Today a link to this article in the NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/politics/18MEDI.html

This is called:
Mysterious Fax Adds to Intrigue Over the Medicare Bill's Cost

Just another instance widely known of a Bush Administration attempt to spin, conceal, discredit and eat-its-own when confronted on dishonesty. This, in addition to the Duck Blind story where Justice Scalia has been outed as to possible conflict of interest in the current Supreme Court case being heard about Dick Cheney vs. the Sierra Club. Apparently, a social friendship with one of the top US government officials is not cause to recuse himself from the court case. Here is the link to more information:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/politics/18CND-SCAL.html?hp
Scalia Angrily Defends His Duck Hunt With Cheney

Just in case the links do not hold up over time, here are snippets from both articles:

"Arguing that the hunting trip raised doubts about Justice Scalia's impartiality, the Sierra Club had asked him not to participate in the Cheney case, which involves the club's effort to obtain data about private meetings of the vice president's energy task force in 2001. The court agreed to hear an appeal in the case shortly before the hunting trip, which prompted editorial pages across the country to echo the Sierra Club's concern that Justice Scalia should not help render a ruling."

"Dated June 11, 2003, the document put the cost at $551.5 billion over 10 years. It appeared to confirm what Ms. Bjorklund and her bosses on the House Ways and Means Committee had long suspected: the actuary, Richard S. Foster, had concluded the legislation would be far more expensive than Congress's $400 billion estimate — and had kept quiet while lawmakers voted on the bill and President Bush signed it into law."

This is from Kent, whose Canadian weblog has intrigued me for months. Fascinating to me, as an American, that I run into so many erudite Canucks that are commenting on what they see in American politics and policy - and are right on the money! Giantkicks is his blog and intro description: "This is giantkicks.com, a news and image weblog by Vancouver artist and designer Kent Lins. A blog since 2000. Anti-propaganda, Anti-Bush. - blogging urban hipster art, fashion, film and design. 'Reviews' of downtempo, electro, priogressive, dubby tech-house, euro-dub and other music types more difficult to classify." Good reading, folks! Thanks Kent for the post and link to the NYTimes article.

"Here's a scathing critique of news writing in the US. It's a play by play of war cheerleading and dissent hushing in influential newspapers. It shows the US press to be complicit in the US attack on an unaggressive country. The lack of any weapons of mass destruction or any credible evidence for attacking Iraq should be (aside from being incredibly shaming) a warning to the public to be skeptical when reading newspapers and listening to government speaches. - it won't, articles like this one are too long for their attention span...The New York Review of Books: Now They Tell Us"

Give us a break. The Bush Administration IS a bunch of "liars and crooks", exactly what John Kerry said. Why should he apologize for an opinion and even more, the truth? And why on earth would some critics say that the comment was not worthy of a presidential candidate or President. When has GW Bush been truthful and respectful about anything in his public statements to Americans? Where is the "truth" about Bushie manipulation of "facts" to support grandiose crusades? I will now say this myself: they are the biggest bunch of liars and crooks. So, sue me.