bq. “Today our nation remembers. We remember a sad and terrible day, September the 11th, 2001. We remember lives lost. We remember the heroic deeds. We remember the compassion and the decency of our fellow citizens on that terrible day,”
President of United States

Recently one of my friends found that his identity was stolen The thief got store credit cards on his name, and bought goods worth about $10,000. And today I read this:
bq. The California-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said for $26 each it was able to purchase the Social Security numbers and home addresses for Tenet, Ashcroft and other top Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, the president’s chief political adviser.
Update: “CalPundit”:http://www.calpundit.com/archives/002023.html writes on the new “Financial Privacy Bill”:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-davis28aug28002424,1,4670151.story?coll=la-headlines-california, which LA Times calls “the nation’s most far-reaching financial privacy legislation”.
bq. It’s only a small step, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. You see, it’s not the unending collection of personal information that’s really the main threat to privacy in the United States, it’s the ability to amalgamate it all in one place and sell it to the highest bidder that’s the real danger. This bill puts a few roadblocks in place to keep that from happening.
Now how about a bill, that will send anyone caught spamming into Afghanistan ?
[Source “CNN”:http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/28/privacy.concerns.ap/index.html]

After sending confusing signals, Arnold has finally announced that he will be running for Governor in California.
bq. “The politicians are fiddling, fumbling and failing,” he said. “The man that is failing the people more than anyone is Gray Davis. He is failing them terribly, and this is why he needs to be recalled and this is why I am going to run for governor.”
Why not. I hope he wins too. Time to retire career politicians.
[via “Arizona Central”:http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0806arnold06-ON.html]

In 1911, California added three direct democracy actions to the constitution giving more power to the people
* initiative process: allows voters to pass laws directly
* referendum: allows voters to strike down laws passed by legislature
* recall: what we are seeing now.
Now we are seeing direct democracy at its best. Arnold Schwarzenegger may or may not run. Larry Flynt is running.
bq. “California is the most progressive state in the union,” said Flynt, 61. “I don’t think anyone here will have a problem with a smut peddler as governor.”
Currently about 300 people have filed their candidacy. All you need is $3500 and 65 signatures.
[Ref: Economist, “KCRA”:http://www.thekcrachannel.com/politics/2375393/detail.html]

There is a “new study”:http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/07/22_politics.shtml from UC Berkeley, located in a loony town which “opposed”:http://www.refuseandresist.org/newresistance/101901berkeley.html the US war against the Afghanistan. According to the study common psychological factors associated with political conservatism include:
* Fear and aggression
* Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
* Uncertainty avoidance
* Need for cognitive closure
* Terror management
“Shanti”:http://www.madhoo.com/archives/002658.php#002658 has a good rebuttal for this and says
bq. As you can see if you care to read the gist of the study, any study that compares Hitler, Mussolini and Ronal Reagan and says they were basically the same, you should be able to smell a huge rat. When there are aberrations to the study of course, like Stalin and other commie dictators, the study glosses over it and say they were conservative too. How fun! I thought that the hard-left ties itself into knots trying to tell us all what a ?worker?s paradise? Cuba is and how good socialism and communism are for us, if we would only listen.
Oooh I am frightened and need some cognitive closure.

Guess who wants those “28 pages”:https://varnam.org/archives/000166.html to be made public — the Saudis. And they rightly point out that
bq. Asked whether the Saudis wanted the material declassified, this diplomatic source said, “That would be one way to stop some of the reckless things and one of the things to be discussed.”
and even Republicans agree that there is nothing wrong with it.
bq. Also Sunday, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate banking committee, called for the release of the 28 pages, saying the Bush administration was withholding them because they “might be embarrassing to some international relations.” Shelby, a former ranking member of the Senate intelligence committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he “went back and read every one of those pages thoroughly” and concluded that “95% of that information could be declassified.”
If the Saudis are ok with declassification on material that pertains to them, why are we not releasing it ?
[Ref: “CNN”:http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/07/28/bush.saudis.complaints/index.html, “LA Times”:http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-saudi29jul29,1,5102940.story?coll=la-home-headlines]

After “16”:http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/131889_gurwitz23.html, the new number is “28”:http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscomm253387793jul25,0,4510608.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines. The issue now is the 28 pages that have been blanked out from a Congressional investigation into the intelligence failure of 9/11
bq. The tone was set early in the day when Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), a presidential candidate who chaired the Senate intelligence committee during the investigative phase of the report, told CBS’ “Early Show” that the “censored” information showed that a “foreign government … was providing a variety of assistance to these hijackers.” He said he could not divulge the identity of the country but when asked he did not deny that the government was Saudi Arabia.
The other pages in the document which have been made public have criticized Saudi Arabia and a number of officials have complained about the lack of co-operation from the Saudis. But still why are these pages being blanked out ? What is wrong if American people know what was the Saudi involvement ?

There is a story of sexual harassment coming from Oracle Headquarters in California. An Indian woman was sexually harassed by her boss, who also happens to be an Indian.
bq. The lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by India-West, alleges the 33-year-old Indian woman, who had been working at the company’s San Mateo offices under Anand’s supervision since November 2000, was assaulted physically and verbally.
[source: “Economic Times”:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=92932]

So finally the votes have been counted and there will be a special election in couple of months to decide if Gray Davis will be recalled. Davis was re-elected Governor last year and this recall campaign is the gift of Republican Darrell Issa who put 1.7 million of his money to collect the signatures. But then here is the scary part
bq. Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has never sought public office, has flirted with the idea of running against Davis for months. He also has organized a campaign team that would consist mostly of advisers to former two-term California governor Pete Wilson, whom Davis replaced in 1999.
There is no clue as to how the Republicans are going to reduce the 34 billion deficit we have. No one is talking about it. Steve Lopez of LA Times asked an important question, “Just One Question for ‘Recall Davis’ Forces: Now What?”:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez9jul09,1,4739293.column
bq. We all know that in theory, democracy is a good idea. But I find it peculiar that you can saunter up to a table on a gorgeous summer day and sign on to boot the state’s top dog out of office in midterm, the whole transaction faster and simpler than if you were buying Girl Scout cookies.
I am no big fan of Gray Davis either. But I hope in the elections he wins so that rich people cannot hijack power.
[ref: “Washington Post”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37194-2003Jul23.html?nav=hptop_tb, “LA Times”:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez9jul09,1,4739293.column ]

If the Democrats are looking for an issue in the next elections they should go big on the civil liberties that are being lost. It has reached ridiculous levels that even cartoonists are under suspicion. Pardon me, if this reminds me of the communist era. Los Angeles Times cartoonist Michael Ramirez had a cartoon this Sunday and he is now being investigated by the Secret Service.
bq. The cartoon, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph from the Vietnam War, depicts Bush with his hands behind his back as a man labeled “Politics” prepares to shoot him in the head. The background of the drawing is a cityscape labeled “Iraq.” “We’re aware of the image and we’re in the process of determining what action if any can be taken,” John Gill, Secret Service spokesman, said.
and ironically, this is a pro-Bush cartoon.
As per the Patriot Act, FBI agents can now ask your local library for a “list of books you have read”:http://www.dailyemerald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/09/23/3d8b8bd12c4ac?in_archive=1.