Year: 2007

Bush Claims Secret Emails Have Been Erased

Jon Ponder

Yesterday, after the White House announced that emails sent by Karl Rove and others on its secret off-site email system had been erased, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and chair of the Judiciary Committee said this:

“They say they have not been preserved. I don’t believe that!” Leahy shouted from the Senate floor as the dispute over the firing of federal prosecutors continued at a high pitch. “That’s like saying the dog ate my homework. It doesn’t work that way.”

“You can’t erase e-mails, not today. They’ve gone through too many servers,” said Leahy, D-Vt. “Those e-mails are there; they just don’t want to produce them. We’ll subpoena them if necessary.”

It sometimes surprises computer users to learn that it is very difficult to erase data from hard drives. When a file is deleted, it is actually simply renamed. Typically, the first couple of letters in the filename are replaced with wild card characters, such as “$_.” Recovering the missing file can be as simple as changing the name back to what it was originally.

The only certain way to erase data is to wipe the disk clean by reformating it, for example. Knowing this White House, I would suspect that the drives that once held Rove’s emails are all clean as a whistle by now.

Use Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap – And Go to Jail

Jon Ponder

I have been using Dr. Bronner’s soap since I was in college back in the Flintstones era, and the fact that you are reading this makes it highly likely you use it too. Liberals like Dr. Bronner’s because it’s made from wholesome ingredients, because animals weren’t tortured to test its safety and because it is produced by a socially responsible company in Escondido, Calif.

Bolles insisted the soap was only soap. “I’ve been using Dr. Bronner’s for 35 years,” he said Tuesday, adding that the organic ingredients help give him the complexion of a 15-year-old girl.

But if you are a long-time Dr. Bronner’s user, you may be as surprised as I was to learn that having a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s in your possession could land you in jail on very serious charges.

Sounds like typical leftwing hyperbole, you say? Well, it happened last week to Don Bolles, a member of the Flinstones-era punk band, the Germs.

On April 5, Bolles, 50, and his girlfriend were pulled in Orange County, Calif., because his 1968 Dodge van had a broken tail light. Police searched the car, found a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s in Bolles’ toiletry kit and arrested him. The soap bottle, they said, field-tested positive for GHB, a date rape drug:

Bolles insisted the soap was only soap. “I’ve been using Dr. Bronner’s for 35 years,” he said Tuesday, adding that the organic ingredients help give him the complexion of a 15-year-old girl.

Executives at Dr. Bronner’s rushed to Bolles’ defense, hiring attorney Bruce Margolin, who specializes in marijuana cases, to represent the musician.

The alliance between Germs and the soap manufacturer followed an Internet plea to help bail Bolles out of jail. A musician from one of his other bands, Fancy Space People, set up a PayPal account to raise the $2,500 bond.

It’s nice to know that Dr. Bronner’s steps up when its products’ users are arrested, and it sounds like the company is dedicated to Bolles’ case:

As word of the punk rocker’s arrest spread online, Dr. Bronner’s switchboard lighted up with calls. After speaking with Bolles on Monday, company President David Bronner decided to intervene.

The Escondido-based soap maker is used to run-ins with the law. Because the ingredient list for Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap includes hemp oil, police field tests of the soap occasionally indicate THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, Bronner said.

But the idea of finding GHB in a Dr. Bronner’s product is “beyond belief,” Bronner said. “The field test must have been flawed or tampered with.”

Is it possible Bolles was using the soap bottle to carry the drug?

No way, Bronner said. With a definitive test of the bottle’s contents coming soon from the Orange County Crime Lab, “it would be ridiculous for Bolles to be lying,” Bronner said.

Leaving aside the GBH, it’s ridiculous that in 2007 hemp products that do not contain THC (the stuff in pot that induces a mild euphoria) are still illegal. Products like paper, rope and clothing can be made from industrial hemp which is a source of fiber that is more sustainable than wood.

Quotes du Jour

Trish

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.”

“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.”

“Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.”

“There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.”

“During my three years in Vietnam, I certainly heard plenty of last words by dying American footsoldiers. Not one of them, however, had illusions that he had somehow accomplished something worthwhile in the process of making the Supreme Sacrifice.”

