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Sidney Blumenthal: Bush Ruins His Dad's CIA
Share / Recommend - Comment - Print - Thursday, May 11, 06, 8:16AM
(President George Bush and his pal, former CIA Director Porter Goss)
One of the enduring passions of President George H.W. Bush has been the study of national security intelligence and the institutions that support a central intelligence structure inside a liberal democracy.
That is right up there as one of President Bush's dad's biggest hobbies.
But the CIA has been fantastically mismanaged during the tenure of Bush 41's son, our current president.
Sidney Blumenthal writes in Salon:
Acting on the president's charge, Goss in effect purged the CIA. He was even conducting lie detector interrogations of officers to root out the sources of stories leaked to the press -- to the Washington Post, for example, in its Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of CIA "black site" prisons where detainees are jailed without any due process, Red Cross inspection or Geneva Conventions protection. Last month, a CIA agent, Mary McCarthy, was fired for her contact with a reporter. Like others subjected to questioning, she was asked her political affiliation.But Goss' purging weakened the agency and his own inherent bureaucratic strength in relation to his voracious rivals at the Directorate of National Intelligence and the Pentagon. The more he served as the president's loyalist, the less was his power. By fulfilling his mission, he diminished himself. The butcher's defense of the integrity of the CIA from the directorate and the Pentagon lacked all conviction.
Goss' attempt to run the CIA through his own band of loyalists proved his ultimate undoing. It turned out that the "gosslings," as they were known at Langley (after "quislings"), had unsavory connections that trailed them into the agency. An unintended consequence of Goss' dependence on his team of political hatchet men was that his future was dependent on their past.
As Goss parried with Negroponte and Rumsfeld, federal investigators began to close in on his third-ranked official, in charge of contracting, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, for possibly granting illegal contracts to Brent Wilkes, the military contractor named as "co-conspirator No. 1" in the indictment of convicted former Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now serving eight years in prison for accepting $2.4 million in bribes. Wilkes, who gave $630,000 in cash and favors to Cunningham, remains under investigation by prosecutors. Cunningham has confessed to accepting a $100,000 bribe from "co-conspirator No. 1." Wilkes' business associate, Mitchell Wade, has pleaded guilty to bribing Cunningham.
For years, Wilkes hosted "hospitality suites" at the Watergate Hotel for House members and other associates that involved poker games and, allegedly, prostitutes. That, too, is under investigation. Foggo has admitted his presence, but "just for poker." At least six House members, unnamed so far, are alleged to have participated. Goss has denied attending as CIA director, but not as an elected representative. Yet another hand at the poker table has been identified as Brant Bassett, aka "Nine Fingers." Bassett was Goss' staff director on the House Intelligence Committee and was hired as a consultant to the CIA's Directorate of Operations.
Foggo and Wilkes are best friends going back to high school in suburban San Diego. They were roommates at San Diego State, where they were members of the Young Republicans, were best men at each other's weddings, and named their sons after each other. Wilkes pays for a joint wine locker for them at the Capital Grille steakhouse favored by lobbyists and Republican legislators.
The White House announcement of Goss' resignation was incredibly abrupt, without advance warning or a named successor. White House aides frenetically briefed the press that the sole reason was an internecine conflict between Goss and Negroponte. But such an internal controversy could have been managed for a smooth transition. Something else appeared to be at work.
Indeed, in March, the CIA's inspector general had launched an investigation into Foggo's relationship with Wilkes, who had received CIA contracts in Iraq. Three days after Goss left, Foggo quit, too. In a highly unusual development, two days later, on Wednesday, the special agent in charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's investigation in the "Duke" Cunningham case, Rick Gwin, spoke publicly: "This is much bigger and wider than just Randy 'Duke' Cunningham," he told Southern California's North County Times. "All that has just not come out yet, but it won't be much longer and then you will know just how widespread this is."
Former State Department Chief of Staff and retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson has made the point in meetings I've been to with him that Rumsfeld and the President are also "breaking the military."
Other retired generals, General Anthony Zinni most recently at a Council on Foreign Relations dinner Tuesday evening, are pounding on the same point. The military is coming off its wheels.
The American public needs to think about its future and what things are going to look like when American pretensions about its place in the world, its commitments to other allies, and its need to oppose ill-doing thugs and rogue regimes (yes, there are some) are simply unsupportable and crumble because of the missteps, dereliction of responsibility, and arrogance of those now in power.
