The WAWG Blog

White House Threw Out Clinton E-Mail Archiving System; No Reason Given – In 1994, after a federal court ruled that the White House must preserve e-mails under the Federal Records Act, the Clinton Administration instituted a custom archiving system known as the Automated Records Management System (ARMS). The Clinton Administration also ended writing over, or “recycling,” backup tapes in 1998 and 1999. Although there had been some “human interaction” errors with ARMS, by the end Clinton’s presidency, White House officials said the problems with ARMS had been solved. But shortly after Bush took office, his administration began taking steps to phase out the system. White House technology officials proposed two different records-management systems as ARMS replacements in 2003 and 2004, but neither was adopted, according to administration documents submitted in court filings. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel would not comment on why ARMS was eliminated. The system was never replaced, according to court records and officials.

White House E-mails Missing on Key Days in Court Battle Over Cheney’s Energy Task Force – A new report released this weekend shows some dates on which staff members in the vice president’s office allegedly destroyed internal communications correlate with court decisions regarding the task force. Historical archives of White House e-mails are missing for at least 473 days of Bush’s presidency. A report compiled this weekend by a group suing the administration shows Cheney’s underlings apparently deleted their e-mails on days that the courts contradicted their quests to keep internal proceedings private.

Email Also Missing From Cheney’s Office on the Day the White House Was Told to Preserve Documents in Valerie Plame Wilson CIA Leak – Among the sixteen days for which email are missing from Vice President Cheney’s office is Sept. 30, 2003, the same day the day the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced they were investigating who outed former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. That morning, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales ordered the president and the vice president’s staff to “preserve all materials that might be relevant” to an inchoate Justice Department probe. A new report released this weekend shows some dates on which staff members in the vice president’s office allegedly destroyed internal communications correlate with court decisions regarding the energy task force.

CREW ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL NEWS AT THE TIME THE WHITE HOUSE E-MAIL WENT MISSING

Regards,

Jim

In this twenty-seventh survey of the web, The WAWG Index monthly average was down by 40.3 percent from December 2007. Of the fourteen categories tracked, 2 were up and 12 were down. The largest decrease for January, 93 percent, was for protection of corporate power. The largest increase was for powerful patriotic nationalism at 4.2 percent.

This large change appears to be due to changes at the search engine used. A backup set of data also shows a decrease but of only 13 percent.

Through January, the 12 month group moving average for all fourteen categories nearly doubled to -8.4 percent. Of the fourteen categories tracked, only one, media control, is positive.

Mitch McConnell Calls Himself an Environmental Leader While Helping Oil and Gas Companies Generate Dirty Energy – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has received more than half a million dollars in campaign contributions from the oil and gas lobbyists who look to him for help with troublesome bills. In 2006, McConnell supported a $5 billion tax windfall for the industry. He even went so far as to raise an objection in the Senate that led to the cancellation of a Live Earth benefit concert. McConnell’s recent decision to call himself an environmental leader adds an extra element of shamefulness to his already disgraceful behavior.

The Republican Senate that McConnell controls and the White House he cultivates came together — on behalf of the oil industry and the utility interests, by blocking the restoration of $13 billion in taxes on fabulous petroleum profits and shielding the power companies from a requirement to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources. …But the real winners were the lobbyists for big Republican campaign givers, who succeeded in blocking the restoration of billions in taxes on the big oil companies, which are squeezing American consumers for more than $100 billion per year in profits, thanks to huge price hikes at the pump. Had that tax provision survived, the proceeds would have financed clean energy development. Also, falling before the pressure of lobbyists was a requirement that utilities produce 15 percent of their electricity by wind, solar and other renewable means by 2020. This was a huge victory for the operators of dirty coal-fired plants in the Midwest and South. This is what Mitch McConnell and George W. Bush did for Big Energy, and did to the rest of us.

Bush Administration Abandons Jaguar Recovery – Due to a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the jaguar as an endangered species in 1997. The New World’s largest cat formerly occurred from Monterey Bay, California across the southern states to the southern Appalachian Mountains. It was extirpated from the United States in 1963 when the last female was shot by federal agents. In recent years, however, the jaguar has been making a comeback, with a small but steady number of sightings in southern Arizona and New Mexico.

Rather than support the return of the jaguar, the Bush administration today issued its death warrant. In a first-of-its-kind decision in the 34-year history of the Endangered Species Act, the administration abandoned recovering the jaguar as a federal goal. It will not prepare a recovery plan or ensure the species recovers, either in the United States or throughout the animal’s range, extending to South America.