“All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.”

— Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – April 11, 2007), author

Mysteries of Uncle Ben Still Unsolved

Trish

Perhaps you’re bored. Perhaps you need some meat and rice recipes. Or, more likely, you forgot the meaning of the word, “horseshit,” and need a refresher.

Was he married to Aunt Jemima? Is he Rastus from the Cream of Wheat box’s father?

If so, visit the all-new headquarters of Uncle Ben. Yes, the smiling black chef we all grew up with is now — thanks to marketing people spending too much time in a room alone with just each other — chairman of the board of Uncle Ben’s Rice.

The execution on this is just too awful.

What you’ll gather from the virtual tour of Uncle Ben’s desk, which is beneath his smiling (teeth hidden) portrait in a bow tie and suit, is that Uncle Ben is quite a guy. He travels the world collecting rice lore, photos, and recipes. He addresses national nutrition boards and makes speeches in Washington. The only thing the man doesn’t do is have a last name. So much for erasing the icon’s previous image.

Was he married to Aunt Jemima? Is he Rastus from the Cream of Wheat box’s father? You won’t find out here. This is just straight-up crap from the minds of Mars Food. Makes me cringe to be a marketing person.

Winter Haven News Chief Announces Ryan Skipper Vigil at Polkonline.com

Jon Ponder

We’re updating our list of local papers that have reported online on the upcoming vigil for hate crime victim Ryan Skipper:

The Lakeland Ledger continues to ignore or be unaware of the upcoming vigils.

As you can see, we added the Tampa Tribune to the list. A concerned citizen contacted a reporter at the Tribune to ask why the paper had not covered the vigil. According to the caller, the reporter said he hadn’t heard about the vigil. Perhaps the news release from Equality Florida was misdirected to the wrong department.

Update: A source close to the organization of the vigil locally says the Tribune plans to cover it.

We also updated the list to show that News Chief, one of the two news services based in Polk County, has covered the details of Saturday’s events via its website, polkonline.com:

Statewide vigils are scheduled for Saturday to honor 25-year-old Ryan Skipper, whose body was found near Wahneta early on March 14…

Equality Florida, an organization dedicated to securing equality and justice for the state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, will assist with vigil plans, in Polk County, around the state and possibly in other parts of the nation Saturday to mourn Skipper’s death…

The Polk County vigil will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday in Winter Haven at Central Park, located on Central Avenue at Fourth and Fifth streets. For details, call 813-849-3919 or russ@eqfl.org.

The Lakeland Ledger continues to ignore or be unaware of the upcoming vigils. (I’m planning a separate article on this later.)

Local Coverage of the Lack of Local Coverage

Our coverage of the local media’s lack of coverage of the murder of Ryan Skipper has been noticed by a writer at Lakelandlocal.com:

[Posts] at the Pensito Review are proving a point about local newspapers. The public hasn’t written them off yet. The newspaper is where we expect to find local news. Not 60 Seconds of Local News at Six. We’re looking for The Ledger to cover the CSX story and Pensito Review is asking why the Ledger hasn’t mention the vigils for Ryan Skipper to be held Saturday in 13 Florida cities and Washington, D.C.

H/t thesue2u

Senate Passes Stem Cell Bill

Jon Ponder

Wedge issue: It probably doesn’t have the saliency for Democrats as a wedge issue that gay marriage has for Republicans, but Democrats in the Senate yesterday put their GOP colleagues on the record on the issue of stem cell research.

The bill restricts research to embryos that would “otherwise be discarded” and whose donors gave their approval.

The president and his chorus on the irrational right claim that the research kills human life because embryos are destroyed to obtain the stem cells. However, the bill passed yesterday is very specific about which embryos would be used:

The bill would permit funding for research on embryonic stem cells regardless of the date of their creation, so long as they were donated from in-vitro fertilization clinics, they would “otherwise be discarded” and donors gave their approval.

