George W. Bush

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Official in Abramoff Case Sentenced to 18 Months

A federal judge yesterday sentenced David H. Safavian, a former top Bush administration official, to 18 months in prison for lying and concealing unethical dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

During an unusual hearing that lasted much of the day, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman wrestled with how to mete out justice to Safavian. He said Safavian was a man who had "pulled himself up by his bootstraps" and had been "a very good person to a lot of people." But, the judge said, Safavian also committed "an abuse of the public trust" in his relationship with the lobbyist.

"Did he believe in public service? I guess he did," Friedman said. "But he also wanted someday to join Mr. Abramoff in that lucrative lobbying business."

Friedman lamented that Washington has become "more and more corrupt," increasingly a home to greedy lobbyists and politicians on the take.

Safavian, 39, a former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, wept as he told Friedman that he knows now he never should have given Abramoff inside information about government-owned real estate that the lobbyist wanted to acquire. At the time, Safavian said, he thought what he was doing was innocuous. "I didn't see anything wrong in helping Jack," he said.

The 18-month jail sentence was about halfway between the 30 to 36 months sought by government prosecutors and the defense's proposal for alternative sentencing that would avoid any prison time at all.

Barbara Van Gelder, Safavian's attorney, urged leniency, telling Friedman that Safavian exhibited an ethical "blind spot" in his dealings with the brazen and flashy Abramoff. "He may have been blinded, dazzled," she said, but his wrongdoing with Abramoff was "isolated, not a man beginning a life of crime."

But prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg asked the judge to add a perjury conviction to Safavian's crimes for his testimony at trial. "For the two days he spent on the witness stand, Mr. Safavian lied about virtually everything," Zeidenberg said. "He testified under oath that he never lied, never concealed. . . . He even went on to say, 'I never gave Jack Abramoff favorable treatment,' " statements the jury rejected in its verdict.

Friedman said he did find some of Safavian's statements from the witness stand "incredible," including the defendant's claim that he believed his payment of $3,100 would cover the cost of a week-long luxury golfing excursion to Scotland with Abramoff. But in the end, the judge decided against the prosecutor's request for a perjury conviction.

Safavian was a lobbyist and congressional aide until 2002, when he joined the GSA, the agency that oversees the purchase and leasing of billions of dollars in federal property around the country. He later became the government's top procurement officer at the Office of Management and Budget.

He was convicted in June of concealing facts about the 2002 golf trip as well as the help he gave to Abramoff, a longtime friend, in trying to acquire two GSA-controlled properties -- one of them the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The jury found him guilty of lying to the GSA inspector general and obstructing an inquiry by that office, as well as lying to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and to a GSA ethics officer.

Trial evidence included stacks of e-mails showing that Safavian secretly maneuvered within the GSA to obtain information for Abramoff about properties he wanted to buy or lease. The two schemed to get members of Congress to pressure the agency for the information.

Friedman said he had received 50 to 60 letters from people attesting to Safavian's good qualities, including one from his former boss Clay Johnson, the OMB's deputy director for management, from friends on Capitol Hill and from his pastor. A letter also came from his sister, who testified tearfully on his behalf yesterday. Her brother, she said, "didn't tell anyone" he was in trouble until his arrest. "He called me at work, sobbing and sobbing. He said, 'I'm so sorry for embarrassing you,' " Mehnaz Safavian said.

Safavian's lawyers said their client will appeal the conviction. Safavian is one of eight people convicted so far in the wide-ranging influence-peddling investigation into Abramoff's lobbying activities on Capitol Hill and in executive branch agencies. Earlier this month, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) became the first lawmaker to plead guilty in the probe. Abramoff and several former congressional aides have pleaded guilty and are cooperating.

One of them, Neil G. Volz, a former Ney aide, went to work with Abramoff, went on the Scotland golf trip and was a central witness in the Safavian trial. Friedman said he was revolted by Volz's testimony that government officials prepared sworn declarations about lobbyist-paid trips based on what "would pass the smell test" -- not what was true. "I wanted to go home and take a shower," the judge said.

[Rasputin]

حرف های بی در و پيكر احمدی نژاد به يك تهديد ملی تبديل شده
بوش در تدارك
يك حادثه، برای پيروزی در انتخابات كنگره