-- Steve Clemons
Reader Comments (31) - post a comment
The time is rapidly approaching when the American people will need to do more than just think. If we are not prepared to do more, the consequences may be irreversible.
The Romans had the games to keep the populace in check--will TV, "idols" and shopping suffice for us. In all countries there is always a part of the population that is hard rock facist, they need just a small percentage of the others to go beyond the point of no return. We saw it happen in Gremany and Italy, I saw it happen in Greece.
It can happen here and time may be running out.
If Bush41 was a man of principles, he'd be speaking out against what Junior's up to. He did say that the worst kind of treason was the outing of a covert operative (and he'd know), yet he hasn't called for Rove to resign (or even give up his clearance), even through surrogates (Heya Brent!).
Thing is, he isn't. Bar can make noise about changing his inner circle words in all she wants, and HW can cosy up to BillC all he wants, but from what I have seen he simply isn't a man who'll put country before kin.
Slightly OT, but did anyone see the Drudge headline the other day (complete with siren, natch); "Dems Plot House Takeover". Has the concept of democracy died this much?
One of your best blogs, Steve. The revolt by the military with regard to this Administration is one of the most encouraging things as of late.
Marica (comment above) is right. It will take American's organizing in a permanent way to fight and reverse the groving fascism that is taking over our government. Until we come together in numbers, our elections will continue to be rigged and the elites will continue their destoying of America's ideals and promise.
Bush's signing statements allow him to make up or ignore any law of his choosing. Today it was revealed that the NSA has used the major telecom companies to spy on Americans. Every day there is one more piece of evidence that we live under a dictatorship.
In addition to endlessly playing the "fear card" to scare the American people into supporting the neo-con agenda, we have been subjected to countless lies by the Bush cabal that have looted our treasury and sacrificed our young people while making this administration's friends and contributors in the Military-Industrial Complex and Big Oil ever richer. Name one thing this Administration has done that has benefitted all Americans or invested in the future? From these illegal wars to denial of global warming, its all been a sacrifice of average Americans and our future to enrich the top 1% and Multinational Corporations at our expense.
When one of the few gutsy Democrats steps up, like Feingold or Murtha, they get no support.
As Monica says, most Americans are misinformed by government propaganda disseminated by the corporate media (or distracted by sensationalism by the same CM).
Only the Internet has the potential to save this country. And now there is a proposal to limit and control that.
Here are some websites I just ran across today that apply to all of this:
http://davidsirota.com/index.php/2006/05/10/the-real-mainstream/
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/05/10.html#a8240
And, here is a great book, that explains the last 5 years, I wish every American would read:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931498938/qid=1147357950/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-4317972-7590358?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
re the military: are you aware gang members are now recruited and serving in iraq (gang tags are showing up all over). useful, no, that urban warfare experience gained can now be brought back home. in addition to signing up autistic kids. and, oh yeah, out of iowa is a story about a 52yo grandmother, just months shy of her exit from reserve guard service, who was shipped off to iraq for the next 18 months. guess she was one of the unfortunate ones denied resignation through stop-loss.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051002061.html
What Nonsense!
The CIA has always been an agency used as a para-military arm of corporations to enact regime change, and to create fear for political advantage of incumbants.
What is different NOW is the internet - private citizens can now respond in REAL TIME to executive branch propaganda. Gorbachev survived because bloggers were able to refute the Kremlin stories and keep track of where he actually was; Marcos was likewise able to refute "offical" Mexican troop movements in Chiapas.
George H. Bush did have a more realistic view of the world, and considerably more experience. THAT is the difference, NOT how the CIA functions. After all it was George H. Bush that laid the groundwork for moving the neocons from the Democratic Party into the GOP in 1976 with the formation of Team B, with the help of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.
Lying to citizenry to persuade them to fight goes back at least to the Greeks, as Leo Strauss taught his students. (as Did Porter Goss). The Romans likewise lied its citizenry to support war.
The term "Yellow Journalism" was coined during the American Spanish War when William Randolph Hearst sent a reporter to Cuba to investigate the destruction of the USS Maine (by a coal dust explosion inside the hull). Finding no evidence of Spanish brutality, Wm Hearst told his reporter not to worry, instructing him to "Supply some photographs, I'll supply the war".
