Skepticism About U.S. Deep, Iraq Poll Shows
Motive for Invasion Is Focus of Doubts
More than half of Baghdad's residents said they did not believe the United States would allow the Iraqi people to fashion their political future without the direct influence of Washington, according to a Gallup poll.
....Three-quarters of those polled said they believed the policies and decisions of the Iraqi Governing Council -- whose members were appointed in July by Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator L. Paul Bremer -- were "mostly determined by the coalition's own authorities," and only 16 percent thought the council members were "fairly independent."
...Forty-three percent of the respondents said they believed that U.S. and British forces invaded in March primarily "to rob Iraq's oil." While 37 percent believed the United States acted to get rid of the Hussein regime, only 5 percent thought it did so "to assist the Iraq people," the poll found.
...Almost everyone interviewed -- 94 percent -- said Baghdad "now is a more dangerous place than before the invasion," and 86 percent said that for the previous four weeks "they or a member of their household had been afraid to go outside their home at night for safety reasons," Burkholder said in his analysis. He noted that in the two months before the U.S. invasion, only 8 percent said they had experienced a similar fear....
--Washington Post
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Last week I wrote about a contractors' boycott of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Austin, Texas. Apparently Planned Parenthood is fighting back:
Planned Parenthood will take over as general contractor in the construction of its South Austin clinic, which will offer a range of health services, including abortions, the organization's board chairwoman announced Monday.
The construction, which began in August, halted last week when San Antonio-based Browning Construction withdrew. Browning said it could not proceed after it was unable to hire subcontractors and others walked away.
Anti-abortion activists had distributed the names of those participating in the construction, and several were persuaded to drop their tools and turn down the business.
Planned Parenthood officials said that since the announcement last week, they have been contacted by several construction-related companies willing to help build the $4.2 million clinic, which will provide services primarily for poor or uninsured women. Some will serve as anonymous consultants for Planned Parenthood, they said....
A number of elected officials, including three mayors of Austin (two current, one former), came to a recent Planned Parenthood fundraiser, which raised nearly $200,000. Sidney Blumenthal was a keynote speaker.
A boycott leader made clear what really rankles him about abortion rights:
Chris Danze, president of Austin-based Maldonado and Danze Inc., a concrete supplier who organized the boycott of the project, said Monday in a statement: "This is good news for men who use women as sex objects. Bad news for women and children. The boycott continues."
Yup -- apparently the lead boycott organizer believes that all unwanted pregnancies result from sex acts in which women are "sex objects," and no unwanted pregnancy has ever resulted from an act of consensual sex.
Well, I hope the Planned Parenthood plan works. In the meantime, Gunther at The Gunther Concept is fed up -- he's found a lot of articles and Web sites that mention participants in this boycott (see his blog posts here, here, and here) -- and, kicking it up a notch, he's providing the boycotters' names, addresses, and e-mail addresses.
Yeah, that might seem harsh to you. It does to me, too. Of course, they are contractors -- they're in the phone book. Certainly, if they're in your area, you should never, ever hire these people. Gunther says,
Please use this information responsibly. Be polite but firm. Let them know that you don’t appreciate their infringement on individual rights. Call often. For businesses, let them know that you will boycott them and encourage others who do business with them to do the same.
In other words, no harassment.
Of course, I don't know at what point you'd actually be guilty of harassment if you contacted these people -- this article from the July Texas Monthly, about an embattled Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, suggests that it's rather hard to cross the line into illegality in the state:
DYANN SANTOS FIRST SAW THE "Wanted" posters as she drove to work one morning in the summer of 1999. They were hard to miss. Every time she stopped at a red light or took a right turn on her route from College Station to Bryan, a poster bearing a photo of the clinic's doctor fluttered at eye level from a street sign or a telephone pole. "Someone knew my way to work," she said. "Someone had planned this out for me to see."
Soon her neighbors began receiving postcards. "Under current Texas law, abortion providers, like convicted sex offenders, are required by state law to register with the State," they read, listing her home address. Farther down, the tone became more informal: "Please feel free to call Dyann at [her home number] or possibly catch her in the Wal-Mart parking lot. She drives a small 1999 silver Honda with Texas Tag [her license plate number]." Dozens more postcards arrived without return addresses. One listed the "body count" Santos was responsible for and the warning "God has his own way of keeping score!" And so she took precautions. She transferred her teenage son to a private school. She took different routes home. She changed her phone number, twice. She stopped taking walks at night....
Debbie McCall, the clinic's community service director, ... commutes from the town of Crockett, 72 miles away, along a two-lane road that threads through farmland. "I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck," she recalled. Still, she had little recourse. As with the anonymous mail and the "Wanted" posters, no one had broken the law. No threats of "imminent bodily injury," as the law requires, had been made. "They go right up to the edge of the law," observed Melissa Reyna, a nurse who worked at the clinic for three years. "They keep pushing that line a little further. The concern when I worked there was that someday, someone—that one loose cannon out there—would step over the line."
Yes, folks -- apparently, in the Great State of Texas, nothing described in the paragraphs above is "over the line."
The good news is that the Bryan clinic survived contractor skittishness and anti-abortion pressure:
"Local businesses were pressured not to work with us," Santos said. "Electricians turned us down. The security company backed out. The plumber would not park his company van outside. The gates, the fences, the roof—everything came from out of town. The contractor drove in from Houston. Even people who had done business with us for twenty years were afraid."
Let's hope the Austin boycott fails as well. Meanwhile, as this Focus on the Family Web page cited by Gunther makes clear, the boycotters think they're going to win, and win big:
Danze, meanwhile, isn't stopping with one abortion clinic. He has plans to round up like-minded suppliers to deny pest control and even bottled water to the entire abortion industry in Austin.
So this is war.
Planned Parenthood will take over as general contractor in the construction of its South Austin clinic, which will offer a range of health services, including abortions, the organization's board chairwoman announced Monday.
The construction, which began in August, halted last week when San Antonio-based Browning Construction withdrew. Browning said it could not proceed after it was unable to hire subcontractors and others walked away.
Anti-abortion activists had distributed the names of those participating in the construction, and several were persuaded to drop their tools and turn down the business.
Planned Parenthood officials said that since the announcement last week, they have been contacted by several construction-related companies willing to help build the $4.2 million clinic, which will provide services primarily for poor or uninsured women. Some will serve as anonymous consultants for Planned Parenthood, they said....
A number of elected officials, including three mayors of Austin (two current, one former), came to a recent Planned Parenthood fundraiser, which raised nearly $200,000. Sidney Blumenthal was a keynote speaker.
A boycott leader made clear what really rankles him about abortion rights:
Chris Danze, president of Austin-based Maldonado and Danze Inc., a concrete supplier who organized the boycott of the project, said Monday in a statement: "This is good news for men who use women as sex objects. Bad news for women and children. The boycott continues."
Yup -- apparently the lead boycott organizer believes that all unwanted pregnancies result from sex acts in which women are "sex objects," and no unwanted pregnancy has ever resulted from an act of consensual sex.
Well, I hope the Planned Parenthood plan works. In the meantime, Gunther at The Gunther Concept is fed up -- he's found a lot of articles and Web sites that mention participants in this boycott (see his blog posts here, here, and here) -- and, kicking it up a notch, he's providing the boycotters' names, addresses, and e-mail addresses.
Yeah, that might seem harsh to you. It does to me, too. Of course, they are contractors -- they're in the phone book. Certainly, if they're in your area, you should never, ever hire these people. Gunther says,
Please use this information responsibly. Be polite but firm. Let them know that you don’t appreciate their infringement on individual rights. Call often. For businesses, let them know that you will boycott them and encourage others who do business with them to do the same.
In other words, no harassment.
Of course, I don't know at what point you'd actually be guilty of harassment if you contacted these people -- this article from the July Texas Monthly, about an embattled Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, suggests that it's rather hard to cross the line into illegality in the state:
DYANN SANTOS FIRST SAW THE "Wanted" posters as she drove to work one morning in the summer of 1999. They were hard to miss. Every time she stopped at a red light or took a right turn on her route from College Station to Bryan, a poster bearing a photo of the clinic's doctor fluttered at eye level from a street sign or a telephone pole. "Someone knew my way to work," she said. "Someone had planned this out for me to see."
Soon her neighbors began receiving postcards. "Under current Texas law, abortion providers, like convicted sex offenders, are required by state law to register with the State," they read, listing her home address. Farther down, the tone became more informal: "Please feel free to call Dyann at [her home number] or possibly catch her in the Wal-Mart parking lot. She drives a small 1999 silver Honda with Texas Tag [her license plate number]." Dozens more postcards arrived without return addresses. One listed the "body count" Santos was responsible for and the warning "God has his own way of keeping score!" And so she took precautions. She transferred her teenage son to a private school. She took different routes home. She changed her phone number, twice. She stopped taking walks at night....
Debbie McCall, the clinic's community service director, ... commutes from the town of Crockett, 72 miles away, along a two-lane road that threads through farmland. "I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck," she recalled. Still, she had little recourse. As with the anonymous mail and the "Wanted" posters, no one had broken the law. No threats of "imminent bodily injury," as the law requires, had been made. "They go right up to the edge of the law," observed Melissa Reyna, a nurse who worked at the clinic for three years. "They keep pushing that line a little further. The concern when I worked there was that someday, someone—that one loose cannon out there—would step over the line."
Yes, folks -- apparently, in the Great State of Texas, nothing described in the paragraphs above is "over the line."
The good news is that the Bryan clinic survived contractor skittishness and anti-abortion pressure:
"Local businesses were pressured not to work with us," Santos said. "Electricians turned us down. The security company backed out. The plumber would not park his company van outside. The gates, the fences, the roof—everything came from out of town. The contractor drove in from Houston. Even people who had done business with us for twenty years were afraid."
Let's hope the Austin boycott fails as well. Meanwhile, as this Focus on the Family Web page cited by Gunther makes clear, the boycotters think they're going to win, and win big:
Danze, meanwhile, isn't stopping with one abortion clinic. He has plans to round up like-minded suppliers to deny pest control and even bottled water to the entire abortion industry in Austin.
So this is war.
The New York Times reports that the prescription-drug cartel has declared war:
Brand-name drug makers have stepped up their drive to curtail exports of cheap medicines from Canada to the United States, raising prices in Canada for the first time in several years and imposing new restrictions on sales to Canadian pharmacies.
Using loopholes in Canadian government price controls, several companies have raised drug prices 4 to 8 percent since the summer. Pfizer Canada recently notified customers of price increases on "the majority" of its drugs, the first such increases in a decade. GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Bayer have also lifted prices on many of their prescription drugs, including Zantac, Prozac and Cipro.
On another front, AstraZeneca has imposed stricter sales conditions on Canadian drugstores, requiring written assurance that its products would not be made available for export....
And if that doesn't work, the drug kingpins might try this:
One drug industry executive in the United States said that the gap in American and Canadian medicine prices might discourage manufacturers from releasing some new drugs in Canada.
"From now on, if the Canadians don't give us a price close to our United States price, I'm not selling it there," he said.
Buying prescription drugs is really starting to seem a bit like buying those other drugs we used to buy:
...Billy Shawn, owner of The Canadian Drug Store, one of the biggest online operators, said ... that doing business had become more difficult.
"The guys who really need to get supply, get it," Mr. Shawn said. The difference, he said, was that the clampdown by the pharmaceutical groups "has changed the amount of effort it takes to purchase supplies every day."
"What used to take 15 minutes now takes two or three hours," he said.
But seriously: It was inevitable that a few well-meaning American politicians were going to be no match for Big Pharma. I fear the drug kingpins are going to win this fight -- unless we fight back harder. Remember, a lot of these guys make nonessential over-the-counter drugs and other items. These products can be boycotted.
Brand-name drug makers have stepped up their drive to curtail exports of cheap medicines from Canada to the United States, raising prices in Canada for the first time in several years and imposing new restrictions on sales to Canadian pharmacies.
Using loopholes in Canadian government price controls, several companies have raised drug prices 4 to 8 percent since the summer. Pfizer Canada recently notified customers of price increases on "the majority" of its drugs, the first such increases in a decade. GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Bayer have also lifted prices on many of their prescription drugs, including Zantac, Prozac and Cipro.
On another front, AstraZeneca has imposed stricter sales conditions on Canadian drugstores, requiring written assurance that its products would not be made available for export....
And if that doesn't work, the drug kingpins might try this:
One drug industry executive in the United States said that the gap in American and Canadian medicine prices might discourage manufacturers from releasing some new drugs in Canada.
"From now on, if the Canadians don't give us a price close to our United States price, I'm not selling it there," he said.
Buying prescription drugs is really starting to seem a bit like buying those other drugs we used to buy:
...Billy Shawn, owner of The Canadian Drug Store, one of the biggest online operators, said ... that doing business had become more difficult.
"The guys who really need to get supply, get it," Mr. Shawn said. The difference, he said, was that the clampdown by the pharmaceutical groups "has changed the amount of effort it takes to purchase supplies every day."
"What used to take 15 minutes now takes two or three hours," he said.
But seriously: It was inevitable that a few well-meaning American politicians were going to be no match for Big Pharma. I fear the drug kingpins are going to win this fight -- unless we fight back harder. Remember, a lot of these guys make nonessential over-the-counter drugs and other items. These products can be boycotted.
A group of more than two dozen House of Representatives Democrats on Monday said they had introduced a resolution urging President Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"This resolution would make official what so many members of Congress already believe -- that the soldiers in Iraq and America's foreign policy would be helped greatly if Donald Rumsfeld would leave," Rep. Charles Rangel of New York said in a statement.
Rangel said he so far had 25 co-sponsors to the resolution who were "willing to stand up and say what so many policy makers know, that the first step to bringing our troops home is to send Donald Rumsfeld home." ...
--Reuters
It's a start.
"This resolution would make official what so many members of Congress already believe -- that the soldiers in Iraq and America's foreign policy would be helped greatly if Donald Rumsfeld would leave," Rep. Charles Rangel of New York said in a statement.
Rangel said he so far had 25 co-sponsors to the resolution who were "willing to stand up and say what so many policy makers know, that the first step to bringing our troops home is to send Donald Rumsfeld home." ...
--Reuters
It's a start.
Monday, November 10, 2003
Shorter Newsweek cover story:
Swallowing bullshit whole, Dick Cheney helped get us into an endless war on false pretenses -- but he isn't nearly as nuts as, say, Laurie Mylroie.
There has been much speculation in the press and in the intelligence community about the impact of the conspiracy theories of Laurie Mylroie on the Bush administration. A somewhat eccentric Harvard-trained political scientist, Mylroie argued (from guesswork and sketchy evidence) that the 1993 World Trade Center attack was an Iraqi intelligence operation. When AEI published an updated version of her book “Study of Revenge” two years ago, her acknowledgments cited the help of, among others, Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of State John Bolton and Libby. But Cheney aides say that the vice president has never even discussed Mylroie’s book. (“I take satisfaction in the fact that we went to war with Iraq and got rid of Saddam Hussein,” said Mylroie. “The rest is details.”)
Oh, but here's my favorite quote from the story, about Ahmed Chalabi:
Chalabi was hailed in some circles, especially among the neocons at AEI, as the “George Washington of Iraq.” But the professionals at the State Department and at the CIA took a more skeptical view. In 1999, after Congress had passed and President Bill Clinton had signed the Iraqi Liberation Act, providing funds to support Iraqi exile groups, the U.S. government convened a conference with the INC and other opposition groups in London to discuss “regime change.” The American officials proposed bringing INC activists to America for training. Chalabi’s aides objected. Most of the likely candidates were Iraqi refugees living in various European countries. By coming to the United States, they could lose their refugee status. Some Pentagon officials shook their heads in disbelief. “You had to wonder,” said one who attended the conference, “how serious were these people. They kept telling us they wanted to risk their lives for their country. But they were afraid to risk their refugee status in Sweden?”
Swallowing bullshit whole, Dick Cheney helped get us into an endless war on false pretenses -- but he isn't nearly as nuts as, say, Laurie Mylroie.
