The Matrix

President Bush approval rating is below 40% and sinking fast. Let’s summarize the issues.

1. The Iraq war was launched on facts that were not true. Iraq had no WMD and was not involved with the terrorists. Iraq is rapidly moving to civil war. This has cost almost 2000 American lives, billions of dollar, and is a violation of the Powell Doctrine. We need to be out of there.
2. Iran is moving quickly to be a nuclear power and market its nuclear technology to other countries.
3. Gas prices continue to soar. The polls show that 74% think the President can do a lot to control these prices, 69% think President Bush has done little or nothing to control them.
4. Hurricane Katrina was highly predictable. Bush’s political appointees had no experience in emergency preparations. Katrina ranks as the 7th deadliest natural disaster of the nation. But the last was in 1938 - the Great New England Hurricane. There was no excuse.
5. Patrick Fitzgerald continues a probe into why the identity of a CIA officer was leaked to the press. Legally, this is considered treason and has a heavy fine and prison sentence. This would have been leaked from the Administration.
6. Serious environmental problems exist that are being ignored by the Administration. Bush came in, to a large extent, on money from the oil industry. Administrative papers are edited to eliminate the relationship of pollution to the industry. Many scientist believe environmental damage is the cause of many things, including an increase in the number hurricanes and the fact that the hurricanes are stronger.

A large part of the problem results from the fact that President Bush lives in a bubble. He delegates responsibility downline for the visions he carries, and only hears information that supports his previous reached conclusions. For example, I believe he came into his first term with a decision to launch war in Iraq, and created the facts for it and marketed these facts - which were not true. Even now with Katrina, he says we didn’t know the levees would break. We did know, it’s just he chose to ignore this information. People who had it were afraid to give it to him.

Will Bush learn from this? I doubt it. He didn’t learn from Iraq. I see a LOT of political changes coming up in the next few years. The Emporer has no clothes.

We cannot call Katrina “An Act of God”. The fact that a hurricane of unusual strength could hit New Orleans was well known. Simulations had shown what would happen, yet the governments did nothing to prepare for it. President Bush, on Sept 1, said no one could predict the levees would break. Yet this prediction had been done:

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46092

Bush and other authorities had ignored the data. Moreover, the decision makers at the Federal level (Brown, Chertoff) were all political appointees with no experience in preparing for such an event. Even now, lobbyists are in a hurry to get no-bid contracts and waste more money.

We can expect that Bush’s strategy is to shove money at it. Lots of money. Little changes other than this. The root cause of the problem is never dealt with. This means a bigger budget deficit next year, and more debt for every taxpayer.

The proper strategy lies in Congress, as I don’t expect President Bush to change - stop the pork barrel (such as the $231 million Alaskan bridge to nowhere), end our involvement in Iraq, insist on bidding for contracts, and hold people accountable - including Brown, Bush, and the rest of the gang. Without this, the support of President Bush, the Republicans, and even the Democratic senators and congresspeople will continue to drop like a rock. Hey - remember, there is an election next year. You can vote for changes.

President Bush would not sign the Kyoto protocol for the United States. Apparently the reason is that it would put too much burden on the oil industry to clean up their act. Guess whose money put Bush in?

Bush’s buddy, Philip Cooney, was at one time a lobbyist for the oil industry. Bush brought him on his team, where he helped write the pollution standards. (He isn’t a scientist.) Omitted from the final document (by Cooney) was an initial statement that linked the pollution of the oil industry to the global warming. At the same time over 300 cities this summer are setting record temperatures as a result of global warming. Hurricanes this summer are 50% stronger and longer due to the global warming. Normally there are about six hurricanes in a season. This year they expect 9-11 hurricanes. In 2004 there were 1700 tornados in the U.S.. A record. Now Cooney has moved on and has a top job at Exxon Mobil.

Now, knowing this, let’s ask you a few questions. Why (really) are oil prices so high? Why did President Bush lead us into the Iraq war on statements there were not true? What is the real reason he doesn’t sign Kyoto?

Both Vonage and Qwest have serious support problems. They can destroy your business. Enjoy the fun and blog these problems to the A-List blogs. Let’s get a swarm going.

Here are the page counts in Google today for these problems. Search on:
vonage +support +blog 127,000 pages
qwest +support +blog 78,500 pages

For more information, see our log of our problem in the certified letter we sent to Vonage at:
http://www.netadventures.biz/vonage.htm

For the A-List blogs, here is a short list:

The Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/
Eschaton http://atrios.blogspot.com/
Instapundit.com http://www.instapundit.com
Hugh Hewitt http://www.hughhewitt.com
Captain’s Quarters http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/
PowerLine http://www.powerlineblog.com/

Our own business site for email is at http://www.netadventures.biz.

Tip for the Wise: Don’t go Vonage. Vonage is a phone carrier service that allows you to move your phone traffic over the Internet with a regular phone without using the land lines. Long distance is free, international calls are almost free, and the system has almost no taxes or extra charges.