Our Water is at Risk – For over thirty years, the Clean Water Act has provided essential safeguards to all waters. However, two muddied U.S. Supreme Court decisions and an organized attack by industry polluters and developers are threatening protections for 20 million acres of wetlands and 60% of our nation’s streams! To add insult to injury, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently issued a vague and confusing “guidance” that further erodes critical protection on our waters. The guidance is seriously flawed and will lead to more polluted water. In its current form, the guidance leaves many so-called “isolated” waters such as wetlands open for destruction, leaves many headwaters and streams without clear protection, and ignores legal tools that could be used to preserve America’s waters. The EPA is currently taking public comments on this “misguided” guidance. But time is running out. The public can comment until January 21. Take action.

Global Warming Mostly Ignored in Presidential Debates – Of the nearly 2,500 questions asked of the presidential candidates by the top five TV political reporters during 2007, only three mentioned global warming. Three! (That’s a whopping one-tenth of one percent.) In more than 140 presidential debates and interviews these television hosts have moderated, they have spent more time talking about baseball, UFOs and Chuck Norris than they have about global warming. Sign the petition urging reporters to get serious about addressing climate change during the remainder of the campaign.

Bush Administration Wants to Speed Up the Process of Giving Away the Polar Bear’s Habitat to Big Oil Companies – Scientists tell us that two-thirds of all polar bears may be gone by 2050 due to global warming. Instead of addressing this, the Bush Administration wants to speed up the process of giving away the polar bear’s habitat to big oil companies. Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that they would be about a month late in finalizing their decision on the threatened species status of the polar bear. The decision was supposed to be made by January 9th. Earlier that week, Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne announced that a sale of oil and gas leases in the polar bear’s habitat will take place on February 6th.

Regards,

Jim

Charity Paid US Commander $100,000 While Cutting Wounded Veterans Budget – A charity that has been accused of ripping off veterans — and donors — paid a former commander of the United States Armed Forces to endorse it, before he later disassociated himself from the group’s solicitations. “Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was paid $100,000 to endorse a veterans charity that watchdog groups say is ripping off donors and wounded veterans by using only a small portion of the money raised for veterans services, according to testimony in Congress today.

Fox News Ignores Republican Affiliation of Suspected Terrorist Conspirator – Fox News is doing its best to arouse sympathy for a former Republican Congressman who was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. The coverage of Rep. Mark Siljander’s indictment on Fox & Friends never mentioned his party affiliation, but featured his former aide, a conservative commentator who regularly appears on Fox, expressing her shock and disbelief and suggesting explanations for his actions. Debbie Schlussel is now best known for her attacks on Islam and Islamic culture, but twenty years ago, when she was an “Outstanding Teen Age Republican,” she served as an aide to Siljander. A year ago, Schlussel provoked a storm of outrage with a column titled “Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always A Muslim,” which exaggerated the Muslim elements in Obama’s family background and called his loyalties to the United States into question.

Ailing GIs Deployed to War Zones – Fort Carson sent soldiers who were not medically fit to war zones last month to meet “deployable strength” goals, according to e-mails obtained by The Denver Post. One e-mail, written Jan. 3 by the surgeon for Fort Carson’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, says: “We have been having issues reaching deployable strength, and thus have been taking along some borderline soldiers who we would otherwise have left behind for continued treatment.” Capt. Scot Tebo’s e-mail was, in part, a reference to Master Sgt. Denny Nelson, a 19-year Army veteran, who was sent overseas last month despite doctors’ orders that he not run, jump or carry more than 20 pounds for three months because of a severe foot injury. Nelson says he was one of at least 52 soldiers deployed who should not have been, and a veterans group says the military is endangering soldiers to meet its goals.

Republicans Help Corporations and Think It’s Great to Have to Work Two Jobs and Work Long Hours – Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), the chief deputy Republican whip in the House, unveiled his proposal to stimulate the economy. His legislation – the so-called Middle Class Job Protection Act – does nothing for the middle class. Instead, it reduces the corporate tax rate by 25 percent. At a press conference today unveiling the stimulus proposal, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) justified the conservative plan to give tax breaks to corporations – instead of working Americans – by arguing that people actually like working long hours:

“I am so proud to be from the state of Minnesota. We’re the workingest state in the country, and the reason why we are, we have more people that are working longer hours, we have people that are working two jobs.”

Bachmann’s version of the American Dream is apparently working two full-time jobs and struggling to get by.

Bogus Iran Story Was Product of Pentagon Spokesman According to Reporter – An American journalist and historian who was the first to break the story of a secret Iranian peace overture to the Bush Administration in 2006 alleges that the latest Pentagon encounter between Iranian ships and a Navy vessel was a deliberate fabrication. The incident, on Jan. 5 in Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast, was originally described as a non-event — then quickly became one in which Iranian boats threatened to “explode” American ships. Porter identifies Bryan Whitman, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, as the culprit for the spurious account. Most of Whitman’s remarks that formed the basis for news stories were drawn from an off the record press briefing that was held on the condition he not be identified as a source.