There has been much speculation in the press and in the intelligence community about the impact of the conspiracy theories of Laurie Mylroie on the Bush administration. A somewhat eccentric Harvard-trained political scientist, Mylroie argued (from guesswork and sketchy evidence) that the 1993 World Trade Center attack was an Iraqi intelligence operation. When AEI published an updated version of her book “Study of Revenge” two years ago, her acknowledgments cited the help of, among others, Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of State John Bolton and Libby. But Cheney aides say that the vice president has never even discussed Mylroie’s book. (“I take satisfaction in the fact that we went to war with Iraq and got rid of Saddam Hussein,” said Mylroie. “The rest is details.”)
Oh, but here's my favorite quote from the story, about Ahmed Chalabi:
Chalabi was hailed in some circles, especially among the neocons at AEI, as the “George Washington of Iraq.” But the professionals at the State Department and at the CIA took a more skeptical view. In 1999, after Congress had passed and President Bill Clinton had signed the Iraqi Liberation Act, providing funds to support Iraqi exile groups, the U.S. government convened a conference with the INC and other opposition groups in London to discuss “regime change.” The American officials proposed bringing INC activists to America for training. Chalabi’s aides objected. Most of the likely candidates were Iraqi refugees living in various European countries. By coming to the United States, they could lose their refugee status. Some Pentagon officials shook their heads in disbelief. “You had to wonder,” said one who attended the conference, “how serious were these people. They kept telling us they wanted to risk their lives for their country. But they were afraid to risk their refugee status in Sweden?”
We get just about every catalog in creation at the Nice Blog household, but we were a bit surprised to get this one today: Crossings -- or, rather, Crossings by Smith & Wesson.
No, there aren't any guns in the catalog. There are one or two knives. Mostly it's knickknacks and "collectibles" (love that genuine cowboy boot lamp) and yuppified Western wear of a kind that wouldn't be out of place in, say, the Sundance catalog.
Now, you may recall that a few years ago Smith & Wesson cut a deal with the Clinton White House under which the company would be dropped from gun suits and would abide by a set of restrictions on its sales (e.g., it wouldn't sell guns at any gun show where dealers didn't do background checks). When that agreement was announced, gun fetishists went, er, ballistic. A highly effective boycott began. You don't mess with gun fetishists.
And now, of course, the occupant of the White House is the NRA's best friend. There's a strong likelihood of a pro-gun Democratic nominee for president in Howard Dean, and every other Dem in the race desperately trying to tap into that NASCAR/Toby Keith/gunrack vote. Yet S&W is still apparently trying to appeal to us soft-underbellied, Clinton-voting gun-grabber scum. I wish 'em luck with this, but I think, alas, they're misreading the zeitgeist.
No, there aren't any guns in the catalog. There are one or two knives. Mostly it's knickknacks and "collectibles" (love that genuine cowboy boot lamp) and yuppified Western wear of a kind that wouldn't be out of place in, say, the Sundance catalog.
Now, you may recall that a few years ago Smith & Wesson cut a deal with the Clinton White House under which the company would be dropped from gun suits and would abide by a set of restrictions on its sales (e.g., it wouldn't sell guns at any gun show where dealers didn't do background checks). When that agreement was announced, gun fetishists went, er, ballistic. A highly effective boycott began. You don't mess with gun fetishists.
And now, of course, the occupant of the White House is the NRA's best friend. There's a strong likelihood of a pro-gun Democratic nominee for president in Howard Dean, and every other Dem in the race desperately trying to tap into that NASCAR/Toby Keith/gunrack vote. Yet S&W is still apparently trying to appeal to us soft-underbellied, Clinton-voting gun-grabber scum. I wish 'em luck with this, but I think, alas, they're misreading the zeitgeist.
Rashomon time: An AP story I found at AOL says the Taliban have seized control of four Afghan provinces:
Taliban rebels have gained control over four districts in Zabul Province in southeastern Afghanistan, Afghan Islamic Press reported Monday, quoting a senior provincial official.
The Pakistan-based news agency quoted Maulvi Muhammad Omar, deputy governor of Zabul, as saying the four districts that have fallen under control of Taliban are Atghar, Nowbahar, Shenkay and Shamalzi in the southern part of the province.
"No government official is there to run the affairs of the districts and these areas are occupied by Taliban or their supporters," he said.
Omar also said Taliban are suspected of being involved in several bomb explosions, including a failed bomb attack on the governor, and the kidnapping of a Turkish engineer in the province recently. The engineer is still missing....
But Agence France-Presse says tribal chiefs, not the Taliban, are in charge:
Afghan authorities have lost control of at least seven districts in troubled southeast Zabul province, the deputy governor said Monday.
But tribal chiefs and elders, rather than resurgent Taliban forces, were in control of the areas, Mawlawy Mohammad Omar said.
"There is no government control over Atghar, Naw Bahar, Shinkay and Shamazai in the south of the province," deputy Zabul governor Omar told AFP by satellite phone from the provincial capital Qalat.
"There are some other districts such as Shahjoy, Daychopan and Khak-e-Afghan where the government has no control but the Taliban do not control these areas either."
He said Taliban were fighters were moving around the districts on motorbikes.
"But they aren't powerful enough to threaten the administration," Omar said....
Well, one thing's clear: We're not in charge, nor are our allies.
*****
"Who's in charge here?"
"Ain't you?"
--from the screenplay of Apocalypse Now
Taliban rebels have gained control over four districts in Zabul Province in southeastern Afghanistan, Afghan Islamic Press reported Monday, quoting a senior provincial official.
The Pakistan-based news agency quoted Maulvi Muhammad Omar, deputy governor of Zabul, as saying the four districts that have fallen under control of Taliban are Atghar, Nowbahar, Shenkay and Shamalzi in the southern part of the province.
"No government official is there to run the affairs of the districts and these areas are occupied by Taliban or their supporters," he said.
Omar also said Taliban are suspected of being involved in several bomb explosions, including a failed bomb attack on the governor, and the kidnapping of a Turkish engineer in the province recently. The engineer is still missing....
But Agence France-Presse says tribal chiefs, not the Taliban, are in charge:
Afghan authorities have lost control of at least seven districts in troubled southeast Zabul province, the deputy governor said Monday.
But tribal chiefs and elders, rather than resurgent Taliban forces, were in control of the areas, Mawlawy Mohammad Omar said.
"There is no government control over Atghar, Naw Bahar, Shinkay and Shamazai in the south of the province," deputy Zabul governor Omar told AFP by satellite phone from the provincial capital Qalat.
"There are some other districts such as Shahjoy, Daychopan and Khak-e-Afghan where the government has no control but the Taliban do not control these areas either."
He said Taliban were fighters were moving around the districts on motorbikes.
"But they aren't powerful enough to threaten the administration," Omar said....
Well, one thing's clear: We're not in charge, nor are our allies.
*****
"Who's in charge here?"
"Ain't you?"
--from the screenplay of Apocalypse Now
This is from a new free daily paper called amNewYork that apparently doesn't have a Web site yet:
Feds Snub Lady Liberty
DC won't pay for extra security to reopen symbol of America
The world's symbol of freedom -- the Statue of Liberty -- remains closed more than two years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Tourists can still visit the grounds and buy souvenirs, but they can forget about climbing the 354 steps to the torch.
That's because the National Park Service, Lady Liberty's caretaker, said $5 million worth of additional security is needed to protect the terrorist's dream target. Until then, visitors can only mill about the base.
"We've always thought about how to reopen the Statue of Liberty," said National Parks Service spokesman Brian Feeney. "We stil have security issues."
But, the feds aren't paying....
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, the nonprofit that oversaw its 1986 restoration, launched a "Reopen Lady Liberty Campaign" in late September.
The campaign wants to raise the $5 million through private donations. Already the Folger Coffee Company pledged up to $1 million -- including $1 for every special Folger's seal returned by customers....
The 58-acre island in New York Harbor was closed to the public after Sept. 11. It partially reopened in Dec. 2001, after metal detectors were installed to screen passengers before boarding the ferry -- an hourlong process.
"At the present time, there is no access to the interior of the Statue of Liberty Monument. The monument and the museum at its base remain closed temporarily as a security measure," the Parks Department has said on its Web site for almost two years....
Five million bucks. That's less than two cents per American citizen. Do you think if we asked the American people and put it to them that way, they'd be willing to pony up for one of our most important national symbols? Think they might just wonder why it hasn't been done yet?
But it wouldn't surprise me if the Bushies are hoping to open the doors to coincide with the Republican convention next year. Maybe Jogger George will be the first guy to get to the top, doing wind sprints up the 354 steps to show how fit he is for a second term. (Cheney will presumably have business to attend to elsewhere.)
Hey, and maybe, prior to that stunt, the GOP will seize on the issue by introducing a bill in Congress to reopen the statue -- but with union job protections removed for workers there (for "security reasons"). Then, if Democrats balk, suddenly the inaccessibility of the statue will be their fault. It's a cheap trick, but it worked before.
Feds Snub Lady Liberty
DC won't pay for extra security to reopen symbol of America
The world's symbol of freedom -- the Statue of Liberty -- remains closed more than two years after the Sept. 11 attacks. Tourists can still visit the grounds and buy souvenirs, but they can forget about climbing the 354 steps to the torch.
That's because the National Park Service, Lady Liberty's caretaker, said $5 million worth of additional security is needed to protect the terrorist's dream target. Until then, visitors can only mill about the base.
"We've always thought about how to reopen the Statue of Liberty," said National Parks Service spokesman Brian Feeney. "We stil have security issues."
But, the feds aren't paying....
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, the nonprofit that oversaw its 1986 restoration, launched a "Reopen Lady Liberty Campaign" in late September.
The campaign wants to raise the $5 million through private donations. Already the Folger Coffee Company pledged up to $1 million -- including $1 for every special Folger's seal returned by customers....
The 58-acre island in New York Harbor was closed to the public after Sept. 11. It partially reopened in Dec. 2001, after metal detectors were installed to screen passengers before boarding the ferry -- an hourlong process.
"At the present time, there is no access to the interior of the Statue of Liberty Monument. The monument and the museum at its base remain closed temporarily as a security measure," the Parks Department has said on its Web site for almost two years....
Five million bucks. That's less than two cents per American citizen. Do you think if we asked the American people and put it to them that way, they'd be willing to pony up for one of our most important national symbols? Think they might just wonder why it hasn't been done yet?
But it wouldn't surprise me if the Bushies are hoping to open the doors to coincide with the Republican convention next year. Maybe Jogger George will be the first guy to get to the top, doing wind sprints up the 354 steps to show how fit he is for a second term. (Cheney will presumably have business to attend to elsewhere.)
Hey, and maybe, prior to that stunt, the GOP will seize on the issue by introducing a bill in Congress to reopen the statue -- but with union job protections removed for workers there (for "security reasons"). Then, if Democrats balk, suddenly the inaccessibility of the statue will be their fault. It's a cheap trick, but it worked before.
Sunday, November 09, 2003
BUSH’S LEAD against the five leading Democratic contenders - Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and Richard Gephardt - has shrunk to a low of 4 points, vs. 6 points a month ago. Dean continues to poll best against Bush, with 45 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him, compared to 49 percent for Bush. Last month, 43 percent would have voted for Dean and 49 percent Bush. In a race against Clark, Bush would win 48 percent of the vote vs. 45 percent for Clark. Last month, those numbers were 49 percent and 43 percent.
...The narrowing of Bush’s lead may be due to an increasing pessimism about U.S. efforts in Iraq. In the NEWSWEEK poll, 53 percent said they don’t believe the administration has a well thought out plan for post-war Iraq; that represents a 5 percent increase since October. Sixty percent feel the United States is investing too much money in operations in Iraq, a statistic that has remained constant since September. The number of respondents who feel going to war with Iraq was the right decision has also slipped considerably in the past few months, from more than two-thirds in July to just 55 percent this week.
--Newsweek
This despite the fact that approval of Bush's economic policies went up in response to the positive economic news last week (though more people still disapprove of Bush on the economy than approve).
...The narrowing of Bush’s lead may be due to an increasing pessimism about U.S. efforts in Iraq. In the NEWSWEEK poll, 53 percent said they don’t believe the administration has a well thought out plan for post-war Iraq; that represents a 5 percent increase since October. Sixty percent feel the United States is investing too much money in operations in Iraq, a statistic that has remained constant since September. The number of respondents who feel going to war with Iraq was the right decision has also slipped considerably in the past few months, from more than two-thirds in July to just 55 percent this week.
--Newsweek
This despite the fact that approval of Bush's economic policies went up in response to the positive economic news last week (though more people still disapprove of Bush on the economy than approve).
WHAT'S ACCOMPLISHED?
Obviously not the mission. Billmon has a great photo of an L.A. provocateur's take on the slogan from the aircraft carrier photo op -- and if you like that, here's more.
Obviously not the mission. Billmon has a great photo of an L.A. provocateur's take on the slogan from the aircraft carrier photo op -- and if you like that, here's more.
Milt Bearden, a retired CIA counterintelligence officer, thinks the enemy we're facing in Iraq has a plan that's very well thought out:
The insurgents' strategy could have been crafted by Sun Tzu, the Chinese military tactician, who more than 2,500 years ago wrote, in "The Art of War," that the highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's strategy.
So it was probably no accident that as American forces approached Baghdad, expecting tough street fighting, the bulk of the Iraqi forces melted away. The American troops, forced to shift strategy on the run, have been bedeviled by the consequences of those early chaotic days ever since.
Next, according to Sun Tzu, you attack his alliances.
This, again, is what the Iraqi insurgents did. Presumably acting on the assumption that the Jordanians were being too helpful to the United States, insurgents detonated a car bomb outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad on Aug. 7, killing 11 and wounding scores. Less than three weeks later, as an increased role for the United Nations was debated, suicide bombers attacked the organization's headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including the United Nations special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Then, in mid-October, as proposals for an expanded peacekeeping role for Turkey were argued, a suicide bomb detonated outside the Turkish chancery in Baghdad, killing one bystander and wounding a dozen others.
When Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, began in late October, Baghdad was rocked by a series of suicide bombings that killed dozens and wounded hundreds, including an attack on the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In addition, there have been countless attacks against individual Iraqis viewed as allied with the United States, whether police recruits, members of the Iraqi Governing Council or figures in the judiciary. A pattern of attack against American allies seems clear....
Next, Sun Tzu prescribed, attack their army.
This is occurring with increasing lethality....
Interesting.
The insurgents' strategy could have been crafted by Sun Tzu, the Chinese military tactician, who more than 2,500 years ago wrote, in "The Art of War," that the highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's strategy.
So it was probably no accident that as American forces approached Baghdad, expecting tough street fighting, the bulk of the Iraqi forces melted away. The American troops, forced to shift strategy on the run, have been bedeviled by the consequences of those early chaotic days ever since.
Next, according to Sun Tzu, you attack his alliances.
This, again, is what the Iraqi insurgents did. Presumably acting on the assumption that the Jordanians were being too helpful to the United States, insurgents detonated a car bomb outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad on Aug. 7, killing 11 and wounding scores. Less than three weeks later, as an increased role for the United Nations was debated, suicide bombers attacked the organization's headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including the United Nations special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Then, in mid-October, as proposals for an expanded peacekeeping role for Turkey were argued, a suicide bomb detonated outside the Turkish chancery in Baghdad, killing one bystander and wounding a dozen others.
When Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, began in late October, Baghdad was rocked by a series of suicide bombings that killed dozens and wounded hundreds, including an attack on the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In addition, there have been countless attacks against individual Iraqis viewed as allied with the United States, whether police recruits, members of the Iraqi Governing Council or figures in the judiciary. A pattern of attack against American allies seems clear....
Next, Sun Tzu prescribed, attack their army.
This is occurring with increasing lethality....
Interesting.
