Edwards Steps Up, Slams Bush, Diebold

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is calling on President Bush to return more than $100,000 donated to his campaign by a major manufacturer of voting machines, saying the relationship could damage confidence in elections.

Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, criticized the contributions by Walden O'Dell, head of Diebold Election Systems in a speech prepared for delivery Saturday to Florida Democrats at their annual meeting in Lake Buena Vista.

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"What makes this worse is that one of George W. Bush's fund-raising Pioneers said he wanted to help Ohio 'deliver' its electoral votes to George Bush," Edwards said.

[full story]

The potential for fraud inherent in electronic, "black box" voting systems, with no paper trail—and thus, no possibility of verification—poses perhaps the most serious threat to democracy we'll see in our lifetimes, and should be the biggest scandal of our time. Until now, though, political figures haven't stepped up to address the issue. Finally, someone in the spotlight is using his position to raise public awareness of this threat.

Of course, Edwards made the statement in a desperate effort to re-energize his sagging campaign. He's all but out of the race at this point, and may feel he has nothing left to lose. Still, when a candidate reaches the point of desperation, voters finally get a chance to see the reality behind the PR. If this is really John Edwards, then I like him.

Maybe he's got a future after all. I wish he'd announce he's changed his mind, that he's decided to seek re-election to the Senate, but I don't think he'll do that.

Let's see, what else could he do?

Hmm.... Dean/Edwards 2004.... Has a nice ring, doesn't it?

Posted by Me at 21:49 link

Bad Strategy? Or No Strategy At All?

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration seems all too complacent about budget deficit's long-term impact. The reason is partly that the Administration doesn't have any economic vision beyond tax cuts. The President is already lobbying for making a number of existing, temporary, breaks permanent, which would worsen the deficit. More frightening is that it seems the President has no deeper policy strategy beyond getting reelected.

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Adds Edward Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Prudential Equity Group: "The Bush Administration is doing everything that's legally possible to win a second term for the President. They've cut taxes for just about everyone. The President hasn't vetoed a single spending program passed by Congress."

To be fair, all incumbent Presidents cull favors and lobby for unappetizing legislative initiatives during election years -- it's in the nature of the beast. Depending on your party politics, you may get upset or simply shrug your shoulders at politics as usual. But Washington hasn't handed out goodies like this since Richard Nixon's all-out campaign to get reelected in 1972. And the comparison is worrisome. The Nixon years set the nation on a course that culminated in the devastating 1970s inflationary spiral.

[full story]

Of course, that was a movie. Sometimes I wish Bush's presidency were only a movie, but I don't think anyone would be able to suspend their disbelief enough to sit through it (except for rah-rah conservatives, of course).

Anyway, my personal life is going pretty well. I finished two of my four finals today, including the hardest one, Spanish. Actually, I'd expected my Intro. to the Internet final to be easy, but it turned out to be chock-full of obscure questions which hadn't appeared on our earlier tests. Still, I did fine on both exams. The other two should be fairly easy, but one never knows, does one?

A last, sad note: another of my favorite blogs, the brilliant Ishbadiddle, is shutting down, at least temporarily. If you read this ME-L, come back! We need you!

Posted by Me at 23:41 link

Off the Hook?

Last year's storm really sucked, especially for me. The whole town lost power and shivered for a couple of days, but I had the added joy of getting the roof of my car bashed in by a huge tree limb. The worst part of that episode was when I realized that my car would have been completely unscathed if only I'd parked on the other side of the driveway.

It did rain all day today, so I got to try out my new bike fenders. They work great, thanks for asking! I took great joy in dashing right down the middle of the deepest, iciest puddles I could find, and nary a drop soiled the hem of my trousers. I'd read good reviews of these particular fenders. So far the reviews seem right on.

If you're interested in buying a set of these for yourself, they're called "Freddy Fenders," and they're made by Planet Bike. I bought mine brand new on eBay for a lot less than you can buy them here, but they're still well worth the asking price. They actually look cool, in a retro, late-50s-Cadillac-with-tailfins kind of way. They weigh approximately zero, so they don't seem to slow me down at all.