The Surge Has Sucked All of the Flexibility Out of the System – “The surge has sucked all of the flexibility out of the system,” Army Chief of Staff George Casey said in an interview this week. “And we need to find a way of getting back into balance.” But President Bush made clear this week that additional troop withdrawals were far from a sure thing. After a meeting in Kuwait with Gen. Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Bush said he was open to slowing or stopping the withdrawal of troops to avoid jeopardizing recent security gains in Iraq.

FOX Sports To Inject FOX News Anchors and Politics Into Super Bowl Coverage – On Feb. 3, Super Bowl Sunday, reporters from FOX News will be teaming up with reporters from FOX owned and operated stations from around the country for a three hour broadcast event, focusing on presidential politics and professional football. The anchors will toggle back and forth between discussion of the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday.

Shell Oil Is Polluting Houston – Shell’s Deer Park facility is a 1,500-acre complex located on the Houston Ship Channel in Harris County, about 20 miles east of downtown Houston. It is the nation’s eighth-largest oil refinery and one of the world’s largest producers of petrochemicals. The facility is also the second largest source of air pollution in Harris County, which ranks among the worst in the nation in several measures of air quality. “I live and work downwind from Shell, in Channelview. My family and my employees simply can’t afford to breathe in any more air pollution,” said Sierra Club member and small business owner Karla Land. “We have laws to protect air quality for a reason. Shell is breaking those laws and they need to be made to stop.” “On average of more than once a week for at least the past five years, Shell has reported that it violated its own permit limits by spewing a wide range of harmful pollutants into the air around the Deer Park plant,” said Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas. “Because the state of Texas and the U.S. EPA have both failed to put a stop to these blatant violations, ordinary citizens are stepping up to enforce the law themselves.” Take action.

Mitt Romney Defends Himself Against Allegations Of Tolerance – Humor, but the joke here is not on Romney; it’s on intolerant Conservatives, and how the Republican candidates have to pander to them.

Regards,

Jim

Bill O’Reilly Gets Facts Wrong About Veterans – Last night, in reference to our nation’s homeless veterans, Bill O’Reilly said: “They may be out there, but there’s not many of them out there. Okay? … If you know where there’s a veteran sleeping under a bridge, you call me immediately, and we will make sure that man does not do it.” He raises an important issue. Unfortunately, he got the facts wrong. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, almost 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night in America, accounting for about one-third of the adult homeless population. Sign the open letter to Bill O’Reilly, and urge him to set the record straight.

How NBC Changed the Facts to Block Dennis Kucinich from the Nevada Debate – Nevada’s Supreme Court today upheld NBC’s exclusion of presidential contender Dennis Kucinich from tonight’s MSNBC Democrats’ debate. But the TV network’s own appeal to the court reveals that its managers changed the program’s qualification rules a move that threw Kucinich off the program. An NBC Emergency Petition’s “statement of facts” filed today admits that Kucinich may have qualified for the debate under the rules outlined by Democratic party consultant Jenny Backus. Those guidelines said that a candidate had to finish in at least fourth place in the New Hampshire primary or Iowa Caucus to participate in the January 15th debate. A candidate could also qualify by being included “in the top four in one of six credible random-sample telephone national news media polls conducted since the Iowa Caucus.” On January 10th, NBC Political Director Chuck Todd rescinded the networks’ invitation. He explained that under NBC’s “revised debate criteria, Mr. Kucinich no longer qualified thereunder.” “The revised criteria required that invited candidates must have finished first, second or third in either the Iowa Caucus or the New Hampshire Primary,” NBC’s petition says.

Senate Fails to Enact Real Farm Bill Reform – The Senate passed a Farm Bill last month that failed to reform the trade-distorting subsidies that drive farmers around the world into grinding poverty. The Dorgan-Grassley Payment Limits amendment, which would have established a $250,000 limit for federal farm subsidy payments to agricultural producers – garnered the support of a majority of US senators, with a vote of 56-43. Unfortunately, the amendment failed after Senate leadership succumbed to pressure from Southern senators and made an 11th hour rule change requiring 60 votes for passage. In doing so, they rigged the rules for this key vote to ensure that despite achieving a clear majority, it would not be adopted.

President Bush Hates Whales – President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the California coast — a practice critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals. The White House announced Wednesday that Bush had signed the exemption Tuesday while traveling in the Middle East. “The president’s action is an attack on the rule of law,” said Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “By exempting the Navy from basic safeguards under both federal and state law, the president is flouting the will of Congress, the decision of the California Coastal Commission and a ruling by the federal court.”

