1. Report: SoCal voters switched to GOP without their knowledge

- From the associated Press, via SF Gate -

Snip:

Dozens of voters were registered as Republicans without their knowledge in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, The Press-Enterprise of Riverside reported Thursday.

The newspaper analyzed voter registration cards collected in late 2005 and early 2006 and found at least 37 that appeared to involve unauthorized changes of a voter's party. Only 19 of 60 people contacted by the newspaper said they were aware their party registration had been changed to Republican.

The newspaper said it appeared many of the unauthorized changes were made by signature gatherers who received a bonus for each new GOP registration.

2. EPA ignores advice for annual limits on tiny soot - Science panel had urged tighter rules, citing health effects - SF Gate, Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer

Snip:

Ignoring the advice of its own science panel and several health and environmental groups, the Bush administration issued new limits Thursday on lethal soot particles billowing from sources such as power plants, trucks and ships.

. . . the EPA's science panel had wanted a rule that would go further in cutting pollution made up of microscopic flecks of dirt, soot and vapor. Fine particles have been linked to thousands of premature deaths, asthma attacks, heart attacks and other health problems.

In his decision, Johnson (EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson) failed to tighten limits of the amount of fine particulate pollution that may be emitted in a year.

Medical experts, including some EPA staff members, say that annual standard must be strong to safeguard public health, particularly in urban areas.

The new standard was attacked by such industry groups as Edison Electric Institute, an industry group of power companies, and National Home Builders. They don't like the EPA reducing the daily standard, arguing there is uncertainty over the health benefits of reducing fine particles and that it's costly.

1. Voting irregularities which strangely favor the GOP are nothing new. Anybody remember the 2000 and 2004 elections?

2. No surprise that the Bush EPA is catering to industry and big business at the expense of human and environmental health. This, after all, is the administration that has denied the effects of global warming even as the flood waters rise around them. Apparently EPA no longer stands for Environmental Protection Agency but Expendable Planet Agency.

Here we go again

U.N. inspectors challenge House nuclear report on Iran 'Outrageous and dishonest' claims, officials complain - Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, via SFGate

Snips:

U.N. inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained Wednesday to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document "outrageous and dishonest" and offering evidence to refute its central claims.

The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) openly clashed with the Bush administration on prewar assessments of alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Relations all but collapsed when the agency revealed that the White House had based some allegations about an Iraqi nuclear program on forged documents.

When the congressional report was released last month, Hoekstra (Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee) said his intent was "to help increase the American public's understanding of Iran as a threat." His spokesman Jamal Ware said Wednesday that Hoekstra would respond to the IAEA letter.

They lied and fabricated evidence in an attempt to justify the invasion of Iraq and, since that worked so well, they're using the same game plan on Iran. How does the old saying go? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Well, not all of us were fooled the first time - in fact, how anybody with even two working brain cells could have bought the Bush Regime's crap regarding the so called Iraqi threat is beyond me. Fear, I know, is a great selling point. In fact, let's run Peter Hoekstra's comment snipped above through the double talk translator, shall we?

Here, again, is is the Hoekstra quote regarding his intent in releasing the House Committee report on Iran: "to help increase the American public's understanding of Iran as a threat."

Now, the double talk translation: to help increase the American public's fear of Iran as a threat.

Senate: No Prewar Saddam-al-Qaida Ties
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer, via SF Gate

Snips in red

There's no evidence Saddam Hussein had ties with al-Qaida, according to a Senate report on prewar intelligence. . .

Bush administration officials have insisted on a link between the Iraqi regime and terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Intelligence agencies, however, concluded there was none.

It discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that prior to the war Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates."

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the report was "nothing new."

end snips

Well, Snow and his masters at The White House are certainly correct that there is "nothing new" in the senate report. It is old news that Saddam was in no way connected with the events of 9/11. Just as it is old news that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that the Bush Administration had Iraq on its agenda long before the invasion began. Which brings us to even more old news - that pesky little Downing Street Memo, which clearly illustrates that war was not a last but a first option for Bush. Snip from The Downing Street Memo:

Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.

Until Bush responds (or perhaps I should say, until we get the truth) to the Congressional letter submitted to him on the subject of The Downing Street Memo (which he has failed to do for more than a year now), the lack of WMDs in Iraq, the lack of a connection between The Iraqi Government and al-Qaida, and the complete fabrication of the case for war will remain the freshest and most relevant of "old news".