So whatever happened to the heavily armed paranoids who thought (hoped?) that the Y2K bug was going to bring about the total collapse of American society? Well, as the Arizona Star reports, some of them now travel hundreds of miles to go immigrant huntin':
Border militias claim success
...In the brush, half a dozen heavily armed men wait quietly in the gathering darkness as the voices approach.
Suddenly, the voices and the footsteps stop. After a long moment of silence, a man whispers in Spanish, "Let's go, someone's coming."
There is more movement in the brush as some of the armed men are suddenly visible, hurrying toward the sounds, searching for the source of the voices, but they've disappeared into a maze of piled dirt and brush.
In the darkness, the nearest visible landmark is the water tower at the Border Patrol's Douglas Station, but these aren't Border Patrol agents. They're members of Texas-based Ranch Rescue and a contingent of Missouri Militia patrolling private property they say is being invaded by criminal trespassers - some of the hundreds of illegal entrants who cross through the Douglas area each night.
Although the patrol came up empty-handed Friday night, Ranch Rescue founder Jack Foote considers it a success. Two groups of intruders were forced off the property as the patrol moved through and at least two people were picked up by Border Patrol agents responding to a report from a Ranch Rescue observer in a tower back at the ranch house.
"Two down, 1.5 million to go," Foote said. Best of all, he said, his volunteers got a taste of what's in store for the next two weeks as "Operation Thunderbird" gets under way....
I wasn't making that Y2K part up, by the way:
Tom Kinderknecht, 50, a retired firefighter and one of five Missouri Militia members who drove in together Thursday night, said he grew up in a farming community and learned as a boy what it meant to "be ready and to be self-reliant."
He said he's not given to conspiracy theories, but the Y2K scare reawakened those early lessons and led him to join the Missouri Militia, whose members see themselves as a service and support group for law enforcement and the community, as well as a reserve of manpower for the military when needed.
But hey, these guys are just being good citizens, right? Well...
Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network, said the failure of federal, state and Cochise County officials to arrest and prosecute self-proclaimed border enforcers allows groups like Ranch Rescue to flourish.
Allen said that in Texas, Ranch Rescue members were arrested after an El Salvadoran couple claimed they were beaten and terrorized by Ranch Rescue members and property owner Joe Sutton. Four others, all Mexicans, have since come forward to claim they were subjected to similar treatment by the group on Sutton's ranch.
Ranch Rescue has been named along with Sutton in a civil suit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Another criminal case, against Ranch Rescue member Casey Nethercott, continues in Hogg County, Texas.
"I think it's incredibly dangerous. Those are the cases that are public, that we know about," Allen said. "We're concerned about the cases we haven't heard about."...
Look, let me state the obvious: First you have to rejigger the entire economy so that businesses looking for cheap employees (hello, Wal-Mart) and well-off individuals looking for household help no longer count on a steady supply of illegals. Then talk to me about the scourge of swarthy illegal border-crossers.
Border militias claim success
...In the brush, half a dozen heavily armed men wait quietly in the gathering darkness as the voices approach.
Suddenly, the voices and the footsteps stop. After a long moment of silence, a man whispers in Spanish, "Let's go, someone's coming."
There is more movement in the brush as some of the armed men are suddenly visible, hurrying toward the sounds, searching for the source of the voices, but they've disappeared into a maze of piled dirt and brush.
In the darkness, the nearest visible landmark is the water tower at the Border Patrol's Douglas Station, but these aren't Border Patrol agents. They're members of Texas-based Ranch Rescue and a contingent of Missouri Militia patrolling private property they say is being invaded by criminal trespassers - some of the hundreds of illegal entrants who cross through the Douglas area each night.
Although the patrol came up empty-handed Friday night, Ranch Rescue founder Jack Foote considers it a success. Two groups of intruders were forced off the property as the patrol moved through and at least two people were picked up by Border Patrol agents responding to a report from a Ranch Rescue observer in a tower back at the ranch house.
"Two down, 1.5 million to go," Foote said. Best of all, he said, his volunteers got a taste of what's in store for the next two weeks as "Operation Thunderbird" gets under way....
I wasn't making that Y2K part up, by the way:
Tom Kinderknecht, 50, a retired firefighter and one of five Missouri Militia members who drove in together Thursday night, said he grew up in a farming community and learned as a boy what it meant to "be ready and to be self-reliant."
He said he's not given to conspiracy theories, but the Y2K scare reawakened those early lessons and led him to join the Missouri Militia, whose members see themselves as a service and support group for law enforcement and the community, as well as a reserve of manpower for the military when needed.
But hey, these guys are just being good citizens, right? Well...
Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network, said the failure of federal, state and Cochise County officials to arrest and prosecute self-proclaimed border enforcers allows groups like Ranch Rescue to flourish.
Allen said that in Texas, Ranch Rescue members were arrested after an El Salvadoran couple claimed they were beaten and terrorized by Ranch Rescue members and property owner Joe Sutton. Four others, all Mexicans, have since come forward to claim they were subjected to similar treatment by the group on Sutton's ranch.
Ranch Rescue has been named along with Sutton in a civil suit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Another criminal case, against Ranch Rescue member Casey Nethercott, continues in Hogg County, Texas.
"I think it's incredibly dangerous. Those are the cases that are public, that we know about," Allen said. "We're concerned about the cases we haven't heard about."...
Look, let me state the obvious: First you have to rejigger the entire economy so that businesses looking for cheap employees (hello, Wal-Mart) and well-off individuals looking for household help no longer count on a steady supply of illegals. Then talk to me about the scourge of swarthy illegal border-crossers.
SO-CALLED LIBERAL SOFT NEWS
Try to imagine Fox News or The Washington Times or the New York Post or Rush Limbaugh doing a feature story on someone who was a big part of the Dr. Laura boycott -- and not just a story, but a completely positive story, with no scorn for the boycott and warm-fuzzy details about the profiled boycotter.
Unimaginable. But here's the "liberal media" equivalent from yesterday's New York Times, a profile of the guy whose Web site BoycottCBS.com was a big part of the movement to get the TV movie about the Reagans removed from broadcast TV. Listen up, Ann Coulter and Andrew Sullivan: here's a sample of the Times's ideologically pure left-wing invective:
Mr. Paranzino, 37, is too modest to take all the credit, but he can scarcely believe the mountain he has moved from the cluttered downstairs den of his suburban Washington home, where he and his son, Cameron, 2, click away on side-by-side desktop computers. Each computer is now choked with the hundreds of thousands of e-mail messages that became a critical part of the campaign against CBS, and hundreds more pour in by the hour.
"I'm happy. I'm excited. But there's still a problem that it's on Showtime," Mr. Paranzino said on Thursday as Cameron connected numbered dots on a Sesame Street software program. "I'm grateful that it's not going into 110 million homes as it would have on CBS. But it's still a smear of a great American leader on a network that'll reach 15 million homes, and I'm still getting hundreds of e-mails telling me, `Don't stop, keep the movement alive.' "
Coulter, Sullivan, and others who describe the Times as ideologically rigid, as analogous to the conservative press or right-wing talk radio, are lying to you.
Try to imagine Fox News or The Washington Times or the New York Post or Rush Limbaugh doing a feature story on someone who was a big part of the Dr. Laura boycott -- and not just a story, but a completely positive story, with no scorn for the boycott and warm-fuzzy details about the profiled boycotter.
Unimaginable. But here's the "liberal media" equivalent from yesterday's New York Times, a profile of the guy whose Web site BoycottCBS.com was a big part of the movement to get the TV movie about the Reagans removed from broadcast TV. Listen up, Ann Coulter and Andrew Sullivan: here's a sample of the Times's ideologically pure left-wing invective:
Mr. Paranzino, 37, is too modest to take all the credit, but he can scarcely believe the mountain he has moved from the cluttered downstairs den of his suburban Washington home, where he and his son, Cameron, 2, click away on side-by-side desktop computers. Each computer is now choked with the hundreds of thousands of e-mail messages that became a critical part of the campaign against CBS, and hundreds more pour in by the hour.
"I'm happy. I'm excited. But there's still a problem that it's on Showtime," Mr. Paranzino said on Thursday as Cameron connected numbered dots on a Sesame Street software program. "I'm grateful that it's not going into 110 million homes as it would have on CBS. But it's still a smear of a great American leader on a network that'll reach 15 million homes, and I'm still getting hundreds of e-mails telling me, `Don't stop, keep the movement alive.' "
Coulter, Sullivan, and others who describe the Times as ideologically rigid, as analogous to the conservative press or right-wing talk radio, are lying to you.
Friday, November 07, 2003
So are the right-wingers going to declare Jessica Lynch a Bush-hating traitor now?
Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch has accused the military of using her capture and dramatic nighttime rescue to sway public support for the war in Iraq.
Lynch said she's bothered by the military's portrayal of her ordeal in Iraq. She said the U.S. military manipulated the story of her dramatic rescue -- and shouldn't have filmed it in the first place.
...The 20-year-old private told ABC's Diane Sawyer in a "Primetime" interview to air Tuesday that there was no reason for her rescue from an Iraqi hospital to be filmed.
In an excerpt reported Friday in the New York Daily News, Lynch said, "They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff. It's wrong."
Early reports had Lynch fighting her attackers Rambo-style and suffering knife and bullet wounds.
In the interview, Lynch puts to rest the stories that she fought until her ammunition was gone, and that she was shot and stabbed.
She said, "I did not shoot, not a round, nothing." ...
Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch has accused the military of using her capture and dramatic nighttime rescue to sway public support for the war in Iraq.
Lynch said she's bothered by the military's portrayal of her ordeal in Iraq. She said the U.S. military manipulated the story of her dramatic rescue -- and shouldn't have filmed it in the first place.
...The 20-year-old private told ABC's Diane Sawyer in a "Primetime" interview to air Tuesday that there was no reason for her rescue from an Iraqi hospital to be filmed.
In an excerpt reported Friday in the New York Daily News, Lynch said, "They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff. It's wrong."
Early reports had Lynch fighting her attackers Rambo-style and suffering knife and bullet wounds.
In the interview, Lynch puts to rest the stories that she fought until her ammunition was gone, and that she was shot and stabbed.
She said, "I did not shoot, not a round, nothing." ...
After reading about President Bush's speech calling for democracy in the Middle East -- a speech that's likely to do more harm than good, making regional supporters of democracy look like stooges of the Great Crusader -- it's interesting to turn to Ronald Steel's review of several books about Woodrow Wilson in the latest New York Review of Books (the article, unfortunately, isn't available free online).
Steel focuses on Wilson the unilateralist -- the president who sent troops to Latin America to, as he put it, "teach the South American Republics to elect good men." Steel writes:
In seeking justification for the use of force, the word "democracy" is the mantra. When Wilson insisted that "the world must be made safe for democracy," he was expressing not a hope but a mandate. For Wilsonians the democratic imperative is not negotiable. Like most other faiths, it is intolerant of every system other than itself. The paradox of democracy is that it can be intolerant in its absolutist demand for tolerance. It does not hesitate, whether under liberals or conservatives, to use military power to enforce surrender to its imperative In this it is like other crusading monotheistic faiths. To be indifferent to the spread of American-style democracy is to be unpatriotic. To ask why the world must be made safe for democracy is a subversive question.
Steel goes on to argue that Wilson wanted to spread democracy because he believed democratic countries don't fight one another, and thus the spread of democracy would be in America's self-interest. He adds,
...Wilson's political genius, from which his successors have learned much, was to formulate a policy that corresponded perfectly with America's strategic and political interests, and to phrase it in vocabulary that made it seem idealistic and self denying.
Sounds a bit familiar.
Steel focuses on Wilson the unilateralist -- the president who sent troops to Latin America to, as he put it, "teach the South American Republics to elect good men." Steel writes:
In seeking justification for the use of force, the word "democracy" is the mantra. When Wilson insisted that "the world must be made safe for democracy," he was expressing not a hope but a mandate. For Wilsonians the democratic imperative is not negotiable. Like most other faiths, it is intolerant of every system other than itself. The paradox of democracy is that it can be intolerant in its absolutist demand for tolerance. It does not hesitate, whether under liberals or conservatives, to use military power to enforce surrender to its imperative In this it is like other crusading monotheistic faiths. To be indifferent to the spread of American-style democracy is to be unpatriotic. To ask why the world must be made safe for democracy is a subversive question.
Steel goes on to argue that Wilson wanted to spread democracy because he believed democratic countries don't fight one another, and thus the spread of democracy would be in America's self-interest. He adds,
...Wilson's political genius, from which his successors have learned much, was to formulate a policy that corresponded perfectly with America's strategic and political interests, and to phrase it in vocabulary that made it seem idealistic and self denying.
Sounds a bit familiar.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
We are in a full-fledged culture war, and America's mullahs are winning. It's not just partial birth and Terry Schiavo (or Saint Ronald Reagan):
AUSTIN, Texas - One of the state's largest construction companies backed out of a project to build a clinic where abortions would be provided, after concrete suppliers boycotted the job.
Browning Construction Co. of San Antonio pulled out Tuesday, about six weeks after the start of the boycott.
The company wanted out of the contract because it could not retain subcontractors and suppliers "due to events beyond our control," Browning owner James Browning said.
The Austin Area Pro-Life Concrete Contractors and Suppliers Association announced the boycott shortly before the project began. Chairman Chris Danze, owner of Maldonado and Danze Inc., said every concrete supplier within 60 miles of Austin had agreed not to supply materials.
Danze called Planned Parenthood "a social movement that promotes sexual chaos, especially of our youth."...
A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman
said one subcontractor, which she would not identify, had received more than 1,200 calls from around the country warning it not to participate. She said contractors were threatened with the loss of business if they did.
When do we start fighting back?
AUSTIN, Texas - One of the state's largest construction companies backed out of a project to build a clinic where abortions would be provided, after concrete suppliers boycotted the job.
Browning Construction Co. of San Antonio pulled out Tuesday, about six weeks after the start of the boycott.
The company wanted out of the contract because it could not retain subcontractors and suppliers "due to events beyond our control," Browning owner James Browning said.
The Austin Area Pro-Life Concrete Contractors and Suppliers Association announced the boycott shortly before the project began. Chairman Chris Danze, owner of Maldonado and Danze Inc., said every concrete supplier within 60 miles of Austin had agreed not to supply materials.
Danze called Planned Parenthood "a social movement that promotes sexual chaos, especially of our youth."...
A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman
said one subcontractor, which she would not identify, had received more than 1,200 calls from around the country warning it not to participate. She said contractors were threatened with the loss of business if they did.
When do we start fighting back?
I don't know if what he's saying about "momentum" is in any way based in reality, but I don't care much -- I'm just glad he's saying it. Go Charlie!
Rangel Says Dump Rumsfeld Movement Gains Momentum on Capitol Hill
New York Democrat Charles Rangel, who received medals for valor and for being wounded on the battlefield in Korea, says he was "pushed to do this," referring to his call for President Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Rangel says the Iraq occupation reflects a "military operation gone wrong."
The Harlem representative says there is now a resolution circulating in the House asking for Rumsfeld's removal, and "several members of Congress want to sign on." He categorizes the Rumsfeld-dumpers as "frustrated Republicans, progressive Democrats and members of the Congressional Black Caucus."
"I was pushed to do this," Rangel says. "There is a lot of frustration [on Capitol Hill] with the way things are going" with the war.
He cites Rumsfeld's "gross mismanagement" of the war and his "insensitivity toward the troops and their families."...
--BET.com
Rangel Says Dump Rumsfeld Movement Gains Momentum on Capitol Hill
New York Democrat Charles Rangel, who received medals for valor and for being wounded on the battlefield in Korea, says he was "pushed to do this," referring to his call for President Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Rangel says the Iraq occupation reflects a "military operation gone wrong."
The Harlem representative says there is now a resolution circulating in the House asking for Rumsfeld's removal, and "several members of Congress want to sign on." He categorizes the Rumsfeld-dumpers as "frustrated Republicans, progressive Democrats and members of the Congressional Black Caucus."
