Steamd

Man, I hope this is the last of this series of posts!  Anyways…

My mom sent me this video by Sally Anthony. The song is really good and the video…well…watch it for yourself. I think it hits the nail on the head as to my feeling about George Bush and John McCain. The content of the video really brings home many of the reasons why McCain simply isn’t a call to change. Some of you may disagree when Obama proclaims John McCain as “more of the same”, but after watching this video do you still disagree? I think what the video attempts to do is to make people realize that there is a bigger world out there, to stop and look around, realize the bigger picture and the problems we have. Many of the problems could have been avoided or remedied very easily…but they weren’t. Why should John McCain not be President? Watch the video…

If you’re having trouble viewing the video, try the YouTube version.

For those who have an open mind and little bias towards any of the Presidential candidates and/or a specific political party, it’s pretty obvious that Obama won last nights debate. Now, I could go on and on about the why’s but I’d rather not. I could also go on and on about why both McCain and Palin are not the best choice. I could tell you that McCain is too old and too out of touch. I could also tell you that Palin is under-qualified and that she simply would not make for a good President were something to happen to McCain. I could list all the reasons why Obama’s judgment and plans are so much better than McCains. But to be honest, I simply don’t have the time nor the energy to go on about it. At this point, I think the point is very clear: Barack Obama will likely be the next President of the United States.

What I will mention though is one talking point that has erupted out of McCain’s campaign. It has to do with how McCain is handling some of the more radical supporters at his rallies. I agree whole-heartedly with Keith Olbermann’s views on this issue^[1]. So rather than just rant about what I think, I’ll let Keith do it for me:

1. Olbermann: McCain, suspend your campaign [↩]

Ann Coulter is at it again! Man, is this woman running out of things to talk about or what!? All she can do now is bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch. I’m not even going to go into detail about what she wrote because, quite frankly, it’s the usual right-wing, damn near fascist bullshit that I expect from her. It’s a rant without any real substance because there aren’t any hard core facts. The facts are just whatever she makes them out to be. So I’m not even going to waste my time doing a run by run playback of her crap. Instead, I’m going to talk about why she and the rest of the right-wing nut jobs are running scared these days.

Seems to me that Ann and others like her are in panic mode. She and others just like her can see the writing on the wall: McCain’s campaign is over! And how exactly did this happen? Is it because McCain and Palin can’t keep their mouths shut and can’t run a campaign without getting seriously dirty to the point of lying about Obama? Well, that certainly didn’t help but that’s not entirely it.

No, the real reason is that the McCain campaign was poorly managed. The way I see it, management of a campaign starts with the candidate. As such, McCain has no one to blame but himself. The mood and vibe of the campaign starts with him and trickles down to everyone in the campaign. If he’s crabby, lashes out with nasty comments about Obama, and doesn’t want to answer valid questions about the economy and other important issues, what do you think happens to his campaign? Exactly the same thing.

The McCain campaign has wasted money on nasty TV ads that outright lie about Obama. Plus, they built a rather shitty website that says little or nothing about what McCain would really do as President. I know because I have visited the McCain website at least twice a month to see what’s new. You wanna know what’s really interesting? The site has morphed and changed so many times. In fact, the most recent modifications seem to be a desperate attempt to make the site’s design look more like Obama’s site. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery.

And that’s all I can really say about the way McCain is running his campaign. If the guy can’t run his campaign worth a crap how do think he’ll do in the White House? Umm, duh! Sorry, but his style of management doesn’t persuade me to believe that he’s a good leader and is capable of managing the White House in an effective manner.

Now, let’s look at the Obama campaign.

Obama’s TV campaign is far more focused on the issues. Take the most recent ad, a two-minute ad called “Plan for Change” that was release on September 16th and focuses on the most recent economic issues. Although there have been a few questionable ads here and there, the number of ads that cross the line are no where near the level of John McCain’s ads. Yes, Obama’s ads do attack McCain but is mostly what you expect from just about any politician.

