: The Guardian

95. When asked at an April 2004 press conference to name a
    mistake he made during his presidency, Bush couldn't
    think of one.

Source: White House

SECRECY

96. The Bush Administration refuses to release twenty-seven
    pages of a Congressional report that reportedly detail
    the Saudi Arabian government's connections to the 9/11
    hijackers.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

97. Last year the Bush Administration spent $6.5 billion
    creating 14 million new classified documents and
    securing old secrets--the highest level of spending
    in ten years.

Source: openthegovernment.org

98. The Bush Administration spent $120 classifying documents
    for every $1 it spent declassifying documents.

Source: openthegovernment.org

99. The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars
    and defied numerous court orders to conceal from the
    public who participated in Vice President Cheney's 2001
    energy task force.

Source: Washington Post

100.The Bush Administration--reversing years of bipartisan
    tradition--refuses to answer requests from Democratic
    members of Congress about how the White House is
    spending taxpayer money.

Source: Washington Post

ONE OPINION

If the past informs the future, four more years of the Bush
Administration will be a tragic period in the history of the
United States and the world.

Above, including to links to all source documents, at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=3D20041108&s=3Dfacts