"I was pushed to do this," Rangel says. "There is a lot of frustration [on Capitol Hill] with the way things are going" with the war.
He cites Rumsfeld's "gross mismanagement" of the war and his "insensitivity toward the troops and their families."...
--BET.com
Half of troops say re-up is out
WASHINGTON - The stress of fighting the war on terror is taking a toll on U.S. troops, and nearly half want out when their enlistments are up, the Pentagon's personnel chief said yesterday.
David Chu, the defense undersecretary for personnel, said 46% of the 90,000 regular soldiers in Iraq surveyed in July said constant deployments overseas and year-long tours in hot zones were souring their outlook on military life.
About 66% of the 40,000 reservists and National Guard troops in Iraq said they would reenlist, Chu told the House Armed Services Committee....
--New York Daily News
WASHINGTON - The stress of fighting the war on terror is taking a toll on U.S. troops, and nearly half want out when their enlistments are up, the Pentagon's personnel chief said yesterday.
David Chu, the defense undersecretary for personnel, said 46% of the 90,000 regular soldiers in Iraq surveyed in July said constant deployments overseas and year-long tours in hot zones were souring their outlook on military life.
About 66% of the 40,000 reservists and National Guard troops in Iraq said they would reenlist, Chu told the House Armed Services Committee....
--New York Daily News
If the charges against Raymond and Vanessa Jackson of Collingswood, New Jersey, are true, then, yes, they're monsters -- but why does the House Ways and Means Committee need to get involved?
A congressional committee will join the investigation into the case of a Collingswood couple accused of starving their four adopted boys over a period of years.
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources will hold its first hearing on Thursday in the case, the subcommittee chairman said in a statement.
"It is hard to imagine how adults could intentionally starve children," Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., said in the statement on Friday. "It is also hard to accept the grim reality that we, as taxpayers, subsidized their terrible neglect to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars."
...The four adopted boys, ages 9, 10, 14 and 19, were removed from the Jacksons' home Oct. 10.
I don't seem to recall anything like this happening in Washington when Florida's scandal-plagued Department of Children and Families literally lost 5-year-old Rilya Wilson and mismanaged several other cases.
Do you think maybe the difference is that Florida's governor at the time the Rilya Wilson story broke was a Republican (up for reelection) by the name of Bush, while New Jersey's governor is Jim McGreevey, a Democrat (up for reelection next year) who's struggling at the polls?
Nawwww! That would be playing politics with childrens' lives, and Republicans would never do that, would they?
(UPDATE: Whoops -- Jim McGreevey's up for reelection in 2005, not 2004. But I still think what I said above holds.)
A congressional committee will join the investigation into the case of a Collingswood couple accused of starving their four adopted boys over a period of years.
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources will hold its first hearing on Thursday in the case, the subcommittee chairman said in a statement.
"It is hard to imagine how adults could intentionally starve children," Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., said in the statement on Friday. "It is also hard to accept the grim reality that we, as taxpayers, subsidized their terrible neglect to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars."
...The four adopted boys, ages 9, 10, 14 and 19, were removed from the Jacksons' home Oct. 10.
I don't seem to recall anything like this happening in Washington when Florida's scandal-plagued Department of Children and Families literally lost 5-year-old Rilya Wilson and mismanaged several other cases.
Do you think maybe the difference is that Florida's governor at the time the Rilya Wilson story broke was a Republican (up for reelection) by the name of Bush, while New Jersey's governor is Jim McGreevey, a Democrat (up for reelection next year) who's struggling at the polls?
Nawwww! That would be playing politics with childrens' lives, and Republicans would never do that, would they?
(UPDATE: Whoops -- Jim McGreevey's up for reelection in 2005, not 2004. But I still think what I said above holds.)
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Our rosy future if we do nothing to develop alternate sources of energy:
The world's increasing demand for energy will require total investments of $16 trillion by 2030, most of it needed to maintain and expand the electricity infrastructure, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The report - a yearlong study by the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based group set up by leading energy-consuming nations in response to the oil embargo of the early 1970's - finds that oil from the Persian Gulf region will play an increasingly important role in the world economy despite economic, political and geological questions in the region. ...
By 2030, it predicted, 43 percent of the world's oil will come from the Middle East - a 50 percent increase from today....
It calculated further that if Middle East oil countries proved more hostile to foreign investment, that would increase the need for worldwide investment a further 8 percent, driving up energy prices.
The report estimated that worldwide demand for oil would reach 120 million barrels a day by 2030, up from 77 million barrels now. But the $2.2 trillion that will be needed to explore and develop oil production will be mostly spent - 75 percent - on maintaining existing fields, with the remaining 25 percent spent on finding new oil to meet the greater demand....
--New York Times
Remember this when you're told that a program to make alternate energy sources viable would be just too expensive.
The world's increasing demand for energy will require total investments of $16 trillion by 2030, most of it needed to maintain and expand the electricity infrastructure, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The report - a yearlong study by the International Energy Agency, a Paris-based group set up by leading energy-consuming nations in response to the oil embargo of the early 1970's - finds that oil from the Persian Gulf region will play an increasingly important role in the world economy despite economic, political and geological questions in the region. ...
By 2030, it predicted, 43 percent of the world's oil will come from the Middle East - a 50 percent increase from today....
It calculated further that if Middle East oil countries proved more hostile to foreign investment, that would increase the need for worldwide investment a further 8 percent, driving up energy prices.
The report estimated that worldwide demand for oil would reach 120 million barrels a day by 2030, up from 77 million barrels now. But the $2.2 trillion that will be needed to explore and develop oil production will be mostly spent - 75 percent - on maintaining existing fields, with the remaining 25 percent spent on finding new oil to meet the greater demand....
--New York Times
Remember this when you're told that a program to make alternate energy sources viable would be just too expensive.
There was a story on yesterday's All Things Considered about the Pakistan government's attempts to deal with Pakistanis in the Northwest Frontier Province who make and sell Kalashnikov-style rifles, openly smoke drugs, and consort across the border with the Taliban in Afghanistan (scroll down to "Pakistan Sends Troops to Afghan Border" to hear the story).
As I was listening to the story, I couldn't help noting some of the similarities between these guys and libertarians such as the folks at the Free State Project, who want to take over New Hampshire and make it a laissez-faire paradise. After all, as this article about the Free Staters notes, they don't like being deprived of guns, just as the Northwest Frontier Province Pakistanis don't like being told not to make and sell guns; the Pakistanis smoke hashish while the Free Staters seek drug legalization; and, most strikingly, the Free Staters say,
once we have control of the county sheriffs' offices, we can order federal law enforcement agents out, or exercise strict supervision of their activities
-- in other words, they seek pretty much the arrangement the Northwest Frontier Province Pakistanis have long had with the Pakistani federal government (an arrangement the central government is now trying to alter).
Just thought I'd point this out.
As I was listening to the story, I couldn't help noting some of the similarities between these guys and libertarians such as the folks at the Free State Project, who want to take over New Hampshire and make it a laissez-faire paradise. After all, as this article about the Free Staters notes, they don't like being deprived of guns, just as the Northwest Frontier Province Pakistanis don't like being told not to make and sell guns; the Pakistanis smoke hashish while the Free Staters seek drug legalization; and, most strikingly, the Free Staters say,
once we have control of the county sheriffs' offices, we can order federal law enforcement agents out, or exercise strict supervision of their activities
-- in other words, they seek pretty much the arrangement the Northwest Frontier Province Pakistanis have long had with the Pakistani federal government (an arrangement the central government is now trying to alter).
Just thought I'd point this out.
Vast right-wing conspiracy? What vast right-wing conspiracy?
Michael Reagan, one of the president's sons and now a conservative radio talk show host, appeared on the Fox News Channel program "Hannity & Colmes" and said [of CBS's TV movie on the Reagans], "This is all about the agenda of dismantling my father, dismantling the conservative movement and tearing down Ronald Reagan as we go into an election year."
Matt Drudge, whose Drudge Report is one of the more popular Web sites, soon obtained a copy of the script and regularly parsed out excerpts, which set the conservative talk radio, cable and other Internet sites back into motion.
On Oct. 28, the Media Research Center, a conservative group led by L. Brent Bozell that monitors the news and entertainment industries for what it sees as liberal bias, wrote a letter to a list of 100 top television sponsors urging them to "refuse to associate your products with this movie."
At around the same time Michael Paranzino, a former Republican Congressional staff member from Betheseda Md., decided to start a Web site called BoycottCBS.com. He said he spent a mere $8.95 to establish the site, which called for a viewer boycott of CBS and all the sponsors of the mini-series.
Mr. Paranzino became a sort of grassroots spokesman against the television movie, appearing on conservative cable news programs including Bill O'Reilly's on Fox News and Joe Scarborough's on MSNBC. "We used technology that was not available 10 years ago to do in nine days what used to take months," Mr. Paranzino said. "We created a genuine, national, grass-roots movement that forced a broadcasting titan to cancel one of its key sweeps weeks series."
Last Friday, the Republican National Committee entered the fray. Ed Gillespie, the chairman, held a teleconference with journalists calling for CBS to appoint a team of historians and associates of Mr. Reagan to review the film for accuracy. In the absence of such a committee, he said, the network should run a scroll on the bottom of the screen during the mini-series reminding viewers that "The Reagans" is a fictional account.
The Republican National Committee then started a petition drive on its Web site supporting Mr. Gillespie's request.
--New York Times
Michael Reagan, one of the president's sons and now a conservative radio talk show host, appeared on the Fox News Channel program "Hannity & Colmes" and said [of CBS's TV movie on the Reagans], "This is all about the agenda of dismantling my father, dismantling the conservative movement and tearing down Ronald Reagan as we go into an election year."
Matt Drudge, whose Drudge Report is one of the more popular Web sites, soon obtained a copy of the script and regularly parsed out excerpts, which set the conservative talk radio, cable and other Internet sites back into motion.
On Oct. 28, the Media Research Center, a conservative group led by L. Brent Bozell that monitors the news and entertainment industries for what it sees as liberal bias, wrote a letter to a list of 100 top television sponsors urging them to "refuse to associate your products with this movie."
At around the same time Michael Paranzino, a former Republican Congressional staff member from Betheseda Md., decided to start a Web site called BoycottCBS.com. He said he spent a mere $8.95 to establish the site, which called for a viewer boycott of CBS and all the sponsors of the mini-series.
Mr. Paranzino became a sort of grassroots spokesman against the television movie, appearing on conservative cable news programs including Bill O'Reilly's on Fox News and Joe Scarborough's on MSNBC. "We used technology that was not available 10 years ago to do in nine days what used to take months," Mr. Paranzino said. "We created a genuine, national, grass-roots movement that forced a broadcasting titan to cancel one of its key sweeps weeks series."
Last Friday, the Republican National Committee entered the fray. Ed Gillespie, the chairman, held a teleconference with journalists calling for CBS to appoint a team of historians and associates of Mr. Reagan to review the film for accuracy. In the absence of such a committee, he said, the network should run a scroll on the bottom of the screen during the mini-series reminding viewers that "The Reagans" is a fictional account.
The Republican National Committee then started a petition drive on its Web site supporting Mr. Gillespie's request.
--New York Times
Tucked in on top of the spare of the rental car we're driving this week were two month-old USA Todays. This article was in one of them:
Job worries weigh down consumers
Consumer confidence dropped to the lowest level in six months in September, while Midwest manufacturing slowed, according to two reports Tuesday that helped push stock prices lower.
The New York-based Conference Board's monthly consumer confidence index fell nearly five points to 76.8, its lowest since the start of the Iraq war, as Americans expressed growing concern about the sluggish job market and future growth prospects...
The report's expectations index, designed to gauge consumers' view of the economy six months out, fell to 88.4 from 94.9. The percentage expecting fewer jobs to be available in the next six months rose to 21% from 18.6%.
Further, the percentage calling jobs currently "hard to get" rose to 35.3% from 34.1% in August, while those calling jobs "plentiful" fell to 10% from 11.3% ...
Declining confidence is a concern because it could affect consumer spending, which makes up about 70% of the economy....
The article was in the October 1 paper; it went online September 30.
Now remember: This survey happened just after that quarter of 7.2% GDP growth that had Republicans dancing in the aisles.
Still want to bet on a "Bush boom"?
Job worries weigh down consumers
Consumer confidence dropped to the lowest level in six months in September, while Midwest manufacturing slowed, according to two reports Tuesday that helped push stock prices lower.
The New York-based Conference Board's monthly consumer confidence index fell nearly five points to 76.8, its lowest since the start of the Iraq war, as Americans expressed growing concern about the sluggish job market and future growth prospects...
The report's expectations index, designed to gauge consumers' view of the economy six months out, fell to 88.4 from 94.9. The percentage expecting fewer jobs to be available in the next six months rose to 21% from 18.6%.
Further, the percentage calling jobs currently "hard to get" rose to 35.3% from 34.1% in August, while those calling jobs "plentiful" fell to 10% from 11.3% ...
Declining confidence is a concern because it could affect consumer spending, which makes up about 70% of the economy....
The article was in the October 1 paper; it went online September 30.
Now remember: This survey happened just after that quarter of 7.2% GDP growth that had Republicans dancing in the aisles.
Still want to bet on a "Bush boom"?
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
This New York Times article says we're totally screwed unless we develop new sources of energy that don't emit carbon dioxide. It suggests possible alternate ways of obtaining fuel, one of which is a space satellite that collects solar energy and beams it down as microwaves. But
The futuristic techology might be impractically expensive. Developing a solar power satellite, for example, has been estimated at more than $200 billion.
Er, here's the cost of the war in Iraq.
$83 billion so far. The next installment is $87 billion. That's $170 billion right there. I guess it all depends on what the definition of "impractically expensive" is.
The futuristic techology might be impractically expensive. Developing a solar power satellite, for example, has been estimated at more than $200 billion.
Er, here's the cost of the war in Iraq.
$83 billion so far. The next installment is $87 billion. That's $170 billion right there. I guess it all depends on what the definition of "impractically expensive" is.
Ten or twelve years ago, it was widely agreed that the lowest form of human life was a crack addict, and the lowest of the low was a pregnant addict, because she was guilty of a vicious assault and battery just for being pregnant while consumed by addiction. All right-thinking people hated her. Moral guardians of the William Bennett ilk denounced liberalism for creating her. It was said that we should lock her up to prevent her from letting the worst of all possible poisons, crack, flow through her bloodstream to her unborn child.
Today's New York Times offered this clarification:
... in recent decades, scientists have discovered that alcohol can be remarkably toxic — more than any other abused drug — to developing fetuses...
"Alcohol is a dirty drug," Dr. West added. "It affects a number of different neurotransmitters, and all cells can take it up." Compare this with cocaine, Dr. West said, which is taken up by only one neurotransmitter....
Because alcohol affects so many sites in the brain, researchers have come to believe that alcohol is far worse for the developing fetus than any other abused drug.
Dr. Jacobson's study included cocaine users who also used varying quantities of alcohol. "We found more serious cognitive impairment in relation to alcohol than cocaine or other drugs, including marijuana and smoking," Dr. Jacobson said.
The damage done to fetuses often has been wrongly connected to cocaine, many experts say.
"The consensus, I think, at this point is that most of the adverse effects that had been reported due to cocaine and crack use were from alcohol use," said Dr. Kenneth R. Warren, the director of the office of scientific affairs at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "It is the leading cause of birth defects due to an ingested environmental substance in this country."
Whoops! Sorry about that misunderstanding.
Today's New York Times offered this clarification:
... in recent decades, scientists have discovered that alcohol can be remarkably toxic — more than any other abused drug — to developing fetuses...
"Alcohol is a dirty drug," Dr. West added. "It affects a number of different neurotransmitters, and all cells can take it up." Compare this with cocaine, Dr. West said, which is taken up by only one neurotransmitter....
Because alcohol affects so many sites in the brain, researchers have come to believe that alcohol is far worse for the developing fetus than any other abused drug.