The topper though and a direct counterattack for all of the smears from the McCain campaign is a 14 minute documentary called Keating Economics. This was funded by the Obama campaign and appears to be something they kept in their back pocket just waiting to pull out when McCain decided to get nasty. Smart move on Obama’s part. It’s a well put together little piece.Then there’s Obama’s website, a site that hasn’t changed much since day one. The design is rock solid and the content is well organized. Take a look at the Issues section. I’m very impressed by the fact that they offer a really neat PDF called The Blue Print For Change that explains in detail many of Obama’s policies. Every section is very clear and well written, outlining the problem followed by a plan with solutions.   

What’s even more impressive is that the Obama campaign actually came out with their own iPhone app. I about shit a brick when I saw it! What’s even more impressive is that the application is actually pretty good. The design matches his site and it offers some pretty useful features. I especially like the Issues part of the app. Anytime anyone claims that Obama doesn’t have any plans I can whip it out and prove them wrong.  :D

And here is the whopper of all campaign strategies: a 30-minute block of time on CBS and NBC six days before the election! Yep! The Obama campaign’s grassroots funding actually managed to land enough to fund a 30-minute long ad right before the election! 

So where is McCain in all this? Why can’t his campaign be as well managed as Obama’s? The way McCain has managed his campaign just shows that he’s clearly out of touch. I don’t know about you but I would much rather have Obama as the President because, let’s face it, he sure as hell knows more about running and managing a campaign better than McCain. I’ll take that kind of management experience and leadership any day!  :D

God, I love Terry Moore! There’s just something about his work that always puts a smile on my face. Take this latest little doodle of his. Kind of a hidden truth in there, don’t you think?  ;)

Andrew Sullivan really nails it on the head. I completely agree with him. If this was the REAL Republican party then there would be more votes for McCain. It’s really that simple.

A woman get’s a visit from the Secret Service after telling an Obama volunteer that she won’t vote for Obama because she thinks he is a socialist who voted to let little babies die in hospitals? Is this true? Yes, this is a true story.

However, I wouldn’t be quick to blame the Obama campaign. This could just have easily happened to an Obama supporter getting a call from the McCain campaign. It’s clear that the campaign supporter calling this woman screwed up royally. There is always a bad egg here and there no matter what side of the fence you’re on. Don’t blame Obama on this one.

Do you know who you really need to blame? Blame Bush for allowing the Patriot Act to be passed and allowing for this sort of activity to happen in the first place! If you say anything to a campaign supporter over the phone that resembles a death threat, anything at all, no matter what campaign it is, you are subject to investigation. Even blog posts are subject to investigation. Your right to freedom of speech has been tampered with thanks to the Patriot Act and Obama doesn’t have a damn thing to do with it!

The problem is that 89% of the Senators voted in favor the Patriot Act: Biden, Obama, Clinton, McCain, Cornyn, Dodd, Hutchison, Kerry, and more. They all voted ‘Yea’ on the bill. There were only 10 ‘Nays’ and one ‘Not voting’. What they didn’t expect was that parts of the Patriot Act would be abused. What you’re seeing in the story below is the result of this very thing and there’s plenty of blame to go around for it.

Last Saturday night, my wife and I went to see Henry Rollins at the Lakewood Theater in Dallas. As always with his spoken word concerts, Henry was fired up with many humorous and insightful stories. The guy was relentless spending nearly three non-stop hours on stage. Because this one was called the Recountdown Tour, he definitely talked a lot about the current political situation in our country. 

A couple of things really stuck out for me about what Henry said. First, he feels that all wars are avoidable and that “if peace were profitable then there would be no more war“. I completely agree with Henry on this. I think most wars can be avoided by simply sitting down and talking to leaders before any military action takes place.

Second, towards the end of his show, Henry mentioned how much our country has changed just in the last 8 years. In fact, if you look around and really see what’s going on you’ll notice that little bit by little bit our freedoms are slowly being taken away from us. I thought about this and a word came to mind, a word that Henry himself mentioned that describes the phenomenon he was talking about. Now, I’m not going to go into every detail about what Henry said. Instead, I’m going to give you some points to think about that illustrates what Henry said. He didn’t mention all of these but did touch on quite a few.