In other news, it appears I'll be asking Santa for bike stuff this year. Yeah, I know. I do tend to dive rather deeply into things—obsessively, even—and bikes are my thing this season. Still, I usually don't discard my old obsessions, I just sort of move them, temporarily or permanently, into the background of my existence — a bit like the way Trey Parker and Matt Stone add clips from past South Park episodes to the show's intro. Some past "obsessions" even end up as recurring plotlines. (Wow—I'm really not liking this "my-life-as-South Park" analogy).

I did enjoy hiking last Saturday and I'm looking forward (in a big way) to some snowshoeing this winter, maybe even in the next couple of weeks if nature cooperates. For that matter, I still play my drums at least a few minutes every day, and I find time for a game or three of darts several times a week.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this fine and fancy ramble of a blog entry. Now I'm going to try to figure out how to get that damned "Feliz Navidad" song out of my head! I suppose it makes some sense—mañana por la mañana, I have my final examen in my clase de español. Wish me buena suerte; I have a feeling I'm going to need it....

Posted by Me at 22:18 link

Bike To The Future

For various reasons (chiefly a desire to put my money where my mouth is), I've become more committed and devoted to cycling over the past few months. I've been riding more, driving less, and thinking about associated issues a whole lot.

I've been modifying my bike, too, making it easier, safer, more practical — and more fun — to ride. I just added fenders (a.k.a. mudguards) to take the yuck out of riding on wet streets. I really wish my camera weren't on the fritz, because I'd love to show you how much fenders change the character of the bike. My mountain bike now looks a bit more Pee Wee Herman than Gary Fisher, even though it's significantly better-equipped to handle the challenges of life.

Other recent additions include a kickstand so I can park more easily, street tires for smoother riding on pavement, bar ends for easier climbing, an "Incredibell" so I can signal my presence, and a cycle computer so I can keep track of mileage, speed (and so forth).

I want to add a chainguard so I don't have to worry about mangling my pants ("trousers," to the rest of the world), lights so I can see—and more especially, be seen—at night, and the coup de grâce, a rear carrier rack so I can do my grocery shopping with the bike. When I've added all these things, I will have completed my transformation to Serious Bike Geek. At that point, I think I'll have fulfilled my goal to make it practical to drive no more than once a week.

I wish more people saw the possibilities I see in cycling. If more of us did the bulk of our traveling by bike (or other eco-friendly means, like walking), we'd all be better off. A few random benefits: more fitness, less obesity, less pollution, less traffic.... I think a modest increase in the number of bike commuters would make a huge positive impact on our society.

I was pleased last week (if a little startled) to find I'm not the only one with such a vision. As I worked out at the YMCA last week, I read an article in the September, 2003 issue of Bicycling magazine about mountain bike pioneer Joe Breeze, and his radical ideas for transforming American bicycling (again), from recreation to transportation.

That article led me to check out Breeze's line of bikes (my favorite is "The Greenway"). Note that the Breezer bikes are virtually identical to my ideal. You tell me: is this the future—or the past—of American bicycling? Obviously, Joe Breeze and I hope it's the future, but in any case, it's where I want to be. Join me!

Posted by Me at 22:32 link

Small Businesses Bush-Whacked

Bush Claims of Small Business Tax Cuts Exaggerated

On a campaign trip to Michigan yesterday, President Bush echoed one of his familiar claims, saying "[What] I want to remind people about is that the tax relief was geared toward small businesses...When you hear us talking about reducing all taxes on individuals, you really hear also the message that we're reducing taxes on small businesses." This statement is the most recent in a long line of similar assertions - an unscientific Lexis-Nexis search shows, that in just the three years since Bush became President, he and Vice President Cheney have given at least 150 separate speeches claiming that their tax proposals are specifically geared to helping small business.

But simple statistics show just how misleading these statements are. In talking about his 2001 tax cut, the President specifically promised that there would be "more than 17.4 million small business owners and entrepreneurs who stand to benefit from dropping the top rate from 39.6% to 33%" - the major piece of his proposal.