Dr. Jacobson's study included cocaine users who also used varying quantities of alcohol. "We found more serious cognitive impairment in relation to alcohol than cocaine or other drugs, including marijuana and smoking," Dr. Jacobson said.
The damage done to fetuses often has been wrongly connected to cocaine, many experts say.
"The consensus, I think, at this point is that most of the adverse effects that had been reported due to cocaine and crack use were from alcohol use," said Dr. Kenneth R. Warren, the director of the office of scientific affairs at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "It is the leading cause of birth defects due to an ingested environmental substance in this country."
Whoops! Sorry about that misunderstanding.
What will happen to the national mood when the news programs start broadcasting images of the brutal measures our own troops will have to adopt? Inevitably, there will be atrocities that will cause many good-hearted people to defect from the cause.
--David Brooks today
So Brooks joins the New York Post and Daily News and Trent ("just mow the place down") Lott in calling for some My Lais in Iraq.
Well, we're getting there:
At the same time, the Army's efforts to counterattack against the guerrillas have resulted in a rising number of civilian deaths.
The problem is most severe around Falluja and Ramadi, cities west of Baghdad, where a rebellious local population has repeatedly clashed with units from the 82nd Airborne Division, which prides itself on its tough combat skills.
When Americans do respond, Iraqis say, they have sometimes struck in the wrong place and at the wrong people...
In an operation one night last month, soldiers from the 82nd called in an airstrike at 2 a.m. to bomb a farm outside Falluja, killing three people and wounding three others. The unit's public affairs officer said that the dead men were guerrillas and were the targets of precision fire.
But to local Iraqis, such attacks can look less than precise. At the farm a few hours after the attack, bomb craters were scattered around the yard, and bullets had punched holes all over the site. Two of the three people wounded were children.
--Alex Berenson in the Week in Review, New York Times, 11/2/03
That was in Sunday's paper -- before the Chinook shootdown, which was in Falluja. It's really working, isn't it?
--David Brooks today
So Brooks joins the New York Post and Daily News and Trent ("just mow the place down") Lott in calling for some My Lais in Iraq.
Well, we're getting there:
At the same time, the Army's efforts to counterattack against the guerrillas have resulted in a rising number of civilian deaths.
The problem is most severe around Falluja and Ramadi, cities west of Baghdad, where a rebellious local population has repeatedly clashed with units from the 82nd Airborne Division, which prides itself on its tough combat skills.
When Americans do respond, Iraqis say, they have sometimes struck in the wrong place and at the wrong people...
In an operation one night last month, soldiers from the 82nd called in an airstrike at 2 a.m. to bomb a farm outside Falluja, killing three people and wounding three others. The unit's public affairs officer said that the dead men were guerrillas and were the targets of precision fire.
But to local Iraqis, such attacks can look less than precise. At the farm a few hours after the attack, bomb craters were scattered around the yard, and bullets had punched holes all over the site. Two of the three people wounded were children.
--Alex Berenson in the Week in Review, New York Times, 11/2/03
That was in Sunday's paper -- before the Chinook shootdown, which was in Falluja. It's really working, isn't it?
The right-wingers' God will not be mocked:
Under pressure from Republican and conservative groups, CBS is expected to announce as early as today that it is canceling its plans to run a two-part mini-series in November deconstructing the Ronald Reagan presidency, two people close to the decision said last night.
They said the film would most likely instead be handed over to CBS's pay-cable sibling, Showtime.
The announcement would perhaps the first time a major broadcast network has ever removed a completed project from its schedule because of political pressure and under the threat of an advertising boycott.
...CBS executives have been reworking the film over the last week, trying to fix what many critics - none of whom had seen the film and were relying mostly on a report in The New York Times about its contents - called inaccurate and unfair portrayals of the former president....
The CBS chairman, Les Moonves, became concerned amid those complaints and ordered a revision of the film, several people close to the process said....
Under pressure from Republican and conservative groups, CBS is expected to announce as early as today that it is canceling its plans to run a two-part mini-series in November deconstructing the Ronald Reagan presidency, two people close to the decision said last night.
They said the film would most likely instead be handed over to CBS's pay-cable sibling, Showtime.
The announcement would perhaps the first time a major broadcast network has ever removed a completed project from its schedule because of political pressure and under the threat of an advertising boycott.
...CBS executives have been reworking the film over the last week, trying to fix what many critics - none of whom had seen the film and were relying mostly on a report in The New York Times about its contents - called inaccurate and unfair portrayals of the former president....
The CBS chairman, Les Moonves, became concerned amid those complaints and ordered a revision of the film, several people close to the process said....
Shorter David Brooks:
In Iraq we American innocents face Pure Evil, and, much as it pains us to do so, we must mercilessy fight that evil, an obligation that will end, conveniently, just as Bush's reelection campaign heats up.
********
Oh, and in the Brooks column, what is all this nonsense about America being a nation of dewy-eyed innocents unable to bear the sight of a drop of blood? ("...we Americans do not like staring into the face of evil. It is in our progressive and optimistic nature to believe that human beings are basically good, or at least rational.") Does Brooks get HBO? Is the multiplex near him not showing the quite successful remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? More to the point, has he never once in his life looked at crime statistics, particularly statistics on murder, for the U.S. as compared to other industrialized nations? Does he think this country is awash in guns and fundamentalist religion because we think most people are intrinsically nice?
Brooks says that if it weren't for swarthy foreign savages, Americans would barely know evil exists. Last month Gregg Easterbrook placed the blame closer to home, saying we'd all happily content ourselves with cartoon bunnies and joan of Arcadia if greedy Jews didn't force us at gunpoint to watch violent films like Kill Bill.
What planet do these guys live on?
In Iraq we American innocents face Pure Evil, and, much as it pains us to do so, we must mercilessy fight that evil, an obligation that will end, conveniently, just as Bush's reelection campaign heats up.
********
Oh, and in the Brooks column, what is all this nonsense about America being a nation of dewy-eyed innocents unable to bear the sight of a drop of blood? ("...we Americans do not like staring into the face of evil. It is in our progressive and optimistic nature to believe that human beings are basically good, or at least rational.") Does Brooks get HBO? Is the multiplex near him not showing the quite successful remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? More to the point, has he never once in his life looked at crime statistics, particularly statistics on murder, for the U.S. as compared to other industrialized nations? Does he think this country is awash in guns and fundamentalist religion because we think most people are intrinsically nice?
Brooks says that if it weren't for swarthy foreign savages, Americans would barely know evil exists. Last month Gregg Easterbrook placed the blame closer to home, saying we'd all happily content ourselves with cartoon bunnies and joan of Arcadia if greedy Jews didn't force us at gunpoint to watch violent films like Kill Bill.
What planet do these guys live on?
Monday, November 03, 2003
In the current New York Review of books, Elizabeth Drew has an article about Wesley Clark. It's quite favorable (fine by me; I'm an Anybody But Bush guy, and that even includes Lieberman -- I don't have a candidate yet) -- but what's most striking is the number of times Clinton appears in the article as, well, spineless:
* Clark's view on Kosovo, shared by Tony Blair and other European leaders, was that Clinton, by stating that ground troops would not be used there —a position Clinton took for domestic political reasons—gave the Serbs a military advantage.
*According to three former Clinton aides, when Clinton approved the list of appointments submitted to him by Cohen, including the selection of General Joseph W. Ralston as the new commander of the NATO forces, it wasn't made clear to the President that this would cut Clark's term as the supreme commander by nearly three months.... Clinton was reportedly furious when he realized the mistake that had been made, but he didn't want to go back on it lest he look indecisive, or further alienate military officials, with whom he had been on bad terms since the beginning of his presidency.
* Clark [tried] to prevent the Russians, who rushed a small troop unit to the Pristina airport after hostilities had supposedly ended, from establishing their own sector in Kosovo, completely independent of NATO.... Clark devoted an entire chapter to the airport incident in his first book, and his account has been confirmed by others. He explains that at first he had the support of the Clinton White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the secretary-general of NATO, Javier Solana. But when the British refused to support him, ... Washington backed down.
(Emphasis mine in each case.)
Look, I miss the Clinton years, and I think his most fervid haters suffer from something clinically pathological. But his fear of giving offense was one of his worst traits -- and it's a trait far too many Democrats seem to emulate.
* Clark's view on Kosovo, shared by Tony Blair and other European leaders, was that Clinton, by stating that ground troops would not be used there —a position Clinton took for domestic political reasons—gave the Serbs a military advantage.
*According to three former Clinton aides, when Clinton approved the list of appointments submitted to him by Cohen, including the selection of General Joseph W. Ralston as the new commander of the NATO forces, it wasn't made clear to the President that this would cut Clark's term as the supreme commander by nearly three months.... Clinton was reportedly furious when he realized the mistake that had been made, but he didn't want to go back on it lest he look indecisive, or further alienate military officials, with whom he had been on bad terms since the beginning of his presidency.
* Clark [tried] to prevent the Russians, who rushed a small troop unit to the Pristina airport after hostilities had supposedly ended, from establishing their own sector in Kosovo, completely independent of NATO.... Clark devoted an entire chapter to the airport incident in his first book, and his account has been confirmed by others. He explains that at first he had the support of the Clinton White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the secretary-general of NATO, Javier Solana. But when the British refused to support him, ... Washington backed down.
(Emphasis mine in each case.)
Look, I miss the Clinton years, and I think his most fervid haters suffer from something clinically pathological. But his fear of giving offense was one of his worst traits -- and it's a trait far too many Democrats seem to emulate.
an occupant’s rights under international law do not include the right to develop a new oil field, to use the oil resources of occupied territory for the general benefit of the home economy or to grant oil concessions.
That’s from a State Department legal memorandum prepared in the Ford administration, at a time when Israel intended to develop new oilfields in occupied Palestinian territories. William Greider quotes it in the current Nation (in an article that’s not available online) and says the memo is correct: “The obstacle is the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.” What this means, Greider says, is that
Despite what many people, including many Washington officials, seem to believe, the US government is prohibited from simply seizing Iraqi oil revenues and spending the money however it chooses. Indeed, the US occupying force cannot remove the country’s judges and suspend Iraq’s domestic laws. Nor may it create massive unemployment by firing police, civil servants or military troops. On the contrary, an occupying force is required to maintain civil order and humanitarian necessities, to protect private property and public assets as well as individual rights. In fact, international law is designed to prevent an occupying nation from transforming a defeated society into its own likeness.
Greider says that
once Iraqis have re-established a sovereign government they will be free to sue the US government for damages and reparations. They may also sue Halliburton, the oil companies and any other businesses acting as contract agents for the Coalition Provisional Authority..... This venture could morph into multibillion-dollar lawsuits that go on for many years.
And
If the future government of Iraq does not wish to sue, then groups of citizens might still become plaintiffs. They could be joined by the foreign creditors who lent billions to Iraq in Saddam’s time -- including French and Russian interests.
Interesting.
That’s from a State Department legal memorandum prepared in the Ford administration, at a time when Israel intended to develop new oilfields in occupied Palestinian territories. William Greider quotes it in the current Nation (in an article that’s not available online) and says the memo is correct: “The obstacle is the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.” What this means, Greider says, is that
Despite what many people, including many Washington officials, seem to believe, the US government is prohibited from simply seizing Iraqi oil revenues and spending the money however it chooses. Indeed, the US occupying force cannot remove the country’s judges and suspend Iraq’s domestic laws. Nor may it create massive unemployment by firing police, civil servants or military troops. On the contrary, an occupying force is required to maintain civil order and humanitarian necessities, to protect private property and public assets as well as individual rights. In fact, international law is designed to prevent an occupying nation from transforming a defeated society into its own likeness.
Greider says that
once Iraqis have re-established a sovereign government they will be free to sue the US government for damages and reparations. They may also sue Halliburton, the oil companies and any other businesses acting as contract agents for the Coalition Provisional Authority..... This venture could morph into multibillion-dollar lawsuits that go on for many years.
And
If the future government of Iraq does not wish to sue, then groups of citizens might still become plaintiffs. They could be joined by the foreign creditors who lent billions to Iraq in Saddam’s time -- including French and Russian interests.
Interesting.
Sunday, November 02, 2003
"Bush boom"? In today's New York Times, Louis Uchitelle provided a reality check:
The 7.2 percent growth rate is not sustainable. Nearly every forecaster concedes that. A month into the fourth quarter, the growth rate has probably fallen back to 4 percent or so. ...
...The corporate sector remains plagued with overcapacity and may require many months of 4 percent growth just to make full use of those currently working. Job creation has to move above 200,000 a month, most economists say, before we can begin to shrink the pool of nearly nine million unemployed. We haven't gotten to six-digit job creation yet, much less sustained it. No wonder the unemployed spend 19.7 months, on average, seeking work, the longest stretch in nearly 20 years.
...Of the nine million unemployed, five million were laid off or fired, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (The remainder are new entrants or people returning to the labor force after a voluntary absence.) Most of those five million will work again, but for less pay. The bureau's wage data, from its "job displacement'' surveys done every two years, are clear on this point. Three people are laid off, and three years later only one has regained the lost wage or risen above it.
Happy days aren't here again yet.
The 7.2 percent growth rate is not sustainable. Nearly every forecaster concedes that. A month into the fourth quarter, the growth rate has probably fallen back to 4 percent or so. ...
...The corporate sector remains plagued with overcapacity and may require many months of 4 percent growth just to make full use of those currently working. Job creation has to move above 200,000 a month, most economists say, before we can begin to shrink the pool of nearly nine million unemployed. We haven't gotten to six-digit job creation yet, much less sustained it. No wonder the unemployed spend 19.7 months, on average, seeking work, the longest stretch in nearly 20 years.
...Of the nine million unemployed, five million were laid off or fired, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (The remainder are new entrants or people returning to the labor force after a voluntary absence.) Most of those five million will work again, but for less pay. The bureau's wage data, from its "job displacement'' surveys done every two years, are clear on this point. Three people are laid off, and three years later only one has regained the lost wage or risen above it.
Happy days aren't here again yet.
This is infuriating:
Homan McFarling has been farming here all his life, growing mostly soybeans along with a little corn. After each harvest, he puts some seed aside.
"Every farmer that ever farmed has saved some of his seed to plant again," he said.
In 1998, Mr. McFarling bought 1,000 bags of genetically altered soybean seeds, and he did what he had always done. But the seeds, called Roundup Ready, are patented. When Monsanto, which holds the patent, learned what Mr. McFarling had sown, it sued him in federal court in St. Louis for patent infringement and was awarded $780,000.
The company calls the planting of saved seed piracy, and it says it has won millions of dollars from farmers in lawsuits and settlements in such cases. Mr. McFarling's is the first to reach a federal appeals court, which will consider how the law should reconcile patented food with a practice as old as farming itself.
If the appeals court rules against him, said Mr. McFarling, 61, he will be forced into bankruptcy and early retirement.
...The idea that planting saved seed amounts to patent infringement ... follows inexorably from two United States Supreme Court decisions allowing patents for life forms....
--New York Times
How did we allow this to happen? Oh, yeah, I forget: We kept electing Republican presidents, and they put a lot of idiots on the Supreme Court.
Homan McFarling has been farming here all his life, growing mostly soybeans along with a little corn. After each harvest, he puts some seed aside.
"Every farmer that ever farmed has saved some of his seed to plant again," he said.
In 1998, Mr. McFarling bought 1,000 bags of genetically altered soybean seeds, and he did what he had always done. But the seeds, called Roundup Ready, are patented. When Monsanto, which holds the patent, learned what Mr. McFarling had sown, it sued him in federal court in St. Louis for patent infringement and was awarded $780,000.
The company calls the planting of saved seed piracy, and it says it has won millions of dollars from farmers in lawsuits and settlements in such cases. Mr. McFarling's is the first to reach a federal appeals court, which will consider how the law should reconcile patented food with a practice as old as farming itself.
If the appeals court rules against him, said Mr. McFarling, 61, he will be forced into bankruptcy and early retirement.
...The idea that planting saved seed amounts to patent infringement ... follows inexorably from two United States Supreme Court decisions allowing patents for life forms....