Regards,

Jim

Romney Photo-op Was With Staffer’s Mom – Media outlets reported that Mitt Romney was the picture of empathy as he sat at the Marshall, Mich. kitchen table of 51-year-old Elizabeth Sachs, a single mother of two who lost her job as a retail manager – as well as her health insurance – and is running out of money as she tries to sell her house to move to Florida. What wasn’t reported – and what the Romney campaign did not reveal at the time – was that one of Sachs’ sons, Steve Sachs, is a paid employee of Romney’s campaign, organizing five counties in Michigan.

Bible-Toting Lawmaker Kicks Photographer – Carrying a family Bible, a Republican state representative-elect kicked a photographer who took a picture of him during a statehouse prayer. When Rocky Mountain News photographer Javier Manzano took Douglas Bruce’s photo during the traditional morning prayer, Bruce, who was standing, brought the sole of his shoe down hard on the photographer’s bent knee. “Don’t do that again,” Bruce told him. Later, Bruce refused to apologize.

Megachurch Leader Charged with Perjury – An 80-year-old leader of a suburban megachurch who is at the center of a sex scandal has been charged with lying under oath for saying he had sex outside marriage with only one other woman. Former church employee Mona Brewer is suing Paulk, his brother and the church on allegations that Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the results of a court-ordered paternity test revealed in October that Paulk is the biological father of his brother’s son, D.E. Paulk, who is now head pastor at the church. As part of Brewer’s lawsuit, eight women have given sworn depositions that they were coerced into sexual relationships with Earl Paulk.

Fox Talkers Gang up on John Edwards, Dead Girl’s Family to Defend Insurance Company – Fox News host Megyn Kelly teamed up with one of the network’s “legal analysts” to bash John Edwards and others who are criticizing an insurance company for dragging its feet in approving a potentially life-saving liver transplant for a now-dead California teen.

The segment also featured a defense attorney, who defended Edwards and the family of 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, but the segment was heavily slanted towards defending insurance company Cigna, and tying Democratic presidential candidate Edwards to ambulance-chasing trial lawyers.

Defense attorney Rachel Kugel spoke for about 50 seconds of the five-and-a-half minute segment, according to a rough estimate. Fox News Legal Analyst Mercedes Colwin received more than twice as much talk-time to admonish Edwards and stick up for the poor, demonized insurance company.

MSNBC Only Describes John Edwards as “the White Guy” – In their ranking of candidates, MSNBC describes Hillary Clinton in 12 lines of text, Barak Obama in 7 lines of text, and John Edwards in only 2 lines of text that state, “Does he really want to be the white guy, playing the white candidate?” Edwards has gotten horrible press coverage, but this is the worst. Write a letter to MSNBC and tell them what you think.

EPA Administrator Refuses to Attend Congressional Hearing to Explain Why States Requests to Regulate Greenhouses Gases Were Denied – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a request from California and 18 other states to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. Despite an invitation, EPA Administrator Johnson refused to attend the hearing and explain why, over the unanimous recommendations of technical and legal staffers at the agency, he denied California’s common-sense waiver request. He has also failed to respond to the Committee’s demand that the EPA release all documents pertaining to the agency’s decision.

White House Opposes Mine Safety Bill – The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto a mine safety bill, saying the new regulations proposed by Democrats would interfere with legislation President Bush signed in 2006.

Regards,

Jim

US Drafting Plan to Allow Government Access to Any Email or Web Search – National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look like a “walk in the park.” McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft stage, which will closely police Internet activity. Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the authority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search

Fox News: We Report — Even if We Know It’s False – Fox News reported that Paul Begala was joining Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Fox News never even tried to contact Begala to verify their story. Many other networks, magazines and newspapers did call Begala to ask if the story was true. But not Fox News. After Begala told Fox it wasn’t true, they kept reporting it anyway. In fact, Fox’s Garrett told Begala that he’d “take it under advisement.” Take it under advisement? Fox now knew their story was flatly, factually wrong, and they took it “under advisement.”

Bill O’Reilly Says He Should be on the Supreme Court – And he thinks that there’s no problem with the regulations that disenfranchise low-income and minority voters.

Tom DeLay and Ralph Reed, Passed Off As ‘Political Analysts’ By Cable News – On MSNBC last night, Chris Matthews brought Tom DeLay, last seen resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives under indictment and in disgrace, onto the program last night to offer his opinion on the Democratic Party race. On Obama, Delay said, “”On the other hand, Obama, …we’ll get to talk about what ‘change’ means when Obama is president of the United States. ‘Change’ isn’t exactly what I think this nation wants to go — surrender the war on terror, more taxes, more spending, bigger government.” Over on CNN, Anderson Cooper, turned to Ralph Reed. Yes, Ralph Reed, college plagiarist, Ghandi-hater, Young Republican election manipulator, recipient of a command by the Holy Spirit (in a D.C. bar) to “come to Jesus,” Abramoff crony, Indian-tribe deceiver, humper of corporate accounts, and collaborator of those protecting sweat-shop wage slavery among women in the Northern Marianas Islands (where the conditions of employment include such benefits and “perks” as forced abortions and forced prostitution).