Since WWII, the CIA is the major vehicle in generating "reasons" for going to war. This happened in Vietnam (bay of Tonkin), various Latin American Countries, In the First Gulf War, in the USSR-Afghan War, Panama, Grenada, and the first Gulf War. What is different now is that one can respond in real time to the phony allegations, and compete for the truth. An recent overview, see "Cooking the Books: A requirement for Aggressive War" http://tinyurl.com/jam34
For some links to Rumsfeld/Cheney's past role try:
The BBC documentary "Terror of Nightmares" http://tinyurl.com/6znfg
Dr. Cahn's "Team B: The trillion-dollar experiment" http://tinyurl.com/agd3d
For the the First Gulf War, try the Christian Science Moniter article, "In war, some facts less factual"
http://tinyurl.com/kuv3
or UCLA's Dr. Kellner's "The Road to War" for a more scholarly, in depth approach http://tinyurl.com/o4pqb
Carter, Reagan, and even Clinton were all complicent.
Seymour Hersch's take on Saddam's alleged 1993 assassination attempt on George H.Bush during the Clinton years , "A Case Not Closed" http://tinyurl.com/7tkba
And of course Zbigniew Brzezinski uner Carter started the whole radical Islamic mess, expanded by Reagan to ostensibly speed up the demise of the Soviet Union. It worked, from the short run point of view, but the long run blowback invariably costs us more than the short run gain.
So, whenever you hear the Slogan of War : "WE SHALL NOT BACK DOWN" " know there is some Phd, "Piling it Higher and Deeper" devoid of much spiritual or ethical experience or knowledge trying to persuade you NOT to "turn the other cheek but rather kill other human beings only on the say-so of some dictator/decider.
PS The assertion that Gen Hayden was appointed as a counterveiling force to Rumsfeld I find equally absurd. The trademark of this administration is Loyalty, and centrally controlled, as opposed to market driven, solutions. This move consolidates Rumsfelds Intelligence gathering power for generating support and executing war, and puts that effort under his EXCLUSIVE control. Haydens role is to concentrate on technical DOMESTIC surveilance, to devise means for silencing the dissent that is believed to have undermined the Vietnam War.
PPS Madeline "Why have an Army if you're not going to use it" Albright actually reads Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad letter to President Bush correctly. To those that write:
"by not addressing the nuclear concerns that are on the table right now, the letter sadly provides little hope of deescalating the current tensions."
I would respond:
" by not addressing the universally understood moral, ethical, and spiritual concerns that have been at issue for decades, but by insisting on limiting discussion to absurd, technical complicated fabricated fear mongering, such replys sadly provides little hope of deescalating the current tensions."
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" -- Voltaire
and, if you didn't catch it, jonathan turley had a scathing op ed about the soprano-style governance of this administration. in addition, his appearance on countdown is up at crooksandliars and is definitely worth checking out.
PPS
I hope I didn't give the impression that the military revolt is not real. My point was merely that Gen Hayden is NOT a part of that revolt, but rather part of THAT damage control.
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
"Freedom is on the march!"
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/05/10.html#a8240
Thanks to Linda for pointing out this comment by Turley. A must see. The cowardice among Democrats in Congress is scary. When will our elected leaders point out the travesty of giving a standing ovation to this kind of brazen illegality and contempt for constitutional limits on presidential power? God save our troops from this man.
http://www.optruth.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=34
God help us all.
The end of Goss may have been an unintended consequence of his dependence on his Gosslings, but I would assure you that the loyalty Goss expected from them them was purely intended. The Gosslings were all "made men" and if this had been the old days, Goss's security in the omerta of his underlings could have been assured.
The Dems are smart to stay quiet. When the enemy is drowning, throw them a quiet anvil.
To erichwwk's point -- GOOD, I hope Bush does manage to break the CIA and the military to the point of ineffectiveness. These two groups have been responsible for so much of the mischief in the world over the last 50 years, perhaps it's time to see what happens when they're rendered useless.
Then we can focus all our efforts on ridding ourselves of the NSA.
As a point of interest for myself, I recall that George H.W. Bush's tenure at the CIA was relatively short and unimpressive (about a year if I recall). Does anyone have more information about this? He may have been the director right before Carter, and canned after the new admin took office..
Anyone have some information?
Danny, his stint as director notwithstanding, Herbert was allegedly a field agent as well - he denies this, but there is documentary evidence in the form of memos mentioning "George Bush of the CIA".