Perhaps Bush and his followers will pledge that after dramatic new cures result from stem cell research that they will refuse these treatments if they are diagnosed with diabetes, Parkinson’s disease or similar illnesses

Now Bush Wants a ‘Presidential Czar’

Jon Ponder

Hard work: Fresh on the news that Pres. Bush has been trying to outsource his commander-in-chief duties to a “war czar” comes word that he also seeking to name a “presidential czar” who would take over his other responsibilities.

While some might suggest that the president should resign, he believes delegating the work to someone else is the obvious solution.

The president appears to be frustrated and bored, observers say. They point back to his complaints in the 2004 presidential debates that the presidency was “hard work.” They note that he has been in a freefall lately and say it is likely his presidential duties have simply become too demanding.

While some might suggest that the president should resign, he believes delegating the work to someone else is the obvious solution.

Names in the mix for the new position include the president’s brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

Bush Dyslogic: ‘If Dems Cut Off Iraq Funds, Troops Will Stay Longer’ – With No Money?

Jon Ponder

Remember, up is down: I didn’t catch this latest rhetorical folly from the president yesterday because I can no longer abide his histrionical declamations.Thankfully, someone at MSNBC’s Countdown who was paid to listen to the president’s address to the American Legion picked up on this beaut of a logical disconnect, which Keith Olbermann reported last night.

“The bottom line is this: Congress’s failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. Others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than anticipated…”
Pres. Bush

Here’s what the president said yesterday:

BUSH: If Congress fails to pass a bill I can sign by mid-May, the problems grow even more acute. The Army will be forced to consider slowing or even freezing funding for its depots, where the equipment our troops depend on is repaired. They will have to consider delaying or curtailing the training of some active duty forces, reducing the availability of those the force — of those forces to deploy overseas. And the Army may also have to delay the formation of new brigade combat teams, preventing us from getting those troops into the pool of forces that are available to deploy.

So what does that mean? These things happen: Some of our forces now deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq may need to be extended, because other units are not ready to take their places. In a letter to Congress, the Army Chief of Staff, Pete Shoemaker, recently warned, “Without approval of the supplemental funds in April, we will be forced to take increasingly draconian measures, which will impact Army readiness and impose hardships on our soldiers and their families.”

The bottom line is this: Congress’s failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. Others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than anticipated…

Logically, if there is no money, the war has to end pretty quickly — right? And yet the president says that if funding is cut off, the war will slow down and therefore last longer. But the House Democrats’ plan would have U.S. combat troops pulling out altogether in March 2008.

The president talks about the lack of funds “delaying,” “reducing” and “curtailing” the military. But the funding cuts are targeted specifically at fighting in Iraq. All other military programs covered in the supplemental are fully funded.

Leaving Iraq would free up 120,000 troops as well as the billions we’re flushing down the drain over there every month — resources we can redeploy against real threats to our national security.

Rudy Flubs Question on Terri Schiavo

Jon Ponder

It appears Rudy Giuliani can’t remember whether he was in favor of torturing a comatose woman by keeping her on life support for years after her brain had turned to mush:

“Can I ask you about Terri Schiavo?” a reporter asked at a press availability on April 4. “Did you support the congressional intervention to—”

At this point Mr. Giuliani cut in, according to a transcript provided by his campaign: “I believe I did. I don’t, I, it’s a while ago and I think I said that I thought every effort should be made to keep her alive. I don’t know that I supported the, the whole thing to the very end, but I am not sure now.”

Pushed by the reporter for a more specific (and coherent) answer about whether he thought the Schiavo intervention was appropriate, Mr. Giuliani said, “I thought it was appropriate to make every effort to give her a chance to stay alive.”

Lantos Confirms That Bush Pressured Olmert to Lie about Pelosi’s Syria Mission

Jon Ponder

As I speculated here, now confirmed:

Josh Marshall reports something I surmised almost from the beginning of the flap over whether or not Nancy Pelosi carried a message from Israel to Syria saying the former wanted peace talks with the latter. As soon as Pelosi made the diplomatic demarche public, Olmert denied it had ever existed. But no less an Israel hawk than Tom Lantos not only confirms that Pelosi delivered exactly the message conveyed to her by Olmert in Jerusalem, he also lays blame for the Olmert denial squarely at the feet of the White House.