Jonah Goldberg’s Revisionist Definition of Fascism – Speaking in front of the Heritage Foundation (because, honestly, who else could sit through this tripe?) Jonah Goldberg tries fascism as just “something bad”. This is something I’ve suspected for many years about conservatives: They don’t actually know the definitions of the epithets they like to throw out to dismiss and demean the left. They just think it means “something bad.” Goldberg said,

“To sort of start the story, the reason why we see fascism as a thing of the right is because fascism was originally a form of right-wing socialism. Mussolini was born a socialist, he died a socialist, he never abandoned his love of socialism, he was one of the most important socialist intellectuals in Europe and was one of the most important socialist activists in Italy, and the only reason he got dubbed a fascist and therefore a right-winger is because he supported World War I.”

Um, actually, not so much. Mussolini was dubbed a fascist because he founded the Fascist Party.

Regards,

Jim

Ron Paul’s Old Newsletters Filled With Bigotry And Conspiracy Theories – Beginning in 1978, Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) name graced newsletters that were released on a seemingly monthly basis: Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report. According to Jamie Kirchick, they’re peppered with a “decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays.”
On David Duke: “Our priority should be to take the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-crime, anti-welfare loafers, anti-race privilege, anti-foreign meddling message of Duke, and enclose it in a more consistent package of freedom.”
On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “[A] comsymp, if not an actual party member, and the man who replaced the evil of forced segregation with the evil of forced integration.”
On African-Americans: “I’ve urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming.”
On Gays: “Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.”

John McCain Would Leave Iraq Withdrawal Decision Up to Just One Person, and It Isn’t You – At his last campaign stop of the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary campaign in Portsmouth Monday night, John McCain said, “There is only one man who should decide when to withdraw from Iraq and that is (General) David Petraeus,” the Arizona Senator said. That’s unbelieveable! McCain thinks that the decision as to whether this country will have troops in another country does not belong to the American people, the State Department, the President, National Security Council, or any other cabinet or advisors. To McCain, it’s just a military matter.

Republican Rep. John Doolittle Under Investigation in in the Jack Abramoff Influence-Peddling Case – Republican Rep. John Doolittle, who is under investigation in a congressional lobbying scandal, plans to announce Thursday that he’ll retire from Congress at the end of his current term. The development comes as Doolittle, in his ninth term, faced growing political pressure from fellow Republicans who considered him a liability because of his involvement, along with his wife Julie, in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation.

Republican Governor of Missouri Has a Problem with Public Documents – The former deputy legal counsel to Republican Gov. Matt Blunt sued the governor and four of his top aides Wednesday, alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up the administration’s activities. The suit describes schemes within the governor’s office to destroy public documents, to evade the state Sunshine law by sending text messages on personal Blackberrys and to fire a long-time state employee for political reasons.

Regards,

Jim

As I have posted several times in this blog, the religious right, or right-wing authoritarians (RWA), are a significant voting block in this country and they want to make major changes in our laws, our government and our way of life to suit their narrow exclusive beliefs. Well, guess who this group wants as their political leader? Right, it’s Mike Huckabee. But, did you know the Iowa Caucus was not the first time he was their number one choice.

Last September 17, 2007, Huckabee won the values voter straw poll at the Values Voter Presidential Debate. As this ‘debate’ progressed, Huckabee’s rating grew from 35 percent to 63 percent.

This ranking was based on the candidates response to a questionnaire of more than 50 questions. Here is the survey and the Republican’s candidates yes or no answers. Please take a look and see what they want of our next president and what Mike Huckabee agrees with.

This gathering of RWAs took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where they declared Huckabee “as the pro-family winner,” and most of the attendees were from the southeast. On a scale of 0 to 9, with 9 being the strongest, they rated the overall strength (or agreement with their views) of each Republican candidate. Huckabee’s scores went from 31 percent to 68 percent by the end of the gathering.

Then we have the results from the September Iowa Caucuses. One CNN story stated, “Christian conservatives are critical to any GOP presidential candidate, and Iowa is no exception. But Huckabee’s support among those voters was overwhelming, in both numbers and in intensity: As many as 80 percent of his backers Thursday were self-identified evangelicals, according to entrance polls.”