Absolutely right....
"The American public needs to think about its future and what things are going to look like when American pretensions about its place in the world, its commitments to other allies, and its need to oppose ill-doing thugs and rogue regimes (yes, there are some) are simply unsupportable and crumble because of the missteps, dereliction of responsibility, and arrogance of those now in power."
But we need to do more than start thinking.
But what do you do?... when your democracy doesn't work any longer? Wait for the same system that broke it down to fix it?
It's too depressing...even though some public figures are speaking out we are still like a bunch of spectators standing around watching a building burn down.
We need a better plan than democracy as usual.
Danny:
George H.W. Bush's tenure at the CIA WAS relatively short (355 days from 30 January 1976 to 20 January 1977) but was ANYTHING BUT umipressive. 1976 may have been the most destructive year in our history, in terms of subverting America from pursuing positive sum games to zero and negative sum games.
During 1976 the Committee for the Present Danger [http://tinyurl.com/rn7gh] was revived, and "Team B" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_B ] created, laying the groundwork for decades of fabricated NIE's, stopping detente, and giving us 30 more years of cold war, costing the US upwards of $11 trilion by some estimates.
the american public has been conditioned not to think. the american public are as dumb as dirt.
The cowardice among Democrats in Congress is scary.
Actually, the Dems really are trying. They recently had a big National security proposal press conference--that they didn't iform the press about until the morning of--but it was coopted by an unplanned Bush speech and it didn't get much press. This is not uncommon at all. The only time most people hear about what Dems are up to is when the GOP attacks them and the press parrots the "Dems spineless and/or weak" meme. The congresspeople I know are probably more frustrated with the current situation than most bystanders.
Hill Democrats are not allowed to hold any investigative hearings with subpeana power. Furthermore, they aren't even allowed to hold certain meetings in the capitol at all. They are trying, but the GOP controls not only government, but the ability to manipulate the press to prevent Dems from getting their grievences air time. And then they get criticized by "the base" for not doing anything. It's very unfair.
I never used to consider myself overly attached to either party, but now I see no way this country can function with the current crop of Republicans. They all need to go. Perhaps, then they would start acting like adults.
I'm a little worried about this . Seems like people are gearing up to attack Iran, including Independents. This whole thing reeks of the run up to Iraq--Rumsfeld has already mentioned "Henny Penny"!
I wasn't speaking about the House. We all know the minority party has virtually zero power in the House. The Senate is another story. Kerry, Clinton and Bayh ought to lead a filibuster for this Hayden nomination and force Bush to withdraw him - especially now that it's been confirmed the NSA has been spying on Americans in the millions. I won't hold my breath. God help us all.
In light of the fact that these mother f*ckers Bush and Gonzales apparently LIED THROUGH THEIR TEETH about the extent of the NSA policies of SPYING ON AMERICAN CITIZENS, the following article should push any informed American into revolution mode. America better wake up pretty God damned quick, or the likes of that slimey little bastard Bush and his fascist designs for America are going to be our children's future....
Scientists call Diebold security flaw 'worst ever'
Critics say hole created for upgrades could be exploited by someone with nefarious plans
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
Computer scientists say a security hole recently found in Diebold Election Systems' touch-screen voting machines is the "worst ever" in a voting system.
Election officials from Iowa to Maryland have been rushing to limit the risk of vote fraud or disabled voting machines since the hole was reported Wednesday.
Scientists, who have conferred with Diebold representatives, said Diebold programmers created the security hole intentionally as a means of quickly upgrading voting software on its electronic voting machines.
The hole allows someone with a common computer component and knowledge of Diebold systems to load almost any software without a password or proof of authenticity and potentially without leaving telltale signs of the change.
"I think it's the most serious thing I've heard to date," said Johns Hopkins University computer science professor Avi Rubin, who published the first security analysis of Diebold voting software in 2003. "Even describing why I think it's serious is dangerous. This is something that's so easy to do that if the public were to hear about it, it would raise the risk of someone doing it. ... This is the worst-case scenario, almost."
Diebold representatives acknowledged the security hole to Pennsylvania elections officials in a May 1 memo but said the "probability for exploiting this vulnerability to install unauthorized software that could affect an election is considered low."
California elections officials echoed that assessment Friday in a message to county elections chiefs.