--New York Times
How did we allow this to happen? Oh, yeah, I forget: We kept electing Republican presidents, and they put a lot of idiots on the Supreme Court.
With regard to Iraq, this is what really matters to the Bush White House:
* Focusing on the preferred propaganda line rather than the reality (even if the people in-country don't always deliver the message correcetly):
Mr. Bremer and Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the top American commander in Iraq, contended that the threats and attacks against occupying forces were being carried out by "elements of Saddam Hussein's forces," as Mr. Bremer put it, and by foreign fighters who have slipped into the country. "There is a flow of foreign fighters, but I don't want to overstate it," he said.
The White House has argued that foreign terrorists are active in Iraq, and is trying to demonstrate that, officials said, to support the notion that the American forces are engaged in the global campaign against terrorism.
But Mr. Bremer said, "It's not a large number." He said fighters from Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Sudan had been captured or killed.
* Using the country as a Petri dish for experiments inspired by too much reading of Ayn Rand:
The flat tax, long a dream of economic conservatives, is finally getting its day -- not in the United States, but in Iraq.
..."The highest individual and corporate income tax rates for 2004 and subsequent years shall not exceed 15 percent," Bremer wrote in Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 37, "Tax Strategy for 2003," issued last month.
...Iraq's new finance minister, Kamil Mubdir Gailani, is considered a follower of Ahmed Chalabi, the Western-oriented banker who has closely adhered to the Bush administration's economic policies, according to one expert on the Iraqi economy. Gailani presented the new Iraq finance program, including the flat tax, at a recent international meeting.
"A piece of social engineering is being done on Iraq, but it has almost no support from other members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council," said a Middle East expert who heard Gailani's presentation....
Lovely.
* Focusing on the preferred propaganda line rather than the reality (even if the people in-country don't always deliver the message correcetly):
Mr. Bremer and Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the top American commander in Iraq, contended that the threats and attacks against occupying forces were being carried out by "elements of Saddam Hussein's forces," as Mr. Bremer put it, and by foreign fighters who have slipped into the country. "There is a flow of foreign fighters, but I don't want to overstate it," he said.
The White House has argued that foreign terrorists are active in Iraq, and is trying to demonstrate that, officials said, to support the notion that the American forces are engaged in the global campaign against terrorism.
But Mr. Bremer said, "It's not a large number." He said fighters from Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Sudan had been captured or killed.
* Using the country as a Petri dish for experiments inspired by too much reading of Ayn Rand:
The flat tax, long a dream of economic conservatives, is finally getting its day -- not in the United States, but in Iraq.
..."The highest individual and corporate income tax rates for 2004 and subsequent years shall not exceed 15 percent," Bremer wrote in Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 37, "Tax Strategy for 2003," issued last month.
...Iraq's new finance minister, Kamil Mubdir Gailani, is considered a follower of Ahmed Chalabi, the Western-oriented banker who has closely adhered to the Bush administration's economic policies, according to one expert on the Iraqi economy. Gailani presented the new Iraq finance program, including the flat tax, at a recent international meeting.
"A piece of social engineering is being done on Iraq, but it has almost no support from other members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council," said a Middle East expert who heard Gailani's presentation....
Lovely.
The tabloid headline I want to see tomorrow is GEORGE, DO SOMETHING. The words should be wrapped around a photo of a president with a trapped, defensive look on his face. GEORGE, SO SOMETHING or maybe RUMMY, DO SOMETHING.
New Yorkers will recognize the allusion. DAVE, DO SOMETHING was a tabloid headline after a particularly nasty run of violent crime during the mayoralty of David Dinkins. The headline wasn’t really a plea -- it was really a verdict: Dinkins, we’re getting killed and you’re not doing a damn thing.
Well, people are getting killed in Iraq -- fifteen soldiers today in the shootdown of the Chinook and three soldiers elsewhere -- and, in the short term at least, it looks as if Bush and Rummy aren’t doing a damn thing. Manana, they tell us, there’ll be a drawdown of U.S. forces, to be replaced by eager young Iraqis ... but what about now? Where’s the sense of urgency? Someone needs to ask these guys point blank: Is there nothing you can do right now to lessen the bloodshed, to win this war we were told was won six months ago?
Of course, the image of the Bushies as manly men of action is still so deeply ingrained that an alternate impression of them can’t seem to take hold -- that they’re people who don’t grasp the seriousness of the situation and thus won’t rouse themselves to make significant changes to a strategy that’s a dismal failure. That has to change.
Oh, and by the way, why haven't numerous Democratic members of Congress, and all the Democratic presidential candiates, called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld? If yesterday this might not have seemed to some like a reasonable reaction to the failures of the past six months, today it seems utterly sensible. Our soldiers are dying because we haven't had enough troops to secure the weapons caches and secure the peace in general, and Rumsfeld muleheadedly refuses to alter the strategy a whit. He should be called to account for that.
Please, folks, for once in your lives set the terms of the debate. Say it: Rumsfeld must go.
New Yorkers will recognize the allusion. DAVE, DO SOMETHING was a tabloid headline after a particularly nasty run of violent crime during the mayoralty of David Dinkins. The headline wasn’t really a plea -- it was really a verdict: Dinkins, we’re getting killed and you’re not doing a damn thing.
Well, people are getting killed in Iraq -- fifteen soldiers today in the shootdown of the Chinook and three soldiers elsewhere -- and, in the short term at least, it looks as if Bush and Rummy aren’t doing a damn thing. Manana, they tell us, there’ll be a drawdown of U.S. forces, to be replaced by eager young Iraqis ... but what about now? Where’s the sense of urgency? Someone needs to ask these guys point blank: Is there nothing you can do right now to lessen the bloodshed, to win this war we were told was won six months ago?
Of course, the image of the Bushies as manly men of action is still so deeply ingrained that an alternate impression of them can’t seem to take hold -- that they’re people who don’t grasp the seriousness of the situation and thus won’t rouse themselves to make significant changes to a strategy that’s a dismal failure. That has to change.
Oh, and by the way, why haven't numerous Democratic members of Congress, and all the Democratic presidential candiates, called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld? If yesterday this might not have seemed to some like a reasonable reaction to the failures of the past six months, today it seems utterly sensible. Our soldiers are dying because we haven't had enough troops to secure the weapons caches and secure the peace in general, and Rumsfeld muleheadedly refuses to alter the strategy a whit. He should be called to account for that.
Please, folks, for once in your lives set the terms of the debate. Say it: Rumsfeld must go.
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Screw the facts -- we just hate the Clintons:
You've got to admire the Bush administration's restraint in refusing to be goaded by Hillary Rodham Clinton's latest sputterings about Iraq.
Because New York's junior senator has gone way over the line of what constitutes legitimate political debate....
The senator this week accused the White House of trying to cover up the visual impact of U.S. casualties in Iraq by refusing to let Americans see "the sight of caskets coming home" to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware....
... In fact, preventing the media from filming the arrival of dead servicemen at Dover has been government policy for the past decade.
Including when Bill Clinton was president - and Americans came home in coffins from places like Somalia and Haiti and Bosnia/Herzegovina and from the port of Yemen, where USS Cole was attacked by Osama bin Laden.
We don't recall either Hillary or her husband inviting press photographers to Dover to film the arrival of those coffins....
--New York Post editorial today
Though Dover Air Force Base, which has the military's largest mortuary, has had restrictions for 12 years, ... photos of coffins arriving at Andrews and elsewhere continued to appear through the Clinton administration. In 1996, Dover made an exception to allow filming of Clinton's visit to welcome the 33 caskets with remains from Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown's plane crash. In 1998, Clinton went to Andrews to see the coffins of Americans killed in the terrorist bombing in Nairobi. Dover also allowed public distribution of photos of the homecoming caskets after the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000.
--Washington Post, October 21, 2003
(Scroll down here for some photos of remains of Cole victims at Dover. And here are more. These are Navy and Defense Department photos -- but they are publicly available, and nothing's available from Dover now. Current Bush policy, according to the Washington Post article, bans not only photos but the ceremonies themselves.)
You've got to admire the Bush administration's restraint in refusing to be goaded by Hillary Rodham Clinton's latest sputterings about Iraq.
Because New York's junior senator has gone way over the line of what constitutes legitimate political debate....
The senator this week accused the White House of trying to cover up the visual impact of U.S. casualties in Iraq by refusing to let Americans see "the sight of caskets coming home" to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware....
... In fact, preventing the media from filming the arrival of dead servicemen at Dover has been government policy for the past decade.
Including when Bill Clinton was president - and Americans came home in coffins from places like Somalia and Haiti and Bosnia/Herzegovina and from the port of Yemen, where USS Cole was attacked by Osama bin Laden.
We don't recall either Hillary or her husband inviting press photographers to Dover to film the arrival of those coffins....
--New York Post editorial today
Though Dover Air Force Base, which has the military's largest mortuary, has had restrictions for 12 years, ... photos of coffins arriving at Andrews and elsewhere continued to appear through the Clinton administration. In 1996, Dover made an exception to allow filming of Clinton's visit to welcome the 33 caskets with remains from Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown's plane crash. In 1998, Clinton went to Andrews to see the coffins of Americans killed in the terrorist bombing in Nairobi. Dover also allowed public distribution of photos of the homecoming caskets after the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000.
--Washington Post, October 21, 2003
(Scroll down here for some photos of remains of Cole victims at Dover. And here are more. These are Navy and Defense Department photos -- but they are publicly available, and nothing's available from Dover now. Current Bush policy, according to the Washington Post article, bans not only photos but the ceremonies themselves.)
Friday, October 31, 2003
James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal writes:
If He Were a Republican, This Would Be Hate Speech...
It turns out the Associated Press account of an Iowa brawl between staffers for Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean, which we noted yesterday, was rather sanitized. Deanie Hunter Allen alleged that the two unnamed Gephardtians "used a derogatory slur," as the AP's Dept. of Redundancy Dept. put it.
The Sioux City Journal adds some crucial detail: "The Dean staff member, 24-year-old Hunter Allen, who is openly gay, said he was called a 'faggot' by a Gephardt staff member after being shoved and escorted out of the event."
OK, I'll bite:
It's hate speech. Absolutely.
Assuming he actually said it (he denies doing so), it's an utterly unacceptable slur.
Any more questions?
If He Were a Republican, This Would Be Hate Speech...
It turns out the Associated Press account of an Iowa brawl between staffers for Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean, which we noted yesterday, was rather sanitized. Deanie Hunter Allen alleged that the two unnamed Gephardtians "used a derogatory slur," as the AP's Dept. of Redundancy Dept. put it.
The Sioux City Journal adds some crucial detail: "The Dean staff member, 24-year-old Hunter Allen, who is openly gay, said he was called a 'faggot' by a Gephardt staff member after being shoved and escorted out of the event."
OK, I'll bite:
It's hate speech. Absolutely.
Assuming he actually said it (he denies doing so), it's an utterly unacceptable slur.
Any more questions?
(UPDATE: I just deleted the raw, barely edited version of this post, which little gremlins decided to put up without my consent. Read this instead:)
USA Today reports that because of the preposterous way homeland security money is distributed, New York and L.A. still don't have enough equipment -- while Zanesville, Ohio, has
a $13,500 thermal imager to help find victims in heavy smoke. An $800 thermal heat gun to test the temperature of gases that might ignite. A $1,250 test kit for deadly nerve agents such as VX and mustard gas. A $1,300 monitor to gauge oxygen and carbon monoxide levels in the air. Four air packs at $3,800 each, with masks and extra bottles. Four chemical suits at $875 apiece. And much more.
... "We were poor as church mice," says Gene Hanning, hazardous materials coordinator for southeastern Ohio's Muskingum County (pop. 85,000), where Zanesville is located. "This has been better than any Christmas."
And how target-rich an environment is Zanesville?
There's no nuclear power plant, no big chemical plants, no major airport — none of what homeland security people call "critical infrastructure." There's a small steel processing plant, a couple of medical centers and a power-supply station in a nearby county. But that's about it.
Zanesville once was known as the "Pottery Capital of the World." Today, its biggest claim to fame is its unusual Y-shaped bridge, with a stoplight in the middle, that spans the Muskingum and Licking rivers....
In the past decade or so, their worst incidents included a farmer pinned in a grain silo, a city worker trapped in a trench and a vacant building that collapsed.
"We don't have any 100-story buildings," Chief Dave Lacy says. "But a four-story building falling on people is going to have the same effect."
Blame the aid formula:
...each state receives 0.75% of the $2 billion pot regardless of population, accounting for nearly 40% of the money. The rest is divided among the states on a per-person basis. Other factors, such as population density, potential targets and threat levels, are not taken into consideration.
Here's the preposterous result:
Because 40% of the money is divided equally among all states, the least populous state, Wyoming, gets the most money per capita: $35.31 per person in 2003. California gets the least: $4.68 per person. New York, the third-largest state, gets $5.05 per person; Ohio gets $5.59 per person.
Some terrorist might go after Wyoming or after Zanesville, Ohio. But even William Bennett would play it safe and bet on New York or L.A.
USA Today reports that because of the preposterous way homeland security money is distributed, New York and L.A. still don't have enough equipment -- while Zanesville, Ohio, has
a $13,500 thermal imager to help find victims in heavy smoke. An $800 thermal heat gun to test the temperature of gases that might ignite. A $1,250 test kit for deadly nerve agents such as VX and mustard gas. A $1,300 monitor to gauge oxygen and carbon monoxide levels in the air. Four air packs at $3,800 each, with masks and extra bottles. Four chemical suits at $875 apiece. And much more.
... "We were poor as church mice," says Gene Hanning, hazardous materials coordinator for southeastern Ohio's Muskingum County (pop. 85,000), where Zanesville is located. "This has been better than any Christmas."
And how target-rich an environment is Zanesville?
There's no nuclear power plant, no big chemical plants, no major airport — none of what homeland security people call "critical infrastructure." There's a small steel processing plant, a couple of medical centers and a power-supply station in a nearby county. But that's about it.
Zanesville once was known as the "Pottery Capital of the World." Today, its biggest claim to fame is its unusual Y-shaped bridge, with a stoplight in the middle, that spans the Muskingum and Licking rivers....
In the past decade or so, their worst incidents included a farmer pinned in a grain silo, a city worker trapped in a trench and a vacant building that collapsed.
"We don't have any 100-story buildings," Chief Dave Lacy says. "But a four-story building falling on people is going to have the same effect."
Blame the aid formula:
...each state receives 0.75% of the $2 billion pot regardless of population, accounting for nearly 40% of the money. The rest is divided among the states on a per-person basis. Other factors, such as population density, potential targets and threat levels, are not taken into consideration.
Here's the preposterous result:
Because 40% of the money is divided equally among all states, the least populous state, Wyoming, gets the most money per capita: $35.31 per person in 2003. California gets the least: $4.68 per person. New York, the third-largest state, gets $5.05 per person; Ohio gets $5.59 per person.
Some terrorist might go after Wyoming or after Zanesville, Ohio. But even William Bennett would play it safe and bet on New York or L.A.
If you must eat while the R[epublican]s control the White House, both houses of Congress, and the judiciary, you might want to consider becoming a vegetarian about now.
--Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, Bushwhacked
They always announce the outrages on Friday afternoon, because few people read the Saturday papers or watch the Saturday TV news.
--Paul Krugman in the current New York Review of Books
In Initial Finding, F.D.A. Calls Cloned Animals Safe as Food
Milk and meat from cloned animals are safe to consume, the Food and Drug Administration has tentatively concluded, a finding that could eventually clear the way for such products to reach supermarket shelves and for cloning to be widely used to breed livestock.
The agency's conclusions, which could face some opposition, are being released today in advance of a public meeting on the issue on Tuesday in Rockville, Md. Agency officials said that after receiving public comments, they hope by late next spring to outline their views on how, if at all, cloning would be regulated, including whether food from cloned animals should be labeled.