In another CNN story where the exit poll compared Huckabee to Romney, Huckabee supporters said, “that a candidate’s religious beliefs matter ‘a great deal’ overwhelmingly supported Huckabee by a margin of 56 percent to 11 percent.”

So, who are these values voters? What do they want for this country and the rest of us? What kind of republic do they want for the rest of us and why do they prefer Mike Huckabee?

Here is how they describe themselves and what that says about Mike Huckabee:

In our Declaration of Independence we determined among other things: to value our national relationship with our Creator God; to value the fact that He gave us our human rights; and to value the truth that we instituted our government — not for the purpose of creating rights — but rather for the purpose of recognizing and securing the rights that God embedded into all of human kind at creation.

We also value the right of a free people to govern themselves according to their constitutional form of government and to not be subject to tyrannical judges that legislate from the bench and subvert our constitution and the will of the American people.

For a little more insight into this group of voters and the man they want for president, here are some excerpts from their “Voters Values’ Contract with Congress.” They start off by basing it on their faith in their God and then reviewing the assault on their beliefs by liberals and progressives.

We are citizens of the United States of America and subjects of the sovereign Creator, acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence as the Supreme Ruler and Judge of the World.

Moved by our faith in God and this republican creed we join together now to defend representative self-government against the greatest assault it has ever faced. This assault has been more dangerous and successful because it comes from within and aims to destroy not just our physical defenses, but the moral ideas, habits and practices that sustain our character as a free people.

For some decades now supposedly “liberal” and “progressive” forces within our society have waged an insidious campaign to corrupt and destroy the moral foundations of our liberty. Under the compassionate guise of government welfare and social programs they have eroded our fortitude and self-discipline, taxed away our independent resources, and in particular undermined the centrality of family as the locus of individual self-reliance. Under the guise of sexual freedom and self-determination they have corrupted our sense of responsibility for our own offspring in the womb and for our biological relationships in general. This ultimately affects all relationships that draw upon the capacity for self-sacrifice we ought naturally to learn and practice in the context of decent family life. Under the guise of scientific knowledge, and a fallacious separation of religion from public life, they have thrown off the yoke of reason, and denied our sovereign right to acknowledge, as a people, the existence and authority of the Creator. But the Creator’s being and will represent the principle of unity that makes possible both the diversity of individuals and the orderly community that, on the whole, they may become. Thus, though they masquerade as the champions of community and compassion, these self-styled “liberals” and “progressives” have discarded the principle of unity, the sense of a common good, indispensable to both.

As the principal instrument for their assault upon the foundations of our liberty they have resorted to an abuse of the judicial system, and in particular the Federal judiciary’s assertion of supreme and unchecked constitutional power that supersedes and may arbitrarily nullify any action taken by the executive or legislative branches.

… the US Supreme Court has … created from its false reading of the Establishment Clause a pervasive hostility to religion.

… the Courts have purported to forbid prayer and other religious elements in government funded schools, activities and projects authorized by the people;

Having in this abusive fashion denied the people’s authority over their own religious affairs, power-grabbing Judges have begun a similar campaign against the general moral authority of the people.

But the Courts have also assaulted the strength of our national identity more directly: by using foreign laws in their decisions and by interfering with establishment of immigration policies.

After listing the issues that threaten their beliefs, they listed what they want from Congress and expect Mike Huckabee to support. Here are some highlights of their 30 item wish list. They include references to related House and Senate bills:

• Promotion of their God in public places including your place of work with H.R. 2389, 1070, 2679 and 1445, and S. 1046, 520 and 677.
• Make sure that marriage is only between one man and one woman with H.R. 1100.
• Securing parental rights over their children and other adults with H.R. 748, 181 and 1790.
• Secure our “God-bestowed right to life” with H.R 1357, 356, and S. 658 and 51
• Eliminating the separation of church and state and eliminating religious expression as a hate crime
• Eliminating all pornography and obscenity by making sure the First Amendment does not apply to it
• Securing our national borders, and
• An urgent call, for judicial restraint and an end to liberal judicial activism

This group of voters and Mike Huckabee are also referred to as social issue voters. In 2006, John Dean made the following statements about social conservatives in his book Conservatives Without Conscience:

Social conservatives, whose core members are Christian conservatives, comprise the largest and most cohesive faction of conservatism. They are, by and large, typical right-wing authoritarian followers. Both neoconservatives [social dominator authoritarians] and social conservatives include countless conservatives without conscience within their ranks [Christianists].

Social conservatives are especially susceptible to irrational beliefs ….

