http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032406A.shtml
Apocalyptic President
By Sidney Blumenthal
The Guardian UK
Thursday 23 March 2006
Even some Republicans are now horrified by the influence Bush has given to
the evangelical right.
In his latest PR offensive President Bush came to Cleveland, Ohio, on
Monday to answer the paramount question on Iraq that he said was on people's
minds: "They wonder what I see that they don't." After mentioning "terror"
54 times and "victory" five, dismissing "civil war" twice and asserting that
he is "optimistic", he called on a citizen in the audience, who homed in on
the invisible meaning of recent events in the light of two books, American
Theocracy, by Kevin Phillips, and the book of Revelation. Phillips, the
questioner explained, "makes the point that members of your administration
have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the
rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse. Do you believe this? And if
not, why not?"
Bush's immediate response, as transcribed by CNN, was: "Hmmm." Then he
said: "The answer is I haven't really thought of it that way. Here's how I
think of it. First, I've heard of that, by the way." The official White
House website transcript drops the strategic comma, and so changes the
meaning to: "First I've heard of that, by the way."
But it is certainly not the first time Bush has heard of the apocalyptic
preoccupation of much of the religious right, having served as evangelical
liaison on his father's 1988 presidential campaign. The Rev Jerry Falwell
told Newsweek how he brought Tim LaHaye, then an influential rightwing
leader, to meet him; LaHaye's Left Behind novels, dramatizing the rapture,
Armageddon and the second coming, have sold tens of millions.
But it is almost certain that Cleveland was the first time Bush had
heard of Phillips's book. He was the visionary strategist for Nixon's 1968
presidential campaign; his 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority,
spelled out the shift of power from the north-east to the south and
south-west, which he was early to call "the sunbelt"; he grasped that
southern Democrats would react to the civil-rights revolution by becoming
southern Republicans; he also understood the resentments of urban ethnic
Catholics towards black people on issues such as crime, school integration
and jobs. But he never imagined that evangelical religion would transform
the coalition he helped to fashion into something that horrifies him.
In American Theocracy, Phillips describes Bush as the founder of "the
first American religious party"; September 11 gave him the pretext for
"seizing the fundamentalist moment"; he has manipulated a "critical
religious geography" to hype issues such as gay marriage. "New forces were
being interwoven. These included the institutional rise of the religious
right, the intensifying biblical focus on the Middle East, and the deepening
of insistence on church-government collaboration within the GOP electorate."
It portended a potential "American Disenlightenment," apparent in Bush's
hostility to science.
Even Bush's failures have become pretexts for advancing his
transformation of government. Exploiting his own disastrous emergency
management after Hurricane Katrina, Bush is funneling funds to churches as
though they can compensate for governmental breakdown. Last year David Kuo,
the White House deputy director for faith-based initiatives, resigned with a
statement that "Republicans were indifferent to the poor".
Within hours of its publication, American Theocracy rocketed to No 1 on
Amazon. At US cinemas, V for Vendetta - in which an imaginary Britain, ruled
by a totalitarian, faith-based regime that rounds up gays, is a metaphor for
Bush's America - is the surprise hit. Bush has succeeded in getting American
audiences to cheer for terrorism.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to President Clinton, is the
author of The Clinton Wars.
***
From: "Richard Dawson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 10:09 PM
Subject: Fwd: Diebold Takes Aim at Open Voting
Once again we need to let our legislators know that we are paying attention,
and that, if we are to have electronic voting, we want honest, secure
software running the machines. AB 2097, Jackie Goldberg's bill to require
public disclosure of the software used to run voting machines, will soon be
heard by the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee. They need to
hear that we understand the importance of the bill and that we want it
passed.
Diebold and friends are out to kill AB 2097. The bill is particularly
critical since the Schwarzanegger-appointed Secretary of State has
chosen to approve Diebold voting mahines despite continuing questions
as to their accuracy and their vulnerability to fraud.
The ITAA (Information Technology Association of America) lobbied against
Jackie's resolution ACR 242 two years ago that asked Secretary of State to
investigate using open source software for elections. We won that time.
They're taking the challenge of open-source software even more seriously
this
time. It's going to be a tough battle.
PLEASE HELP. Phone, email, and/or fax the members of the Assembly Elections
and Redistricting Committee. If you haven't the time or inclination to
contact them all, at least be sure to contact the Chair of the committee,
Tom
Umberg. Addresses follow. Beyond those addresses is a copy of the letter
that I sent. Please feel free to copy as much as you want, but it is better
if you can be a bit original.
Thanks
Rich
Tom Umberg, Chair Dem-69 (916) 319-2069
Contact his staff, Larry Sokol and Ethan Jones.
Fax: 1 916 319 2169
Mark Wyland, Vice Chair Rep-74 (916) 319-2074
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 1 916 319 2174
Betty Karnette Dem-54 (916) 319-2054
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 1 916 319 2154
Johan Klehs Dem-18 (916) 319-2018
Fax: 1 916 319 2118
Mark Leno Dem-13 (916) 319-2013
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 1 916 319 2113
Lloyd E. Levine Dem-40 (916) 319-2040
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 1 916 319 2140
Michael N. Villines Rep-29 (916) 319-2029
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 1 916 319 2129
There must be some Republicans as well, but they will probably all vote
against the bill anyway. Let's just be sure that the Democrats are on
board.
My letter:
Return Address
Date
Honorable XXXX YYYY
Elections and Redistricting Committee
California State Assembly
Sacramento, CA 94249-0053
Dear Representative YYYY:
I urge you to support AB 2097, a bill to help ensure the integrity of
California's elections and to bolster public confidence in the honesty of
those elections.
AB 2097, scheduled for an April hearing in the elections and redistricting
committee, would make California's use of a particular electronic voting
system contingent upon the public disclosure of the details of that system's
hardware and software.
All of the currently available electronic voting systems use proprietary
software. As a result, the software and the algorithms that it implements
remain secret, known only to the manufacturer. The public, and for that
matter the Secretary of State, have no way of independently verifying that
the software will faithfully record and accurately tally the vote.
Impartial evaluations, including those upon which California's Secretary of
State relied to approve Diebold machines, have found the available systems
to be vulnerable to manipulation. In other states where the equipment has
been used, election results, for which there was no independent
verification,
were wildly inconsistent with exit polls. None-the-less, California's
Secretary of State approved Diebold machines, and all of the manufacturer's
continue to assert that their equipment will perform properly.
Public disclosure would allow completely independent evaluations with the
opportunity for debate and correction of the problems. Such debate would
quickly resolve unfounded criticisms and help build public confidence.
Furthermore, depending upon the licensing agreements in place,
having the source code available would enable the state to correct software
problems without having to wait for a response from the manufacturer. At the
same time, the software owner's interest in the software would be protected
by copyright and by any patents that applied.
California cannot afford to take for granted the integrity of our elections,
nor can we depend entirely upon government officials to protect election
integrity. Recently, a whistle-blower who disclosed information about
deficiencies in Diebold equipment, information suggesting possible criminal
behavior, was himself charged with a criminal breach of confidence. Rather
than go after the criminal behavior of Diebold and defend against election
fraud, the state is going after the messenger. Requiring public disclosure
of voting machine operational details will give the public the opportunity
to evaluate voting equipment without facing criminal charges.
Please support AB 2097 when it comes before the Elections and Redistricting
Committee.
Sincerely,
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