But if the preliminary conclusion stands, labeling would not be needed and there would be little regulation, Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the agency's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in an interview....
The major safety concern is that cloning results in many failed pregnancies and abnormal babies, raising the risk that milk or meat from such animals could be tainted....
--New York Times
Well, the Times did get this story into today's paper (though it was tucked in the back of the A section, on page A20). But I watched network news last night and didn't see anything about it, and that's where it'll probably be discussed ... tonight, the night of the official announcement. And well, gosh, it'll be Friday night tonight, won't it?
--Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, Bushwhacked
They always announce the outrages on Friday afternoon, because few people read the Saturday papers or watch the Saturday TV news.
--Paul Krugman in the current New York Review of Books
In Initial Finding, F.D.A. Calls Cloned Animals Safe as Food
Milk and meat from cloned animals are safe to consume, the Food and Drug Administration has tentatively concluded, a finding that could eventually clear the way for such products to reach supermarket shelves and for cloning to be widely used to breed livestock.
The agency's conclusions, which could face some opposition, are being released today in advance of a public meeting on the issue on Tuesday in Rockville, Md. Agency officials said that after receiving public comments, they hope by late next spring to outline their views on how, if at all, cloning would be regulated, including whether food from cloned animals should be labeled.
But if the preliminary conclusion stands, labeling would not be needed and there would be little regulation, Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the agency's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in an interview....
The major safety concern is that cloning results in many failed pregnancies and abnormal babies, raising the risk that milk or meat from such animals could be tainted....
--New York Times
Well, the Times did get this story into today's paper (though it was tucked in the back of the A section, on page A20). But I watched network news last night and didn't see anything about it, and that's where it'll probably be discussed ... tonight, the night of the official announcement. And well, gosh, it'll be Friday night tonight, won't it?
This is something to look forward to...
UNTITLED ON THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE
By Ron Suskind
Simon & Schuster, January 2004, ( 384 pages, $26.00 )
... ISBN: 0-743-25545-3
Suskind's the guy who wrote this for Esquire. Surely you remember:
..."There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus," says DiIulio. "What you’ve got is everything—and I mean everything—being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."...
UNTITLED ON THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE
By Ron Suskind
Simon & Schuster, January 2004, ( 384 pages, $26.00 )
... ISBN: 0-743-25545-3
Suskind's the guy who wrote this for Esquire. Surely you remember:
..."There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus," says DiIulio. "What you’ve got is everything—and I mean everything—being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."...
Violence may be surging in Iraq, but there's another thing Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz says Iraqis fear: President Bush getting booted from office.
Wolfowitz, speaking at Georgetown University, said a worried resident of the southern city of Najaf asked him in July at a town hall meeting, "What's going to happen to us if George Bush loses the election?"
Wolfowitz didn't mention the Democrats, but he suggested the question sums up Iraqi fears that a new team in the White House would abandon them....
--New York Daily News
So what's the point? That it would be a moral betrayal of the Iraqis to have an '04 election at all?
Wolfowitz, speaking at Georgetown University, said a worried resident of the southern city of Najaf asked him in July at a town hall meeting, "What's going to happen to us if George Bush loses the election?"
Wolfowitz didn't mention the Democrats, but he suggested the question sums up Iraqi fears that a new team in the White House would abandon them....
--New York Daily News
So what's the point? That it would be a moral betrayal of the Iraqis to have an '04 election at all?
"Bush boom"? Paul Krugman says don't be so sure. We've appeared to be out of the woods before when we really weren't. A great column.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Your liberal media in action....
Dennis Miller, the sardonic comedian who delivered a fake newscast on "Saturday Night Live" and told jokes in the "Monday Night Football" booth, will host a prime-time political talk show on CNBC.
The network said Thursday it had inked Miller to a multiyear deal for the political chat show, set to begin in January.
...Miller, a registered Republican, has become increasingly known for his political views. He bashed anti-war activists on a "Tonight" show appearance last spring, calling filmmaker Michael Moore a "stupid moron" for criticizing President Bush at the Academy Awards.
A few months later, Miller was the opening act at a Bush fund-raiser in California, earning him a ride on Air Force One and the president's limousine. He said of Bush's Democratic opponents: "I haven't seen a starting nine like that since the '62 Mets."
There was talk among some Republican political strategists of running Miller as an opponent to California Sen. Barbara Boxer.
--AP
Dennis Miller, the sardonic comedian who delivered a fake newscast on "Saturday Night Live" and told jokes in the "Monday Night Football" booth, will host a prime-time political talk show on CNBC.
The network said Thursday it had inked Miller to a multiyear deal for the political chat show, set to begin in January.
...Miller, a registered Republican, has become increasingly known for his political views. He bashed anti-war activists on a "Tonight" show appearance last spring, calling filmmaker Michael Moore a "stupid moron" for criticizing President Bush at the Academy Awards.
A few months later, Miller was the opening act at a Bush fund-raiser in California, earning him a ride on Air Force One and the president's limousine. He said of Bush's Democratic opponents: "I haven't seen a starting nine like that since the '62 Mets."
There was talk among some Republican political strategists of running Miller as an opponent to California Sen. Barbara Boxer.
--AP
I posted a brief excerpt from this Newsweek column by Robert Samuelson a couple of weeks ago, but today seems like a better day for it, given the fact that Republicans are declaring that today's GDP report completely and vindicates Bushonomics and perfectly positions Bush for '04:
...To win in 1972, Nixon revved the economy. All presidents would like to do this, because all know they’ll be judged—rightly or wrongly—on the economy’s performance. Few succeed, because the economy is so big and unruly. Nixon beat the odds. Facing stubborn inflation, he embraced wage-price controls in August 1971. With inflation suppressed, easy money and a big deficit stimulated demand. Unemployment fell from 6.1 percent in August to 5.5 percent by the next fall. In November, Nixon trounced George McGovern, who won a meager 37.5 percent of the vote.
Could Bush—in different times and using different tools—repeat Nixon’s feat? ...
...Fully 60 percent ($210 billion) [of the 2003 Bush tax cut] is crammed into the 15 months before the election. This was no accident. Some tax cuts (the higher child credit, the bigger 10 percent bracket, marriage-penalty relief) expire after the election. In 2003 and 2004, the child credit is $1,000; from 2005 to 2008, it’s $700....
...History’s final verdict of Bush will depend less on election returns than on whether his policies ultimately succeed. We can’t know that yet. But Nixon does offer a cautionary lesson, because wage-price controls proved calamitous. Once they ended, inflation exploded (8.7 percent in 1973 and 12.3 percent in 1974) and a harsh recession followed. “The tragedy was that they didn’t have to do anything,” says Matusow. “The economy was on schedule to deliver by 1972. They panicked.” Such a judgment is surely one Nixon parallel that Bush doesn’t covet.
...To win in 1972, Nixon revved the economy. All presidents would like to do this, because all know they’ll be judged—rightly or wrongly—on the economy’s performance. Few succeed, because the economy is so big and unruly. Nixon beat the odds. Facing stubborn inflation, he embraced wage-price controls in August 1971. With inflation suppressed, easy money and a big deficit stimulated demand. Unemployment fell from 6.1 percent in August to 5.5 percent by the next fall. In November, Nixon trounced George McGovern, who won a meager 37.5 percent of the vote.
Could Bush—in different times and using different tools—repeat Nixon’s feat? ...
...Fully 60 percent ($210 billion) [of the 2003 Bush tax cut] is crammed into the 15 months before the election. This was no accident. Some tax cuts (the higher child credit, the bigger 10 percent bracket, marriage-penalty relief) expire after the election. In 2003 and 2004, the child credit is $1,000; from 2005 to 2008, it’s $700....
...History’s final verdict of Bush will depend less on election returns than on whether his policies ultimately succeed. We can’t know that yet. But Nixon does offer a cautionary lesson, because wage-price controls proved calamitous. Once they ended, inflation exploded (8.7 percent in 1973 and 12.3 percent in 1974) and a harsh recession followed. “The tragedy was that they didn’t have to do anything,” says Matusow. “The economy was on schedule to deliver by 1972. They panicked.” Such a judgment is surely one Nixon parallel that Bush doesn’t covet.
There's a movement to recall yet another Democratic governor in the West -- Arizona's Janet Napolitano -- but I don't think it'll get very far.
First off, it's being spearheaded by Charles Goodson, chairman of the neo-Confederate Southern Parties of the Southwest.
In addition, one of the reasons he and his fellow recallers want Napolitano out of office is that she bent the rules slightly to have Arizona's Squaw Peak renamed for Lori Piestewa, a Hopi Indian woman who was a member of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company and who was killed in the Iraq War (she was a close friend of Jessica Lynch and died after the same ambush).
Arizona's Board on Geographic and Historic Names did vote to waive a requirement in this case that a person be dead for five years before the state can name anything in that person's honor. And people disagree on the need to rename landmarks with "squaw" in their names -- some say the word is offensive, while others say that's not etymologically true.
But really, now: Do we not want to honor Lori Piestewa?
Charles Goodson is a fool. Darrel Issa he ain't.
First off, it's being spearheaded by Charles Goodson, chairman of the neo-Confederate Southern Parties of the Southwest.
In addition, one of the reasons he and his fellow recallers want Napolitano out of office is that she bent the rules slightly to have Arizona's Squaw Peak renamed for Lori Piestewa, a Hopi Indian woman who was a member of the 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company and who was killed in the Iraq War (she was a close friend of Jessica Lynch and died after the same ambush).
Arizona's Board on Geographic and Historic Names did vote to waive a requirement in this case that a person be dead for five years before the state can name anything in that person's honor. And people disagree on the need to rename landmarks with "squaw" in their names -- some say the word is offensive, while others say that's not etymologically true.
But really, now: Do we not want to honor Lori Piestewa?
Charles Goodson is a fool. Darrel Issa he ain't.
So I guess a "gunman" breached security at the Cannon House Office Building in D.C. today, creating a real scare until it was discovered that his gun was a toy. Over at National Review Online, the bloggers at The Corner are horrified -- horrified that one member of Congress who was interviewed about the incident was Carolyn McCarthy:
...Why select her from the 435 members of Congress? Why, because her husband was the victim of gun violence, of course!
Fortunately, the story turned out to be a false alarm. Otherwise CNN's viewers would have been subjected to who knows how much fear-inspired, uninformed anti-gun speculation.
This example of liberal media bias is so great, one suspects even Eric Alterman might notice.
Yeah -- what horrible bias! To interview a woman whose husband was brutally gunned down on the subject of an apparent rampant gunman! It's almost as bad as when those liberals at CBS talked to victims of the Oklahaoma City bombing about the World Trade Center! How dare they! That was anti-terrorist bias!
...Why select her from the 435 members of Congress? Why, because her husband was the victim of gun violence, of course!
Fortunately, the story turned out to be a false alarm. Otherwise CNN's viewers would have been subjected to who knows how much fear-inspired, uninformed anti-gun speculation.
This example of liberal media bias is so great, one suspects even Eric Alterman might notice.
Yeah -- what horrible bias! To interview a woman whose husband was brutally gunned down on the subject of an apparent rampant gunman! It's almost as bad as when those liberals at CBS talked to victims of the Oklahaoma City bombing about the World Trade Center! How dare they! That was anti-terrorist bias!
The Bush boom.
The Bush boom.
The Bush boom.
Oh -- did the Republicans neglect to mention that they think there's a Bush boom?
It's really just one quarter of (admittedly impressive) growth, generated by the only aspect of the recent tax cut that actually put money in the pockets of ordinary citizens -- the distribution of tax-credit checks to parents.
That was a one-time-only event -- and the money seems to have largely been spent.
All his life George W. Bush has been one of the luckiest SOBs who ever lived; the timing of the business cycle might continue his run of luck. But the Repubs aren't going to see whether that happens. They're going to try to pound this phrase into everyone's head until it's stuck like a bad jingle.
The Bush boom.
The Bush boom.
Oh -- did the Republicans neglect to mention that they think there's a Bush boom?
It's really just one quarter of (admittedly impressive) growth, generated by the only aspect of the recent tax cut that actually put money in the pockets of ordinary citizens -- the distribution of tax-credit checks to parents.
That was a one-time-only event -- and the money seems to have largely been spent.
All his life George W. Bush has been one of the luckiest SOBs who ever lived; the timing of the business cycle might continue his run of luck. But the Repubs aren't going to see whether that happens. They're going to try to pound this phrase into everyone's head until it's stuck like a bad jingle.
You really need to see the chart Kevin (Calpundit) Drum found in an Economist article. It shows CEO pay per dollar of company profit over the years. Kevin says:
As the chart shows, during the 80s CEO pay nearly doubled for a given level of corporate profitability, and during the 90s it increased again almost 4x. Overall, a CEO who generates $10 million in net profits today is paid about 7x what a CEO who generated exactly the same amount was paid in 1980.
As he says of CEO pay, "it's not based on performance in any defensible way." Damn straight.
As the chart shows, during the 80s CEO pay nearly doubled for a given level of corporate profitability, and during the 90s it increased again almost 4x. Overall, a CEO who generates $10 million in net profits today is paid about 7x what a CEO who generated exactly the same amount was paid in 1980.
As he says of CEO pay, "it's not based on performance in any defensible way." Damn straight.
I guess the coverage of the '04 presidential election is going to be about as high-minded and serious as the coverage in '00. This is from Denver's Rocky Mountain News:
Hair cuts into Kerry's support
Democratic senator needs to trim his long locks, some younger voters say
Is it John Kerry's Beatles-era haircut that doesn't appeal to students sporting today's shorter styles?
A waffle breakfast for the Massachusetts senator and Democratic president hopeful drew only about 10 people at the University of Colorado on Tuesday, even as several thousand rallied for political rival Howard Dean outside.
..."I'm not sure why people don't see the light," said Jason Meininger, who heads Kerry's CU effort.
...Photographs on the wall showed Kerry with hair combed neatly over his ears. One showed him with John Lennon.
"I think that's just him. He's had long hair for a long time. That's who he is, and that's what's so great about John Kerry - he's not afraid to be himself," said Meininger, who has short hair....
So, what's the reporter's sample set for the hypothesis that hair is what's holding Kerry back? One kid who actually did respond to Kerry's breakfast invitation and who doesn't really seem to care much about his hair, plus a Dean campaign worker:
"He does need a haircut," said Eric Morgan, a graduate student in history who was eating a waffle. "I think if he trimmed it back, it would be nice."
Michele Buckley, a leader of the campus Democrats and an organizer of the Dean rally, said the former Vermont governor's short haircut helps on campus.
Good Lord -- people actually get paid to write stuff like this.
Hair cuts into Kerry's support
Democratic senator needs to trim his long locks, some younger voters say
Is it John Kerry's Beatles-era haircut that doesn't appeal to students sporting today's shorter styles?
A waffle breakfast for the Massachusetts senator and Democratic president hopeful drew only about 10 people at the University of Colorado on Tuesday, even as several thousand rallied for political rival Howard Dean outside.
..."I'm not sure why people don't see the light," said Jason Meininger, who heads Kerry's CU effort.
...Photographs on the wall showed Kerry with hair combed neatly over his ears. One showed him with John Lennon.
"I think that's just him. He's had long hair for a long time. That's who he is, and that's what's so great about John Kerry - he's not afraid to be himself," said Meininger, who has short hair....
So, what's the reporter's sample set for the hypothesis that hair is what's holding Kerry back? One kid who actually did respond to Kerry's breakfast invitation and who doesn't really seem to care much about his hair, plus a Dean campaign worker:
"He does need a haircut," said Eric Morgan, a graduate student in history who was eating a waffle. "I think if he trimmed it back, it would be nice."
Michele Buckley, a leader of the campus Democrats and an organizer of the Dean rally, said the former Vermont governor's short haircut helps on campus.
Good Lord -- people actually get paid to write stuff like this.
I think all you need to know to get the measure of National Review Online's Donald Luskin is that a few months ago, in his own blog (with the paranoid-friendly title "The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid"), he published this rant.