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism

Ever since 9/11 and even before, many in the U.S. have become preoccupied by the symbols of our nation. Lapel pins, flags, pride in our military with “Support Our Troops” ribbons, catchy phrases like “County First”, all in an effort to show an exuberant amount of patriotism and nationalism for our country. While this is all fine and dandy, none of these are substitutes for real patriotism and nationalism. You can’t judge a person on whether they wear a lapel pin or not. You can only judge them on their actions.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights

The use of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) has led to the current administration to completely ignore our Constitution and international law in an effort to justify certain actions for the sake of national security. Long incarcerations and torture of suspected terrorist detainees and an ignorance of our Constitutionally protected right of privacy have all been the result. The fear they have injected is that if they don’t do this then the terrorists will strike again. However, while other countries have seen some terrorist attacks here and there, not one single terrorist attack has happened on U.S. soil since 9/11. The current administration would have you believe that it’s because of the success they have had in extracting information about terrorist activities from detainees. Sorry, I don’t buy it.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause

If you dig in real deep and listen very carefully to the message that many right-wing personalities spew out, people like Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and more, you’re notice that they are constantly blaming the countries problems very specific groups of people. You’ll hear them talk about how all Liberals are evil and Godless, labeling some of the actions of certain politicians as socialism and/or communism. You’ll hear them bash gays and the prospect of gay marriage. The word “enemy” is used over and over and over for anyone and everyone that they are completely opposed to. They tend to try and shift the blame and control what people think through the use of relentless misinformation and propaganda. In other words, they lie!

4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism

Given the current price tag for the Iraq war has been over $800 billion and rising, it’s pretty clear that the current administration’s idea of diplomacy is an overuse of our military. Bomb first, ask questions later. Doesn’t matter that our country has a growing checklist of problems within our borders nor does it matter whether or not if our country can afford to continue a war, our countries current leaders still insist that military action is necessary and thus the deficit continues to grow. Like Rollins said, war can be avoided. Why does our country always insist that the answer to any problem with another country is war?

5. Rampant sexism

Sexism seems to have risen a bit over the years. If it’s not gays in the military then it’s an opposition to gay marriage. Also, the battle over pro-life vs pro-choice continues to run rampant. Some even say that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape and incest. 

6. A controlled mass media

Lately, the press has been attacked with some news groups being labeled as having a left-wing bias. In recent years there was even talk about the medias use of anonymous sources and about how bloggers should not be considered part of the media. In the case of the McCain campaign, interviews with the candidates are kept at a minimum if not at all.

7. Obsession with national security

There is no doubt in my mind that the topic of national security has been overused as a tool to convince the American public of certain political actions. This was especially evident after 9/11 with the overuse of the threat level color coding we saw on the news every other day. It’s pretty clear that Bush’s re-election in 2004 was mostly due to his constant pushing of national security. Even McCain is attempting to use national security as a hot topic for his campaign.

8. Religion and ruling elite tied together

A week doesn’t go by when I don’t see something that describes Liberals as “godless”. A primary example of this is a book by Ann Coulter entitle (you go it!) “Godless“. Personally, I have seen no other time when talks about the separation of church and state have been greater. Nor have I seen a greater number of people using religion as a means of justifying so many actions that would otherwise be unjustifiable such as calling the act of going to war in Iraq as “God’s will”.

9. Power of corporations protected

Greed and power are extremely good motivators and when these two things are brought to the forefront, corporations are usually the ones that profit from these the most. 

Since war is profitable, it’s only fitting that the Iraq war is highly profitable for corporations like Halliburton, Titan, and others that provide services that would have otherwise been done by our military if the current administration had not have privatized many sectors of our military. Oil companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and others also profit from the war. We are told that the war has everything to do with terrorism and yet it seems like it has more to do with protecting our interests, namely oil. 

Corporations also had a hand in the current mortgage and financial crisis in part due to the deregulation of the banking industry. As such, institutions like Enron ran rampant and banking institutions were allowed to merge and take severe risks with people’s money. In the end, the government is forced to bail out the industry and the people who helped create the mess, namely the CEOs and other executives, still profit from it. 

10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated

In the past ten years, labor unions have decreased significantly in part because corporations are suppressing the ability for labor unions to exist. Companies like Walmart do everything they can to keep labor unions from forming among their employees. Employees are harassed and eventually fired for bogus reasons should word get out that they are part of a labor union. Lobbyists for many corporations have been lobbying for years to change the rules on overtime pay and the definition of a full-time work week and many other efforts that allow corporations to continue to suppress labor unions.

