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Actually, the commission looking at Iraq intelligence is postponing the part of their report on the administration's use or misuse of intelligence until after the election. (The 9/11 commission's mandate explicitly precluded assigning blame and straying from the question of what happened on 9/11 and what institutional changes to make--it is outrageous to argue that something is not true b/c they didn't say it. Several commissioners have commented on how relectant the Administration was to cooperate with them, not to mention their sustained opposition to having an independent commission at all!) That is exactly why your cries about only trusting commissions or factcheck.org are so misguided. Some things are established facts, agreed to by more or less all, and some truths are desperately denied and every stop pulled out to hide them. You want me to pretend that the latter do not exist, and that's just a ridiculous way to answer the charge that Bush is a systematic deceiver. Look, there is very solid evidence that past administrations have outright lied about military and other operations because after 30 years or so records get declassified. There is also plenty of evidence that this administration has gone much farther than previous ones in hiding the truth about what they are doing. We will indeed find out for sure in 30 years, but we need to make a decision now.

Now, the task of discerning the truth when it is not so clear cut is a difficult one--it requires looking at a wide range of sources, cross-checking and considering their relative credibility. The one thing it is clear you cannot do is assume outright the credibility of the subject of investigation. You seem to imply that a court, when the suspect denies the charges on the stand, should just declare innocence right then and there. Sure, you may not have yet learned to trust some of the sources that I have found reliable through experience, and I understand that. But your repetitive criticism seems to be that no sources can be trusted or even consulted except the absolute most reliable ones (which I would point out certainly have their own biases, in addition to their obvious limitations described above), and that does not make sense.

p.s. Terms have different meanings in different contexts, so your comment about "progressive" borders on incoherent. As for the bias of a politically progressive publication, this is another way in which you misunderstand bias. Someone who wants to show Bush is deceptive is going to seek out instances of lies. If the evidence he finds is true and convincing, the "bias" that went into finding this evidence does not make it false. Don't tell me you would rather he took a random sample of Bush statements and concluded that he is truthful "most of the time." No, you find the lies and report them.

In Bush's case they are clear to see, they are concerning critical matters of war and peace, and they are despicable. No cries of bias can change this fact. If, however, you disagree with the accuracy of the quotes in an article, or the accuracy of the evidence used to declare them lies, please do explain why. But whining about bias is just ducking the question.

Cry of the Poor

"How can it be that even today there are still people dying of hunger? Condemned to illiteracy? Lacking the most basic medical care? Without a roof over their heads? . . .

"Christians must learn to make their act of faith in Christ by discerning His voice in the cry for help that rises from this world of poverty."
-- Pope John Paul II
Novo Millennio Ineunte, no. 50

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