The issue was a meeting between high government intelligence operatives and Michael Drosnin, author of best-selling but utterly dotty books that claim to find God's will in the letters of the Hebrew Bible arranged in the form of a word-search puzzle. Luskin wasn't the least bit upset that people paid by our tax dollars were wasting their time meeting with Drosnin; he was more exercised at the fact that "the leftist press" (i.e., The New York Times) and "trained-doggy bloggers" had the audacity to imply that meetings between this modern-day Madame Blavatsky and important government officials weren't a good idea. To find such meetings unwise was "snobbish," "condescending," and "snotty." (The pages provided here show the sort of thing Drosnin purports to find in the Bible; as Brendan MacKay, his best-known debunker, points out, clues of the kind Drosnin finds so meaningful in the Bible can be found just by chance in other texts -- want to find JFK's assassination in Moby-Dick?) Luskin went on to split hairs maniacally, complaining that as liberal writers retold the Drosnin story a "meeting" became a "briefing" (in Luskin's word, this is a distinction fraught with sinister meaning) and then "a briefing of 'the Pentagon' -- the whole damn building, it seems" (Luskin's dictionary apparently does not include the word synecdoche).
There's a word for this: nuts.
And now Luskin has sent his flying monkeys (a white-shoe law firm) after Atrios, the best blogger out there, in part because Atrios responded to Luskin's obsession with the alleged high crimes of Paul Krugman by calling Luskin a stalker (months after Luskin called himself a stalker). Atrios was motivated by this Luskin blog post, in which he described the Travis Bickle-like moment in which he queued up to get a book signed by Krugman, his arch-nemesis (Luskin on Krugman: "I have looked evil in the face. I've been in the same room with it. I don't know how else to describe my feelings now except to say that I feel unclean, and I'm having to fight being afraid.")
If Luskin has any case at all, it's with regard to reader-comment pages appended to Atrios's blog -- his lawyer cites this one and this one -- but is that our new standard for libel? That saying "That dude is just completely fucking insane" now constitutes "straying beyond mere expressions of opinion and making false and defamatory statements of alleged fact"? Aren't right-wingers the guys who complain all the time about "frivolous lawsuits"?
Sorry to take up so much space with what might seem like "inside baseball." But in the online world there has to be some sort of reasonable accommodation of what any half-intelligent reader can recognize as flippant, discontented grumbles rather than willful misstatements of legal or psychological fact. This suit is wildly inappropriate. Atrios doesn't deserve it. I can't think of anyone, including the nastiest right-wing bloggers, who deserves it.
The issue was a meeting between high government intelligence operatives and Michael Drosnin, author of best-selling but utterly dotty books that claim to find God's will in the letters of the Hebrew Bible arranged in the form of a word-search puzzle. Luskin wasn't the least bit upset that people paid by our tax dollars were wasting their time meeting with Drosnin; he was more exercised at the fact that "the leftist press" (i.e., The New York Times) and "trained-doggy bloggers" had the audacity to imply that meetings between this modern-day Madame Blavatsky and important government officials weren't a good idea. To find such meetings unwise was "snobbish," "condescending," and "snotty." (The pages provided here show the sort of thing Drosnin purports to find in the Bible; as Brendan MacKay, his best-known debunker, points out, clues of the kind Drosnin finds so meaningful in the Bible can be found just by chance in other texts -- want to find JFK's assassination in Moby-Dick?) Luskin went on to split hairs maniacally, complaining that as liberal writers retold the Drosnin story a "meeting" became a "briefing" (in Luskin's word, this is a distinction fraught with sinister meaning) and then "a briefing of 'the Pentagon' -- the whole damn building, it seems" (Luskin's dictionary apparently does not include the word synecdoche).
There's a word for this: nuts.
And now Luskin has sent his flying monkeys (a white-shoe law firm) after Atrios, the best blogger out there, in part because Atrios responded to Luskin's obsession with the alleged high crimes of Paul Krugman by calling Luskin a stalker (months after Luskin called himself a stalker). Atrios was motivated by this Luskin blog post, in which he described the Travis Bickle-like moment in which he queued up to get a book signed by Krugman, his arch-nemesis (Luskin on Krugman: "I have looked evil in the face. I've been in the same room with it. I don't know how else to describe my feelings now except to say that I feel unclean, and I'm having to fight being afraid.")
If Luskin has any case at all, it's with regard to reader-comment pages appended to Atrios's blog -- his lawyer cites this one and this one -- but is that our new standard for libel? That saying "That dude is just completely fucking insane" now constitutes "straying beyond mere expressions of opinion and making false and defamatory statements of alleged fact"? Aren't right-wingers the guys who complain all the time about "frivolous lawsuits"?
Sorry to take up so much space with what might seem like "inside baseball." But in the online world there has to be some sort of reasonable accommodation of what any half-intelligent reader can recognize as flippant, discontented grumbles rather than willful misstatements of legal or psychological fact. This suit is wildly inappropriate. Atrios doesn't deserve it. I can't think of anyone, including the nastiest right-wing bloggers, who deserves it.
First it was Fort Stewart. Now Fort Knox is apparently providing substandard medical care to military personnal, including some returning Iraq War veterans, according to UPI:
...I joined to serve my country," said Cpl. Waymond Boyd, 34. He served in Iraq with the National Guard's 1175 Transportation Company. He has been in medical hold since the end of July.
"It doesn't make any sense to go over there and risk your life and come back to this," Boyd said. "It ain't fair and it ain't right. I used to be patriotic." He has served the military for 15 years.
Boyd's knee and wrist injuries were severe enough that he was evacuated to Germany at the end of July and then sent to Fort Knox. His medical records show doctor appointments around four weeks apart. He said it took him almost two months to get a cast for his wrist, which is so weak he can't lift 5 pounds or play with his two children. He is taking painkilling drugs and walks with a cane with some difficulty.
...Command Sgt. Major Glen Talley, 57, is in the hospital at Fort Knox for heart problems, clotting blood and Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder. All of the problems became apparent after he went to war in April, he says. He is a reservist.
Talley said he was moved to Fort Knox on Oct. 16 and had not seen a doctor yet, only a physician's assistant. His next appointment with an endocrinologist was scheduled for Dec. 30.
"I don't mind serving my country," Talley said. "I just hate what they are doing to me now." Talley has served for 30 years. He was awarded two Purple Hearts in Vietnam.
...After returning from Iraq, some soldiers spent about eight weeks in Spartan, dilapidated World War II-era barracks with leaking roofs, animal infestations and no air conditioning in the Kentucky heat.
"I arrived here and was placed in the World War II barracks," one soldier wrote in an internal Fort Knox survey of the conditions. "On the 28th of August we moved out. On 30 Aug. the roof collapsed. Had we not moved, someone would be dead," that soldier wrote....
There are claims of two-tiered care:
Also like Fort Stewart, soldiers at Fort Knox claimed they are getting substandard treatment because they are in the National Guard or Army Reserve as opposed to regular Army. The Army has denied any discrepancies in treatment or housing.
Right-wingers like to say that Clinton had no respect for the military, and the feeling was mutual. So what do these troops say?
"I have never been so disrespected in my military career," said Lt. Jullian Goodrum, who has been in the Army Reserve for 16 years. His health problems do not appear to be severe -- injured wrists -- but he said the medical situation at Fort Knox is bad. He said he waited a month for therapy. "I have never been so treated like dirt."
(Thanks to BuzzFlash for the link.)
...I joined to serve my country," said Cpl. Waymond Boyd, 34. He served in Iraq with the National Guard's 1175 Transportation Company. He has been in medical hold since the end of July.
"It doesn't make any sense to go over there and risk your life and come back to this," Boyd said. "It ain't fair and it ain't right. I used to be patriotic." He has served the military for 15 years.
Boyd's knee and wrist injuries were severe enough that he was evacuated to Germany at the end of July and then sent to Fort Knox. His medical records show doctor appointments around four weeks apart. He said it took him almost two months to get a cast for his wrist, which is so weak he can't lift 5 pounds or play with his two children. He is taking painkilling drugs and walks with a cane with some difficulty.
...Command Sgt. Major Glen Talley, 57, is in the hospital at Fort Knox for heart problems, clotting blood and Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder. All of the problems became apparent after he went to war in April, he says. He is a reservist.
Talley said he was moved to Fort Knox on Oct. 16 and had not seen a doctor yet, only a physician's assistant. His next appointment with an endocrinologist was scheduled for Dec. 30.
"I don't mind serving my country," Talley said. "I just hate what they are doing to me now." Talley has served for 30 years. He was awarded two Purple Hearts in Vietnam.
...After returning from Iraq, some soldiers spent about eight weeks in Spartan, dilapidated World War II-era barracks with leaking roofs, animal infestations and no air conditioning in the Kentucky heat.
"I arrived here and was placed in the World War II barracks," one soldier wrote in an internal Fort Knox survey of the conditions. "On the 28th of August we moved out. On 30 Aug. the roof collapsed. Had we not moved, someone would be dead," that soldier wrote....
There are claims of two-tiered care:
Also like Fort Stewart, soldiers at Fort Knox claimed they are getting substandard treatment because they are in the National Guard or Army Reserve as opposed to regular Army. The Army has denied any discrepancies in treatment or housing.
Right-wingers like to say that Clinton had no respect for the military, and the feeling was mutual. So what do these troops say?
"I have never been so disrespected in my military career," said Lt. Jullian Goodrum, who has been in the Army Reserve for 16 years. His health problems do not appear to be severe -- injured wrists -- but he said the medical situation at Fort Knox is bad. He said he waited a month for therapy. "I have never been so treated like dirt."
(Thanks to BuzzFlash for the link.)
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
They're still lying about the "Mission Accomplished" banner!
The White House said on Wednesday it had helped with the production of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as the backdrop for President Bush to declare major combat operations over in Iraq on May 1....
"They asked if we could help take care of the production of the banner and we were more than happy to do so because this is a very nice way to pay tribute to our sailors and aviators and men and women in the military who were on board that ship for a job well done," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan....
McClellan told reporters the banner had been sought by the U.S. Navy to honor the end of the Lincoln's lengthy deployment at sea.
"It was the Navy, the people on board the ship who had the idea of this banner and made the suggestion because they wanted to have a way to commemorate the fact that these sailors and the crew on board the ship had completed their mission after a very lengthy deployment," he said....
--Reuters
From the May 4 Washington Post:
Still, it's also impossible to agree with the banner that was draped near Mr. Bush on the carrier deck, proclaiming "Mission Accomplished." Aides say the slogan was chosen in part to mark a presidential turn toward domestic affairs as his campaign for reelection approaches.
From USA Today:
The White House communications office, well-known for the care it takes with the backdrops at Bush's speeches, created the "Mission Accomplished" banner in the same style as banners the president uses in other appearances, including one in Canton, Ohio, just a week before the carrier speech. That banner, with the same typeface and soft, brush-stroked American flag in the background, read: "Jobs and Growth."
And, to repeat, from the May 16 New York Times:
Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.
(Last three links via Atrios and Kicking Ass.)
The White House said on Wednesday it had helped with the production of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as the backdrop for President Bush to declare major combat operations over in Iraq on May 1....
"They asked if we could help take care of the production of the banner and we were more than happy to do so because this is a very nice way to pay tribute to our sailors and aviators and men and women in the military who were on board that ship for a job well done," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan....
McClellan told reporters the banner had been sought by the U.S. Navy to honor the end of the Lincoln's lengthy deployment at sea.
"It was the Navy, the people on board the ship who had the idea of this banner and made the suggestion because they wanted to have a way to commemorate the fact that these sailors and the crew on board the ship had completed their mission after a very lengthy deployment," he said....
--Reuters
From the May 4 Washington Post:
Still, it's also impossible to agree with the banner that was draped near Mr. Bush on the carrier deck, proclaiming "Mission Accomplished." Aides say the slogan was chosen in part to mark a presidential turn toward domestic affairs as his campaign for reelection approaches.
From USA Today:
The White House communications office, well-known for the care it takes with the backdrops at Bush's speeches, created the "Mission Accomplished" banner in the same style as banners the president uses in other appearances, including one in Canton, Ohio, just a week before the carrier speech. That banner, with the same typeface and soft, brush-stroked American flag in the background, read: "Jobs and Growth."
And, to repeat, from the May 16 New York Times:
Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.
(Last three links via Atrios and Kicking Ass.)
SENATOR ZELL MILLER OF GEORGIA, the nation's most prominent conservative Democrat, said today he will endorse President Bush for re-election in 2004 and campaign for him if Bush wishes him to. Miller said Bush is "the right man at the right time" to govern the country.
The next five years "will determine the kind of world my children and grandchildren will live in," Miller said in an interview. And he wouldn't "trust" any of the nine Democratic presidential candidates with governing during "that crucial period," he said. "This Democrat will vote for President Bush in 2004."
Miller, who is retiring from the Senate next year, has often expressed his admiration for Bush. He was a co-sponsor of the president's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003....
--Weekly Standard
Thanks for that big fat show of party loyalty, schmuck.
The next five years "will determine the kind of world my children and grandchildren will live in," Miller said in an interview. And he wouldn't "trust" any of the nine Democratic presidential candidates with governing during "that crucial period," he said. "This Democrat will vote for President Bush in 2004."
Miller, who is retiring from the Senate next year, has often expressed his admiration for Bush. He was a co-sponsor of the president's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003....
--Weekly Standard
Thanks for that big fat show of party loyalty, schmuck.
Sadly, No! has found the text of Paul Bremer's televised Ramadan address to the Iraqi people. Here's an excerpt. Warning: this is not a joke.
...you must not lose hope. Especially during Ramadan you must not lose hope.
You must not lose hope because you have seen the evil one go.
You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to protect, he instead tortured, he instead murdered.
You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to feed, he instead starved.
You, the Iraqi people whom the evil one was bound to lead in peace, he instead led into foolish wars, wars which poured your blood into the sand.
When the people of the world asked the evil one to stop he sneered.
When the people of the world demanded that the evil one stop, he threatened them and fought them.
And when the evil one fought them, he fought them in your name, with your money and your blood and the blood of your fathers, your mothers and your children.
But when the enemies the tyrant drew close, he took your money and he fled your justice like a common thief and coward....
Er, this reads like something concocted by a man locked in a windowless room for three days with a large supply of hallucinogens and either a King James Bible or an extensive collection of Star Wars fan fiction. (Or perhaps a Bremer underling drafted it after a White House staffer angrily phoned to veto an earlier draft: "NO! You have to say 'evil'! POTUS wants the word 'evil' in there! You have to put in more 'evil's!")
And no, this is not a hoax -- I gave you the direct link, but you can get to the transcript by clicking on the central link the official site of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Oh, and by the way, it was first broadcast last Friday. Can we all agree that it ain't working?
...you must not lose hope. Especially during Ramadan you must not lose hope.
You must not lose hope because you have seen the evil one go.
You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to protect, he instead tortured, he instead murdered.
You, the Iraqi people, whom the evil one was bound to feed, he instead starved.
You, the Iraqi people whom the evil one was bound to lead in peace, he instead led into foolish wars, wars which poured your blood into the sand.
When the people of the world asked the evil one to stop he sneered.
When the people of the world demanded that the evil one stop, he threatened them and fought them.
And when the evil one fought them, he fought them in your name, with your money and your blood and the blood of your fathers, your mothers and your children.
But when the enemies the tyrant drew close, he took your money and he fled your justice like a common thief and coward....
Er, this reads like something concocted by a man locked in a windowless room for three days with a large supply of hallucinogens and either a King James Bible or an extensive collection of Star Wars fan fiction. (Or perhaps a Bremer underling drafted it after a White House staffer angrily phoned to veto an earlier draft: "NO! You have to say 'evil'! POTUS wants the word 'evil' in there! You have to put in more 'evil's!")
And no, this is not a hoax -- I gave you the direct link, but you can get to the transcript by clicking on the central link the official site of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Oh, and by the way, it was first broadcast last Friday. Can we all agree that it ain't working?
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