But according to nonpartisan analyses of IRS and Treasury Department data, just 3.7% of small business owners are subject to these top tax rates - meaning the rest receive almost nothing from the major piece of his plan. In other words, for every small business owner that benefits, there are 15 small business owners that do not. All told, small business owners "would be far more likely to receive no tax reduction whatsoever from the Administration's tax package than to benefit" in any way.

Similarly, in pushing for his second tax cut in 2003, the President said that "small businesses stand to gain a great deal" from his most recent tax cut proposals, because he said it would "give 23 million small business owners an average tax cut of $2,042."

In fact, "nearly four out of every five tax filers (79%) with small business income would receive less than this amount," according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. Additionally, "52% of people with small business returns would get $500 or less." The President produced the $2,042 average figure by deceptively averaging the large tax cuts that would go to a small number of wealthy individuals who have some small business income with the miniscule (if any) tax cuts that would go to millions of more typical small business people.

Read the Mis-Lead -->
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1209698&l=10528

I know several. Today I showed one of them what I'd found; he was shocked to discover he'll likely get nothing at all from the tax cut. He wasn't completely convinced, but when I left, he was busily clicking away on his computer, searching for more information. By the way, it's only because of the crappy economy (local unemployment rate is currently 6.9%, with most recently-created new jobs falling in the low-income, entry-level service sector) that he had time to surf the Web on a weekday morning.

The next time you hear a small business owner express their affection for Bush and his policies, point out the truth. Suggest they google "Bush, small business, taxes, Brookings" and see what they find.

Yep—there's nothing quite like the smell of reality in the morning.

Posted by Me at 21:57 link

Blogged-out

Maybe when I've done this a while longer (I've only had this thing for 9 months) I'll understand the phenomenon better. Maybe this is a seasonal thing? Or maybe it's specific to this time in (dare I say it?) history.

Assuming it's the latter, I think there's a lot about right now that could explain a general fatigue and malaise among those of us who choose to involve ourselves actively in the news.

Iraq is clearly the center of it. No one is happy about the rotten way things are going there, regardless of where they are in the political spectrum. I don't claim to be the voice of Liberalism (in fact, I don't even consider myself to be a true Liberal, unless the only other choice is to be a Conservative), but I don't hear anyone on the Left running around, gleefully shouting "I told you so! I told you so!" as American soldiers, insurgents — and especially Iraqi civilians — continue to die on a daily basis. Conservatives can't be too thrilled about the situation, either.

Should we stay or should we go? Even if we "go," i.e. turn control over to the U.N., our troops will still comprise the bulk of the force. So while that might improve things, it wouldn't fix things. No matter what, we have a lot of death, destruction and misery to look forward to for some time to come.

In plain and simple English: Iraq is a tragedy, and we and the Iraqis are trapped in it, in a way very similar to the way Israel and the Palestinians are trapped in theirs.

Back in the Spring, we on the Left shouted ourselves hoarse trying to stop this from happening; those on the Right shouted just as hard to make it happen. Now it's all over, including the shouting; only the killing remains.

I think even the news organizations are getting burned-out. Bloodshed makes for compelling visual images, and creates the potential for compelling visual stories, but when it just goes on and on, it loses its power to enthrall viewers. That reality itself is quite sad.

No amount of talking, shouting — or blogging — is going to change the situation very much at this point. I think we all realize this right now.

We can talk about Other Things, and we try to, but Other Things seem very trivial compared to the tragedies playing out in the Middle East.

I believe we'll become energized again as the 2004 Presidential Election draws closer.

In the meanwhile, I plan mainly to continue discussing Other Things, with an occasional glance at the elephant in the room.

(I'd write more, but I'm just too damned tired.)

Posted by Me at 23:12 link

The Lights, The Lights

We just got back from another round of turkey stuffing at Mom's. We stuffed ourselves. With turkey (among other delicious comestibles). Again.

Earlier this evening, we made the short trip over to Tanglewood to see the holiday lights. It's a breathtaking display; if you're ever in this area at this time of year, check it out! We were surprised how uncrowded it was.

My Friend is headed home to NJ tomorrow morning. Sadness. Oh well; I'll be heading up to see her in just a few days, as soon as I finish exams.

In the meanwhile, more turkey for me!

Posted by Me at 23:55 link