But several computer scientists said Wednesday that those judgments are founded on the mistaken assumption that taking advantage of the security hole would require access to voting machines for a long time.
"I don't know anyone who considers two minutes lengthy, if it's that," said Michael Shamos, a Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor and veteran voting-systems examiner for the state of Pennsylvania.
"It's the most serious security breach that's ever been discovered in a voting system. On this one, the probability of success is extremely high because there's no residue. ... Any kind of cursory inspection of the machine would not reveal it."
continues at.....
http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3809493
.........and heres more, from Bev Harris, (you know, the Bev Harris Clemons IGNORES, while ignoring the irrefutable FACT that our electoral system has been CORRUPTED).....
5-11-06: Three-level security flaws found in Diebold touch-screens
Due to the nature of this report it is distributed in two different versions. Details of the attack are only in the restricted distribution version considered to be confidential. Fewer than 50 words have been redacted in the version below.
Overview
Click "more" for link to full report
Note: Please refrain from speculation or public discussion of inappropriate technical details.
This document describes several security issues with the Diebold electronic voting terminals TSx and TS6. These touch-pad terminals are widely used in US and Canadian elections and are among the most widely used touch pad voting systems in North America. Several vulnerabilities are described in this report.
One of them, however, seems to enable a malicious person to compromise the equipment even years... More
5-10-06: Update on TSx report
UPDATE 5-11-06: Public release of Emery County TSx study estimated time of arrival 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time
More
5-10-06: As the Emery County findings evolve: Diebold's and Georgia's response
Before even seeing the Hursti Report regarding the critical security defects built into the TSx and TS6, here is the state of Georgia's response:
quote:"We are confident the robust and vigorous program of physical and operational security procedures we currently have in place in Georgia- including multiple audits and reviews to assure compliance- erects a strong barrier to prevent outsiders from accessing our voting equipment without our knowledge or without being detected."
"Our county election superintendents (who - unlike officials in other states -- have utilized this system over the last 4 years in hundreds of elections throughout the state) are required to maintain a strict chain of custody on all voting equipment including memory cards."
"At the time they are placed into el... More
5-9-06: The Ohio Election Backwash
Who Is Legally Responsible?
That's what’s being asked around Ohio in the wake of the state’s May 2nd election. No one seems to be able to agree on where the buck stops in the Buckeye State. However, everyone agrees that problems peppered Ohio.
The greatest number of machine, poll worker and technical problems were reported in Cuyahoga, the state's most populous county. Cleveland area citizens are outraged and won't tolerate any more free passes. Many believe the responsibility lies directly with Diebold Election Systems and Cuyahoga Elections Director Michael Vu. Responsibility is also being attributed to Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.
Senator Teresa Fedor, one of the state legislature's leading advocates for election reform, was critical of Blackwell and his role i... More
5-4-06: Touch-screens fail security tests, Diebold retaliates
This week, the state of Pennsylvania sequestered all Diebold touch-screens to implement an emergency security measure. Several more states are expected to follow Pennsylvania.
The state of Utah has known that a critical security risk exists in its Diebold TSx touch-screens, but chose to punish the courageous public official responsible for identifying the defect instead of taking any efforts to learn what the problem is and correct it.
Below is a link to the security alert faxed to the Utah Lt. Governor, state elections director, Emery County attorney and Emery County commissioners on March 24.
Diebold TSx warning
An Open Letter To The Administrators Of The Emery County Government.doc (35.3 k)
Shoot the messenger
Utah officials ignored the warning entirely, and instead flew ... More
5-4-06: Your chance to get evidence: WV, NE, KY, OR, PA
West Virginia, Nebraska: Next Tuesday, May 9
Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania: Tuesday May 16
(Oregon is mail-in, only some of this applies)
Telling stories about problems you saw is no longer good enough. It doesn't produce much change. Real election reform requires real citizen oversight, and oversight means taking easy steps so you can capture real evidence if an election problem occurs.
Real evidence = audio or video recording, public records, photos
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
- Voter disenfranchisement (obstruction of voting)
- Voting machine problems (malfunctioning machines and security problems)
Much more detail on the kinds of problems you might see is below. This article concerns the VOTING -- a later article will describe how to oversee the COUNTING. Feel free to distribute... More
5-2-06: Is the 2006 election train still on its tracks?