11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts

Over the years, I have seen a growing decline in the funding of the arts in schools. Music and art programs have become all but non-existent in some schools around the nation. Even though it has been proven that students who learn something about music and art do better in subject like math the continued funding simply isn’t there for one reason or another.

Instead, we hear a lot of talk about having prayer in schools, the use of the “God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and the teachings of the theory of evolution being replaced by creationism.

As Henry Rollins pointed out in his show, scientists have been under attack by the right-wing for their views on global warming. The skeptics attack the scientists and make outrageous claims that they are somehow corrupt and just making up everything even though the facts speak for themselves. 

12. Obsession with crime and punishment

Over the years we have seen many abuses of our civil liberties. The death penalty and repeal system is continually talked about and redefined especially in cases involving suspected terrorists. Hundreds ofsuspected terrorists continue to be held at Guantanamo Bay and still await trial. The Patriot Act still continues to live on even though it promotes excessive wiretapping and invades our right to privacy. Then there is the hubris that exists within our current administration in that they continually tried to redefine the powers of the President and Vice President with powers that are not granted to them by the Constitution all in an effort to have unfettered power to punish suspected terrorists even when no proof exists.

13. Rampant cronyism and corruption

Lobbyists, tax loopholes, ex-CEOs being appointed to higher political positions, money being secretly exchanged under the table between corporations and political officials. All of these are signs of cronyism and corruption. Enron, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Scooter Libby, Halliburton, the list goes on and on.

14. Fraudulent elections

The biggest sign of fraudulent elections came in 2000 when the Presidential election was completely hosed up due to the way Florida handled the counting of votes. Thanks to the Supreme Court, no one was able to find out who really won. What also became apparent was that voting machines made by Diebold and others were severely flawed and could have been tampered with. As a result, Ohio and other states were put into question during the 2000 and 2004 elections. Many states have gone back to using paper ballot but even then it’s not clear if the system will work right especially given all the controversy surrounding the “butterfly” ballot in Florida with the 2000 election.

Now, you may look at the 14 points I have listed and commented on here and you may think these are completely overblown. Regardless, I don’t think anyone can deny that each of these exist to some degree. Even then we should be greatly concerned that any of them exist. What was the word that Henry mentioned that all these 14 points have in common?

Fascism.

A gentleman by the name of Lawrence W. Britt wrote an article for Free Inquiry magazine where he laid out fourteen common threads that link patterns of national behavior with abuses of power. The title of the article? “Fascism Anyone?” Yep, we’re talking about the beginnings of our country moving to a more fascist society. Just look at the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. I mean, really look at it. Also look at the Italian regime of Mussolini. These were authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing systems of government and social organizations. Do you see any similarities and parallels to what is going on today? If so, you should be worried.

One of the other growing concerns is how we are perceived globally. It’s a known fact that there is some disdain towards the government of our country on a global level. Many countries have grown to not like the U.S. for one reason or another. While the reasons are mixed, I think one of them is that they are seeing elements here and there of fascism, of our government becoming more and more of a dictatorship than a fledging democracy. I’m not saying that we have a fascist society; only that we have some of the high level elements that go into creating that environment and I think other countries see that. 

It has been said by some in other countries that if Barack Obama was to be elected President that confidence in the United States would instantly go up by 50%. Why? Because compared to McCain, Obama embodies all the things that most other countries favor: proper diplomacy, less bravado, responsible use of our military, better trade relations, and a firm understand of globalization and the global economy. When you look at it like this then using the current comparisons of “more of the same” versus “change” really does hold a lot of water. Unfortunately for McCain, “more of the same” means embracing the right-wing and potentially embracing the possibility of a continued rise in the elements of fascism. That, my friends, is a dangerous road and one that would most definitely lead to some highly destructive results. You think 9/11 was bad? Think again.

So, how do you keep this from happening? Simple. Get out and vote in the 2008 election! Vote for Barack Obama!