… Social conservatives are deeply offended by atheists who want the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, yet … they recite … that pledge and its words: “liberty and justice for all.” For all but atheists [and moderates, liberals, peace mongers, scientists, climatologists, artists, gays, actors, except Fred Thompson, non-Republicans, non-whites, non-Christians, non-conformers, non-feelers or thinkers, hybrid owners, agnostics, union members, dissenters, suspected terrorists and anyone not like them] ….

They represent 43 percent of registered Republicans.

But there is hope. Based on the total votes cast, 827,462, for the IOWA caucus and New Hampshire primary Huckabee came in 6th with 8 percent of the total votes. What is really important is the voter turnout for the Democrats – 57 percent of the total votes cast. If that can be maintained across the nation, the November election will not be close and Democrats have 10 percentage points over the closest Republican. The social/value issue voters won’t have a chance.

Government Health Care Keeps Cheney’s Evil Heart Beating – Unlike the average American, the president, vice president and members of Congress all enjoy government-financed health care with few restrictions or prohibitive fees. They are never turned away for pre-existing conditions or denied care for what an insurance company labels “experimental treatments.” Such are the benefits of what we call “CheneyCare.” Sign this petition to let the candidates know the rest of us deserve no less!

Cheney Had Role in Quashing California Emissions Standards According to EPA Staff – Multiple staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency said that Bush Administration appointee Stephen Johnson, who heads the agency, quashed California’s plan to regulate automobile emissions single-handedly, going against the wishes of nearly all of his staff. The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored his staff’s written findings in denying California’s request for a waiver to implement its landmark law to slash greenhouse gases from vehicles. “California met every criteria . . . on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers,” said an EPA staffer. “We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts.” California had sought a waiver from the federal emissions standards to implement a law which would further restrict emissions. According to Wilson, “Some staff members believe Johnson made his decision after auto executives met with Vice President Dick Cheney and after a Chrysler executive delivered a letter to the White House outlining why neither California nor the EPA should be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases, among other reasons. The Detroit News reported Wednesday that chief executives of Ford and Chrysler met with Cheney last month.” “Clearly the White House said, ‘We’re going to get EPA out of the way and get California out of the way,” said a quoted EPA employee.

Ignoring the Law About Publishing History – This week marks the one year anniversary of the date when the US last published the latest print volume of the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, “the official documentary record of U.S. foreign policy which dates back to the Abraham Lincoln Administration.” That volume covered the “Organization and Management of U.S. Foreign Policy” from 1969-1972. The volume’s publication is required by law, not more than 30 years later than the historical events. The journal of US foreign policy has long lagged behind its 30-year deadline, but the failure to print even a single volume is extraordinary and unprecedented in living memory.

Rudy Giuliani Secretly Sneaked Out More Than 2,000 Boxes of Records When He Left Office – Under an unprecedented agreement that didn’t become public until after he left office, Giuliani secreted out of City Hall the written, photographic and electronic record of his eight years in office _ more than 2,000 boxes.

U.S. Worst in Preventable Death Ranking – United States rated worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday. If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of the top three rated countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs. Researchers tracked deaths that they deemed could have been prevented by access to timely and effective health care, and ranked nations on how they did. The large number of Americans who lack any type of health insurance — about 47 million people in a country of about 300 million, according to U.S. government estimates — probably was a key factor in the poor showing of the United States compared to other industrialized nations in the study.

White House Spokesman Out-of-Touch on Economy – A reporter asked presidential spokesman Tony Fratto if the Bush administration was at all worried about a recession. He replied, “I don’t know of anyone predicting a recession.”

However, it appears that Fratto hasn’t been reading the news. Several of the nation’s leading economists continue to predict that the United States will slip into a recession:

Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein: We are now talking about [a recession happening] more likely than not. … I have been saying about 50 percent. This now pushes it up a bit above that.” [1/5/08]

Lawrence Summers: “[T]he odds now favour a US recession that slows growth significantly on a global basis. Without stronger policy responses than have been observed to date, moreover, there is the risk that the adverse impacts will be felt for the rest of this decade and beyond.” [11/25/07]

National Association for Business Economics survey: “The number of economists forecasting the U.S. will slip into recession almost doubled over the last two months.” [11/19/07]

Warren Buffett: “If I had to pick the chances that we are going into a recession, I would say they are fairly significant.” [10/29/07]

CBO Director Peter Orszag: “The risk of a recession is clearly elevated.” [9/18/07]

McCain Falsely Claims He Has ‘Never Asked For A Single Earmark Or Pork Barrel Project’ For His State – In the Fox News GOP presidential forum, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attempted to argue that if elected president, he will eliminate “wasteful spending.” As evidence, he claimed that he has never asked for an earmark for his state of Arizona:

And I’m proud to tell you, Chris, in 24 years as a member of Congress, I have never asked for nor received a single earmark or pork barrel project for my state and I guarantee you I’ll veto those bills. I’ll ask for the line item veto and I’ll veto them and I’ll make the authors of them famous.