Casualties to date:
Summit County, Ohio: Last minute memory card replacements. 10 memory cards on machines were replaced first thing in the morning before or just as voting began, said Summit County Board of Elections Director Bryan Williams. (Citizens: documentation for all replacement memory cards can be found on the poll tape and the "memory card status report" audit log, available via public records requests.)
Ft. Wayne, Indiana - Microvote machines missing Tinker; the MicroVote machines were missing Vincent L. Tinker's name. Officials said that didn't affect the results, because there were 22 openings and 22 candidates. Tinker’s name appeared on ballots for the older machines, they said. (Citizens: Capture this kind of thing on cell phone photo so you will have proof. Next time ... More
4-24-06: Diebold whistleblower Stephen Heller compared to Daniel Ellsberg
According to Cleveland Plain Dealer, linked further down:
"Michael Kohn, general counsel for the National Whistleblower Center, sees Heller as a "quintessential whistleblower" in the vein of Daniel Ellsberg, who released the classified Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971. The Times' publication of lengthy excerpts shed damaging light on the U.S. military's execution of the Vietnam War.
"This is a very rare instance," Kohn said of the Heller case, "in fact the only one of which I'm aware, in which a whistleblower has been charged with a felony. I find it outrageous."
The documents allegedly leaked by Heller show Diebold lawyers budgeting for Diebold's criminal defense, after they advise their client that engaging in certain acts might invoke criminal prosecution. Followin... More
4-13-06: Last transcript - Calif. ITA hearings.
(A link to a more formal transcript for the entire hearing is included at the bottom of this portion of the transcript.)
Systest (Brian Phillips): Well if the testing organization should have found it yes, we're responsible, we should have found that. I mean, that's the case in all of the work that my company does, whether it's IV&V work or commercial testing or this.
What is the impact if that happens? If this were the commercial world, we would be working with the customer for them to fix it, because it's still a defect they have to fix. And we would then go into regression test mode and then maybe reissue new reports to them and various other things. In this case here I would have expected the product to be -- that particular memory card device and software to be brought back to, ... More
4-8-06: Why the Rush Holt bill (H.B. 550) is dangerous
There is a major push right now to pass H.B. 550, a bill put forth by Rep. Rush Holt to mandate a paper trail (along with a flimsy audit that no accountant would agree is adequate).
Election reform groups are split on whether they support H.B. 550. Black Box Voting normally does not weigh in on legislation, this time we will.
Like an antibiotic that's too weak, we belive that H.B. 550 will create a more resistant strain of election infection.
Like a placebo, people may think the election system is getting well when in fact, the medicine is only a sugar pill that makes everyone think it's better. For a minute.
Paul Lehto, an attorney who is a leader in the election reform movement and the plaintiff in a groundbreaking lawsuit related to electronic voting, has a unique clarity in p... More
4-6-06: Utah Lt. Governor's office admits: some Diebold serial numbers changed
(Outstanding work by Utah citizen Joycelynn Straight)
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006
Dear Ms. Straight,
Mr. Cragun asked me to respond to your questions...
6. Is your office aware of the existence of any voting machine or voting equipment, including memory cards, purchased by the State of Utah that has had it's external serial number switched and/or the serial number on the machine's/card's internal memory changed?
[Utah's answer] "Yes, the acceptance testing process identified some units on which the serial number recorded in the memory was incorrectly entered and thus did not match the serial number affixed to the unit housing. In those cases technicians adjusted the number recorded in the memory to match the number affixed to the unit.
[NOTE from BBV: Perhaps the serial number w... More
continues at........
It's not particularly important, but I really don't think Blumenthal means to equate "gosslings" with "quislings." Quisling implies traitor. Goslings are offspring of geese. Whatever else the House staff members Goss brought over to CIA are, I doubt they're legally traitors. I suspect gosslings was a play on words.
linkmeister -- 'gosslings' is not blumenthal's term -- it was conferred by the career cia who watched these people demean and drive out the professionals who were not so accommodating to the groupthink cheney demanded.
I think Quisling was a Finnish politicien re-installed in power by the Nazis in occupied Finland during WWII and who was tried at the end of the war. His name became a term to indicate a collaborator as well as a traitor. The term also meant a squealer.