This is just too freakin’ cool! Proof that Obama is clearly in touch with today’s times. The McCain campaign has nothing on Obama when it comes to the “cool” factor. Funny thing is that it’s a very well put together app. Very polished, clever, and just absolutely beautiful. If you’re an Obama supporter, it’s actually quite useful.  :)

It’s been a while since I last did a blog post. Much has happened and a lot has been gelling in my mind. There’s been a lot on the political front, so much that I felt I should take the time to draw it all in, research everything, and write a highly constructive entry rather than just regurgitating my initial gut reaction. That’s pretty much what I’ve been aiming to do with every new blog post I write. Granted, I can’t get away with avoiding any emotional reactions but I can at least stay as constructive as I possibly can and not ignore the facts. Lots of writing to come, but for now let’s talk about something I’ve been thinking about this week:

I regularly watch Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. Bill Moyers is among some of the greatest journalists of our time. His factual, non-biased approach usually leads to some highly thought-provoking pieces that reveal many answers and often lead to more questions. I had the privilege of meeting Bill back when I was in school. It was around the time when his book, Genesis: A Living Conversation, came out. I told him that I looked forward to reading it, for which he replied, “Please do…and when you’re done, let other read it and talk about it with them”. He encourages others to engage in conversation about many of the topics he reports about. That one little take-away says a lot about the man and as such I gained a lot of respect for him. Since it was a book signing, I asked him to sign his book for me. He signed it as “For Jeff - a kindred spirit. Bill Moyers”. 

Last week, I watched an excellent story on Bill Moyers Journal entitled Rage on the Radio. I highly encourage everyone to watch the video and/or read the transcript of the program (the video is also available on iTunes). The program details the nature of “Shock Jock” media and what kind of message that personalities like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage are spreading. The message it seems is one filled with lies, hatred and intolerance.

Due to our First Amendment rights, I would never encourage any program to be forced off the air. However, I would ask that personalities that do engage in conversations of hatred and intolerance think about their message, the lies, and the consequences of them. There are consequences, a fact that we can not ignore, some of which even lead to hate crimes.

Case point, one of the talking points in Bill’s piece was about a man by name of Jim David Adkisson who shot and killed two adults and wounded seven others at a church in Knoxville, Tennessee?  The reason? According to reports on both MSNBC and CNN, Adkisson did it because he was frustrated with not being able to find a job, was on the verge of losing his food stamps, and blamed Liberals for it. Since he couldn’t attack any known Liberal political figures, he attacked a church with known Liberal teachings instead. According to his affidavit, Adkisson felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of major media outlets. The question is though: Where did he learn this?

… police found in Adkisson’s apartment, books by popular right-wing talk-radio personalities who berate and denigrate liberals. One of the books police found in Adkisson’s apartment was Michael Savage’s “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”. In it, Savage calls liberals “the enemy within our country;” “an enemy more dangerous than Hitler”; “traitors” who are “dangerous to your survival” and who “should be placed in a straightjacket”. Like Adkisson, Savage accuses liberals of “[tying] the hands of our military”.

Now, I’ve talked about Ann Coulter a number of times on my blog. A couple of days ago, Ann posted a new blog post called Obama: Lucifer Is My Homeboy.  Like many other posts made by Coulter, the title alone is controversial and hateful enough. Now, I’m not going to go into too much detail here, rather I would encourage readers to read it and decide for themselves.

In her post, Ann talks about how a nutty Al Gore inverted a Christian parable into something nearly satanic, about Democrats attacking Sarah Palin for being a Christian, while comparing Obama to Jesus Christ, and about what the Pledge of Allegiance is really all about and what all this ”under God” stuff really means. In a nutshell, she is saying that if you are a Democrat and/or a Liberal then you are not a true Christian. Doesn’t matter that Barack Obama is a devout Christian. Doesn’t matter that his running mate, Joe Biden, is a devote Catholic. Nor does it matter that no one in the Obama campaign, not one person, has attacked Sarah Palin on her religious beliefs. Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she and others hate all Liberals no matter what. So, basically, if you are Liberal, don’t have a pro-life stance, and don’t believe in God the same way she and other right-wing neo-Conservatives do then you are the devil incarnate and you will be hated and scorned. So I guess love your enemy and turn the other cheek doesn’t mean anything to Ann and her devote followers. If this isn’t a message of hate and intolerance then I don’t know what is.

For all intents and purposes, Ann Coulter is inline with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and other right-wing extremists in her message. As such, she is just as responsible for the actions of Jim David Adkisson as Michael Savage. Although it wasn’t Michael Savage or Ann Coulter that pulled the trigger, their words have power and those words encouraged Adkisson and many others to think a certain way.