The problem is that their customer support is the worse of any company of which I have used products or service. They, with Qwest, have mangled our business telephone number to such a point that I can’t use it - the number is in limbo somewhere and has been in limbo land for 4 weeks.

To reach us now, use an alternate number at 503-952-6045.

Check it out vonage customer support by googling vonage +support +blog. I get 127,000 hits. If I were their CEO, I’d stop the ads until the support problem is fixed. What they have now exposes them to a LOT of liabilities.

Judith Miller heads to jail - but is she really a martyr to the freedom of the press?

Miller has a tendency to jump the gun, and perhaps the most famous example is her reporting of the “weapons of mass destruction” articles in the The New York Times of 2002 and 2003:

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/

These were based on information from the now discredited Ahmad Chalabi who was seeking his own personal power.

http://alternet.org/mediaculture/21664/

In other words, Judith Miller’s false report helped the Administration launch a war on false information that has cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Is this what Freedom of the Press should support?

I’m all FOR Freedom of the Press, but I do think journalists should be held accountable for what they report. In the fake memo story of CBS 60 Minutes, we see that accountability played out as it should be. Her paper should have fired her long ago.

And Matt Cooper? Looks like a real can of worms there.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/11time.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1121092780-crGj7rtRx590WDs3NA+PXg

Keeping up with Portland:

If you live in Portland, OR a good blog to montor is :
http://communique.portland.or.us

The above also has a blogroll of lots of good local blogs to follow.

And then Sam Adams on the Council has started a blog at:
http://www.commissionersam.com/

As Sandra Day O’Conner retires from the court, the stage is set for a political battle over who will be appointed to the Court. It would be interesting indeed if this battle is resolved in the blogs.

Evangelical leaders, such as Ted Haggard, are speaking out strongly for Bush to make a conservative choice. Recent decisions by the court in such issues as not permitting the display of the Ten Commandments, permitting a city to take you home or place of worship by “eminent domain”, the recent ruling against the freedom of the press, and the issues of abortion and gay rights have strayed far, far, far from the vision of the founders of our country and the constitution. In short, the judicial branch has taken too much control in the government and needs restraint. The Bill of Rights has been sabotaged over and over again by the Court. I cannot honor a judicial system that has strayed so far from what the foundling fathers established.

O’Conner was a moderate, and should be replaced with a strong conservative to restore confidence in the court. Alberto Gonzales is far too moderate to step into this position. My top possibilities are Judge Edith H. Jones or Emilo Garza. Anything else, and Congress has sold out. Watch how your representatives votes - as you get to vote next year on whether that representative stays there. This is a very critical issue.

Judge Edith Jones is a strong conservative, as is a good choice if Bush and Congress wish to have another woman on the bench to replace O’Conner. She’s a good choice regardless of gender. She has spoken out strongly on the decline of legal ethics:

“The integrity of the law, its religious roots, its transcendent quality are disappearing.”
Judge Edith Jones, February 28, 2003, Harvard University

Judge Emilio Garza is a strong candidate if Bush wants a Hispanic on the Court. Unlike Gonzales, Emilio is a stanch solid conservative.

Keep an eye on those who are supposed to represent you. Democrats will probably fight to put a liberal on the court, which would be disaster - not only for the court, but also for any chance the democrats have for getting anywhere in next years election.

Those decisions by the Supreme Court are really bad - I just don’t have confidence in the Court. Zero. Zip.

The good news, however, is that the Supreme Court will wrap its work in a few days, and probably at that point one or more are expected to retire. At that point President Bush will deliver some conservative judges to Congress to be approved. Write to your senators and congressmen/women and ask them to approve these quickly. Don’t wait on this - the liberals are already starting their letters. May sure those that represent you REALLY represent you. Hold them accountable in the elections next year.

Thinking about switching to an Internet phone? Think again.
We had a business phone with Qwest. On 6/22 we requested, through Vonage, to transfer this number to my Vonage Internet line. Qwest released the number for Vonage on 6/23. My business line - listed in DEX with an ad for $165 a month - now doesn’t work.

Vonage says they can’t do anything about it. Qwest says they can’t do anything about it. Well, I sure can.

We’ll keep you posted on how long it takes Vonage to get me connected. Meanwhile, my listed business number in the yellow pages, Internet local directories, and all my Internet web sites doesn’t work.

Right now both Qwest and Vonage and pointing fingers at each other - saying it’s the other guy’s fault. I don’t care whose fault it is - until it is resolved, it’s the fault of both.

Update: Qwest says they notified Vonage on 6/21, then dropped me on 6/23. That is a normal path.

OK Vonage - the ball is in your court…. Why didn’t you pick up the number?

Our Advice: If you need to keep your old phone number, don’t go Vonage.

Updates to this will be in our the Vonage support post in our business blog - see the comments.