درامريكا، به استقبال انتخابات ميان دوره ای كنگره اين كشور، همه درانتظار يك حادثه يك موج بزرگ تبليغاتی اند. اين حادثه و موج تبليغاتی بايد بتواند كفه ترازوی انتخاباتی را به نفع جمهوريخواهان سنگين كند، چرا كه درغيراينصورت دمكرات های امريكا پيروز اين انتخابات خواهند بود. با "بن لادن" و حتی دستگيری او نيز بعيد است بتوان كفه ترازو را به سود جمهويخواهان سنگين كرد. اعدام صدام حسين نيز هم بعيد است و هم نقشی دراين زمينه نمی تواند بازی كند. همين است كه همه نگاه ها متوجه ايران شده است. حمله به ايران اگر به آن نتيجه برق آسائی كه نيازدارند نرسد، كار از آنچه هست برای بوش و جمهوريخواهان بدتر خواهد شد، مگر در آخرين روزها و يا حتی ساعات نزديك به انتخابات چنين عملياتی آغاز شود و برای مشخص شدن آن نياز به زمان باشد. يعنی به حاشيه راندن اخبار رويدادهای عراق و پشت سر ماندن انتخاباتی كه شايد جمهوريخواهان با همين نقشه خود را آماده پيروزی در آن كرده باشند. اين گمانه زنی ها در شرايطی است كه فعلا بيشترين حدس و گمان در اطراف موفقيت كاخ سفيد برای يك همآهنگی بين المللی برای تصويب تحريم های ايران در شورای امنيت سازمان ملل دور می زند. رای دهندگان امريكائی اين همآهنگی و تصويب قطعنامه تحريم ايران را چنان پيروزی برای بوش ارزيابی خواهند كرد كه به جمهوريخواهان رای بدهند؟ جای تردها همچنان زياد است، اما بر اين نكته جای ترديد نيست كه مسئله ايران و هر رويدادی در ارتباط با ايران، روی سرنوشت انتخابات مياندوره ای كنگره امريكا تاثير مستقيم خواهد گذاشت.

در چنين فضائی است كه حرف های اتمی بی در و پيكر و تهديد آميز "عسس بيا منو بگير" احمدی نژاد در روزهای اخير خود به يك تهديد ملی تبديل شده است. تهديدی كه همسوست با نيازهای كاخ سفيد و جورج بوش برای پيروزی در انتخابات پيش روی كنگره امريكا. از جمله سخنرانی های ورامينی او در سفراخيرش به اين شهر.

[Rasputin]

President Bush reportedly said he would "understand" a preemptive Israeli strike against Iran s nuclear sites.

Maariv, citing diplomatic sources, reported Thursday that French President Jacques Chirac discussed Iran s nuclear program with Bush on the sidelines of the recent UN summit.

Asked by Chirac if Israel could attack Iran to prevent it getting the bomb, Bush reportedly said: "We cannot rule this out. And if it were to happen, I would understand it."

The report could not be independently confirmed.

Israel endorses US-led efforts to curb Iran s atomic ambitions through the threat of UN Security Council sanctions but, like Washington, has hinted that military action could be a last resort.

[Rasputin]

US government agency that has exposed corruption in Iraqi reconstruction projects will close in 2007.
Washington lawmakers have reacted with shock at the discovery that an obscure clause in a military spending bill will terminate the work of the auditor.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction has embarrassed the US administration with its reports on corrupt practices.

Critics of the government claim this is what lies behind its sudden closure.

Dogged investigator

Under the direction of Special Inspector General Stuart Bowen, the Office employs 55 auditors and inspectors.

His office has detailed successes among the many reconstruction projects, such as in the rebuilding of infrastructure essential for transport and education.

However, critics of President George W Bush's Iraq policy seized on the auditor's conclusion that the overall $20bn (£11.5bn) reconstruction effort was being hampered by inefficiency as well as attacks by insurgents.

The auditor recently reported that a subsidiary of Halliburton, the largest US civilian contractor in Iraq, had withheld information from US officials.


Halliburton subsidiary KBR came under scrutiny by the Iraq auditor

It said that KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root, had systematically engaged in practices aimed at veiling the facts around its contracts.

The audit office began operations in March 2004 and has referred 25 criminal cases to the US Department of Justice, of which four have resulted in convictions.

Among its more notable findings was a report on the loss of 14,000 weapons destined for Iraqi government use. Many of these are believed to have found their way into the hands of insurgent groups after the Pentagon lost track of them.

Perplexed lawmakers

In 2005, it issued a damning report citing "severe inefficiencies and poor management" at the body that ran Iraq before the recent elections, the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Republican Senator Susan Collins told the New York Times she was mystified about how the termination clause had found its way into the bill. Senator John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told the newspaper he would push for an extension of Mr Bowen's charter.

Inspectors from other US government departments, such as the Pentagon, could take over some of the Iraq auditor's responsibilities. But the strength of Mr Bowen's operation lies in its strong presence on the ground in Iraq.

The Pentagon and other US bodies have been criticised by legislators for lacking an extensive network of auditors in Iraq itself.

[Nutcase]

President Bush Ranks Lowest IQ in 50 Years of US Presidents

President Bush Ranks Lowest IQ in 50 Years of US Presidents.

In a report published Monday, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
detailed its findings of a four-month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush.
Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the educational community on each new president,
which includes the famous "IQ" report among others.

There have been twelve presidents over the past 50 years, from F.D. Roosevelt to G.W. Bush,
who were rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they produced without aid of staff,
their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors,
which were then scored using the Swanson/Crain system of intelligence ranking.