McCain’s claim is false. In 2006, the senator teamed up with fellow Arizona senator Jon Kyl (R) to funnel $10 million toward the University of Arizona for an academic center named after the late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. Even Arizona lawmaker, Rep. Jeff Flake (R), said he was planning to “lean against the measure.” The National Taxpayers Union, another traditional McCain ally, questioned why the senator was making federal taxpayers foot the bill for the center.

McCain: ‘I Dont Think Americans Are Concerned’ If We Stay In Iraq For ‘10,000 Years’ – Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said it “would be fine with” him if the U.S. military stayed in Iraq for “a hundred years” or even a “million years.” Fifty-nine percent say the U.S. should “stick to a withdrawal timetable” instead of keeping “a significant number of troops in Iraq until the situation there gets better, even if that takes many years.” But on CBS’s Face the Nation, McCain claimed that Americans would not be “concerned” if the U.S. spends “10,000 years” in Iraq:

“The point is it’s American casualties. We’ve go to get American’s off the frontlines, have the Iraqis as part of the strategy, take over more and more of the responsibilities, and then I don’t think Americans are concerned if we’re there for one hundred years or a thousand years or ten thousand years.”

Trent Lott Dodges Ethics Law by Bolting to Lobbying Firm – Three weeks after unexpectedly bolting from the Senate, Trent Lott has decided to go into business as a lobbyist. Lott denied that his quick resignation was motivated by a desire to avoid the new lobbying rules.

Second Night in a Row of Republicans Debating Provides Recycled Distortions – In the final debate before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary election, five Republican candidates appeared on Fox News. There was no shortage of recycled bunk, and a new twist or two:

• Huckabee repeated his claim to have made 94 tax cuts including the “first broad-based tax cut” in the history of Arkansas, though he actually signed tax bills that resulted in a net increase in taxes of $500 million.
• Romney said his increases in “fees” only amounted to $240 million in Massachusetts. But his own administration and others have put them higher. He also failed to mention $174 million in corporate tax “loophole” closings.
• Giuliani falsely claimed that one of his tax cuts more than paid for itself, and he generally used incorrect figures when boasting of his record on taxes in New York City. And he claimed credit for too large a reduction in welfare cases.
• Thompson said, “I never said that I was cutting Social Security.” That’s true, but he is proposing to slow the growth of benefits to those who retire in the future.
• McCain said he had never asked for a single “pork barrel project” for Arizona, but we find a few that could qualify for that characterization

Whoppers of the Year (and I’m not talking about burgers) – The year 2007 wasn’t a good one for political honesty. Though not even technically an election year, it provided a bumper crop of falsehoods and distortions nonetheless.

• Republican Rudy Giuliani made numerous false claims about his record as mayor of New York (adoption, number of police, crime rates, tax cuts), and even one about England’s health care system.
• Democrat Bill Richardson also mangled the facts repeatedly, claiming credit for creating more jobs as New Mexico’s governor than actually materialized and using a made-up figure about the performance of U.S. students, among other misstatements.
• Republican Mitt Romney claimed undeserved credit for himself as governor of Massachusetts and made false or misleading claims about two of his rivals.
• Democrat Hillary Clinton ran an ad claiming that National Guard and Reserve troops had no health insurance before she went to work, when in fact most of them did.
• Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee repeatedly twisted the facts when talking about his record on taxes in Arkansas and other subjects. And there were plenty of other howlers from the large field of candidates.
• Democrats made false promises about their Medicare drug bill in January.
• President Bush made a false claim about a Democratic effort to expand health care coverage for children in low-income families.
• Advocates of the so-called “FairTax” claimed a 23 percent national sales tax can replace both the federal income tax and Social Security taxes. In truth, the actual rate would have to be at least 34 percent even if it fell on new homes, mortgage and credit-card interest and a host of other products and services not usually subject to state or local sales taxes.
• A labor union group ran an ad supporting Democrat John Edwards that left the impression that jobs from a closed Iowa plant had gone overseas, when really they had gone to Ohio.
• A business group ran an ad falsely claiming that “lawsuit abuse” costs families thousands of dollars per year, which isn’t true.

Department of Homeland Security Finalizing Plans for Domestic Spy Satellite Program – A plan to dramatically widen US law enforcement agencies’ access to data from powerful spy satellites is moving toward implementation, as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff expects to finalize a charter for the program this week, according to a new report. Chertoff insists the scheme to turn spy satellites — that were originally designed for foreign surveillance — on Americans is legal, although a House committee that would approve the program has not been updated on the program for three months.

Regards,

Jim