Love this story about the White House email problems. I am sure you remember that a computer expert called their system "primitive" and said that it was highly likely that data would be lost. Now we find out just how important that was to these people:
"Under pressure to provide details about its computer system, the White House told the congressional committee that it never completed work that began in 2003 on a planned records management and e-mail archiving system. The White House canceled the project in late 2006 and says it is still working on a new version."I am sure they will have a plan in place for 1-20-09.
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In other news, the Bush people seem to have rediscovered budget cuts. Spend a trillion dollars on two wars and no bid contracts? No problem. Provide educational opportunities that might allow people to escape poverty? No, sorry. No money for that.
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Speaking of that war, according to Bush, Mission Accomplished. Again.
As Froomkin put it:
The supposed victory against bin Laden that Bush is celebrating is belied by the fact that al-Qaeda wasn't in Iraq before the invasion, that its Iraqi namesake is a mostly home-grown version with limited ties to bin Laden's organization, that the administration's own intelligence has concluded that the war has helped rather than hurt al-Qaeda -- and that bin Laden himself likely remains safely ensconced in Pakistan.I love how this administration moves the goal posts. "Starting now, things are great and you can't criticize us for the past decisions" has been their mantra. Bush trumpets the surge and ignores the previous four years--the four years in which he stubbornly and churlishly refused to alter the course, fire Rummy, or even acknowledge problems in Iraq--because of his giant ego. In fact, he kept Rumsfeld on precisely because critics wanted him to go. And in doing so, cost how many American and Iraqi lives? And that is supposed to pass for leadership?
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When Cheney was asked about the American people, he doesn't care what we think and that makes him just like Lincoln.
Raddatz: "Two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting, and they're looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives."Funny. I thought we were living in a democracy. I also remember this ass being more than willing to tout public support in the polls when it was on his side. Ass.
Cheney: "So?"
Raddatz: "So -- you don't care what the American people think?"
Cheney: "No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn't had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in order to get there."
6 comments:
I've mentioned before that I can't believe there weren't at least mid-level officials at the White House who didn't want emails purged. You don't even need to have done data security to know their setup practically guarantees significant data loss. Most tier 2 support technicians with a couple years experience will have dealt with several concrete examples of major data loss caused by flawed backup systems, some of which are better than what the WH was using.
Honestly, I expect better from the government than "Have everyone burn their stuff onto DVDs every couple of weeks and store them in a secure vault," not worse. There are limits to how much incompetence I will buy even from the Bush White House.
Agreed. And what we know about Cheney, at least, suggests that this is more purposeful than incompetent. Of course, I am still waiting for that competent action from this administration.
I think Cheney has been ruthlessly competent for the last seven years; it's just that his goal isn't governing, so much as making sure he and his buddies solidify their financial situations, and settling old scores from the aftermath of Watergate.
Even the Bushies are not this incompetent. If they say that the e-mails are gone, they are lying. Do not believe these people. It is all about getting people to stop asking questions. They have a lot to hide and will use any ruse to keep their crimes hidden.
Oh, I believe the emails are gone. I just don't believe their destruction was accidental.
heh. Yeah, perhaps they are not incompetent when it comes to destroying evidence. And I agree with you about Cheney too. He has been very competent at doing what he does--but he simply is not working on our behalf.
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