The study determined the following IQs of each president as accurate to within five percentage points:

In order by presidential term:
147 .. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
132 .. Harry Truman (D)
122 .. Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
174 .. John F. Kennedy (D)
126 .. Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
155.. Richard M. Nixon (R)
121 .. Gerald Ford (R)
175 .. James E. Carter (D)
105 .. Ronald Reagan (R)
098 .. George Bush (R)
182 .. William J. Clinton (D)
091 .. George W. Bush (R)


In IQ order:
182 .. William J. Clinton (D)
175 .. James E. Carter (D)
174 .. John F. Kennedy (D)
155 .. Richard M. Nixon (R)
147 .. Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
132 .. Harry Truman (D)
126 .. Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
122 .. Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
121 .. Gerald Ford (R)
105 .. Ronald Reagan (R)
098 ..George Bush (R)
091 .. George W. Bush (R)


The six Republican presidents of the past 50 years had an average IQ of 115.5, with President Nixon having the highest at 155.
President G.W.Bush rated the lowest of all the Republicans with an IQ of 91.
The six Democrat presidents had IQs with an average of 156, with President Clinton having the highest IQ, at 182.
President Lyndon B. Johnson was rated the lowest of all the Democrats with an IQ of 126.
No president other than Carter (D) has released his actual IQ, 176.

Among comments made concerning the specific testing of President G W Bush, his low ratings are due to his
apparently difficult command of the English language in public statements,
his limited use of vocabulary (6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents),
his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work
which could be studied on an intellectual basis.
The complete report documents the methods and procedures used to arrive at these ratings,

"All the Presidents prior to George W. Bush had a least one book under their belt, and most had written several white papers
during their education or early careers. Not so with President Bush," Dr. Lovenstein said.
"He has no published works or writings, which made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment.
We relied more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking."
The Lovenstein Institute of Scranton Pennsylvania think tank includes high caliber historians,psychiatrists, sociologists,
scientists in human behavior, and psychologists. Among their ranks are Dr. Werner R.Lovenstein, world-renowned sociologist,
and Professor Patricia F. Dilliams, a world-respected psychiatrist.

[Sepideh_UK]

LOOOOOOOOOL
Wat a supprise?

[mike435]

LOL oh yea i was surprised

look at the insanity when this guy is the most powerfull man in the world

[donsaeid]

lol only time i can agree with mike! and how much it shows american general public IQ that they voted him again!!! loool

[jose_mourinho]

hey guys , I am not interested in discussing politics , but I think it is ridiculous to judge a president according to his IQ or his scores in university.

[zubin]

to be honest i'm sorta with jm here. first off, IQ tests are flawed and biased. second, IQ tests are outdated as they do not include the crucial EQ, *emotional intelligence*. You can sit at the office hacking away numbers and so forth but be dumb as a bird when someone tries to say hello.

last, perhaps when it comes down to it, aren't the simple things in life the most important? if a president is as dumb as a doorknob regarding IQ but is honest and genuine then he or she or "tey" might be fit for the job, although I confess in an idealistic world...

now hopefully Mike here isn't going to say I'm "defending Bush", because I'm not. I think Bush is evil and has bad emotional intelligence in addition to his horrible IQ!

[mike435]

i wrote this before jubin wrote his piece it is regarding the post above jubins
yea man offcourse i agree with that
but i mean comeon when it comes to the preseidency of the united states the greatest country/empire on the face of earth ever in every category it is obsured to have him as president

i mean look at some of his dillisions they sometimes equal those of ahmadinejad
president bush belives in an accoplice and in some ways belives these wars are sighns that messaiah is coming
he think this is armagedon

but dont get me wrong their are times were i am happy that he is the president i mean if he wasnt presedint i wouldnt have my nightly laugh of the obsurdey of his administration

[zubin]

oh yeah, and university is biased as well!

[mike435]

to be honest i'm sorta with jm here. first off, IQ tests are flawed and biased. second, IQ tests are outdated as they do not include the crucial EQ, *emotional intelligence*. You can sit at the office hacking away numbers and so forth but be dumb as a bird when someone tries to say hello.

last, perhaps when it comes down to it, aren't the simple things in life the most important? if a president is as dumb as a doorknob regarding IQ but is honest and genuine then he might be fit for the job, although I confess in an idealistic world...

now hopefully Mike here isn't going to say I'm "defending Bush", because I'm not. I think Bush is evil and has bad emotional intelligence in addition to his horrible IQ!

lol na i amnot going to thing that becuase you have not defended him you just said some facts that have an effect on his reality but here is were it differs these facts that have an effect you have no control over verse the other situation that we are both are thinking about were those facts you do infact have a choice to let it affect you or not.

[zubin]

lol na i amnot going to thing that becuase you have not defended him you just said some facts that have an effect on his reality but here is were it differs these facts that have an effect you have no control over verse the other situation that we are both are thinking about were those facts you do infact have a choice to let it affect you or not.

damet garm