Steve, for now this Administration faces a compliant Congress controlled by Republicans who would rather ensure that they keep their monopoly on peddling influence and our nation`s assets than they do about our nation`s interests or their role in a Constitutional republic in checking a president who was thrilled to become a "war president" and "Commander in Chief". Dems are shut out and Republicans see no benefit in reining in Bush.
Jingoism and cultural division will remain the order of the day, as that has been most effective in keeping a grip on domestic power. The hand-writing was on the wall with the Administration pre-9/11 (the secret energy meetings, unilateral abrogation of treaties), but Bush & his team quickly had us all circle the wagons post-9/11 and never looked back.
Yes, Americans should be thinking long and hard, but that`s tough and confusing - much easier to focus on one`s own life, write off or ignore the corruption and abuses, and to save offense for when your pocketbook is hit, which explains the concern over gas prices.
It`s very sad and disturbing to see commentors finding some measure of solace in Bush`s breaking of the CIA and military. The solace can only be fleeting, since the changes in these organizations do not advantage the US, but only help aggrandize executive power.
"GOOD, I hope Bush does manage to break the CIA and the military to the point of ineffectiveness"--semper fubar
---------------------------------------
"Actually, the Dems really are trying. They recently had a big National security proposal press conference--that they didn't iform the press about until the morning of--but it was coopted by an unplanned Bush speech and it didn't get much press. This is not uncommon at all. The only time most people hear about what Dems are up to is when the GOP attacks them and the press parrots the "Dems spineless and/or weak" meme. The congresspeople I know are probably more frustrated with the current situation than most bystanders.."
--GQ.
============================================
I just cannot believe these posts. Do you really want Bush to break the CIA and the military semper fubar? Do you really want Bush to weaken this country to point that we are defenseless? What an unbelieveably stupid remark!
* As for GQ, Democrats preach like Jesus but act like Judas. The recent Iraq spending bill was passed almost unanimously...why?...I thought the Democrats were wanting a deadline, a threshold...I thought the Democrats felt that its time to bring the troops home...or was that politicalspeak? If you want to end this war, you have to stop the funding of this war...simple...just like Vietnam.
* The Democrats have been complicent with all of the Bush adminstrations policies. Please correct me if I am wrong, but where were the Democrats when the adminstration was spewing lies, half-truths, and garbage every day during the run up to the war. They were gutless like their leader at that time, John Kerry:
"...Senator Kerry and his supporters claim that he was fooled by exaggerated reports about Iraq’s military prowess from the administration. However, there were other senators who had access to the same information as Kerry who voted against going to war. Furthermore, former chief UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter personally briefed Senator Kerry prior to his vote on how Iraq did not have any dangerous WMD capability; he also personally gave the senator – at his request – an article from the respected journal Arms Control Today making the case that Iraq had been qualitatively disarmed. Members of Senator Kerry’s staff have acknowledged that the senator had access to a number of credible reports challenging the administration’s tall tales regarding the alleged Iraqi threat..."
commondreams.org
* The illegal NSA datamining program was not news to the leaders of the Democrats like Rockefeller. They went along with it, and would have continued to have gone along with it if it had not been made public. Once the public whiffed the crap, the Democrats became the progressives again and demanded....what?...hell they haven't even demanded the President to halt the illegal program. The Democrats are a joke.
* The Iran confrontation is serious only because the Democrats seem just as determined as our King George to get into an armed conflict. Why are the Democrats not pointing out that the Iranians are within their rights to enrich uranium? All the halftruths and lies are so similiar to the Iraq even the OSS media has a hard time selling an armed response to Iran's ambitions.
* Yes the Bush adminstration has damaged our country domestically, internationally, and morally, but not without the Democrat's acquiescence.
Cut the military budget in half. Withdraw from world hegemonic dreams into our own borders defending our own country. Say ONCE, you fuck with USa we will blow you off the face of the fuckin' Earth, nuke time. Say it ONCE! Asked for explanations, say YOU HEARD ME! Starve the military industrial complex into non-existance. Export no more Evil, i.e., weapons. Use the trillions saved for the good of the American people instead of vast corrupt government mafioso robbery schemes. Have one fast reaction in and out military group that kills the leaders and government of any country that really fucks up. Fight Terror with Terror.
1. Quisling was Norweigen.
2. Wlkerson is American. Where was he when he was needed?
I made a mistake in the post saying Quisling was Finnish. He was an officer in Norway installed by the Nazis under their control.
Sorry.
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