Back in April, Ann compared one of Barack Obama’s books to Mein Kampf.  The irony is that by this association she inadvertently associated herself with Hitler. Why? Think about it. Hitler spread a message of hate and intolerance by singling out Jews, calling them “traitors”, deeming them as dangerous to the country and suggested that they all be locked up. What do you think that Ann and other right-wing whack jobs have been talking about? That Liberals are to be hated, that they are dangerous and are bad for the country.

Folks, this kind of message is poisonous and just bad news all over. For anyone to presume that their religion is more correct and that everyone else is wrong is bad enough. But to go even further and deliberately denounce a group of people based on their political beliefs with a message of sheer hatred and intolerance, that’s just madness. Jesus Christ was about love and tolerance, not hatred, intolerance and lies. This kind of message is a distortion of what it means to be a true Christian. True Christians don’t lie. True Christians don’t hate. And true Christians are tolerant of others that may not share their beliefs.

So I challenge Ann Coulter with this question: What would you say and how would you defend your message to the people whose lives were change by Jim David Adkisson, a man who listened to others like you who have a similar message?

Yesterday, I read an article on Ars Technica that really made me laugh:

Leaked memo: e-mail recovery will outlast Bush presidency

In a nutshell, millions of emails were lost between 2003 and 2005 for which thousands of them will likely never be recovered. The reason? Because the Bush IT shop decided to use Microsoft Exchange:

Archiving of government e-mail communications is required by federal law, yet the Bush administration has struggled since 2002 to comply with the requirement. The administration inherited a working archival system from the Clinton White House. But when the Bush IT shop decided to switch from a Lotus Notes-based e-mail system to one based on Microsoft Exchange, it broke compatibility with that software. Since then, the White House has repeatedly tried and failed to develop a new system. It first tried to retrofit the old Notes-based system to work with Exchange, but concluded that the approach was unworkable. It then took bids to design a new Exchange-based archiving system. According to one whistleblower, that system was finalized in 2006, but was reportedly mothballed at the last minute by White House CIO Theresa Payton, who cited vague performance concerns.

This is so laughable that it isn’t even funny. They ended up trying to implement a manual solution using the journaling feature in Outlook and Exchange. Not only is the Bush administration incompetent…but so is the IT staff! I only have two words for the Bush IT Administrator: Backup Exec!

I was an IT Supervisor at a small architectural firm for almost four years and one of the things I did while I was there was deploy an Exchange 2003 server. We were well aware of the requirement to backup and archive any email due to discoverability laws in effect that would require any and all email and documents to be put into question should a lawsuit occur. Thus backups were critical to the successful deployment of the server. If backups didn’t work we couldn’t deploy it. It was that simple.

The solution for us was Backup Exec. Not only did it allow us to do a full backup of our files every week with incrementals throughout the week but it also allowed us both full and incremental backups of our Exchange mailboxes as well. Although recovery was a pain in the ass, it was possible to restore a mailbox in its entirety should the need arise. Newer versions of Backup Exec are capable of more granular restore options, even down to the restoration of just a single email.

Even then, archiving email was a pain in the ass because everyone wanted to keep everything in their inbox. The question was: How do we archive email without it being in someone’s mailbox? The solution would have to be something that allowed you to move email out of your mailbox and into a repository that allowed for backing up and archiving email. Many solutions exist but the one we ended up deploying also happened to be a good project management solution: Newforma. Not only could employees store old emails for future retrieval but they could store them by project along with other important features that helped in managing the project. And since each email was stored in a file system as unique individual files, keeping routine backups was a no-brainer. Also, retrieving an old email couldn’t be any easier since all of it was indexed and completely searchable, even attachments. Newforma is just one solution for email archiving but I’m sure something just as robust and easy to use exists as well.

You’d think that out of any IT environment that the White House would have the best IT staff money can buy, right? I mean, this is the top-level of our government we’re talking about here. I can’t think of any place where the IT needs would require more attention and more care. The Bush IT staff can blame their problems on anything they want but I know better. Just because they’re using Microsoft Exchange doesn’t mean that there isn’t a way to keep routing backups of all emails. That simply just isn’t the case. I just can’t believe that the IT staff in the White House is as incompetent as the Bush administration itself. Go figure.