Rep. Henry A. Waxman has sponsored a searchable database of misleading statements made by the Bush Administration regarding Iraq . It includes 237 statements made by the Administration on 125 separate occasions. My favorite:

Vice President Richard Cheney on Al-Qaeda:

"QUESTION: When I was in Iraq, some of the soldiers said they believed they were fighting because of the Sept. 11 attacks and because they thought Saddam Hussein had ties to al Qaida. You've repeatedly cited such links. . . . I wanted to ask you what you'd say to those soldiers, and were those soldiers misled at all? VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: . . . . With respect to . . . the general relationship. . . . One place you ought to go look is an article that Stephen Hayes did in the Weekly Standard . . . That goes through and lays out in some detail, based on an assessment that was done by the Department of Defense and forwarded to the Senate Intelligence Committee some weeks ago. That's your best source of information. I can give you a few quick for instances, one the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. QUESTION: Yes, sir . . . . VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: The main perpetrator was a man named Ramzi Yousef. He's now in prison in Colorado. His sidekick in the exercise was a man named Abdul Rahman Yasin. . . Ahman Rahman . . . Yasin is his last name anyway. I can't remember his earlier first names. He fled the United States after the attack, the 1993 attack, went to Iraq, and we know now based on documents that we've captured since we took Baghdad, that they put him on the payroll, gave him a monthly stipend and provided him with a house, sanctuary, in effect, in Iraq, in the aftermath of nine-ele (sic) . . . the 93' attack on the World Trade Center. QUESTION: So you stand by the statements? VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Absolutely. Absolutely. And you can look at Zarkawi, (Abu Mussab) al-Zarkawi . . . Who was an al-Qaida associate, who was wounded in Afghanistan, took refuge in Baghdad, working out of Baghdad, worked with the Ansar al Islam group up in northeastern Iraq, that produced a so-called poison factory, a group that we hit when we went into Iraq. . . . We'll find ample evidence confirming the link, that is the connection if you will between al Qaida and the Iraqi intelligence services. They have worked together on a number of occasions."
Source: Transcript of interview with Vice President Dick Cheney, Rocky Mountain News (1/9/2004).

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Explanation This statement was misleading because it asserted that Iraq was providing support to al Qaeda. In fact, the U.S. intelligence community had conflicting evidence on this issue and was divided regarding whether there was an operational relationship. The statement also refers to the Ansar al Islam group in Northeastern Iraq without acknowledging that this area was not controlled by Saddam Hussein.


What's your favorite?

It seems like nobody really knows much about St. Patrick other than that he "drove the snakes out of Ireland." He actually converted a lot of people to Christianity, and the shamrock is a symbol for the holy trnity.

If you go to this site, you can email him. Yes, that's right, you can email St. Patrick. I notice that the site sells a lot of Catholic paraphanalia. I have a sneaky suspicion that if you email a saint, which requires you to provide your own email address, you may get solicitations from the Catholics. I'm not willing to experiment, but if it's true, that's pretty rotten.

Position: Bartenders
Names: Rachel and Lilho

Experience:
- 15 minutes bartending at an upscale establishment in the vicinity of the beautiful Niagara River

Qualifications:
- Willing to mix crazy concoctions
- Able to turn a bar into utter chaos
- Free drinks for everyone because we don't know how to use the register

Lilho - I'm sorry he turned out to be a pig. We'll find you a good one.

He calls me. I don't call him. There is never a number to return his calls. Just messages. Of course, he's always a great time and a good friend. But you never know when he'll show up.

Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about.

TK - it's Wednesday (Mixer's Day) and Geoffrey needs his boots back.

Feel free to ignore this entry. It's just my way of venting.

Work has been so monotonous lately. I like my field, but I'm stuck on a task for a project that keeps dragging on and on and on...... I'm the lowest on the ladder in my department, so I pretty much always get the grunt work. On top of that, there is someone who gets paid way more than me and does nothing but cause frustration for everyone else. Isn't there one of those in every workplace though? It seems like they always get promoted. They need to hire an intern so someone is beneath me.

Friday:
Another fun night with TK and Jeffrey. Always a good time to hang out with.

Saturday:
Very important plans to go to Kenmore and spend time with my cat. We've been overdue for some quality bonding and napping.

Sunday:
Trip to IKEA!

What else could I ask for?

Does anyone have additional information on the push to revive the draft? I've looked online and haven't found too much. I've also read that this is just a political ploy from the Democrats. Is the media really ignoring this issue? Who do we believe? The move to fill the draft boards is rather suspicious, but I would like to know more.

I'd like to make a few more points:

1. If you want to work from outside the system, do that too. The MINIMUM you can do is vote. Do both. However, I don't see anyone working from outside the system. If you are, tell me how and count me in.

2. The reason we have so few options with candidates is that the younger generation doesn't vote. Politicians don't care about what younger people, who are arguably more liberal, are looking for in a candidate because this demographic group is seen as apathetic and not willing to vote. The only way to change this is to get out there and vote.

3. Maybe the democracy is working (in response to Terry). Democracy is based on the will of the majority. Face it - most of us on the e-strip are politically left of the majority of Americans.

4. If you don't vote, consider yourself voting for Bush. Republicans/Conservatives are far more unified than Democrats/Liberals, and they tend to vote more. Democrats and Independents need to vote to counter them.

If you don't care about whether abortion is legal, if there is oil drilling in the Arctic, if we continue this insane amount of military spending, or about any of the many issues that the Democrats and Republicans disagree on, then maybe it doesn't matter if you vote. But you do care. I know you do.

Please vote.

Although it's true that in the U.S. electoral system we've generally had only two choices, there is such a thing as the lesser of two evils. Kerry doesn't stand for everything that I do. But Bush is FAR worse.

During the last election, I voted for Nader. At the time, I was living in Maryland, an extremely Democratic state, so I didn't have to worry about "throwing away a vote." Since I didn't have that risk, I felt like I needed to make the statement that the Democrats were not supporting the traditional Democratic ideals, or anything that actually resembled liberalism.

At this point, George Bush has caused more damage than I could have ever imagined. I would not vote for a third party candidate in this election, because he needs to be removed from office. I sincerely believe that he is the closest thing the U.S. has ever had to a dictator, and if allowed, he would be.

Between Nader's influence on the 2000 election and the amount of supporters Howard Dean has had throughout his campaign, I think the Democratic party has realized that it needs to be less centrist. No - it's not exactly the party I want to support. But politics has always been about compromise. And I have no doubt that John Kerry would make a better president than Bush.

If you can't agree with that, at least take into consideration the influence of your local politicians, and vote for them. In reality, local politics often has a greater impact in our personal lives then the President. If nothing else, vote for those running for local office.

Politicians cater to younger voters less than any other demographic group because we vote the least. Make that change. I beg of you all.

"Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that has."
- Margaret Meade

The gay marriage amendment is yet another terrifying and drastic assault on our civil liberties. The only constitutional amendment that has limited individual rights was Prohibition, and we all know how well that worked (if you don't, check out the 21st Amendment). The Patriot Act has already set a dangerous precedent. If the gay marriage amendment is passed, the U.S. will be on its way to developing a pattern of basic human rights violations.